Presbyter
Saint John was born in 1890 in the village of Kosarichi, Bobruisk district, Minsk province, in the family of a psalmist, Martin Vecherko. In 1913, he graduated from the Minsk Theological Seminary and in 1915 was ordained a priest at the Protection Church in the village of Krivonosy, where he served his entire life.
In 1920, part of the territory of Minsk province was occupied by Polish troops, and the priest faced unfriendly treatment from the officers for defending his parishioners. Eventually, he was arrested and spent time in the Slutsk prison. In 1928, he was arrested for the second time by the Soviet authorities on charges of late tax payment and sentenced to nine months of imprisonment. After returning from prison, he continued his ministry at the Protection Church.
The authorities, intending to close the church, began demanding increasingly higher taxes from the priest. Father John, having no means, went from house to house among the peasants asking for help. On March 18, 1933, he and members of the church council were arrested on charges of anti-Soviet counter-revolutionary activities. The priest did not admit his guilt, asserting that his activities were religious.
After the investigation, Father John was sent to the Slutsk prison. On April 17, 1933, the OGPU troika sentenced him to death by shooting. Priest John Vecherko was shot and buried in an unmarked grave.
