Honoring the Memory of the Elder John of Florida, Founder of the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Fort Myers

“Remember your teachers, who preached the word of God to you, and, looking at the end of their lives, imitate their faith” (Heb. 13.7).

Every year on September 1, the oldest Orthodox Christian monastery in Florida, St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Fort Myers, remembers its founder, Archimandrite John (Lewis), who rested eternally in the Lord on that day in 2007. 

Archimandrite Alexander, Vicar of the Slavic Orthodox Vicariate and Hegumen of the Monastery, visited the tomb of Father John in the monastery church and celebrated a memorial service, offering prayers for the reposed Elder. 

Archimandrite John (Lewis) was born in 1941 in Pennsylvania.  He received his theological education at several universities in the USA and Greece.  Throughout his life, Father John mastered many languages, enabling him to translate liturgical texts into English.  In 1978, he arrived in Florida and founded the state’s first Orthodox Christian monastery, which is celebrating its 45the anniversary this year.  Another pursuit of Elder John was collecting religious relics.  The monastery of St. Nicholas has the largest collection of Christian objects in America, among which are the relics of 600 saints.  Both parishioners and pilgrims can pray before the remains of saints who lived from the 1st to the 20th centuries.  Archimandrite John fell asleep in the Lord in 2007.  Ten years later his remains were found to be incorrupt.  They rest in a place of honor in the monastery church.  According to the testimony of parishioners and pilgrims, many faithful received assistance through prayers said before the relics of Elder John of Florida.