Glorious Apostle to an Age of Coldness and Unbelief

I was looking at this picture of St. John Maximovitch (+ 1966), which was taken in the New York Cathedral in 1964, and the following scripture came to mind:

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. - I Corinthians 15:54

St. John was a bishop in the Holy Orthodox Church, but he was no "ordinary" bishop. The combination of his haggard body, worn-out from his asceticism, clothed in the beautiful vestments of an Orthodox Bishop seems the perfect "icon" of the scripture quoted above. Actually, all of 1 Corinthians 15 speaks about this. Some also consider St. John a "Fool for Christ." From the above picture, you can see why. Remember, this was 1964. I can scarcely imagine the reception he must have gotten in some "proper church circles".

I have met two people who were healed fairly recently through St. John's heavenly intercessions. One man, whose legs were to be amputated due to massive infections stemming from a motorcycle accident, was healed overnight. St. John came into his room at night and smiling at him, blessed him and made the sign of the cross over his bed, and left. This happened in the mid-80's, some 20 years after saint John's repose. The man with the infection wasn't Orthodox at the time, and the whole time that St. John was blessing him he was screaming and yelling at the saint to, "get the hell out of my room!", thinking that some homeless person had wandered in there. Again, looking at the picture above, one can understand the man's concern. Needless to say, he is now Orthodox and took St. John as his patron. Another person, a little girl who was born deaf, was healed in an instant after being anointed with oil from the vigil lamp that hangs over St. John's relics. These two people are the closest I've ever been to the miraculous. . .unless you count turning a completely self-serving wretch (me) into a slightly-less-than-completely-self-serving-wretch, a miracle. (Actually, I do. Probably a greater one.)

Here's St. John's troparian (i.e. Orthodox theme song)

Glorious apostle to an age of coldness and unbelief,
Invested with the grace-filled power of the saints of old,
Divinely illumed seer of heavenly mysteries,
Feeder of orphans, hope of the hopeless,
Thou dids't enkindle on earth a fire of love for Christ,
Upon the dark eve of the day of judgement,
O holy hierarch John,
Pray now that this sacred flame may also arise in our hearts.