St. John (Kochurov) of Chicago
Saint John Kochurov was the first priest of the many hundreds who were martyred during the Soviet period in Russia. He was given the name of St. John of Chicago because he was one of a number of young educated priests who came to the United States in the late 1890’s as Orthodox missionaries for the newly arrived Eastern European immigrants. He was active in establishing parishes and aiding Orthodox communities, mainly in the Midwest. For health reasons and concern for his children’s education, he returned to Russia in 1907. Because of his teaching skills learned in the United States and his ability to relate to high school students, he was assigned to teach catechism in Narva, Estonia. Then in 1916, he was transferred to St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Tsarskoe Selo, a suburb of St. Petersburg. At St. Catherine’s, he established himself as a popular priest who was skilled in presenting moving sermons.
In October 1917 the Bolshevik uprising in St. Petersburg spilled over quickly into Tsarskoe Selo.  The people thronged to the churches where the clergy held prayer services and led processions throughout the town praying for peace.  On October 31,1917, Fr. John was arrested and taken by the Bolsheviks out of town where he was summarily shot.  By this act, Fr. John became the First Priest Martyr of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Soviet yoke. Fr. John was buried several days later in the crypt of St. Catherine’s Cathedral. His martyrdom is commemorated both on October 31st and January 25th, the feast of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia, which is the date of the martyrdom of Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev in the Ukraine.
Early years and America
John Kochurov was born on July 13, 1871. His father was a priest. His education included attendance at the Ryazan Seminary and St. Petersburg Theological Academy. He excelled at his studies at both the seminary and academy. After graduating in 1895, Fr. John married and was ordained a priest on August 27, 1895 at the St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg by Bishop Nicholas Ziorov of the Diocese of the Aleutians and Alaska.
Having expressed the desire to be a missionary priest in the United States, Fr. John was soon transferred and became the first permanent priest at St. Vladimir’s Church in Chicago. This parish was later to become the Holy Trinity Cathedral, a national landmark. St. Vladimir’s did not have a permanent building. Services were being held in a converted house located on Central Avenue. Fr. John enlisted the services of the noted architect Louis Sullivan to design the church. To finance the project, Fr. John sought and obtained donations from Tsar Nicholas II as well as from prominent Americans, notably Harold McCormick, Marshall Field and Charles R. Crane who was the American ambassador to China. Construction of the church began in April 1902 and was completed the next year for the consecration by then Bishop Tikhon who later became Patriarch of Moscow.
Fr. John devoted much effort to aiding the establishment of other parishes in the Chicago area. He performed the first service for the future Archangel Michael Orthodox Church in Southwest Chicago. In the greater Chicago area he was active in the formation of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary parish in Madison, the Church of the Three Hierarchs in Streator and St. Nicholas in Joliet Illinois, as well as aiding the parishes in Buffalo, New York, Hartshorn, Oklahoma and towns in Arkansas.
 His charitable activities and ministries included the establishment of a major Orthodox Mutual Aid Society that provided support for the many newly arrived immigrants. He also translated religious texts into English, looking to the time when the church in America would consist of English-speaking members. Before his return to Russia, Fr. John helped organize the first All-American Council that was held in Mayfield, Pennsylvania, in 1907 which became the foundation of the Orthodox Church in America OCA.
On December 1994, Fr. John was glorified by the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, in session at St. Daniel’s Monastery, Moscow, Russia, as the first of the new martyrs of the 20th century. In the United States he is honored by the Orthodox Church in America as martyr, missionary and inspired preacher. The newly established Orthodox chapel in New Lenox became Saint John of Chicago Orthodox Chapel in April 2016.