John of Tobolsk (1651–1715) was born as Ioann Maksimovich Vasilkovskiy in Nieżyn, in the Czernihow Voivodeship of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. He was the only one of the seven sons of Maksym Wasylkowski Maksymowicz to enter the service of the Eastern Orthodox Church, in which he was appointed manager of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra by 1678. As wanted someone to succeed him of Chernigov, he appointed John as Archimandrite of the Eletsky Monastery in 1695. Bishop Theodore of Uglich reposed in 1696 and John became Archbishop of Chernigov.