“Being truly the “good shepherd,” Fr. John did not cease to ache in soul and grieve over the spiritual ailments of his contemporary Russian society, seeing how far it had departed from the true faith in God, from the Gospel covenants of Christ the Savior and from its Mother Church. In this he saw a terrible threat for the entire Russian people – and not only for their private, but also for their public and state life. With great bitterness he spoke many times about. John about those Russian people who forget that “our real life is exile” and that “we must all strenuously strive through repentance and deeds worthy of repentance to our (heavenly) fatherland…”.”

Archbishop Averky (Taushev)