SERGEYEV, JOHN “OF KRONSTADT,”

SERGEYEV, JOHN “OF KRONSTADT,” priest, St. (1829–1908). This remarkable member of the white (married) clergy served at the naval base of Kronstadt outside St. Petersburg. In addition to extensive charitable works, he reformed several liturgical practices within his parish, anticipating many of the liturgical reforms of the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches (qq.v.) in the 20th c. These included public-or general-confessions, frequent communion, and lowering the iconostasis (qq.v.) to make the altar visible. He was so highly regarded during his own lifetime that he was one of very few married clergy to sit on the Holy Synod of Russia. His principal work, My Life in Christ, is available in several English translations. Although canonized recently by the Russian Church, Sergeyev was not without fault (e.g., an irregular marriage to gain ordination [qq.v.]) or occasional detractors (e.g., N. Leskov) in his own time. His extremely conservative political views regarding the monarchy might well have adversely affected the tenuous political atmosphere in 1905.