Church/OCA Archives
October 3, 2006 - A visit to the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America took place on Tuesday, October 3, 2006. Representatives of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church - Rev. David Garretson and your reporter - made the visit to the beautiful dwelling located on Route 25A in Oyster Bay Cove, New York (Syosset Post Office Address). Even with the wind at our backs, the destination was more than two hours distant from South River. The objective was to ascertain what documents and photos particular to our Church were on file in the OCA Archives - the basement area of the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery. This photoreport is divided into several sections - the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery itself and the surrounding grounds, the meeting with OCA Archivist, Mr. Alexis Liberovsky, and photography of St. Sergius Chapel and related iconography. What follows below is page one of the two page photoreport.
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The archives of the Orthodox Church in America are stored in the basement of a beautiful home (above left) surrounded by fifteen acres in bucolic Oyster Bay Cove, Long Island. All homes in the area are set back quite a distance from Route 25A and are thus for the most part not visibile from the main thoroughfare. The same is true for our destination - it is joined to the main road by a long winding driveway. Above right, Rev. David Garretson is photographed before the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery - the permanent residence of the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America whether or not he is physically present on a given day. It and the surrounding grounds were gifted to the Orthodox Church in America in 1957 and it is where OCA Archivist Liberovsky spends his days. Below right, a bell tower is situated on the beautiful and well-groomed grounds.
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Above are additional photos of the grounds which surround the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery. Below left is the unofficial groundskeeper of the estate, a woman who gave her first name as Zinaida, and who was photographed only after much coaxing. Apparent in her visage is the pride which she takes in the estate grounds and she becomes enthusiastically animated when she talks about her work of keeping the grounds in beautiful condition. Zinaida is also Mrs. Alexis Liberovsky. Below right is the main entrance to the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery.
The magnificent building consists of two floors, beneath which is a basement housing the archival material. In the photos above and below are what one sees upon entering through the main doors.
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A brief tour of the ground floor shows well-appointed rooms tempered with displays of iconography and portraits of those who have led the Orthodox Church in America. Top and bottom left are views of the well-maintained grounds behind the OCA Chancery. Above right in a hallway are reproductions of the Sitka Icon of the Madonna which had visited our parish one year ago in October.
Above right and below left are photos of what might best be described as the living room. In the photo below left hang portraits of Metropolitan LEONTY, Metropolitan IRENEY, and Metropolitan THEODOSIUS. They appear left to right in the photo both spatially within the room and temporally as well in terms of the order of their leadership of the Orthodox Church in America.
Above right hangs a portrait of the current First Hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America - His Beatitude HERMAN, Archbishop of Washington and New York, Metropolitan of All America and Canada.
It must be a pleasure to work in such beautiful surroundings! Above right are beautiful murals, most likely commissioned by the former owner of the building. Below left is a large kitchen and below right is a large formal dining area.
Most of the review of archives pertaining to our Church was conducted in the room known as the Chancellor's Conference Room (above left and right). On the wall in the photo above left hang portraits of former Chancellors of the Orthodox Church in America. Left to right in the photo they are: Mitred Protopresbyter Joseph Pishtey, V. Rev. Daniel Hubiak, and V. Rev. Robert Kondratick. We will be coming back to this room shortly to show a review of the archives pertaining to SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church in South River, N.J.
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Our gracious host for the day was OCA Archivist, Mr. Alexis Liberovsky. He spent more than four hours with Fr. David and your reporter. Mr. Liberovsky - a native of Montreal, Canada, and a graduate of both St. Sergius Institute in Paris, France, and St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y., has been the archivist of the national Church's collection of historical materials for more than 18 years. He has also taken training at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. It was Mr. Liberovsky who took us around for a brief tour of the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery before settling down to have a look at the archives pertaining to our Church.
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Above left - the Library of Congress it is not, however, most of the important documentation pertaining to the history of the Orthodox Church in America is stored in the basement of the OCA Chancery. Above right, Rev. Garretson reviews material presented to him by Mr. Liberovsky while wife Zinaida looks on in the background. Below left are photos of some of the past First Hierarchs of our national Church. Left to right spatially and in temporal order of their leadership are Saint Patriarch TIKHON (Belavin), Metropolitan PLATON (Rozhdestvensky), Metropolitan THEOPHILUS (Pashkovsky), Metropolitan LEONTY (Turkevich), and Metropolitan IRENEY (Bekish). You will recall that Saint Patriarch TIKHON (Belavin) was one of the founders in 1905 of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, along with another Saint of North America, the martyred Archpriest, Saint Alexander (HOTOVITZKY). Below right - hanging on the walls are a multitude of photos recollecting national gatherings of the Orthodox Church in America and as well group photos of national conventions of the Federated Russian Orthodox Clubs (now known as the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians in America.
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You may click on the photo above right to view an enlargement.
Above left and right - Fr. David examines some of the historical photographs on display.
Above left - your reporter appears - only for the second time on this Website - with Fr. David Garretson and Mr. Liberovsky. The photo and the idea for the photo are courtesy of Zinaida Liberovsky whom we have met previously. Zinaida also graciously provided all of us with lunch. Above right - Fr. David and Mr. Liberovsky get down to work in the Chancellor's Conference Room as they begin a review of documents pertinent to our local parish. Fr. David was especially interested in any possible early photos and metricals - parish demographic data - which might be available for SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church.
In the photo above right are shown early demographic data for our parish - numbers broken down both by parishioner nationality and further broken down into male/female categories.
In the photos above and below - Fr. David takes notes as Mr. Liberovsky makes his presentations.
Above - Fr. David reviews letters which containted petitions from our Parish Council to our local bishop at that time - Bishop IOANN of Brooklyn and New Jersey. Below, Rev. Garretson reviews a letter from our parish which was written while V. Rev. Emil Skuby was our rector.
Sadly, but as one might expect for the time, most of the letters were written in Russian. Word-by-word translation at present would have been onerous and time-consuming, so the next best thing was done - Fr. David copied the material (photos below right and bottom) so that it might be brought back to South River for review. One would be surprised if our Pastor Emeritus, Very Rev. Sergius Kuharsky, does not get the opportunity to read and translate these documents, thus "filling in the blanks" regarding our parish's history. Below right - Mr. Liberovsky peruses our Centennial Anniversary book while Fr. David collates the paperwork.
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This concludes page one of the two page photoreport pertaining to our visit to the Metropolitan's Residence and Chancery of the Orthodox Church in America. Page two of this photoreport contains photos of iconography in the OCA Chancery, a brief tour of St. Sergius Chapel which is within the OCA Chancery, and photographs pertaining to those individuals who played a role in the history of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church. It is hoped that you will have the opportunity to visit page two of this photoreport.
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