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Bishop John resided in Baghdad where most of his flock lived. He retired due to old age in 1945, and eventually made his way to the U.S., where he lived with his son in Chicago. In the early 1950's, Bishop [[Nikon (Rklitsky)]], while visiting Chicago, "had a wonderful meeting with Bishop John of Urmia and Salma, the eldest member of our Council of Bishops, and spiritual head of the Orthodox Assyrians." Vladika Nikon noted that Bishop John spoke the same language as that spoken by Christ the Savior, and had been the translator at the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia. After moving to Chicago to live in retirement, he found there were several thousand of his fellow Orthodox Assyrians, who were spiritually undernourished, living in the Chicago area. When Vladyka Nikon visited Bishop John, he found him "surrounded by Americans of Assyrian origin", to whom Bishop John was reading the Bible in their native language. The Synod of Bishops, through Archbishop [[Gregory (Borishkevitch) of Chicago|Gregory (Borishkevitch)]] of Chicago and Cleveland (later of Chicago, Detroit and Midwest America), Protopresbyter Arkadii Tsepuro, Protopresbyter George Grabbe (later Bishop Gregory of Washington & Florida), and Protopresbyter [[Andrew (Rymarenko) of Rockland|Adrian Rymarenko]] (later Archbishop Andrew of Novo Diveyevo) arranged for Bishop John to live in retirement at the [[Novo-Diveevo|Novo Diveyevo Convent]] in Spring Valley, New York. He reposed at Novo Diveyevo in 1960 at the age of 105, and is buried in the cemetery located there.

== Literature ==

== Sources ==

* http://www.roca.org/bishop_john.htm