The next day he did not come to Petrov for change, and the following days he did not come in either. So a month passed. And so, the shopkeeper notices that his trade has begun to decline. Every day it got worse and worse, and at last it came to the point that at least you could close the shop.

Petrov grew heavier, he could not understand the reasons for the failure and complained bitterly to one of his friends. He also could not explain where the trouble came from, and suddenly asked:

"Does Fr. John still come to you for change?"

"No, he stopped walking, I haven't seen him for a long time.

The friend thought about it.

"Have you offended the priest in any way?" Why did he stop coming to you?

Then the shopkeeper remembered Fr. John's last visit, his annoyance with him, how he had cursed the poor in his mind, and a thought struck him like lightning. Without delay, on the same day he went to Fr. John, threw himself at his feet and exclaimed with tears:

"Father, I'm sorry!"

Fr. John lifted him up and calmed him down:

"I am not angry with you," he said, "although I saw that you had bad thoughts then. You did not offend me, but my poor, my beggars... And God is with them.

From that day on, the priest again began to go to Petrov's shop for change, and the latter's trade quickly recovered and flourished as before.

Rich people donated huge amounts of money to the priest for charity. True, the sums coming from all over Russia to Fr. John can only be judged approximately – he immediately distributed everything he received to the needy. But even according to the minimum calculation, at least one million rubles a year passed through his hands (in those days it was a huge amount!).

With this money, Fr. John fed a thousand beggars every day, and set up a "House of Industriousness" in Kronstadt, which included a church, a school, an orphanage, and workshops; founded a convent in his native village of Sura and erected a large stone church there, and built a convent in St. Petersburg.