August 28, 2013
Jackson, NJ: The St. Vladimir’s Day Celebrations in America ‒ A "Test Flight"

This year, in the normally quiet town of Jackson, an hour’s ride from New York, clamor marked the sweeping celebrations of two major anniversaries ­­– one common to all Russians: the 1025th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ – and one more local: the 75th anniversary of the founding of St. Vladimir Memorial Church. And though they may have taken place on a smaller scale than their counterparts in Moscow, Kiev, and Minsk, this year’s St. Vladimir’s Day Celebrations were, after a lengthy, years-long lull, an event dear to the hearts of the Orthodox and Russian-speaking population of the New York-New Jersey megalopolis, a warm reminder of their homeland (literal for some, historic for others). For the organizers, meanwhile – the toilers of the Eastern American Diocese – who bravely set out to restore the once popular and widely attended festivities on St. Vladimir’s Mount, which historically drew crowds of up to 6,000 people – this year’s event could certainly be called a "test flight."

Coming to celebrate the pan-Slavic feast in Jackson that Sunday were the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America & New York; the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk; ROCOR hierarchs Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal & Canada, Eastern American Diocesan vicar Bishop George of Mayfield, and Bishop Jerome (Shaw); Ukrainian Orthodox Church representative Bishop Meletiy of Khotin, vicar of the Diocese of Chernovtsy & Bukovina; and Bishop Irénée of Quebec City, vicar of the Canadian Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in America.

In honor of the celebrations, three wonderworking icons of the Mother of God were brought to St. Vladimir’s Church: the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora – the Kursk Root Icon, the myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Iveron Icon, and the Pochaev Icon.

The Liturgy was celebrated in Church Slavonic and English. Upon completion of the divine service, the clergy and pilgrims circled the Memorial Church in procession., and His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, performed the blessing of the water.

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The October Revolution and Second World War led many Russians to the North American continent. Having completed their trek across Europe in New York Harbor, Russians, Ukrainians, and Carpatho-Russians (Rusyns) sought to make a home for themselves in the far less extravagant and overbearing suburbs of the Big Apple. Even more vulnerable in exile were the "first wave" émigrés – with no money or knowledge of the local language, they primarily sought land (what they would call "farms") in New Jersey. And now you need only leave New York City for the road to lead you to Novo-Diveevo Convent, with its attendant old age home populated by Russians and Ukrainians; to the Russian Society at "Otrada;" further yet, to the Tolstoy Foundation in Spring Valley, from whence that author’s daughter Alexandra ceaselessly petitioned, making use of her renowned surname, asking permission for her former compatriots to be released from the German camps and granted entry to "the land of liberty, the land of Washington." On Long Island, one can find the village of Sea Cliff and its St. Seraphim’s Church, and the Church of our Lady of Kazan nearby. On the road to Trenton, New Jersey’s capital, Russian émigrés organized St. Vladimir’s Society near one of the Russian "farms," ROVA (the Russian Mutual Aid Society of America), with the goal of erecting a special memorial church. As the great Russian poet would have said: "The spirit of Russia is here…" Indeed, there is a monument to Pushkin not far from St. Vladimir’s Church. That is because the land around St. Vladimir’s Mount, where Russians bought land in 1930, was envisioned as the future home of a Russian village, complete with an Orthodox church, a Pushkin Park with a monument to the poet, a Russian library, and a school. Cossacks would hold their picnics here, complete with horse-riding shows; a restaurant operated nearby, and the dancehall came alive with music and dancing couples, while children indulged in frozen treats.

Archpriest George Zelenin is the rector of St. Michael the Archangel Church in not-too-distant Paterson. And although he does not belong to the early waves of emigration, Fr. George has lived in America for 23 years, and as such remembers the hugely popular St. Vladimir’s Day Celebrations:

"In recent years, renovations in the church put the large-scale celebrations on the backburner, bringing to a halt the days when rectors would cancel services in their parishes, load their gonfalons, organize buses, and bring their parishioners to St. Vladimir’s. Toward the end of the 1980s, this place grew deserted. This year, a majority of the nearby parishes once again cancelled services and called the people to come and pray together in honor of the anniversaries of the Baptism of Rus’ and the founding of the church. In so doing, they restored the tradition of observing not just local St. Vladimir’s Day Celebrations, but celebrations common to the entire Slavic and Orthodox world.

"It brings me to joy to see many young faces here this year. This means that Orthodoxy in the Russian Diaspora has a future. We can feel in our hearts that we are no longer some ‘partisan brigade,’ sitting tight in our parishes, in our ‘woods,’ doing battle with the enemy of mankind through attrition. Rather, today we are members of one great army, of one united Orthodox family. In addition, for me as for many others, this is an opportunity to reconnect with long-lost friends: people get jobs elsewhere and move, transfer parishes. At these informal holidays and gatherings we can share our joys and sorrows, asking prayers for one another. The Internet is ultimately only virtual interaction, which can never replace natural human interaction, when you can look into the eyes of your fellow man.

For fairness’ sake, it bears noting that St. Vladimir’s Day did continue being celebrated all these years, though its humble scale spoke of a large parish feast day, not of a diocesan or national celebration by any means. The last truly grand festivities held at the church took place in 1988, at the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’.

