Laying of the Foundation Stone for the Monastery Building by His Eminence, The Most Reverend Tikhon, Archbishop of the Aleutians and North America.

Praise be to God! One more step has been taken towards the establishment of  St. Tikhon's cloister. The cornerstone of the main monastery building, which according to the blueprints includes the cells of the monks and a small temple, which faces the building to the East, has been placed.

Special celebrations for the laying of the cornerstone were not planned, since it would have been difficult to attract a lot of people to the remote monastery estate in the season of winter. At the same time, the speed with which even more complex buildings are usually erected in America promised that in the near future, sometime in the spring, construction would be finished, and therefore the opening and blessing celebration would follow, and at that time, the prayerful gathering could be more solemn and better attended.

But Vladiko with typical responsiveness accepted the request from the cloister to come and personally bless the laying of the cornerstone. For this purpose he appointed December 8 as the day for this ceremony, so that he could serve the liturgy in New York for the patronal feast of the Cathedral temple,   and after the ceremony have time to come back by Saturday for a new trip to Ansonia  where a complete blessing of the temple was set to be done the following Sunday.

Taking me along as his companion, His Eminence left the church house on Wednesday afternoon. This time the trip was by way of Erie Railroad. None of us had ever taken it there, since usually other roads were chosen that passed through towns with our Orthodox parishes. In those cases the clergy would meet and guide Vladiko during transfers. So we had to take a carriage from one station to another etc., so that in the long run a relatively short distance separating New York from the monastery turned into a quite complex combination of transfers and so on and so forth.  Desiring to avoid these inconveniences, not to burden anybody and shorten the hours of the trip, Vladiko had personally studied the schedule of the railroads adjacent to the monastery area and found that Erie is the most convenient.

So we now started for the station of that railroad.

We had only a few blocks left to go, but they turned out to be blocked. We moved forward with difficulty, making out thick clouds of smoke and deafening sounds of countless fire whistles, bells . . . It was obvious that something was burning ahead. What it was, we could not find out, and being concerned that there was little time left before the train's departure, we started to hurry the coachman. We had almost reached our destination by a roundabout way when we found out that some ferry landing was on fire.

Ferry landings are piers that special types of ferryboats for transporting passengers, cattle and goods from one side of the river to the other, moor to. There are many of them in New York, since the city is surrounded by water and represents an island; that is why almost all railroad stations are situated not in the city but on the other side of the water which surrounds it and that is why before taking the train you have to cross the river. On the riverbank end of 23rd street, where we had set out for, there were four piers that belonged to the Pennsylvania, the Erie, the Lackawanna and the Central Railroad of New Jersey. The last two had just been built and were magnificent buildings and amidst them our Erie was definitely lost, looked like an insignificant box, emaciated, unattractive, dirty -- it did not fit with its neighbors. And how many times upon hearing about fires of similar buildings I heard people say that it is about time, so to speak, for the Erie pier to burn and clear the space for a more respectable building. Therefore our first thought was whether the ill-fated pier was really on fire. At that moment, though, we were very far from any welcome expectation of seeing magnificent works of architecture on this spot in the near future. We were solely occupied with worry, and the thought: "What are we going to do about our trip? If we miss this train, we would not be able to make it for the other one . . ."

And then we got very near the huge fire, vainly trying to make out amidst the clouds of smoke whether our pier had survived. It seemed incomprehensible that in this sea of fire blanketing the whole area, it could have remained untouched. How great was our joy when we heard from firefighters that not even the traffic down the Erie was halted, and the ferries were maintaining their regular schedule. It was the new stations that were burning . . . After two or three minutes we had left the pier, and then we watched from the river for a while, the struggle between the devouring abyss of the fire as it crushed the copper plating and steel beams of the buildings, and the skill of man as he directed all his strength, ingenuity and energy against this force.

