October 15, 2015
Mahopac, NY: Chapel Re-Consecrated at New Kursk Root Hermitage

On Sunday, October 11, a significant event took place in the life of the New Kursk Root Hermitage in Mahopac, NY: after recent reconstruction and renovation, the chapel on the monastery lake was consecrated anew. After the Divine Liturgy, the entire parish, led by His Grace, Bishop Jerome, Abbot Cornelius (Apukhtin), Priest George Temidis, and Deacon Alexey Pnev, went in procession down the wooded path to the lake, singing hymns among the maples and oaks. On the backdrop of a clear blue sky, the yellow leaves shone like gold in the rays of the autumn sun. All were of a festive disposition. Parishioners carried an icon of the Holy Hierarch Nicholas the Wonderworker with a piece of his relics, an icon of the Holy Trinity painted on a board made of wood from the Oak of Mamre, an icon of the Holy Hierarch John of Shanghai & San Francisco with a piece of his mantle, an icon of Blessed Matrona of Moscow, of the Holy Martyr Tryphon, whose relics are kept in the church, and of Venerable Seraphim of Sarov. Alexander Shendrik, who more than anyone else worked to rebuild and renovate the chapel, carried the icon of the Mother of God "of the Passion," in whose honor the chapel was first consecrated.

This is how the newspaper "Russian Life" ("Russkaya Zhizn’") described the consecration of the chapel in 1964: "On June 7th in the New Kursk Root Hermitage, after the Hierarchal Divine Liturgy on the Sunday of the Blind Man had been celebrated by Archbishop Seraphim – co-served by hermitage abbot Archimandrite Innocent, Abbot Theophan, and Protodeacon Eugene Burbelo – all of the worshippers, who had come from New York and its environs, went in procession to the chapel with the clergy, led by the Archbishop. The procession went along the path slowly, to the hymning of the troparia of the Water Blessing, holding aloft the cross, gonfalons, and icons, heading down to the hermitage lake… On the north bank of the lake appeared the little chapel with a blue dome, crowned with a three-bar cross. All of this took us back to memories of our faraway homeland… The small chapel was erected by Ivan I. Nikonenko in honor of the weeping icon of the Mother of God ‘of the Passion.’"

Fifty-one years later, parishioners and worshippers of the New Kursk Root Hermitage once more went in festal procession to the hermitage lake. And although the same people who had prayed at the chapel’s consecration in 1964 were no longer with them, nevertheless the spiritual and prayerful connection with them could still be felt that day.

In the spring of 2011, a huge, century-old tree, felled by a powerful storm, crushed the well next to the chapel, and damaged the chapel itself. Part of the felled tree was sawn off and removed, but the rest of it was too large and heavy, and to this day remains sticking out of the pond. The girls Elizabeth and Alexandra Pnev and Alexandra Aleshin started up a collection to repair the chapel. With the help of parishioners, Alexander and Irina Shendrik invested much labor and effort into the chapel’s reconstruction and renovation. Much work remains to be done to restore the well and the renowned bridge that spans the pond to a little island, which used to be a favorite spot for reflection for Metropolitan Philaret and Archbishop Seraphim. When, several years ago, the parish was visited by guests from the Kursk Root Hermitage in Russia, they were very touched by that spot by the lake with its bridge and chapel and its resemblance to their own monastery. They immediately realized that the founder of this place must have known the Kursk Root Hermitage very well. And so it was: Archbishop Seraphim was born in 1897 in the city of Kursk, and loved and was well acquainted with that monastery, so dear to his heart. Built in 1597, the Hermitage was sacked soon after the Civil War and shuttered in 1924, and has been undergoing restoration since 1994.

It was a joyous occasion for parishioners to pray at the consecration of the newly renovated chapel before the icon of the Mother of God "of the Passion," and to feel the spiritual connection with the history of that holy habitation and with the Kursk Root Hermitage in Russia.

After the chapel’s consecration, everyone returned to the church hall for a shared luncheon, prepared by the sisterhood, and many did not wish to leave until late into the day.

In his sermon on that day in 1964, Archbishop Seraphim expressed the common hope, one by which the parish continues to live to this day: "Let us have faith and hope that God’s grace and the intercession of the Mother of God will forevermore abide over this holy place."

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese