“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps 90:17): 3. Saint John

 

Lo, Thy care for thy flock in its sojourn prefigured the supplication which thou dost ever offer up for the whole world. Thus do we believe, having come to know thy love, O holy hierarch and wonderworker John. Wholly sanctified by God through the ministry of the all-pure Mysteries and thyself ever strengthened thereby, thou didst hasten to the suffering, O most gladsome healer, hasten now also to the aid of us who honor thee with all our heart. (Troparion to St. John, Tone 5)

In March of 2018, six months after hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and my family was evacuated off the island, I finally received a transfer and was able to move to Wisconsin and reunite with my family.

I few months after arriving in Wisconsin, I was asked to conduct monthly services at a mission church in Edgar (near Wausau, WI) dedicated to the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God. During one of my visits to the Mission, a kind lady presented me with a small icon of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco. I did not think much of this at the time, except that this was a very kind gesture, and placed the icon in the altar.

At approximately the same time, several families were praying about starting a mission in Portage, WI and asked if I could officiate services. We had a few discussions concerning this project, and one of the founders, John, traveled to meet with Archbishop Peter (Loukianoff) in order to ask his blessing for the Mission. The Archbishop graciously blessed the undertaking and asked whether there was a name for the Mission. John had a few names in mind and expected some input from the Archbishop on the best name for the new Mission. However, after he uttered the very first name from his list–Saint John the Wonderworker–Archbishop Peter interjected and said that this would be the name for the Mission. There is more to this naming story, but it is not my story to tell, and perhaps John (whose baptismal name is not John) could be persuaded to write a more detailed account.

So, I brought the small icon of Saint John from the Kursk Root Mission to the new Saint John’s Mission and often place it on the holy table during our services. And now the two mission churches in Wisconsin are spiritually connected not only through the fact that Saint John reposed in the Lord in the presence of and while praying before the Kursk Root Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos, but also through this beautiful foretelling and revealing of who the heavenly patron of the new Mission was to be.

It is said that if something happens once, it is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is a pattern. Of course, the kind lady who gave me the icon of Saint John had no idea that there would soon be a new Mission in his honor. Neither John nor the Archbishop new anything about the gift, and I had nothing to do with the naming of the Mission (or made any connections until well after the events). I also did not immediately connect the new Mission with the fact that in 2001, I was ordained in San Francisco, in the very cathedral that houses Saint John’s holy relics; or that following my ordination, I spent nearly a decade and a half serving in the Western American Diocese, where Saint John had been the ruling bishop and continues to intercede before the heavenly throne of God; or that the very first service at the new Mission was on December 16, which also happened to be the anniversary of my ordination. To the best of my knowledge, a year ago, in 2018, no one, including me, paid much attention to any of these “accidents” and “coincidences.” Today, a year later, if one were so inclined, the same could recognize a beautiful pattern.

And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us:
and establish thou the work of our hands upon us;
yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. (Ps 90:17)

See also: 

“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps 90:17): 1. The Covering

“And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us” (Ps 90:17): 2. The Ride

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