The History of the Monastery

Below is an excerpt of the history of St. Tikhon's monastery taken from the monastery's website. www.sttikhonsmonastery.org


By the dawn of the 20th century, Orthodox Christianity had been established on the North American continent for well over a century. Monasticism being indispensable for the healthy nourishing of an Orthodox Church, it was inevitable from the beginnings of Orthodoxy in America that a time would come when this form of spiritual endeavor would come into bloom.

The idea of founding a monastery in America was primarily that of the young Hieromonk Arseny (Chagovtsev), the future Archbishop Arseny of Winnipeg. Father Arseny had arrived in America only in 1902, and was rector of St. John the Baptist parish in Mayfield, Pa. His thought was that part of the monastery's function would be to serve as a "mother house" for the monastics serving as clergy in the Orthodox North American mission. He felt that the monks doing this work needed a monastery in which to be "acclimatized" to the American situation and where they could return periodically for spiritual renewal

Workers on the monastery grounds

With prophetic insight, Fr. Alexander wrote that "certainly a few monks with higher theological education could be found for this monastery, who would become professors of a pastoral seminary. For this, it seems, one could not find a more suitable place. Maintenance would be cheaper and the pupils would be shielded from temptations. Here the site itself of a seminary would find them immersed in studies and not distracted by exterior things." 


Not only for the purchase of the land, but for all their labors in bringing about the establishment of the holy monastery, the honor of being the cofounders belongs to them, to Father Arseny for generally conceiving the idea and promoting it, finding the land, and doing most of the on-site work; and to Archbishop Tikhon for providing the endeavor with the necessary episcopal oversight, embracing moral and spiritual leadership, vision, support, and guidance, along with financial support; later on, for crowning the work with the prayers of consecration and by appointing appropriate leadership to govern the holy community. Thus the two men -- their zeal and farsighted vision cooperating with divine grace at every step -- were able to turn dream into reality for the Orthodox Church in America.


While Fr. Arseny wrote "Rejoice!" in his letter to St. Alexander, the achievement involved trials and obstacles as well, to be overcome by the combined efforts of God and his servants. Fr. Arseny told of both the joys and difficulties in an article titled "Beginning of Joy." In the article he relates how he had occasion to take a stroll through the grounds shortly before their dedication by St. Raphael of Brooklyn on July 31, 1905, and he describes his thoughts and musings regarding the purpose of the soon-to-be monastery and orphanage. His reflections reveal how he indeed rejoiced in the selected site, and also provide insights on monasticism as a milieu in which to recover the proper communion between man and the natural world that God created.

Some of the orphans at the turn of the century

Clearly Father Arseny envisioned a monastic community in the classical sense, embodying the highest monastic ideals of prayer and spiritual struggle, which could only be of supreme value to the fledgling Orthodox mission in America and its faithful. And quickly he began to see the realization of his hopes and aspirations: for very soon after the purchase of the land, the first monks took up residence on the property and instituted monastic life. An orphan's home (orphanage) was also opened. There being at first no monastery church or residence, an existing frame house was used as a residence for the orphans, with a hallway serving as a makeshift chapel. 


Fr. Alexis Toth, who has been called the Father of the Russian Orthodox Church in America because of his great success in leading Uniates back to the Orthodox fold, was laid to rest in the monastery cemetery after his repose in 1909. Seven years later, his remains were transferred to a specially constructed tomb just back of the sanctuary of the Monastery Church.

In 1938 St. Tikhon's Seminary was established on the monastery grounds, through the efforts of Archbishop Arseny, the monastery's cofounder, who returned to St. Tikhon's in the 1930s. Since the founding of the seminary, the two institutions have mutually aided, enhanced, and nurtured each other.

To the far left, front row is St. Alexander
and to the far left back row is St. Alexis

In the 1950s a renowned Orthodox speaker, writer, leader, Saint Nicholai of Zicha, came to live at our monastery and also served as rector of the seminary from 1955-56. He reposed here in 1956. The news, in 1987, of St. Nicholai's glorification brought joy to our monastery. 1990 saw the glorification of the monastery's cofounder, Saint Patriarch Tikhon, by the Russian Orthodox Church, and in 1992 his well-hidden grave was miraculously discovered in Russia. In 1994, St. Alexander Hotovitsky, who was present as an inspired witness at the monastery's opening and on several later occasions, was glorified by the Russian Orthodox Church as a hieromartyr (priestmartyr). Also in 1994, the service of glorification (canonization) of St. Alexis Toth took place at the Memorial Day pilgrimage. His relics now rest in the monastery Church.

In 2000, St. Raphael, who dedicated these grounds and served the first Divine Liturgy here in 1905, was glorified at St. Tikhon's Monastery by the Orthodox Church in America acting on the request of the Orthodox Church of Antioch.


Over the first century of our existence, changes have taken place in the population of our community and in outward features of our life. However, the inner life which is the heart of monasticism continues as before. The unchanging life and rhythm of an Orthodox monastery is centered around the unchanging cycles and seasons of worship, and the fixed nature of monastic community life, with its traditions, rules, and practices. The ideals expressed by St. Tikhon and St. Raphael at the birth of St. Tikhon's Monastery have guided the life of the monastery ever since that beginning, and illumining, like beacons, the path of the monastics who have life at St. Tikhon's throughout the first century of the monastery's existence. Even today, St. Tikhon's Monastery continues to walk by those ideals, in prayer life, in charitable works, in educational work, and in spiritual guidance and as a place of pilgrimage.