June
1, 2010
Washington
D.C.: “An Abundantly Gifted Bishop:”
On the occasion of the 40th
day of the death of His Grace Bishop Daniel (Alexandrow)
On Monday April 26, at the age of 79, His Grace the Most-reverend Daniel
(born Dimitry Borisovitch Alexandrow), Bishop of Erie, a vicar to
Metropolitan Hilarion, charged with shepherding ROCOR's Old Rite
flock, departed to the Lord. He
was an archpastor particularly dear to the
parish
of St.
John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, D.C., for he not only designed the cathedral, but personally worked on its construction.
Here
is a brief biography of Bishop Daniel:
Official
biographies of Bishop Daniel do not mention that his sister was a matushka,
the wife of the famous Russian archpriest, Fr. Victor Shapovalnikov,
who spent some time incarcerated with Alexandr Solzhenitsyn in a
concentration camp. This
is mentioned in The GuLag Archipelago.
From
Archpriest Victor Potapov's, (rector of St. John the Baptist
Cathedral), Recollections of Vladyka Daniel:
In 1974,
soon after I became a priest and was assigned to my first parish in
Stratford, Connecticut, I could look forward to the possibility of
living not far from Vladyka Daniel (at the time, Archpriest Dimitry
Alexandrow, not yet a monastic, lived
and worked in the village of Churaevka, Connecticut), associating with
him, and learning from him the basics of ancient Russian «kriuk»
liturgical chant (the musical notation used special symbols
called "kriuki," lit. "hooks").
Vladyka often visited my parish, and we agreed that I should
come visit him to have a serious talk about «kriuk» chant.
On
the appointed day, I left for Churaevka.
I arrived at a not particularly attractive little two-story
cottage in the woods. I
knocked, but no one came to the door. I knocked more loudly, to no
effect. Clearly, the owner
was home, for his old car was in the yard.
I opened the door, and walked in.
From the second floor, there came the sound of ancient znamenny
chant. As I ascended the
steps to the second floor, I briefly glanced around the first floor.
I was struck by the sight of a wide variety of construction
tools, including metal-casting implements and tools used in
ship-building... I made my way upstairs.
Fr. Dimitry was sitting on a chair in the shop, writing an icon
of the Protection of the Most-holy Theotokos, and at the same time
chanting the service for that Feast, by heart.
I apologized for entering his home without permission.
Fr. Dimitry explained that he was getting a little deaf, and
had not heard me knock.
I
will never forget how Fr. Dimitry's home was furnished.
On the walls there hung icons from the 16th, 17th,
18th and 19th Centuries, and ancient Royal
doors. On shelves and
tables, there was a multitude of manuscripts and ancient printed
books. I asked the future
Vladyka Daniel whether he was worried about security in his house —
after all he had so many valuable holy icons and other things.
"Just look at my house exterior!
Its quite sorry condition is my most reliable security
system."
On
Fr. Dimitry's shelves there were also Arabic instruction textbooks,
and reference books in Latin, Hebrew, and several other langauges.
He showed me a Middle Eastern copper openwork lamp
that he had recently purchased at an antique shop.
It was engraved with an Arabic inscription, which Vladyka
immediately read and translated for me.
Vladyka was a theologian, iconographer, musicologist, linguist,
historian, poet, architect, writer and a man of letters
In his spare time he translated Krylov's Fables and
composed his own quite witty fables about current events, including
church life! (Later, each
time that Vladyka would come to Washington in connection with the
construction of our cathedral, he would take pleasure in acquainting
us with his latest compositions. I
hope that those literary gems have been preserved among his papers.
During
our meeting, Vladyka told me of several projects in various stages of
development. For example,
he planned to cast a cannon in honor of the American Bicentennial, and
on Independence Day, 1976, to fire a salute right there in his woods.
He had also begun construction of a large sailboat on which he
wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land...
Finally,
the subject of our talk turned to kriuk chant. In
response to my question as to whether it was difficult to learn such
chant, Vladyka said, "Well no, it is quite easy." When I
asked "what do you mean by easy?" Vladyka answered quite
seriously, that it was just as easy as learning French.
There
and then I realized that I would have to abandon my goal of becoming
expert in kriuk chant.
*
* *
Several
years later, when I was already rector of the Cathedral of St. John
the Baptist in Washington, we began the major rebuilding of the
Cathedral - in the Muscovite-Yaroslavl style, based on plans drawn up
by Vladyka Daniel. I
remember that Vladyka loved to say that he was building the church in
the same way that an iconographer prepares a board for his icon.
Vladyka made detailed color
sketches of the iconography planned for the walls, and prepared
the wall surfaces for live frescoes, which he intended to do himself.
Unfortunately, poor health interfered with those plans.
Priest Theodore Koufos and the other iconographers who took
part in decorating the walls of our church constantly used Vladyka's
sketches as their reference in their efforts to bring his artistic
plan into being.
Vladyka
had envisioned every detail of the wall-painting that was to be in our
church, and gave the carpenter explicit instructions as to the
fashioning of the vaults, arches, and other internal architectural
details of our church, bearing in mind what iconographic image would
be painted on those arches, vaults, and walls. At times, it seemed
extremely complex and impossible to fashion.
It seemed impossible even to many of the carpenters we had
wanted to hire to do the work. Thanks
be to God, A. I. Gootan, for many years the head of our Parish
Building Committee found Carlo, a talented Dutch master craftsman who
was quick to understand Vladyka, and able to follow his every
instruction.
