Archpriest George Skrinnikov, Instructor of Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary for many years was born in Yugoslavia before World War II into a family of White Russian refugees. After the Second World War, Fr. George came to Argentina and Canada, where he served in many ROCOR parishes. In 1990, when I came to the seminary in Jordanville, there was an influx of entrants from the Soviet Union. We were penniless, without family in America, and had to adapt to the culture. Fr. George taught us the Law of God and was very caring and cheerful. At the same time, he rejected the reunification of the ROCOR with the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007; his brother-in-law, Archimandrite Sergii (Kindiakoff), became a bishop in a group under Metropolitan Vitaly, who split away from the ROCOR in 2001. Fr. George passed away on August 6, 2008.
Archpriest George Skrinikow: A Priest and Teacher with a Big Russian Heart
The mythrstreaming Iveron icon of the Mother of God visits the Pokrov parish in Ottawa, where Fr. George served. 1986. Photo: http://www.memorialchurch.ca
We had Archpriest Georgii Skrinnikov, a teacher of Russian history, at our seminary. He was a draftsman and made wonderful contour maps for us. A very soulful and caring man who grew up in Yugoslavia. He said of the seminarians who came from Russia: “These are not Russian people. They are different.” (From Deacon Andrei Psarev’s Interview “We Have No Other Church, Nor Do We Have Any Other Russia”)