In any case we were not late for the train, and at the train station, as reward for the trouble we had lived through, we found out that throughout the whole distance to Georgetown (the station near the monastery) we would have to change railroad cars only once, to a different branch line. Our time in the railroad car was spent digesting, with horror and anguish, the unpalatable reports about Russia from the Russian media and from American newspapers. God spare us all!
A small monastery carriage was waiting for Vladiko at the station; it rolled quickly towards the cloister, cutting through the evening twilight. Darkness had already fallen. On either side, occasional scattered solitary lights began flickering at the farms situated near the road. There was not a single cloud in the sky . . . The stars began to shine, but with a dim, gentle winter light that failed to illuminate. It felt heavenly. It does not look like winter at all, though it is December outside, and at this time in past years snow drifts had blanketed the fields and forests and villages and towns . . .

The heavenly, solemn tranquillity of this December night cast a special charm upon a traveling city-dweller who had broken away from the roar and confusion of New York. Vladiko spoke about it out loud, rejoicing that the laying of the foundation stone would be accompanied by wonderful weather. He reminisced with sympathy about how, at the same cloister the previous summer, bad weather had darkened another celebration, that of the blessing of the place for the monastery building and erection of the cross.

Like the wise virgins who met their bridegroom did the dwellers of the habitation greet their Archpastor. The monastery abbot, Fr. Hieromonk Arseny had found it impossible to follow Vladiko's advice not to await his arrival, and to allow all the inhabitants to rest peacefully at the expected time. This was against the sincere, unanimous desire of the whole habitation to meet the Archpastor and to receive a hierarch's blessing at the moment when the Most Reverend Vladiko would arrive at the monastery. The small porch of the orphan home was illuminated with icon lamps. The home also temporarily housed the church.
Below, by the fence Vladiko was greeted by the senior brothers wearing mantiyas and klobuks, led by Fr. Abbot Arseny and Igumen Fr. Tikhon.

Present here also were a priest and a psalomshchik from a neighboring district, Fr. A. Boguslavsky and A. Trofimovich, who had come to attend the ceremony. While the hierarchical tropar was being sung His Eminence entered the little church, and here he was greeted, with a bow, by the younger brethren -- the orphans who were cared for at the cloister. They were holding candles in their hands and joined the church singing with their angelic voices. Everything was touching, profoundly moving.

I entered the church and at once felt something unutterably pleasant, dear, sweet as though I had met something most dear to my heart. Quiet, full of sadness and love, lit by the icon lamps, the images of the Savior, the Theotokos, St. Nicholas the God-Pleaser, St. Alexander, and the Holy Angels were looking at the pilgrim. These are our icons, our former New York iconostasis! How much joy and sorrow have been revealed in the prayers of New York flock before the images of these Persons -- the holiest Persons for the Christian heart. How close and attached we had become to these icons. Seven years, all of the first seven years of my unworthy service in the most high order of presbyter, went under their heavenly protection. They are witnesses of reflections, sinful or holy, of blessed inspirations and of gloomy despondency! They supported and brought up our New York church family!

I remember how sad it was to part with this sacred object, when through the zeal of kind Russian people a new iconostasis, rich and splendid, was erected in the New York cathedral. Some of the parishes tried to purchase these holy icons from the old iconostasis. But for us it seemed impossible to agree to this. And only when we heard the first word about the establishment of the new monastery, by a common decision of our New York flock, with the blessing of the Archpastor, this sacred article was presented to the young habitation, which belongs to the whole American Church and is called to contribute to the salvation of the entire American flock. It was presented as a brotherly welcome with best wishes.

Let the sincere aspirations of the pilgrims ascend to these Most Holy Images depicted on these icons here as well! Let Them rejoice in the sincere service of the brethren for the benefit of their souls, and for the welfare of the poor and handicapped, spiritually and physically. Let Them comfort the tears of the little orphans who are deprived of their parental home and have found here a supportive hand. Let Them lead the holy cloister, to spiritual richness, good fortune, growth from strength to strength for the increase of righteousness in this country, and the implanting of peace and love in the hearts of the Orthodox Christians, to the glory of Christ's name in America! . . .

And let Them cause violent men, the enemy's crafty designs, the storms and confusions of life, to pass by the cloister, and through the innocent children's prayers let Them turn people's stony hearts into loving ones, and direct to this place the thoughts and offerings of benefactors.

O kind people, support our modest habitation, the first Orthodox cloister in this heterodox country, where the Orthodox flock still feels itself so lonely, suffering under the burden of temptations; and hasten to help the first undertaking of this cloister -- taking care of the orphans!

Let the name of the kind person who was the first to suggest at the last Convention of the Orthodox Mutual Aid Society that it is necessary, absolutely necessary, and as soon as possible, that we Orthodox have an orphanage here in America, be blessed. We must save from perishing the souls of the children who have lost their mother and father. And nobody could advance this holy cause better then the Society. I thank that person for his kind heart! How sincerely and unanimous did the whole of Convention respond to his suggestion. At that time it was decided to set up a committee to work out the main principles for organizing the orphanage and to find an appropriate place; the sources of financing were also identified. The Committee included Fr. Hieromonk Arseny, the Chairman of the Mutual Aid Society, Fr. Jason Kappanadze, O. Vakhna, G. Thier and Archpriest Hotovitsky. Soon afterwards Fr. Arseny was fortunate to find an appropriate farm in the environs of Mayfield, where it was suggested that a monastic habitation be established, and with it an orphanage, which would meet the demands and wishes of the Mutual Aid Society. Vladiko inspected the land and approved the purchase, and afterwards, at different times, all members of the Committee examined the same place, which had become adopted by the entire diocese, [and] the purchased buildings, and were most enthusiastic based on everything they had seen. From the very beginning, the generosity and care of the Archpastor and the economical hand of the Abbot made a distinct impact on the whole undertaking. Without repeating everything that has been said in our publication already, we would like to say that even up till now the sources of the cloister and orphanage upkeep have been the generous sacrifices of the Most Reverend Founder and Fr. Arseny, whom the various charitable brotherhoods, churches, parishes and private persons come to with their help. If God grants it, a time will come when the monastery cloister can pay for itself and even be able to support the orphanage; till now, though, the latter one is in need of a more certain and stable maintenance. Since in its present state it meets the criteria that were presented to the kind attention of the Committee, Fr. Arseny, with the blessing of the Archpastor Vladiko, has recently addressed the Committee which was established by the Convention, with a proposition to recommend the Mutual Aid Society, to take the newly established orphanage under its patronage and solicit the Society to regularly subsidize the orphanage from the Society's means.

The general draft by Fr. Arseny includes these items:

1.    The orphanage is called The Orphanage of the Orthodox Mutual Aid Society at St. Tikhon's Monastery.
2.    The Orthodox Mutual Aid Society gives a one-time grant of $500 to cover part of the expenses incurred in: furnishing the orphanage (up to $500 was spent), fixing plumbing and heating ($335 was spent).
3.    The Mutual Aid Society gives $4 a month to support each orphan (from the Society).
    Note 1.  If in the course of the year the orphanage does not receive a set group of children who are Society members (in other words ten), then the remaining sum at the rate of $4 a month per each person would be transferred to the reserve funds of the Mutual Aid Society at the Orphanage. If the number of orphans from this category should be greater than ten, then the Society would pay the missing amount at the same rate.
    Note 2. The Orphanage administration has the right to accept orphans who are not members of the Society and support them through funds raised by the administration itself.
4.    The Board of the Mutual Aid Society is granted the right to select orphaned Society members who, with the knowledge of the Orphanage administration, are given priority over other orphans when accepted.
Note. Orphan children who are Society members, who are in the orphanage at the present time, are considered as accepted and have the right to receive help from the Society.
1.    The Board of the Orthodox Mutual Aid Society is granted the right to inspect the Orphanage at any time and to report any disorderliness and shortcomings of the administration found to His Eminence and to the subsequent Convention.
2.    At the end of the year the Orphanage administration reports to the Board of the Mutual Aid Society on how the funds received from the Society were spent, and presents at the Convention a report on the operation of the Orphanage for the period of time since the last Convention.
3.    The Orphanage administration reserves the right to collect private donations from Society members as well as other persons in America and Russia.
4.    The Orphanage administration consists of the head of the orphanage (a priest-monk of St. Tikhon's habitation), a female supervisor of the Orphanage and at least two sisters of charity.
5.    The Orphanage administration accepts responsibility for working out a detailed charter for the Orphanage within twelve months from the time of the transfer of the Orphanage to the patronage of the Mutual Aid Society, and presents it for consideration to the special committee elected from the members of the Society and St. Tikhon's habitation.
6.    In the case of a major renovation of the Orphanage or construction of a new building, the Society will help with a one time grant of the amount set by the current Convention or the board of the Society with the agreement of  all brotherhoods.
7.    In case of termination of this undertaking or closing of the Orphanage due to some important reasons, St. Tikhon's cloister returns to the Mutual Aid Society the sum paid as one-time grants during the entire period but not the sums given to support the orphans.

