Late on Monday evening I returned home after an intensive ROCOR Studies lecture trip through the Midwest. For an entire week I gave daily talks devoted either to the history of the Russian Church Abroad or to the centenary commemorations of St. Patriarch Tikhon, observed this year. Those who are interested can read more about each of these events through the links below.
https://andreipsarev.substack.com/notes
I am deeply grateful to Father Daniel Marshall, the rectore of St. George Russian Orthodox Church, Cincinnati, OH who organized these talks. Thanks be to God, all of them took place successfully, despite many circumstances that could easily have disrupted the schedule. Everywhere I was received warmly, and I am thankful to the clergy who found the time to organize these meetings, as well as to the parishioners who attended them.
For me personally, it was a great honor and joy to see the inner life of parishes of the Russian Church Abroad up close. It was especially meaningful to see how our priests stand together with their people, how they serve as a kind of living door between the Church and the world, and how the questions they must resolve in daily pastoral life are often far removed from how seminarians imagine the priesthood. This was, for me, a genuinely valuable and instructive experience.
I am also grateful for the blessing of the Locum Tenens of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America, His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, as well as to His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad in whose community in Lexington, Kentucky, I also spoke.
When people asked whether the seminary had sent me on this trip, I replied that it was my family who sent me—since I have the household of five to provide for—and that I try to earn my living by the work I know how to do. I was delighted to see genuine interest in ecclesiastical and intellectual pursuit in all the communities I visited.
I am grateful as well to those who support ROCOR Studies and make such educational and research work possible. I hope that these conversations will continue in future visits, lectures, and publications.
Thus the ROCOR Studies tour has been successfully completed. Thank you to everyone who made it possible.
