Bishop John (Kurakin)

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Bishop John of Messina (in the world, Prince Ivan Anatolievich Kurakin) has gone from a civil servant and politician under the emperor, then the provisional government, to bishop and vicar of the archdiocese of orthodox parishes of Russian tradition in Europe Western, with the title of Messina, under Metropolitan Vladimir (Tikhonitsky).

Born on August 1 (13), 1874 in Tsarskoye Selo, educated at the 3rd high school in Saint Petersburg, from which he graduated in 1893 with a gold medal. After completing a comprehensive course in jurisprudence at the University of St. Petersburg, in 1897, he passed the state examination at the University of Kharkov. He receives the title of chamber junker.

On October 7, 1897, he did his military service in a cavalry regiment. On August 14, 1899, he was promoted cornet, then lieutenant. from 1899 - assistant to the leader of the regimental training team, from 1901 - leader of the scouts of the life squadron of the cavalry regiment. On February 19, 1902, he enlisted in the Guards cavalry reserve. In 1901, while still an officer, he was elected head of the nobility of the Mologa district, a post he held until 1905, the following year he became the provincial head of the nobility of Yaroslavl.

In 1904 he received the title of chamberlain. He was also spokesperson for the Mologa district assembly, a member of numerous committees of the district and provincial assemblies of zemstvo, honorary administrator of the Yaroslavl real school of zemstvo, honorary guardian of the vocational school of Mologa.

At the start of the First World War, he participated in the evacuation of educational establishments before the German occupation.

From 1907 to 1913 he was a member of the State Duma of the Third Convocation of Yaroslavl Province. In the Duma, he was a member of the Octobrist faction, member of the central committee of the "Union of October 17" party, chairman of the commission of inquiry and secretary of the commission of public instruction.

On May 22, 1913, he was awarded the court title of "at the equestrian post", full-fledged state councilor (from January 29, 1915), honorary administrator of the Yaroslavl school and the Mologa high school.

From 1915 to 1917 he was administrator of the Warsaw School District.

He received orders from St. Anne, 2nd class, St. Vladimir, 4th and 3rd class. and St. Stanislav 1st century, a sign and medal in memory of the 300th anniversary of the ruling House of Romanov.

During the civil war - Minister of Finance of the Provisional Government of the Northern Region (Arkhangelsk), headed by N.V. Tchaikovsky.

At the end of April 1919, he joined Kolchak in Siberia, handing over the management of the finance department to P. Yu. Zubov. At the end of May 1919 he went to Omsk. In Omsk, a commission headed by Kourakine drew up a regulation on the status of the northern region. In Siberia, he was the chief commissioner of the Red Cross, then chief commissioner.

From 1920, he lived in exile in Paris, where from 1921 to 1931 he was a member of the parish council of Saint-Alexandre-Nevski Cathedral. In 1923, he prepared his "Memoirs of 1918-1922" (unpublished). Metropolitan Euloge (Georgievsky), noting his faith in God, invited him to accept the priesthood, which the prince accepted.

On August 23, 1931, at the Saint-Alexandre-Nevski Cathedral in Paris, Metropolitan Euloge ordained him deacon, and on August 28 he was ordained a priest and served as rector of the Nicholas Church in Milan. On September 1, 1935, he was appointed rector of the Church of the Nativity of Christ in Florence.

On May 2, 1937, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest.

From 1948 to 1950 he was part-time rector of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Sanremo and was appointed dean of parishes in Italy.

On December 4, 1949, he pronounced his monastic vows with preservation of his old name, and on December 6 he was elevated to the rank of Archimandrite.

On October 9, 1950, Metropolitan Vladimir in the church of the enclosure Serge in Paris carried out his consecration as bishop of Messina, vicar of the Western European exarchate of parishes of Russian tradition, with the definition of his seat at St. Cathedral Saint-Nicolas of Nice. But it was not destined to reach its destination - on October 27, 1950, Bishop Jean died in Paris of a heart attack. Buried in the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois cemetery.