February 16, 2012
Marblehead, MA: A Meeting of the Dean of Holy Cross Monastery with
Architect A.N. Neiman
On
Monday, February 13, diocesan secretary Archpriest Serge Lukianov
and the dean of Holy Cross Monastery, Hieromonk Alexander
(Frizzell), traveled to Marblehead, MA, to meet with Russian
architect
Aleksei Naumovich Neiman, who is currently working on the design
of a new cathedral for
Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV.
"We
started the process in November with Aleksei Naumovich when we began
talking about designing and builder a larger church," explains Fr.
Alexander. "Today we reached the first milestone in our proposed
timeline – to meet in February, in the United States, to look at the
proposal which Alexei so graciously developed and offered to us
today."
Because of the surge in new monastic candidates, the monks at Holy
Cross Monastery have quickly outgrown their current church, and the
need for a large cathedral has never been greater.
The fact that a Russian architect is
designing a new cathedral for a monastery in America is symbolic in
itself. When he
first
visited Holy Cross Monastery in November 2011, Neiman described
it as an "American monastery with a Russian soul."
Seeing the preliminary sketches today was very exciting, but this
meeting was just the beginning of a long process, which the monks
pray will culminate in the construction of a new cathedral.
"We have only taken the first step; at this moment, no one can
guarantee that it will turn out just so," said Neiman. "We will
continue examining what can be done, but if this matter concludes in
construction becoming a reality, it will be the greatest gift I
could ever receive."
Video from the meeting is available to our readers below:
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"Eastern American Diocesewww.eadiocese.org."
