Category: Saints


Today in history: the death of St. Alexis Toth


101 years ago today, May 7, 1909, Archimandrite Alexis Toth died in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Here is the obituary that ran in the evening newspaper, the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader: Rt. Rev. Alexis G. Toth, pastor of St. Mary's Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North Main street, this city, died at 2...

Today in history: Church bell stolen in Chicago


As you may have heard, a few weeks ago thieves made off with six church bells from Holy Dormition Church (OCA) in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The bells were soon recovered, albeit in a seriously damaged condition. The whole episode got me thinking about other instances in American history in which...

A few good links


On his Frontier Orthodoxy website last week, Fr. Oliver Herbel posted an essay outlining his position on Archbishop Arseny's canonization. In a follow-up post, Fr. Oliver responded to the charge that he was employing a "hermeneutic of suspicion." Finally, on his own blog, Gabriel Sanchez used Fr. Oliver's comments a...

OCA Canonization Commission issues statement


This past weekend, the Canonization Commission of the OCA issued a statement at OCA.org. According to Commission secretary (and OCA archivist) Alexis Liberovsky, the Commission will begin detailed studies of the lives of both Metropolitan Leonty Turkevich and Archbishop Arseny Chagovtsov, to determine whether the OCA should canonize them. Canonization...

St. Anatole Kamenskii: A Guest Post by Fr. Andrew Morbey


  Originally, the following was made as a comment over on Frontier Orthodoxy, but I (Fr. Oliver) have asked Fr. Andrew Morbey to write it up as a separate post because I think it is good reading for everyone.  I had forgotten that I had been told that Kamenskii was canonized.  I...

The Archbishop Arseny Trial Transcript


Last week, Fr. Oliver Herbel wrote a series of articles on the 1909 criminal libel trial involving Archimandrite (later Archbishop) Arseny Chagovtsov, who is currently being considered for canonization by the OCA. Fr. Oliver's summary may be found at the following links: Part 1 - Introduction Part 2 - the...

Archbishop Arseny Addendum


As an addendum, I would like to make a couple notes. First, I should state that there are aspects of the case and testimonies that I have not highlighted that may deserve further scrutiny and there are some details I have examined and/or questioned about which I could be wrong. ...

Archbishop Arseny Post 4: The Defense Completes its Case


First, by way of a quick preface, I want to note the name of Archbishop Arseny's wife: Paraskevya [see the vita by Fr. John Hainsworth, also available in hard copy through Alexander Press].  I noticed I had not mentioned her name and she does have one.  Paraskevya is not just...