Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR)

Most Reverend Brother-Archpastors, Reverend Fathers,

Dear in the Lord Brothers and Sisters!

I cordially greet you all with the ongoing Dormition Fast, when we are once again called to temperance and the active doing of good deeds, that we might worthily prepare ourselves for the upcoming Pascha of the Theotokos!

Attached to this appeal by my unworthiness to the Fullness of the Russian Church Abroad is a video about the history and significance of the Synodal Residence in New York City, which is the House of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” the Protectress of the Russian Diaspora. Please familiarize yourselves with this short film, prepared by the Diocese of Germany, about the building that houses our spiritual and administrative center, and provide us with all possible assistance in the major renovation of the Synodal Residence.

Since the arrival in the United States of Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky) – second First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad – in 1950, and then of the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, Russian Orthodox émigrés took care to acquire a more spacious church and worthy premises for the Metropolitan’s residence and the chancery of the Synod of Bishops. This search was resolved many years ago in 1957, when the Synod of Bishops received a very generous gift in the form of a large house on the corner of 93rd Street and Park Avenue in New York City. The house was purchased with a donation from Serge Yakovlevich Semenenko, first vice-chairman and director of First National Bank in Boston, as well as a director at many other corporations. Serge Semenenko hailed from a pious Russian family that lived in Odessa before the revolution. His parents, Iakov and Maria, were well known to Metropolitan Anastassy, who visited them many times both in Odessa and Constantinople. They were generous donors toward the needs of the Church. It was in their memory that Serge Semenenko, whom Metropolitan Anastassy had known since he was 11 years old, made his donation.

The mansion acquired for the Synod of Bishops, distinguished by its wonderful, austere architecture and exceptionally solid construction, had a large hall, which, together with the adjoining rooms, was converted into the Cathedral of the Sign, where our principal holy icon – the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, abides. In addition to the residence of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and his vicar, the chancery of the Synod of Bishops and living quarters for its employees, the building was outfitted to include a church for daily services – dedicated to Venerable Sergius of Radonezh – offices, meeting rooms, dining halls, a bookstore, and separate facilities for a school.

This mansion was built by the family of George F. Baker, Jr., a well-known American banker and philanthropist. His widow, who sold the house to the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Church Abroad on most favorable terms, showed special goodwill and attention in this whole matter to the needs of the Russian Church Abroad, which now owns very valuable property in the best part of New York City. The Russian people, who had been in exile since 1920 and who moved to the United States after World War II, saw in this event the manifestation of God’s extraordinary mercy, admiring the beauty of the building and its convenience for the needs of the Holy Church.

Now this building, in which our wonderworking icon has been kept for many years, in which the glorifications of many saints – including the New Martyrs and Confessors of our Church – and the enthronements of our metropolitans took place, in which the Councils of Bishops were held with the active participation of such ascetic saints as the Holy Hierarch John, Archbishop of Shanghai and Wonderworker of San Francisco – this building, as the center of both the joys of our Church and the resolution of its ills, whose walls have absorbed our entire history, has fallen into extreme disrepair and is in need of major repairs. In order to carry out this important work and preserve this House of the Mother of God, the spiritual and administrative center of the Russian Church Abroad, we must raise $15 million dollars. Thank God, a special commission has made inquiries and prepared plans for a phased repair, which have been approved by the Synod of Bishops.

In connection with all of this, as President of the Synod of Bishops, I appeal to the faithful children of our Church, her friends, public organizations, and benefactors with a heartfelt request and appeal – open your hearts and contribute what you are able to the repair and to the strengthening of our Holy Church! Do not forget that the House of the Mother of God, the headquarters of the Synod of Bishops, is also your home; it is the center of our Holy Church, leading each of us to eternal salvation.

I believe that the Most Blessed Theotokos and the Holy Hierarch John, the great archpastor of the Russian Diaspora, will not forsake us!

+ NICHOLAS
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York
First-Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia