SHAHOVSKOY, JOHN

SHAHOVSKOY, JOHN, Archbishop of San Francisco, emigre pastor, religious radio broadcaster (23 August 1902–30 May 1989). Born Prince Dimitry and schooled at the Lycaeum in St. Petersburg, he joined the White Army during the Russian Revolution, and was evacuated from the Crimea to France in 1921. He studied history and political science in Louvain, Belgium, while pursuing his vocation as a published poet. In the mid-1920s he moved to Paris to attend St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute (q.v.). Without completing his theological studies, he was tonsured monk (1926) while visiting St. Panteleimon Monastery on Mt. Athos (q.v.). He returned to France and was ordained to the diaconate by Metr. Evlogii (q.v.), then to the priesthood by Bishop Benjamin. His first pastorate was in Belaya Tserkov, Yugoslavia, then St. Vladimir’s Church in Berlin (1927), where he remained and distinguished himself as pastor to emigres during World War II.

In 1946 he moved to the United States and was consecrated bishop of Brooklyn (1947), auxiliary to the Metropolitan, teacher of pastoral theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (q.v.), and its dean. During the same period, he began giving Russian-language religious talks over “Voice of America Radio,” an effort he continued for almost forty years. From 1954 to 1968 he was a member of the World Council of Churches Central Committee. When the Russian Orthodox Church joined the WCC (1961), he raised the issue of the relationship between that Church and its estranged missionary diocese in the United States-which would result in the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church in America (qq.v.).

From 1950 to 1973 and 1975 to 1979 he served as archbishop of San Francisco, where he always sought advice, and respected his clergy and diocesan council. For a brief time he was Commander of Chaplains for the Orthodox with the honorary rank of general. He wrote extensively in Russian, maintained contact with a great many Russian writers and intellectuals, and was the honorary president of the International Dostoevsky Society. He was known for his wit and humor, but more frequently for his personal humility (q.v.) and as a Christian gentleman. He is author of The Orthodox Pastor (1966).