Ivan Sergiev was born in 1829 at Sura, a village in the far north of Russia in the Arkhangelsk region, into a poor family of village clergy. After studying at the St Petersburg Theological Academy he married and in 1855 was ordained priest for St Andrew's Cathedral in Kronstadt, the naval port on an island near St Petersburg, where he served for the rest of his life.
He gave himself to the poor and the drunkards of the port, founding a House of Industry where they could find work, schooling and shelter. He celebrated the Divine Liturgy daily, urged frequent communion, and heard so many penitents that he introduced a general confession. Pilgrims came from all over Russia to ask his prayers, and many reported healings. His diary, My Life in Christ, was published in the 1890s. He died on 20 December 1908 (2 January 1909 by the modern calendar).
John of Kronstadt in the library (1 work)
- John of Kronstadt: My Life in Christ — 1890s; translation 1897
The spiritual diary of the beloved Russian Orthodox parish priest: prayer, the Liturgy, repentance and the struggle against the passions.