Appendix.
1.    Our brief experience, and information gathered from knowledgeable persons, yields approximately this breakdown for the upkeep of each orphan:

Therefore there is 93 1/3 cents left every month for food, heat, light and maid. Everything remaining for the complete upkeep and care-free life of the orphans will be provided by the Holy Cloister in part from its farm and in part through private donations which are counted on to support at least ten more orphans who are not the members of the Society. The information for the above-mentioned breakdown were taken from the best families of Rusyns and Americans.

2. In order not to burden the members of the Society with unnecessary expenses for the upkeep of the Orphanage (according to the personal opinion of Fr. Arseny), the $500 of accumulated interest could be used as a one time grant, and the annual grant may include the interest and be supplanted by the surplus funds left after meeting expenses.

This brief report by Fr. Arseny was accepted with minor alterations by all members of the Committee, with the exception of one who chooses to hold off on a decision regarding this undertaking until the future Convention, which has very broad powers in the area of mandatory collections. But this Convention will only take place a year and a half from now! It would be really sad if we did not find a way to ascertain the opinion of the entire Society now and did not give immediate support to the young institution which has now been born from the thought of the Society itself. The duty of Christian love is to treat the holy undertaking with all the warmth and generosity! If all of us saw how certain brotherhoods and people hastened to send their donations, as much as they were able, for the monastery and the orphanage -- how warmheartedly they welcomed the first thought about the establishment of such an orphanage -- then shouldn't we believe and hope that after the appeal of the Board of the Society, not one member within the ranks of the latter would be found declining to give 15-20 cents a year for the little orphan children! And it will be a fulfillment of the saying, "If everyone in the world contributes a thread, a naked man will a get a shirt." The Society could then truly rejoice in its purpose and in the manifestation of its life. And really, with everybody pitching in who sympathizes with the holy undertaking, the numbers of those contributing will grow and grow, since our brotherhoods consists of the same people, who, on their own initiative, without urging from others, sent their contributions, and who at the last Convention supported the idea of the need for an Orthodox orphanage in America so wholeheartedly!

And at the present time one may note that this undertaking is halfway to being realized.

Fr. Tikhon served a short litiya of greeting and Vladiko said the dismissal. Fr. Abbot, according to tradition, greeted the Archpastor with a request to pray for the salvation of the Brethren and to bless those who inhabit the cloister. He expressed joy on the occasion of Vladiko's new visit to this quiet corner and on the occasion of Vladiko's agreement to place the cornerstone into the foundation of the monastery temple. Vladiko responded by thanking and wishing the brethren to make progress in good deeds, so that when the heavenly bridegroom comes he would find everybody wakeful and ready to meet Him in a proper manner. "As far as I am concerned," added Vladiko, "I did not come here to trouble you, but pray together with you that the Lord may send His great mercy on all who inhabit this cloister and on the enterprise that has begun. And I conclude my greeting with the monastery prayer, instead of Many Years: "Lord Jesus Christ, save the brethren of this holy habitation!"

The cloister has improved substantially. Most of all, the small church has become more beautiful. It has been adorned with an iconostasis and church vessels. The main house has been improved inside as well as outside. An addition was made to it for the bathroom and conveniences, and the neighboring outbuilding with the kitchen was connected to it by an enclosed passage which protects those who pass there from catching a cold and from bad weather. Hot air heat has been installed throughout the whole building; and it heats both buildings very well. And the other buildings have been improved. The wing for the novice monks is divided into small cells, with partitions made of boards. Adorned with small icons, icon lamps and liturgical books, these cells instantly transport the visitor into the monastic atmosphere, common for Russia, but completely unknown here in America.

A large room downstairs and one room upstairs of the main house have been turned into the children's bedroom. Here on the top floor is the temporary cell of Fr. Igumen, who has just been appointed and has arrived from Hartshorne. A monk of the Glinsk Hermitage, Fr. Hieromonk Tikhon, arrived in America several years ago, and was earlier Fr. Arseny's predecessor in taking care of the church in Troy, from where he later moved to Hartshorne, Indian Territories. This parish, far away from other churches, found in Fr. Tikhon a kind pastor and guardian. In a short period of time Fr. Tikhon dramatically improved the church housekeeping, rebuilt and paid for the church house, set up grape gardens and became wholeheartedly attached to his flock, for which the flock repaid him with heartfelt love. As a monk, Fr. Tikhon immediately responded with compassion to the news about the establishment of St. Tikhon's habitation, first of all with a generous donation ($100) for its needs, and he accepted a call to become one of the brethren as the first elder of the holy habitation, although it was hard to part with his Hartshorne flock. His parting with the latter had been most touching. The coworkers and spiritual children of Fr. Tikhon saw their spiritual father off with tears of regret and even now, in their filial letters, they testify of their love and fond memories. Eager to serve the Lord, Fr. Tikhon will undoubtedly be a kind guardian of the habitation and head of the younger brethren in the monastic life.

As soon as we had recovered a bit from the trip and had started a conversation, a piercing rain began knocking on the windows. It began to howl in the chimneys, the wind began to swirl around, the trees began to groan . . . A few seconds, and there was nothing left of the wonderful weather we had just been enjoying. We could not believe our eyes and ears, but unfortunately it was not just brief heavy rainfall, but a storm which was not about to end, and was getting stronger and stronger. We went to bed with some feelings of disappointment. Later we learned that the cloister turned out to be relatively spared -- quite a few buildings were damaged in the neighboring areas, people were knocked of their feet, carriages were turned over, and so forth.

The darkness of night had not dispersed when a monk's voice could be heard calling by the visitors' doors, "Through the prayers of our holy Master, Lord have mercy on us!" That was a novice who was on duty, summoning to the midnight office. The brethren got up and, led by Vladiko, went to the temple where Fr. Tikhon served the midnight office and matins strictly following the rubrics. It was after eight in the morning when we had the dismissal of matins. Continuing bad weather persuaded us that it would be unreasonable to expect guests from the neighboring areas for the liturgy. Therefore Vladiko blessed Fr. Hotovitsky to begin it at once, so that the ceremony of the cornerstone could be delayed until midday in the hope that perhaps the shower would stop and the skies would be merciful.

The church, however, did not turn out to be empty. When all the elder and younger brethren had gotten together here, the gathering turned out to be reverential; its singing was not particularly harmonious but was done from the heart. During the sermon Fr. Arseny boldly encouraged the younger flock with a kindly word. From the chronicles of the Athonite monastery, he brought it to the listeners' attention that the Lord often reveals himself, his helping hand, in storms and winds, how he often makes the winds his messengers, and carriers of both punishments and mercy; according to the Psalmsinger, he makes his angels spirits. The preacher suggested that the present storm, which had so unexpectedly burst into our program of festivity, be discerned as a testing from God, and that it is necessary even in the moments of peace that seem to last forever, to be prepared for all kind of calamities, in the moments of joy to be ready for a period of sorrow.

As it turned out, by 12 o'clock more pilgrims had come. A psalmist-teacher, G. P. Cherepnin, and a parishioner of the local church, A. Shlyanta, came from Mayfield together with other guests of the habitation, who were not afraid of the softened road and a rain shower.

