Presbyter
Saint John was born on January 9, 1872, in the village of Prokazna, Lunin district of the Mokshan county in the Penza province. He graduated from the spiritual school and the Penza Theological Seminary, and then from the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1896, he became the assistant secretary of the Council and Administration of the Moscow Theological Academy, teaching Sacred Scripture and Geography. In 1905, he was ordained a priest and appointed rector of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in Moscow. In 1911, he received the title of professor of theology and became the head of the theology department at the Petrovska Agricultural Academy. In 1917, he was elected a member of the Local Council from the Moscow diocese.
After the revolution, in 1918, he continued to serve in the church. In 1922, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Internal Prison of the GPU. While under investigation, he refused to admit his guilt. On December 13, 1922, the revolutionary tribunal sentenced him to three years of imprisonment, but he was released in 1923.
In 1924, he was awarded a mitre and served in the Peter and Paul Church until its closure in 1925. In 1933, he was arrested again and sentenced to three years of exile in the Northern region. After completing his exile, he returned to Moscow. On January 22, 1938, he was arrested again and imprisoned in Taganka Prison. On February 14, the NKVD troika sentenced him to execution, which was carried out on February 17, 1938. He was buried in an unknown common grave at the Butovo shooting range near Moscow.