As editor-in-chief of "Pravoslavnaya Rus’" ("Orthodox Rus’"), Deacon Andrei Psarev often came from Jordanville to the St. Vladimir’s Day Celebrations. It was here that Metropolitan Hilarion ordained him to the diaconate in 2009.

"Today was an attempt to return maximally to days of the 1950s, to that surge in popular consciousness that reigned here on St. Vladimir’s Day; after all, the Memorial Church was envisioned as a temple that would unite all Slavic-Americans. I hope that the Russian Church Abroad will restore an understanding of why we are here, of our mission, and will amplify the church-wide dialogue between the hierarchs, clergy, parishioners, men and women, and people of every generation," said Fr. Andrei.

In 1938, the 950th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, following the personal initiative of Archbishop Vitaly (Maximenko), it was decided to mark the jubilee by erecting St. Vladimir Memorial Church in the town of Cassville (later renamed Jackson).

In the 19th century, the hill where the church now stands was home to a Presbyterian church, which nourished the area’s early residents. And although that chapel is no more, part of the old cemetery remains (at the time of the church’s founding, the surrounding grounds were still the property of the Presbyterian Church; today, the entire property belongs to the St. Vladimir’s Society – ed.).

In 1940, the cornerstone of the church was laid by the archpastors of the Russian Church in America: Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky), Archbishop Vitaly, and Bishop Makary (Ilyinsky). But the once united Church was soon divided into three parts: the American Church, the Church Abroad, and the Moscow Church. Archbishop Vitaly belonged to the Church Abroad, in whose jurisdiction the memorial church remains until this day.

The basis of the architectural design was the Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Pereslavl-Zalessky, while St. Vladimir’s Cathedral in Kiev served as the basis for the interior. Ultimately, it was not until the 1980s that the interior, along with the entire upper St. Vladimir’s Church crowned with a golden cupola, was completed.

Construction was halted during the Second World War. Work on the lower church resumed in 1948, under the leadership of the new rector, Hieromonk Anthony (Medvedev), future Archbishop of San Francisco, and continued under his successor, Archpriest Vasily Musin-Pushkin. The church interior was completed in time for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’ by renowned Diasporan iconographer Archimandrite Cyprian (Pyzhov). The iconostasis, inspired by that of the Dormition Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin, was designed and built by Bishop Daniel (Alexandrow) of Erie, who painted the majority of the icons adorning it.

Eugene Plishevsky remembers the gilding of the cupola during the 1987 preparations for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’. Eugene Ivanovich was born in Belarus, lived in Yakutia, and wound up in Germany during the Second World War. From there, his family was able to escape life in Fischbek DP camp and move to America. St. Vladimir’s Church was the place where, on July 30-31, 1988, the Russian Church Abroad held the official celebrations, attended by her entire Sobor of Bishops and the head of the House of Romanov, Grand Duke Vladimir Kyrillovich.

In the years prior to the millennial celebrations, the feast day was celebrated by three hierarchs: Archbishops Vitaly and Nikon (Rklitsky), as well as Bishop Averky (Taushev), who traveled from Jordanville, with a still-young Hieromonk Laurus (Skurla – ed.) in attendance. After the Liturgy, a procession went down to the lake and blessed the waters.

In those days, there was no golden-domed church, only the lower church in honor of the Holy Princess Olga. The asphalt "roof" of the church formed the level field on which they would pitch a tent, build an altar table, and celebrate the Liturgy.

The First Hierarch’s cell attendant, Hieromonk Tikhon, who bore the name Vladimir prior to his monastic tonsure, was ordained to the priesthood at the July 28th Liturgy. "The surprising feeling of joy and spiritual inspiration that seized all of the participants of the feast touched me, as well," he said. "Such celebrations, which unite the people around the Church, around the Holy Eucharist, are especially needed by our youth, because that is the only thing here, abroad, that can truly unite and strengthen us, keeping us from drifting inexorably apart, and allowing us to exist as a single organism called Christ’s Church."

Those who came to this year’s festivities were touched by the participation of representatives from the diplomatic corps of the Slavic states. Despite this, the celebration was not overtaken by formality or choked by protocol – even Russia’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, found himself in the middle of the crowd, surrounded by young scouts holding 75 doves and preparing to launch them into the sky to the singing of "Save, O Lord, Thy people…"

One more undeniable virtue of the jubilee celebrations is this: every person who, though far from his homeland, feels a certain cultural and spiritual connection to it, can find something here close to his heart: the Liturgy, the procession, the holiness of the icons, personal interaction, the cuisine, or even Soviet pop hits and outdoor dancing…

The first Russians who arrived on the East Coast came here to escape the horrors of godless Bolshevism. The third and subsequent waves came here simply in search of a better life for their families. It took more than one generation for them to build this church as an expression and witness of their unflinching faith and abiding love for God and Russia. And, as Bishop Meletiy noted, "Those who think that people need only money err gravely, because money without a spiritual underpinning loses all value. It doesn’t lose its monetary value, but rather its value in the face of eternity. A person who sees nothing in this life but the material is an unfortunate soul indeed. These celebrations remind the secular world that, even here, there are those who seek the eternal, the everlasting, the heavenly."

Tatiana Veselkina
Pravoslavie.ru

Translated by Rdr. Gregory Levitsky


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