The following incident, told by Olga Skopichenko, a spiritual daughter of St. John, and confirmed by many from Shanghai, well illustrates the daring, unshakable faith in Christ of St. John Maximovitch.
"Mrs. Menshikova was bitten by a mad dog. The injections against rabies she either refused to take or took carelessly. And then she came down with this terrible disease. Bishop John found out about it and came to the dying woman. He gave her Holy Communion, but just then she began having one of the fits of this disease; she began to foam at the mouth, and at the same time she spit out the Holy Gifts which she had just received. The Holy Sacrament cannot be thrown out. So, Vladyka picked up and put in his mouth the Holy Gifts vomited by the sick woman. Those who were with him exclaimed: `Vladyka, what are you doing! Rabies is terribly contagious!' But Vladyka peacefully answered: `Nothing will happen; these are the Holy Gifts.' And indeed nothing did happen."