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→Life: internal link
The future Archbishop John was born in Umurga, Latvia, on [[August 25]], 1898. His father died when he was two years old, leaving his widowed mother to care for him and his two younger brothers. His mother, who was a gifted singer, did not remarry. Abp. John grew up in the fatherless family in a small provincial village of Limbazhi, located about 80 miles from Riga. He attended school in the village and took active part in the [[Church of Latvia|Latvian Orthodox Church]] as an [[altar]] boy and then as a [[reader|psalomchik]]. He attended the Theological [[Seminary]] in Riga, Latvia, from which he graduated with honors.
John was [[ordination|ordained]] [[deacon]] and then a [[priest]] in 1936. After Bishop Alexander (Vitols), formerly of Madona, died in Riga in 1942, Fr. John was elected Bishop of Riga. He was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] in 1943 after spending a period of time in preparation at the Holy Spirit Monastery in [[Vilnius]]. The new [[bishop]] found himself caught in the turmoil of World War II attempting to care for the many people displaced by the war. As the Soviet forces came into Latvia in 1944, Bp. John, together with his mother and an adopted son, [[SergeiGarklavs|Sergei]], was forced to leave Latvia with a small group of Latvian priests. The group took refuge in southern Czechoslovakia and eventually arrived in West Germany with the help of American soldiers. In West Germany, Bp. John encouraged the Orthodox Christians to organize [[parish]]es and "Displaced Persons" camps.
Bp. John arrived in the United States on [[July 22]], 1949, after having petitioned [[Metropolitan]] [[Theophilus (Pashkovsky) of San Francisco|Theophilus]] to accept him into the Metropolia. In October 1949, he was appointed Bishop of Detroit and Cleveland, and in 1955, he was appointed administrator of the Chicago-Minneapolis diocese. In 1957, he was confirmed as the ruling bishop of the [[diocese]] and raised to the rank of [[archbishop]]. During his tenure as Archbishop of Chicago, Abp. John served as senior bishop in the [[Holy Synod]] and as chairman of the Department of Music of the Metropolia and Orthodox Church in America. He remained Bishop of Chicago until his retirement in September 1978. He reposed on [[April 11]], 1982.
after=Kornily (Popov) of Vilnius, ''Administrator''|}}
{{succession|
before=[[Jeronim Arseny (ChernovChagovtsov) of DetroitWinnipeg|Jeronim Arseny (ChernovChagovtsov)]]|
title= Bishop of Detroit and Cleveland|
years=1949-1957|
