Interview with Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen), „Saint Herman of Alaska“, Serbian Orthodox Monastery, Platina, California, United States of America
The monastery of St. Herman of Alaska in Platina, California, is well known around the Orthodox world. That is also the site where the outstanding hieromonk from the American continent, Fr. Seraphim Rose, spent his life. Nowadays Fr. Gerasim is the abbot of the monastery. He and Fr. Damascene are renowned disciples and continuers of the work of the distinguished monk and missionary to United States of America, a country renowned for its respect and uncompromising carrying into effect the principles of freedom of faith and freedom of speech.
Their monastery is a living testimony to the fact that faith is above nation and that canonicity and unity of the Church are much more important than using the schism for private ends as it is the case in our immediate environment.
All of the monks in the monastery are Americans (only one member of the brotherhood is Brazilian), and thus the services in the monastery are celebrated in English. This well known monastery is under the canonical jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Hieromonk Damascene (Christensen), who is of Scandinavian background, wrote an exceptionally important book about the life and achievements of Fr. Seraphim (Rose) which in an in-depth patristic manner acquaints the people from the English speaking world with the Orthodox spirituality. This book, owing to its tremendous reception on the part of the readers, is also making inroads to the Balkan region: it has been already published in Greek; the first volume of this biography in Serbian was just published by Hilandar monastery; in the meanwhile preparations are finalizing for the publishing of the already completed translation into Bulgarian.
For the reason of promoting his book Fr Damscene is constantly receiving invitations from almost everywhere and thus travels throughout the world. He also uses his encounters for promotion of the monastery periodical The Orthodox Word which in its latest issue is devoted to Archbishop John (Jovan) and the Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid.
His monastery also has a rich publishing activity: www.sainthermanpress.com
The visit we made to their monastery and our acquaintance with Fr Damascene are the motive for this conversation.
Abbot David: Father, can you give us some details on the missionary deeds of St. Herman of Alaska and the beginnings of the Orthodox Church on the American continent?
Hieromonk Damascene: The first Orthodox mission to America was sent from the Russian Monastery of Valaam Monastery to Kodiak, Alaska, in 1794. It consisted of one Archimandrite (later Bishop Ioasaph), three hieromonks (Athanasius, Macarius and St. Juvenal, who became America’s first martyr), two hierodeacons (Stephen and Nektary), and two monks (Ioasaph and St. Herman). St. Herman, the Wonderworker of Alaska (reposed in 1836), is America’s first canonized saint. He spent the last part of his life on Spruce Island (a small island adjacent to Kodiak Island), which he named “New Valaam,” living as a monk in the wilderness, caring for orphaned Aleut (native American) children, and laboring as a missionary to the local Aleuts. Although he was never ordained as a priest, he brought many Aleuts to the Orthodox Faith through his Grace-filled teaching, and afterwards he continued to strengthen them in the Faith as their spiritual father. He also converted a naval captain of German ancestry, Leonty Hagemeister, from Lutheranism to the Orthodox Faith; and he turned many Russians to faith in Christ, including Symeon Yanovksy, who at one time was the governor of the Russian-American colonies (Yanovsky later became a schemamonk at the St. Tikhon of Kaluga Monastery in Russia). St. Herman was known as a miracle-worker during his lifetime, and he continues to work miracles for those who call upon his heavenly intercessions.
Through the labors of the first Orthodox mission to America, many thousands of native Alaskans converted to the Orthodox Faith. Missionary work was continued in America most prominently by St. Innocent of Alaska (reposed in 1879). St. Innocent traveled by baidarka (an Aleut kayak) to the remote islands in the Aleutian Island Chain, bringing the saving Orthodox Faith of Christ to those who had not yet heard the Gospel. Thus, thousands more native Americans were converted to Orthodoxy.
The Alaskan natives have remained faithful to the Orthodox Church. Today, the Orthodox Church has more members (most of them native Americans) than any other church or faith in Alaska.
Abbot David: Would you be kind to tell us something about the role of Fr. Seraphim (Rose) in the transplantation and affirmation of the Orthodox monastic way of life in the United States?
Hieromonk Damascene: Fr. Seraphim was a true podvizhnik or Righteous Struggler. There have been other podvizhniki in North America—such as St. Herman of Alaska or St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco, who was Fr. Seraphim’s own mentor—but Fr. Seraphim is the first American-born podvizhnik to be widely venerated as such by the Orthodox faithful around the world. He died to the world and to himself, giving his life wholly to our Lord Jesus Christ. He taught that true monastic life is based on continuous and unremitting spiritual struggle, which in turn is based on love for Christ and total dedication to him. As an American-born convert to Orthodoxy who became a truly righteous man, Fr. Seraphim “set the course” for other American-born monastics, giving them hope that they, too, can grow toward holiness. In Orthodox monasteries throughout America—including those in the Serbian, Russian, and Greek Churches—monks and nuns look to Fr. Seraphim as a model and an example, and draw from his teachings on how to live a genuine spiritual life in our times.
