Transl. from Russian
ROCOR Archbishop Ioasaph canonized in GOC of Greece
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According to the website of the GOC of Greece, on July 8/21, 2024, in Edmonton, in the "Russian-Greek" parish of St. Prince Vladimir, founded by Archbishop Ioasaph in the 1930s, the hierarchs of the GOC of Greece, the Most Reverend Metropolitans Demetrios of America and Moses of Toronto, as well as Bishop Auxentios of Etna and Portland and Bishop Benedict of Astoria, led the celebrations for the glorification of Archbishop Ioasaph (Skorodumov) of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
We publish the biography of the saint, compiled by the ROCOR Bishop Alexander (Mileant).
Archbishop Ioasaph (Skorodumov, 1888-1955)
Bishop Archbishop Ioasaph was born in the village of Rebovichi, Tikhvin district, Novgorod province, on January 14/26, 1888, and received the name of St. John at holy baptism. His parents were the priest of this village, Fr. Vasily Skorodumov, and Theodosia Mikhailovna, nee Kachalova. He was three hours older than his twin sister. As children of fields and forests, they were given names of wild flowers - "Ivan and Marya." He also had two brothers: the first - three years older, who died in 1942 during the German blockade of Petrograd, and the second - two years younger, who died as a twelve-year-old boy. Only his sister Maria, who lives in Petrograd, survived. The family lost their mother when the twins were five years old, and gradually all the household chores and care for the family fell on little Maria. The family of a modest villager lived in the beautiful Russian northern nature, near a lake and a forest. They were very friendly, everyone loved each other, the children idolized their father, who was very happy with them. Little Vanyusha was everyone's favorite. He was a very lively child, sometimes he liked to play pranks, but he was obedient and helpful. From early childhood, he was very religious and tried to attend every service, serving in the church. In addition to brotherly love, he and his older brother were also connected by bonds of friendship and camaraderie. For Vanyusha, his older brother was a great authority, a groom and an inspirer of children's games and amusements. In the summer, during the holidays, they went to the forest together for mushrooms and berries, fishing, often disappearing for whole days at the lake. "We would catch a full bag of fish," Vladyka recalled, "and head home, pleased with our rich catch. On the way, one of us would suddenly get the idea to carry the fish all the way home without changing our shoulders. And it was still three or four miles to go home. At first, nothing. But then, the further we walked, the more and more strongly the thin string thrown over our shoulders began to cut into our bodies, causing severe pain. Then it became completely unbearable, but we endured and did not want to give in at all. And when we finally returned home, we ourselves were no longer able to take our burdens off our shoulders. My sister took them off. On our shoulders, the string left a deep, almost blood-red stripe. Father came and, having learned of our new idea, only smiled and shook his head reproachfully: "... you are fools, fools!" ... And on our In the language it was called a "feat." "Or here's another case. In winter, during the Christmas vacancies, having run and skated or sledded to our heart's content the whole day, late in the evening we would lie in warm beds and not sleep for a long time, talking about something in whispers. And suddenly, one of us would get an unexpected idea: just like that, barefoot in just our nightgowns, in the frost, in the snow, quickly run a hundred steps there and back... But we did it in such a way that neither my sister nor my father would know," laughs the Bishop, "otherwise we would have gotten into serious trouble for such a "feat"...
