The fourth issue of the “Parish of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and Abroad” of the Faculty of Social Sciences of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University is a new collection of interviews and analytical materials dedicated to the parish life of the Church started in the first three publishing series of 2011, 2013 and 2015. Over this time certain research prospect, methodological framework of studying parishes based on principles of non-intervention and maximum uncovering of participants’ point of view on the certain processes and events have already been shaped. Social actors themselves – interviews with the clergy and the laity that allow us to see not only social but also personal dimension of the Church life – are in the center of our attention.
The fourth issue is dedicated to the parish life materials collected in the United States of America and closely related to His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) – a divine protector of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University. Exactly there, in the USA far back in 1898 the future Patriarch began his service as the Bishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska holding a chair up to 1907 and has left a memory as of “serene apostleship”.
Staying on the American land, we perceived the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon found ourselves at the same places where he had been and worked. We were in New York City, where St. Tikhon had begun his service in the USA. The decision to reorganize the chair was made there – it was that place, where His Eminence Tikhon decided to carry the pontifical cathedra from distant San Francisco to New York. And right there on May 22, 1901, he blessed the cornerstone for the new cathedral of Saint Nicholas. Today the cathedral is one of the most beautiful orthodox churches of New York City. In St. Nicholas Cathedral we interviewed the clergy and the parishioners, made photos of material things left in the wake of Saint Spirit in memoriam of Patriarch.
One of the interviews was with abbot Nikodemus (Balyasnikov) who told us about the parishes of Moscow Patriarchate located in America – in fact, the parishes founded by His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon. This particular story opens the first part of the fourth issue – “Orthodoxy in the USA: diversity as an American culture feature”.
An interview with Rev. Hieromonk Eutichius (Dovganyuk) of the Synodal Cathedral of the Icon of Our Lady of the Sign in New York (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) gets acquainted us with the parishes of Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. His story uncovers another page of the Church history and modernity – the birth of so-called “white church”, “the church of Russian emigrants” in America, the tragic destiny of which was shared by Patriarch himself after his return to Soviet Russia.
On November 1899 St. Tikhon sent a request to the Holy Synod of changing the name of diocese from “Diocese of Aleutians and Alaska” to “Diocese of Aleutians and North America” and thus, starting from February 1900 the new Diocese intended to give guidance for a big amount of Orthodox emigrants settled in the northern part of America. In May 1905 St. Tikhon was elevated to the rank of Archbishop of Aleutian and North American Archidiocese. The well-disposed administration and clear-eyed view of the situation led to increase the number of the parishes in the eastern part of America near the cities of New York, Pittsburgh and Boston.
After New York we went to Pittsburgh to see with our own eyes the legacy of St. Tikhon. As the biographers mentioned, St. Tikhon paid great attention to association with other local churches, in particular, he maintained relations with Syrian and Serbian Orthodox communities, often ministered at their churches, did everything he could to arrangement their life in America. He also guided and supported Greek Orthodox parishes, especially in the western part of the USA. For many times he officiated the divine services in Orthodox church of Chicago in Greek, that fulfilled Greek people with gratefulness and marveling.
There is no doubt that St. Tikhon was the symbolic center of Orthodoxy in America that unified people of the most different nations that time.
Being in Pittsburgh we met and interviewed the clergy and the laity of Antiochian Orthodox Church and Greek Orthodox Church. On the one hand we tried to look back to the past, on the other hand – we carefully examined modern fife: what had changed since the times of our Orthodox brothers’ arrival in America? Trying to feel the succession of history and discover new stories in the destiny of Antiochian and Greek Orthodox communities we interviewed the abbot of Saint George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh, the priest Dimitry Mekowl, and the abbot of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Pittsburgh (American Archdiocese of Constantinopolitan Patriarchate), the priest Christopher Bender. These materials are also represented in the first section of the issue “Orthodoxy in the USA: diversity as an American culture feature”.
The peacefulness of His Grace Bishop Tikhon, his peace making service led to the realization of the necessity of bringing North American eparchy to the level of exarchate possessing extensive autonomous rights. Such a request to the Holy Synod was made in 1905. Moreover, St.Tikhon suggested a possibility of autocephaly of American Orthodox Church in the future taking in account the complexity of spreading Orthodoxy in poly-confessional America, raised a question of the need to train American clergy. As the result, the mission school in Minneapolis became a seminary. Over the time the problem of producing enough American priests fully disappeared as well as the necessity of sending priests from Russia unfamiliar with the reality of American life.
These entire solutions and reforms made by St.Tikhon are being continued even today in a remarkable manner – American Orthodox Church plays an increasingly prominent part in the process of Christianization of America. Other profile of Orthodoxy in the U SA is demonstrated in the issue by interviews with Archimandrite Alexander (Golitzin), the Bishop of Toledo and the Bulgarian Diocese (Orthodox Church of America); with Mother Christophora (Matichak), the abbess of the Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church in America in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania; with Fr.Thomas Soroka, rector of St.Nicholas Orthodox Church in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.