As
each phase of construction was completed, District inspectors would
come to check the work, and each time would remark, "Excellent!
This is a masterpiece!"
By
the way, Vladyka did not have a formal degree in architecture.
Truly, Vladyka's being a builder/architect was a gift from God.
*
* *
During
the years that our church was under construction (1978-1982) the
musical director of the National Symphony Orchestra was the famous
cellist Mstislav Leopoldovitch Rostropovitch.
"Slava," as he was known by all of us who loved him,
had a passionate love for all manner of construction. He was overjoyed
to see that in the capital of the United States of America, a
magnificent cathedral in an ancient Russian style was under
construction, and he took part in the building effort.
Whenever he came to the capital, he hurried to our church to
see how construction was progressing.
He loved to go up the scaffolding into the barrel vault, and
was in awe of Vladyka Daniel's talent; he found a common language with
him, not only in the realm of architectural building, but in the
realms of music, literature and humor.
During
one of these visits, Vladyka Daniel showed Rostropovitch how, at his
direction, the builders were incorporating resonation chambers in the
walls, as a means of improving the acoustics.
Rostropovitch's admiration for Vladyka Daniel's abilities knew
no bounds.
*
* *
The
late Vladyka greatly loved liturgical chant.
The Lord gave him the gift of a pleasant baritone voice.
Without fail, each time he came to Washington, he would ascend
to the choir loft, assemble a group of men to chant, and would direct
them in singing sticherae according to the Sputnik
Psalomschika [The Chanter's Companion]. Sometimes, we found the
chants unfamiliar; then he would sing the ancient znamenny and
other old Russian chants by himself.
*
* *
Vladyka's
sermons were not of the usual variety.
He was extremely well-read, and with the gift of enormous life
experience, was always able to find in the given feast or saint's
life, some jewel to pique the interest of his audience.
This was a rare gift.
As
already noted, Vladyka Daniel was not merely the designer of our
cathedral; he often took an active part in its construction.
One could often encounter him, an honored archpriest, dressed
in work clothes, on the scaffolding. Among his accomplishements were
the construction of our cupolas, personally cutting out and hammering
into shape the many copper scales that cover our three cupolas,
and teaching some parishioners how to gold-leaf those scales.
Vladyka found two beautiful and very heavy granite columns, and
brought them from New Jersey to Washington in his old automobile;
today they enhance our narthex. He
made the eight gold-leafed openwork panels below the lowest,
"assembled" row of icons in our icon screen. Vladyka
personally fashioned the ceramic tiles that decorate the exterior
walls of the church barrel-vault, and was especially proud of the
gold-leafed double-headed eagle pennant which he cut out of copper and
mounted to the peak of our church's right tower.
In
the early 1990s, we began construction of the passageway linking the
church and the Parish Hall. This
was several years after Vladyka had been consecrated Bishop of Erie, a
vicar bishop in the Eastern American Diocese.
We happened to be hosting a group of visiting Moscow
Patriarchate clergy. Imagine the amazement of clergymen from Russia at
being introduced to a bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of
Russia, who was standing on the scaffolding and laying bricks!
*
* *
In
the early 1990s Archbishop Alexander of Korstroma came to visit us in
Washington. He liked our
church very much, and asked Vladyka Daniel to give him copies of his
sketches, so that he might build a church just like ours in the
Kostroma Diocese. Vladyka
Daniel was willing to give him the drawings, but emphasized that the
church should not be duplicated; he stressed that the design of the
new church should take into account the limitations of the earlier
one, and should be unique and better perfected.
*
* *
Vladyka
was always amazed by some people's concern and others' fear of the
coming of antichrist. Their
fear and concern caused him to be distressed, as he considered it a
lack of faith. "Every
day we read the 'Our Father,' and repeat the words 'Thy Kingdom come,
Thy will be done,' but many people say those words without the
requisite conviction. The
coming of antichrist will mean that three years after His appearance,
what true believers have longed for, Christ's Second Coming, will
happen. Even so,
come, Lord Jesus."
In this regard, Vladyka liked to call to mind an excerpt from
the prayer of St. Basil the Great from the morning prayer rule:
"And grant us to pass through the night of the whole present life
with watchful heart and sober thought, ever expecting the coming of
the bright and appointed day of Thine Only-begotten Son, our Lord and
God and Savior, Jesus Christ, whereon the Judge of all shall come with
glory to reward each according to his deeds.
May we not be found fallen and idle, but watching, and upright
in activity, ready to
accompany Him into the joy and divine palace of His glory..."
St.
John's in Washington before its renovation by Bishop Daniel
St.
John's after the renovation.
Fr. Dimitry (the future Bishop Daniel) discussing
the renovation with parishioners
One of
the massive granite columns brought by Bishop Daniel in his car
The granite columns in place
Top of column
Капитель колонны
Gold-leafed copper scales on the central cupola
made by Vladyka Daniel
Small
cupola of the church
Gold-leafed double-headed eagle pennant made by
Bishop Daniel)
Detail of metal work by Vl. Daniel
Ceramic tiles designed by Vladyka Daniel
Detail of cathedral window
Vladyka's tile
One of the iconostasis panels carved by Bishop
Daniel
Close-up of panel
Architectural detail
Windows of south wall
Iconostasis designed by Vladyka Daniel
Barrel vault of cathedral
One of numerous sketches of church murals by Bishop
Daniel
Another sketch of church murals by Bishop Daniel
Media
Office of the Eastern American Diocese
