We hope that, in the future, when Holy Russia is resurrected, the history of the Russian Church Abroad as the guardian of Holy Russian Orthodoxy in the years of tribulations will be written. May this book serve as a modest reference for our Church. Herein are placed the remaining records of what I spoke or wrote in church or in various instances of Church life.
My work in the Church in America began on November 17/30, 1946, when I, along with 12 monks of the Brotherhood of St. Job of Pochaev, came to the United States from Ladomirová in the Prešov region of Sub-Carpathian Rus’, having joined the brethren in Europe. The monastery’s abbot, the Right Reverend Seraphim, came here some time earlier, toward the end of the Cleveland Council (Sobor). This council, which took place in Cleveland [earlier that same year, in 1946 – trans.], destroyed the unity of Russian church life in America, which had been established only ten years prior. Archbishop Vitaly received us in a fatherly manner, leaving me in New York at the Diocesan headquarters in the role of secretary, along with Hierodeacon Pimen for service in the cathedral in the Bronx, while the remainder of the monks were sent to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, which badly needed to have its own brotherhood replenished. On June 14/27, 1948, by Archbishop Vitaly’s recommendation, I was elevated to the rank of Bishop of Florida, with an appointment to serve as vicar bishop of the North American and Canadian Diocese, reconstituted after the Cleveland Council and now receiving clergy and refugees ("DPs") from Europe and creating new parishes and then dioceses. Archbishop Vitaly focused his attention primarily on the further establishment and direction of Holy Trinity Monastery, tasking me with operating the diocese under his leadership. Upon Archbishop Vitaly’s repose on March 8/21, 1960, I was given the same tasks, but now with the elevated title of Archbishop of Washington and Florida, by both the reposed Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky) and the prospering Metropolitan Philaret (Voznesensky), as both First Hierarchs and diocesan bishops.
Over these 25 years, we have worked amicably with our selfless clergy, which, preserving church truth, preferred to attend to our poorly-off and poorly established parishes, rather than enter into a doubtful jurisdiction. Many of these clergymen work up until this day, some of them have passed away, living to 90 or even over 100 years of age (Archpriest D. Dumsky), while some departed for the Lord in their prime, their strength having been undermined by the revolutionary conditions of life. They were zealous and selfless servants of God, and may the Lord reward them for their labors and sorrows, which they bore and bear in conditions of refugee life in a foreign land.
Here are the names preserved in my records, of my reposed collaborators, who in one way or another came to help me in my work in the Church: Protopresbyters: Vladimir Vostokov, Vasily Shaposhnikov, Michael Polsky, Pavel Kalinovich, Vasily Boschanovsky, Julian Olhovsky, Avksenty Rudikov, Peter Triodin; Archimandrites: Vasily (Kondratovich), Polikarp, Joseph, Amvrosy (Konovalov), Afanasy (Strukov), Afanasy (Scepura); Archpriests: Vasily Demidov, Dimitri Kutenko, Leonid Znamensky, Nikolai Gorbatsevich, Fyodor Tonkoshkur, Stefan Malashkevich, Kosma Misuna, Vasily Koliubaev, Vasily Musin-Pushkin, Alexander Krasnoumov, Konstantin Makovelsky, Sergiy Selivanovsky, Mikhail Minaev, Boris Molchanov, Boris Chabovsky, Mikhail Danilchuk, Antony Yunak, Mikhail Nakonechny, Evgeny Chervinsky, Vladimir Grigorovich, Sergiy Panteleev, Mitrofan Bogomolets, Nikolai Stepanov, Daniil Dumsky, Georgy Pavliusik, Alexander Kachinsky, Mikhail Gordienko, Evgeny Kayko, Ioann Anosov, Grigory Shutak, Gerasim Shorets, Vladimir Travleev, Arkady Svitich, Leonid Upshinsky, Ioann Sobolevsky, Boris Vinogradov, Ioann Volkov, Afanasy Donetskov, Pavel Shamilsky, Serafim Slobodskoy, Joseph Grinkevich, Fyodor Penzenik, Nikolay Polsky, Ilya Kachevsky, Fyodor Chepelev; Igumens: Filimon, Ilya (Gavriliak), Mikhail (Bushmakin), Vasily (Faktorovich), Serafim (Popov); Hieromonks: Pavel, Nikodim, Nikolay, Varnava; Priests: Alexander Kolesnikov, Peter Nikolaev, Mikhail Kalmykov, Georgy Gorsky, Peter Pankratov, Alexander Pashkov, Alexander Makarenkov, Mikhail Aksenenkov, Valentin Livay, Nikita Komarnitsky; Archdeacon Pimen; Protodeacons: Spiridon Dovgalevich, Cornily Chigrin, Dimitri Sukhanov, Nikolay Patoev; Hierodeacons: Varlaam, Gelasy; Deacons: Georgy Afanasiev, Pavel Yasarevsky, Sergiy Liagin, Timofey Filatiev; church servers, subdeacons: Zakhary Sitarchuk, Evdokim Bogdarenko, Lev Schedrin, and Reader Georgy Mordvinov. The majority of the clergymen listed served in our Eastern American Diocese, some in the Western American, and others in our other American or Canadian dioceses, and in our monasteries.
In summary, I offer my prayerful gratitude to my ever-memorable superiors and leaders, Archbishop Vitaly and Metropolitan Anastassy, for all of the good things that I received from them.
May 1974