Here are some of Fr. Seraphim’s sobering thoughts on the transplantation of Orthodox monastic life in the United States, which he wrote in 1977:
“Monasticism, despite its other-worldly goal, is still in the world, and its state cannot but reflect the state of the world contemporary to it. The pampered, self-centered young people who form the vast majority of those who come to monasticism today (at least in the free world) cannot but bring with them their worldly ‘baggage’ of attitudes and habits, and these in turn cannot but affect the monastic environment. With a fierce and conscious battle against them, their influence can be minimized; without this constant battle, they can come to dominate even the best-organized monastery, often in hidden ways.
“True Orthodox monasticism by its very nature is hostile to the principle of modern comfort. The constant activity of the monk is not giving ease to himself, sacrificing himself, giving himself over heart and soul to something above himself; but this is exactly the opposite of the first principle of modern life, which is based on the chiliastic [millenarianist] dream of making life easy on earth. To commit oneself to a conscious battle against the principles and habits of modern comfort is a rare and dangerous thing; and thus it is no wonder that our monasticism is so weak—it cannot but reflect the feebleness of Orthodox life in general today….
“In all humility let us admit the poverty of our Christianity, the coldness of our love for God, the emptiness of our spiritual pretensions; and let us use this confession as the beginning of our monastic path, which is the path of correction. Let us, the monks of the last times, realistically aware of our failings and of the pitfalls before us, not lose courage at the sight of them, but let us all the more strenuously offer to God our humble entreaty that He might forgive our sins and heal our wounded souls…
“The monastic life, indeed, even in our times of feeble faith, is still above all the love of Christ, the Christian life par excellence, experienced with many patient sufferings and much pain. Even today there are those who penetrate the secret of this paradise on earth…”
Abbot David: Having such a close contact with him for many years, can you tell us some enlightened sentence by Fr. Seraphim which would be similar in spirit with the ones we can read in the “Gerontikon”?
Hieromonk Damascene: Here are some sayings of Fr. Seraphim, which I used as epigraphs at the beginning of chapters in the biography of Fr. Seraphim—Father Seraphim Rose: His Life and Works. (The first volume of the Serbian-language edition of this biography has just been published by Hilandar Monastery.)
“Suffering is an indication of another Kingdom which we look to. If being Christian meant being ‘happy’ in this life, we wouldn’t need the Kingdom of Heaven.”
“Orthodoxy can’t be comfortable unless it is fake.”
“Every man, by virtue of being human, must choose God or himself. Every man, in fact, has chosen, for we are what we have chosen. And with our choice we indicate our preference for one Kingdom or other: for the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of self.”
“One can’t be a half-hearted Christian, but only entirely, or not at all.”
“Orthodoxy is the one true Church of Christ, the only pure and genuine Christianity; and this fact places upon Orthodox believers the obligation, when speaking of the Church to others, to do so straightforwardly and without adulteration—with love, surely, but above all with love for God’s Truth.”
“The Christian loves his fellow man because he sees in him one created in the image of God and called to perfection and eternal life in God; such love is not human but Divine, seeing in men not mere earthly mortality, but heavenly immortality.”
“When I became a Christian I voluntarily crucified my mind, and all the crosses that I bear have been only a source of joy for me. I have lost nothing, and gained everything.”
“Monasticism—martyrdom—suffering an incurable affliction are all the same thing spiritually. Ask God to give, not merely guidance or help—but martyrdom, suffering, a path where you can make a supreme effort, ‘get involved,’ become on fire to serve God.”
Abbot David: Can you tell us about the present state of Orthodox monasticism in North America and what would be your estimates about its prospects for the future? Also, our readers would be interested to know how many Orthodox monasteries exist at the moment in USA.
Hieromonk Damascene: Monasticism has experienced much growth in America since Fr. Seraphim’s repose in 1982. The largest and most positive influence on monasticism in North America has been through the eighteen monasteries founded by Elder Ephraim, the former Abbot of Philotheou Monastery on Mount Athos. These monasteries have not only helped to strengthen Orthodox monasticism in America; they have also helped to strengthen Orthodox laypeople in the traditional Orthodox way of life. Furthermore, they have helped to establish in this country a more traditional approach to Orthodox theology and liturgics. Elder Ephraim has not invented anything new; he simply represents the spirit and tradition of Mount Athos.
At present, there about about seventy Orthodox monasteries in the United States. These monasteries are comprised of anywhere between two and thirty monastics.
Of course, the pitfalls of monasticism in America—and in the modern world in general—remain the same now as they were in Fr. Seraphim’s time. Therefore, we monastics of today would do well to heed Fr. Seraphim’s warnings, which I quoted above.
Abbot David: From the history of the Church it is a well known fact that even the recluse ascetics went out of their caves when the purity of the faith needed to be defended. What, according to your opinion, do the Catholicity and Canonicity of the Church represent for the monk; therefore, is it possible for an Orthodox monastic podvig to exist outside of the abovementioned Catholicity and Canonicity; and what is schism in general terms (and more specifically one created out of ethnofiletistic motives), from the ecclesiological perspective according to your viewpoint?
