John I of Rostov

Holy Hierarch John, bishop of Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir, was the confessor of Grand Prince Vsevolod III and reposed on 12 May 1214 in Suzdal. He is canonized among the hierarchs, and the old calendars place his commemoration on 17 (30) January.

He was the spiritual father of Grand Prince Vsevolod Yuryevich and his family. In 1189, while still a hegumen, he baptized the newborn Prince George, and from that hour the whole childhood and youth of George Vsevolodovich bore the mark of John's influence. Prince Vsevolod sent him to Kyiv, to Metropolitan Nicephorus, to be consecrated bishop of Rostov. On 23 January 1190 he was, in the chronicler's words, set as shepherd over the whole land of Rostov, Suzdal and Vladimir. He was the last bishop of the Rostov-⁠Suzdal land from 1190 to 1214, when it was still a single domain and a single diocese.

On 26 February 1190 the new bishop arrived at Rostov, where he was met by Grand Prince Vsevolod, who was there on business of collecting tribute. On 10 March he reached Suzdal, where the whole city came out to meet him beyond the gate of Old Street. Opposite this gate he soon founded the Monastery of the Deposition of the Robe, which Venerable Euphrosyne, then Princess Elena (Prebrana) Mikhailovna of Suzdal, later entered. In the very first year of his episcopate he ordained the keeping of the feast of the finding of the relics of Saint Leontius (23 May, which is 5 June), for whom he wrote a canon, included in the Menaion for May.

On 26 July 1192 he performed over Prince George the rite of knightly tonsure: when the boy reached the age of three, his hair was cut in a circle, he was marked with the cross, sprinkled with holy water and set on a horse with prayers. In the 1190s the grand prince's family lived chiefly at Suzdal. In 1196 John married Prince Constantine Vsevolodovich at Vladimir, and in 1212 George (Yuri) Vsevolodovich. In his time several churches in Vladimir and Suzdal were founded, renewed and consecrated, and in 1202 he consecrated the Dormition church at Vladimir. In 1198 Murom was separated from the diocese of Rostov.

In 1213 Bishop John left his diocese and received the schema at the Nativity of the Mother of God Monastery at Bogolyubovo. He lived about a year in retirement and reposed on 12 May 1214 at Suzdal, in the monastery of Saints Cosmas and Damian, where he was also buried.