Gregory (Athos)

Born April 17, 1925 in Kiev in the family of Archpriest Sergei and mother Vera Athos. In addition to him, the family had five children ^[1] .

In 1937, the grandfather of Geogria was executed on the maternal side - priest Mikhail Yedlinsky ^[2] .

In 1942, he was forcibly taken out by German troops to work in Germany .

He graduated from a real gymnasium in Wendling (Austria) with a bachelor's degree in 1949, after which, in the same year, he moved to the United States, where he lived with his uncle, spiritual composer and conductor Nikolai Afonsky . About 15 years he served as regent and psalmist in the parishes of the American Metropolis in the states of New Jersey and Connecticut .

After graduating from the University of Connecticut , he studied at St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary and graduated in 1965, after which he was ordained a deacon and then a priest in the same year. He was assigned to the chapel of St. Sergius at the Metropolitan House in Sayosset , New York, where he was an archivist of the American Metropolis between 1965 and 1971.

Continuing his education, he received a bachelor's degree (1968), and then a master's degree in theology from St. Vladimir's Theological Seminary (1970) as well as a master's degree in art from Hofstra University .

He was elevated to the rank of archpriest. In November 1971, he was moved to the St. Nicholas Church in Portland , Oregon , and soon after his appointment he received monastic tonsure at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsilvania with the name Gregory in honor of St. Gregory the Theologian and was soon entered into the rank of archimandrite .

In March 1973 he was elected bishop of Sitkinsky and Alaska . After that, he was tonsured a monk at St. Tikhon's Monastery with the name Gregory in honor of Gregory the Theologian .

The hierarchal ordination followed in the Archangel Michael Cathedral in Sitka on May 13, 1973. The rite was ordained by Metropolitan Irenaeus (Bekish) , Archbishop Kiprian (Borisevich) , Bishop Theodosius (Lazor) . They were served by the clergy of the diocese. This was the first consecration committed in Alaska. The service was broadcast on state radio.

Vladyka Gregory contributed to the dispensation of the Holy German Pastoral School in Kenai , Alaska. Under his guardianship, she was transferred to Kodiak , and her transformation into a theological seminary. Bishop Gregory was in her professor of dogmatic theology and canon law.

Thanks to the lord, many parishes of the diocese were revived. He took part in the annual gatherings with pleasure and earned the deep love of the flock, especially the indigenous inhabitants of Alaska.

The author of a number of books in Russian and English, Vladyka Gregory was an amateur and researcher of the church history of North America. He served as moderator of the Historical and Archival Department of the Orthodox Church in America and chairman of the Church Canonization Commission.

On March 23, 1995, the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church in America elevated him to the rank of archbishop .

On July 20 of that year, he retired due to poor health. Since that time, he lived in Jackson (New Jersey, USA).

After the fall of communism, Archbishop Gregory reunited with his brother after being half a century apart when his brother visited him in the United States. Later, Vladyka himself visited Russia and Ukraine .

In the early hours of September 6, 1998, during a private visit to friends on Staten Island , New York, he suffered a heart attack. After that, he was taken to the hospital, but on September 7, he suffered a second heart attack, and on September 8 a third ^[3] . On September 10 of the same year, he underwent surgery in the hospital of St. Vincent ^[4] .

He died in the evening of April 15, 2008 at his home in Jackson three days before his eighty-third birthday. The next day, a memorial service was served in Sitka by Bishop Nikolai (Soraich) ^{[5] [6]} .

• Dogmatic, patristic, canonical doctrine of the bishop. N.J., 1965
• A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska: 1794-1917. - Kodiak (Alaska): St. Herman's Theological Seminary Press. - 1978. - 106 p.
  • Russian Per .: History of the Russian Orthodox Church in Alaska // "Official Chronicle." 1993. No. 9/10. 2nd pag. S. 1-20;
  • A History of the Orthodox Church in America: 1917-1934. - Kodiak (Alaska): St. Herman's Theological Seminary Press. - 1994 .-- 138 p.
• Christ and the Church in Orthodox Teaching and Tradition. Crestwood, 2001 (Russian translation: Jesus Christ and His Church. K., 2002);
• Introduction to the canon law of the Orthodox Church. K., 2001.

• GREGORY // Orthodox Encyclopedia . - M .: Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia" , 2006. - T. XII. - S. 568. - 752 p. - 39,000 copies. - ISBN 5-89572-017-X .