Hieromonk Damascene: My viewpoint is the same as the viewpoint of His Beatitude Archbishop Jovan of the Autonomous Archdiocese of Ohrid. Of course, this is not only his or my viewpoint: it is simply the viewpoint of the Orthodox Church. Living within the Catholicity and Canonicity of the Church is vital and imperative for the monk. Of what use are our podvigs if we undertake them while being in schism from the Church?
As a hieromonk of the Serbian Orthodox Church, I was very moved to learn that a majority of the monks and nuns in R. Macedonia have come under the omophorion of Archbishop Jovan. To me, this demonstrates of the truth of what Fr. Seraphim said above: “The monastic life, indeed, even in our times of feeble faith, is still above all the love of Christ, the Christian life par excellence, experienced with many patient sufferings and much pain.” By being obedient to the Church of Christ even at the price of much personal suffering, the monks and nuns of the Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid have shown that they are in the authentic spirit of Orthodox monasticism, and that they have undertaken the monastic path for the right reasons.
Orthodoxy is not simply a body of beliefs and practices (although it certainly includes these). Orthodoxy, as Fr. Seraphim said in the saying quoted above, is the “one true Church of Christ”; and the Church, as the righteous Archimandrite Justin Popovic used to say, is a “Divine-human Organism”: the Body of Christ. Either we are within the Church—which means we are within its canonical boundaries—or we are not. If we are not, we are separated from the Body of Christ.
The verdict is already in on the schismatic body in Macedonia. The entire Orthodox Church throughout the world—every canonical Orthodox Patriarchate—considers this group to be in schism, that is, outside the Church. And many canonical Orthodox Churches throughout the world have written letters supporting His Beatitude Archbishop Jovan and denouncing his recent imprisonment.
Schism is a deadly sin. If one does not repent of this sin before death, one loses the hope of eternal salvation. However, for those who repent, the Church is always ready to embrace them and welcome them again within what Fr. Seraphim Rose called “the saving enclosure” of the Body of Christ. His Holiness Patriarch Pavle has lovingly extended this welcome many times to those who remain in schism from the Church. We should pray for those who are in schism, but we should in no way be influenced by the sin of schism, and by the false, self-serving ecclesiologies that accompany it.
Abbot David: What do you think the role of Orthodox monasticism should be in the contemporary world but not losing its authenticity in the process?
Hieromonk Damascene: In addition to what I have said above, and to what I have quoted from Fr. Seraphim, I would like to mention that monasticism in the contemporary world should have a missionary spirit. This is indeed the example that St. Herman set when he came to America: he, along with his fellow monks from Valaam, came to live a monastic life in America, and at the same time to be missionaries.
This does not mean that every monk should travel around as a missionary. Some monks may do this with the blessing of their Abbot and Bishop; but this is the exception rather than the rule in monastic life. However, whether or not the monk travels as a missionary, he should have a missionary frame of mind. That is, he should realize that in, our times, a great many people do not know about the Orthodox Church; and even if they do know, they have not experienced the Church as the true “Ark of Salvation” that she is. These souls are perishing; and it is the duty of every Orthodox monastic, and indeed of every Orthodox Christian, to be ready to share the true Faith of Christ to these lost and searching souls. Monasteries are refuges for people seeking genuine spiritual life in Christ. So, even if a monk never leaves the monastery to do missionary work, he can do such work within the walls of his own monastery. He can and should be a light and witness to the world, bearing testimony of the power of Christ over sin and death.
Another way that monastics can do missionary work within their own monasteries is through the printed word. Our St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in northern California was co-founded by Fr. Seraphim Rose precisely as a wilderness hermitage dedicated to missionary work through the printed word: spreading the word of God throughout the world by publishing books, magazines, and annual Church calendars.
Abbot David:You are well acquainted with the kind of problems Orthodox clerics from abroad are encountering while trying to enter the Republic of Macedonia. Many do not succeed to enter the country at all, being maltreated by the Macedonian police which seeks to prevent the faithful Macedonian people to taste the fruit of Church unity. Therefore, we would ask you to share with us your pastoral message to the Orthodox faithful in the Republic of Macedonia.
Hieromonk Damascene: My first message to the Orthodox faithful in R. Macedonia is: remain faithful to the canonical hierarchy of the Autonomous Archdiocese of Ohrid. This is not an issue of politics. Rather, it the life-or-death spiritual issue of being within the Church of Christ. His Eminence Metropolitan Jovan has not asked the faithful in Macedonia to follow the path of the cross, the path of persecution, without having himself followed that path first. When His Eminence visited our monastery in California (which now belongs to the Serbian Orthodox Church), we were deeply impressed by his humility and by his readiness to suffer for the Faith. He is a true confessor of our times: a confessor of the true, patristic ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church, a confessor of the unity of the Church. The faithful of Macedonia are blessed to have such a courageous and noble hierarch.
When thinking on the suffering of Metropolitan Jovan in prison, I am inspired to recall the words of Fr. Seraphim Rose concerning struggle and suffering for Christ which I quoted earlier. But, most of all, I am inspired by the words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, which He spoke to those who would be His true disciples: “Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also… These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (St. John 16:20-21, 33).