"St. John of San Francisco in the Bay of Grace", acrylic on gesso board, Bishop Maxim, 2025

In St. John of San Francisco in the Bay of Grace, Bishop Maxim unites the spiritual and the local, depicting the saint as a radiant guardian of the Bay Area. Clad in deep violet robes that echo both Byzantine sanctity and Pacific twilight, he stands between the waters and the city, his gaze gentle yet penetrating. A fish and a dove rest upon his hands— symbols of baptism and peace—while behind him shimmer the city lights and the vermilion span of the Golden Gate Bridge, a threshold between heaven and earth. The saturated blues and luminous tones create a visionary calm where time and place dissolve. The saint’s halo blends with the sky, as if sanctity itself breathes through the Bay’s rhythm— the sea, the clouds, the human heart.