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| St. John the Hermit of Pskov (Feast Day - October 24) |
Our Venerable Father John lived in a period of terrible suffering and war between the Russian, Polish, and Swedish governments at the turn of the 16th to 17th centuries. In 1592 the Swedes besieged the city of Pskov. From 1608, for seven years, Polish forces attacked under the leadership of Lisovski. It was only in the week before the death of Saint John, through the intercession of the Pskov Caves Icon of the Mother of God and the Pskov Saints, that Pskov was delivered from the besieging army of the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus.
Saint John, as the chronicle relates, “lived within the city walls for 23 years; his fish was rancid and he did not eat bread. He lived within the city as though in a wilderness, in great silence,” and he reposed in peace on October 24, 1616.