Archimandrite Cherubim (Apostolou), a monk from Mount Athos, spent 10 days in the US in late February 2006 researching the life and work of St. Herman of Alaska.
A member of St. Anna Skete, a dependency of the Great Lavra Monastery, Fr. Cherubim is also a graduate student at the Theological Faculty of the University of Thessaloniki, where he plans to submit a thesis on St. Herman, based in part on his research in the US. In addition to conducting research in the Archives of the Orthodox Church in America and at St. Vladimir’s Seminary Library, Fr. Cherubim also visited St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary and Holy Virgin Protection Cathedral in New York City.
Fr. Cherubim reports that St. Herman and the other North American saints are venerated on Mount Athos and elsewhere in Greece and that there is interest there in the historical missionary legacy of Orthodoxy in North America.
In the future, Fr. Cherubim plans to continue his research in the United States on other aspects of the history of North American Orthodoxy. It is hoped that Fr. Cherubim’s initial research visit here will lay the groundwork for ongoing fruitful contact between the Orthodox Church in America and Mount Athos.
In the photo, Fr. Cherubim is shown archival documents on St. Herman by Mr. Alexis Liberovsky, OCA Archivist.
Photos by John Mindala
