St. John of Shanghai's stauropegial male skete

The village of Adamivka in the Donetsk region lies ten kilometres from the Sviatohirsk Lavra, and in former times it was the estate of the noble Maksymovych family, from which came Saint John of Tobolsk, missionary and enlightener of Siberia¹.

In this village, on the family estate, the future Saint John of Shanghai was born and grew up, named Mykhailo at his baptism, and at his monastic tonsure he received his name in honour of that famous forebear¹. His life places his birth on 4/17 June 1896 and gives the place as Adamivka in the Kharkiv gubernia². His parents were Borys and Hlafira; from childhood he was marked by a deep religiousness, gathered icons and church books, and loved most of all to read the lives of the saints¹. By the witness of that same life, the Sviatohirsk monastery, which stood not far from the Maksymovych estate, disposed the young Mykhailo to a thoughtful attitude to life¹.

On 21 October 2007 the laying of a new church in honour of Saint John of Shanghai took place at Adamivka, and from that event the skete of the same name began¹.