Blessing of Festival Icon

Every year we select a patron saint for our Russian Festival. The saint is usually an American saint or a saint who impacted the lives of American Orthodox faithful.

This year we chose Saint John Kochurov, born in Russia in 1871 and came to America. He served in Chicago and was instrumental in forming numerous parishes, including one in Oklahoma. He was also instrumental in organizing the historic first All American Council, convenited in 1907 in Mayfield PA.

In 1907 he returned to Russia and on 31 October 1917 his down was seized by the Bolsheviks and he was arrested, takekn to the outskirts of town and shot to death. Thus, he became the first clergy marty of the Russian Revolution in 1917.