Martyr John (Ivan Mikhailovich Kovsharov) was born in Odessa in 1878 into a merchant family. By education, he was a lawyer and served as the legal advisor of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Petrograd. In the spring of 1918, he was elected commissioner for diocesan affairs of the Petrograd diocese.
In 1922, he was arrested in connection with the 'case of resistance to the confiscation of church valuables.' On July 5, the verdict of the tribunal was announced, according to which he, along with the holy martyr Metropolitan Benjamin and Archimandrite Sergius, was sentenced to execution by shooting. On the night of July 31, 1922, they were shot on the outskirts of Petrograd.
He was glorified as a new martyr in 1992 at the Archpastoral Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.
