WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th September, 2019) The monument of one of the greatest Russian Orthodox saints, St. John of Kronstadt, will be unveiled on Sunday in Washington on the grounds of St. John the Baptist church.
Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) Metropolitan Hilarion and other hierarchs are expected to participate in the ceremony confined to the 70th anniversary of St. John the Baptist cathedral - the only Russian parish in the US capital.
"This is the first monument of St. John of Kronstadt in the United States," the parish's dean Victor Potapov told Sputnik.
He pointed out that now the parish will have three patron saints at once - St. John the Baptist, St. John of Shanghai in San Francisco, who established the parish in 1949, and St. John of Kronstadt.
St. John of Kronstadt (1829-1909, secular name Ivan Sergiev, was a very famous preacher blessed with many spiritual benefactions. Russians call him "all-people's father." He is named after the Russian sea port near St. Petersburg, where he lived, and became the first saint canonized by the Russian church abroad around 1964. The Moscow Patriarchate glorified him in 1990.
The 9-foot 850 kilos bronze statue, created by sculptor Dmitry Kukkolos, will be erected at a Washington neighborhood not far from the downtown.
Donated by Russia's Foundation Under the Protection of Theotokos (Mother of God) and Russian National Creative Studio ARTPROEKT, it was delivered to the United States by Aeroflot Russian Airlines free of charge.
Potapov said that the statue is "very liturgical."
"The monument will serve as a reminder to all of the one thing necessary in the spiritual life of every Orthodox Christian," he said.
The priest reminded that St. John of Kronstadt is credited with changing the long standing tradition in Russia of receiving communion only once per year.
"He is depicted in priestly vestments, holding in his left hand the Eucharistic Chalice and pointing to it with his right hand," Potapov added.
In the United States, St. John of Kronstadt is mostly known because of English translation of his famous diary - My Life in Christ.
The Foundation Under the Protection of Theotokos sponsors creation of sculptures of great Orthodox saints in Russia, Europe, Australia and America. Several of its sculptures are placed in the United States at the Synod of Bishops of ROCOR in New York, at the Eastern Diocese's cathedral in the city of Howell, New Jersey, and in San Francisco.