The second part of the issue is called “Parishes of Moscow Patriarchate and Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in New York. Memoirs of the past, review of the present, forecast for the future in interviews with the clergy and the laity”. It represents a set of interviews containing experience of the laity of various waves of Russian emigration of the 20th century. The interviews illustrate not just the evolution of the parish life of the two main orthodox churches of New York (St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral and Synodal Cathedral of the Sign), but also the development of American society itself. In this context are of great interest interviews with Archpriest Alexander Golubov, the cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral, with Nadya Mokhoff, the treasurer of the Cathedral of our Lady of the Sign Sisterhood, and with Eugenia Temidis, the precentor at daily services with Synodal Cathedral Choir. In retrospective manner starting from the middle of the last century our respondents gave us the portraits of the parishioners, described the reality of the parish life of that period. Two more interviews – with Sergei Yakushin, starosta of the Synodal Cathedral of our Lady of the Sign, and Protodeacon Igor Panachev, the cleric of St. Nicholas Cathedral – focus on the current time: who is the modern parishioner, what the life of the modern laity looks like, what difficulties they face and what place the church takes in their life.
In the third part of the issue – “Two sides of the parish fife. The Orthodox parish in non-orthodox and orthodox society” – there are interviews with two priests. Anatoly Shefer, the cleric of the Orthodox Church of Resurrection of Christ in Munich, and Lev Efremidis, the Rector of the Orthodox Church of St. Seraphim Sarovskiy in Thessaloniki tell us in details about their parishes’ weekdays and practices under conditions of non-orthodox confessional Germany and orthodox Greece, denote similarities and differences, peculiarities of the influence of the society and local communities. Such materials provide unique experience of getting acquainted with the state of Russian Orthodox parishes in the countries of Orthodox tradition and vice versa – Protestant and Catholic tradition. It should also be noticed that the interview with Lev Efremidis is a kind of prologue to the fifth issue of this collection dedicated to Russian Orthodox parishes of Cyprus and Greece.
The final fourth part of the issue called “Parish and Orthodox Migrant in Scientific Research Studies” is completed by the papers of the following authors:
– A. Krindach, who is famous for his fundamental research study of Orthodoxy in America;
– S. V. Ryazantsev, A. A. Grebenyuk, specialized for a long time and have a lot of publications on the study of the life being of Russian compatriots abroad, including Russian communities in the USA;
– N. S. Erokhova, which article is an analysis of Christian communities of the city of Pittsburgh, PA based on the results of the sociological research made by the Faculty of Social Sciences within the framework of cooperation between St. Tikhon Orthodox University and Theological Seminary of Pittsburgh.
One more article written by Podlesnaya M. A. and Kharchevkina N. N. is based on the translation of not published in Russia book by Peter Berger who considers the phenomenon of American religiosity in comparison with European secularism.
The aim of all these research studies is to provide a scientific foundation for parish research materials and is a sort of a clue to other parts of the issue; they allow us to understand what Orthodoxy in America is and what American communities are today.
One of the last Patriarch Tikhon’s achievements as the Archbishop of Aleutian and North American Archidiocese was the First Orthodox Church Council in America which was convened by St. Tikhon in Mayfield (Pennsylvania) in 1907. A number of serious and actual even today problems were highlighted by St. Tikhon – expansion of Orthodox mission in America, the necessity of elaboration of The Mission Charter, overcoming of dissociation, assistance of poor parishes, unification of all the ethnical orthodox groups despite the differences in performance of ceremonies and services not affect the very core of the Faith. Thus St. Tikhon stressed an importance of manifestation of concern and love towards every parishioner appeared on this land: there was one shepherd and unified flock.
The official farewell of St.Tikhon with his American flock took place on March 17, 1907 on Shrove Sunday. His last divine service in America St. Tikhon made on March 24 in St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, and on March 26 he returned to Russia. In his farewell communication St.Tikhon asked the assembled people to be strong in possessing the True Orthodox Faith and in spreading it among unconverted people. We hope that this issue will be a small contribution to that mission started by St.Tikhon.
In conclusion we would like to thank the governance of St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University for rendered financial and moral support, as well as all the coordinators of the project living and ministering in different countries of the world, everybody who kindly welcomed us in our research trips.
We also want to tell special thanks to abbot Nikodemus (Balyasnikov) for active participation in our work, especially for organization of the field work at the parish of St. Nicholas Cathedral. Besides, we express thanks to Rev. Hieromonk Eutichius (Dovganyuk), who cordially welcomed us and helped with accommodation in New York. Great thanks to John Burgess, the Professor of Theological Seminary of Pittsburgh, who took care about everything during our staying in Pittsburgh. At last, we would like to express special thanks to Olga V. Trofimova, our critic and text editor, Lidiya V. Rassokhina and all the students of the Faculty of Social Sciences of St.Tikhon’s Orthodox University participated in the process of transcribing the interviews and working with the research materials.