From Thursday the 13th through Sunday the 16th of July, the New York "Tsarskoe Selo" Chapter of the St. George Pathfinders of America held its celebrations in honor of its founding on January 20, 1948 by Scoutmaster Andrew V. Ilyinsky. The celebrations were conducted in the scouting tradition of bonfires, talks, a showcase, and competitions, in which scouts of all generations partook, ending with the ceremony for the Remembrance for the Fallen Faithful (DPV).

Representatives of SGPA divisions from California, Washington, Germany, France, and Moscow all came to the celebrations. For the Washington "Putivl’" Chapter, the celebrations marked the end of their two-week hike across the mountains and rivers of the Adirondacks. Also visiting the camp for the first time in 35 years was the founder’s son – Vitiaz Andrew Ilyinsky. Ilyinsky had a positive assessment of the contemporary administration and was glad in how the new generations have been growing the camp and grounds of "New Pavlovsk."

On Saturday, His Eminence Gabriel, Archbishop of Montreal & Canada, arrived at the camp in order to officiate the divine services and DPV ceremony.

"The Day of Remembrance of the Fallen Faithful," explained Head Scoutmaster Michael Jordan, "began in 1860, when the guardsmen asked of the Emperor that they be allowed to remember within their ranks the departed of their regiments. The Emperor assented and proclaimed that they ‘be remembered unto the ages of ages.’ In 1909, the regiments were granted the right to remember their own comrades-in-arms… Since 1946, our organization uses this same approach: we have our own organizational roll of the departed and each chapter retains the right to add to this roll…"

With the roll of the faithful appeared a multitude of local and historical personages of the Russian Scouting Movement, including the late chaplain of the St. George Pathfinders within the Diaspora, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York, and two saints: the Holy Hierarch Basil of Kineshma, bishop and scoutmaster, and the Holy Passion-bearer Tsarevich and Most August Scout Alexis.

During the solemn bonfire, Archbishop Gabriel, Head Scoutmaster Michael Jordan, and other scout leaders made speeches in between songs which reminded the scouts of the brave deeds and struggles of their Russian predecessors. On the following day, the scouts communed at Divine Liturgy. Archbishop Gabriel delivered a sermon on the Royal Passion-bearers, whose memory His Eminence blessed to be commemorated a day early.

The reason for moving the commemoration was not arbitrary: having read Baron Robert Baden-Powell’s book Scouting For Boys in 1909, the Holy Royal Passion-bearer Emperor Nicholas II bid Colonel Oleg I. Pantuckoff (Pantyukhov) to organize a scouting program for Russia. At Pavlovsk Park in Tsarskoe Selo, Pantuckoff gathered his first scout regiment, which the Prince of Imperial Blood George Constantinovich soon joined, who provoked the interest of his relative Tsarevich Alexis enough to join the ranks of the scouts, to become the Most August Scout of the Tsarkoe Selo Group. In 1918, he also became the first Scout-Martyr.

The New York Chapter of the SGPA has, from its earliest days, been closely tied to the Eastern American Diocese. In 1950, the scouts set up their first summer camp, "Dawn," in North America on the territory of the Hermitage of Our Lady of Kursk in Mahopac, NY. A year later, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky; +1965) visited the camp together with the Chief Russian Scout, Colonel O.I. Pantuckoff. In the 1960s, the chapter began conducting its annual pilgrimage to Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville; and in 2013 it took part in the 75th anniversary celebrations of St. Vladimir Memorial Church dedicated to the Millennial of the Baptism of Russia.

The celebrations ended with a formation, during which the leadership thanked and awarded the gathered campers. The leader of the Munich Chapter of the St. George Pathfinders "Smolensk," Scoutmaster Gregor Kobro, presented a gift to the New York Chapter with an icon of the Heavenly patron of the Scouting Movement, the Holy Great-Martyr and Trophy-bearer George, hand-painted by the monks of the Kiev Caves Lavra. A flag-raising was also conducted, and a group photograph was taken. The camp kitchen workers then treated the participants of the celebrations to a barbecue.

Michael A. Kazmierczak