The ceremony of the cornerstone-laying was as solemn as the circumstances could allow. It began with a procession of His Eminence, with clergy in vestments, brethren and pilgrims, which safely reached the construction site (even the lamps were not put out by gusts of rain). Here a substantial part of the wooden part of the building was rising from the stone foundation. In the front part of it, where the temple is placed, on the prepared platform, protected from the rain, Vladiko served the proper order of service unhurriedly and splendidly. At a certain point the cornerstone was laid into the prepared place. It contained a statement which was read aloud, about the construction, founders of the monastery cloister, its brethren, those who performed the ceremony, benefactors, and so on. It ended with a short message of remembrance about the terrible time that Mother Russia is going through, and a prayer that the Lord would look upon this holy undertaking as on a humble offering of our prayer to His Throne for the cure of our motherland. Then we made marks on the four sides of the building according to rank -- Archpastor, Fr. Arseny, Fr. Tikhon and Fr. A. Boguslavsky, the member of the construction committee. We even had the chance to congratulate the gathering on the completion of the festivities; this was done with a brief speech by Fr. Hotovitsky and by Fr. Abbot in a more lengthy one.

After praising and giving thanks to the Lord for everything, with the same procession and the singing of troparions and magnifications, we returned to the little church, from whose steps Fr. Arseny addressed to the pilgrims in attendance a homily about the goals of the orphanage. The response was a generous donation of our guests -- for which, O God, save them!

We had a meal according to the rubrics. Before the procession to the dining hall, we gathered in the church, received the hierarch's blessing, and, preceding him, we entered in to receive the meal. Another monk was reading the life of the venerable Patapius and selected readings from St. John Chrysostom. The meal was eaten in silence. For me this was something new, and I carried away a deep impression from this monastery meal!

By evening, the joyful celebration had been replaced by the sorrowful service of the burial of the child Evgenia, who had recently died in the neighboring Old Forge parish. This little one, Evgenia, was the favorite of everybody who had known her. With her mother's consent, she had been brought up by Batushka and Matushka Klopotovsky from Old Forge, and she had been growing up with them like their own child, bringing joy to everyone. Just recently with her God-sent parents, Zhenya visited New York and some other churches and every, she charmed everyone with her tender heart and her wise soul. And suddenly, in one day, she passed away from croup. It is hard to recall how devastated her caretakers and her own mother were. As a member of the monastery construction committee, Fr. Elias Klopotovsky, who often visited this place, decided, with Vladiko's blessing, to bury the departed child in St. Tikhon's Monastery cemetery. On the very day of the foundation stone ceremony, the funeral procession proceeded from Old Forge early in the morning, and in spite of poor weather it managed to reach the habitation by 4 o'clock in the afternoon. The box, with the coffin, was not brought into the house but was left on the carriage. Vladiko kindly agreed to perform a funeral service and to see the deceased Zhenya to the cemetery himself. And then, the same church procession, but this time with funeral singing, followed a small coffin to the new building, and on the same platform the funeral service was done, with the poignant order for the burial of a child. And the words spoke not of welcome, but of comfort and compassion. Another few minutes and the remains were lowered into the grave. This is the second one on the monastery cemetery.

Eternal peace for you, angelic soul!

Zhenya was a favorite of our small missionary family, and died with the Archpastor's prayer and with pastors bidding farewell to her.
A bit later the vespers were served according to the rubrics. The visitors went back home, and Vladiko spent the night at the holy habitation. Again early in the morning, the call for the midnight office, which His Eminence attended, and after the midnight service the hierarch attended matins. But we did not have a chance to stay for the liturgy, since we had to hurry to catch an early train.

On this day Fr. Arseny did not have to comfort the pilgrims; on the contrary, one would have to find rejoice in the gifts of nature, for there was not even a trace of the stormy weather left. The sun caressed with soft rays, and the cloister was filled with pleasant weather. But . . . the cornerstone had been laid, and Vladiko, having said good-bye to the brethren, who saw the Archpastor off with best wishes, was leaving the habitation.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon we were already approaching, on the ferry, the burned remains of the New York pier stations. And another hour later His Eminence was under the roof of his bishop's residence.

Archpriest A. Hotovitsky