Orthodox America; Issue 9; Vol. I, No. 10

One of the last holy Elders and transmitters of the Valaam ascetic heritage, Abbot Philemon belonged to that group of confessors who were deported when they refused to accept the New Calendar forced upon them by the Soviet Church. Fr. Philemon joined Archbishop Vitaly’s brotherhood in Czechoslovakia and then. together with the other monks, came to this country where Archbishop Vitaly became the first abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY. There he continued the strict Valaam rule of prayer, keeping the spirit of old Valaam burning in his heart and enkindling others with the desire totally to dedicate’ themselves to Christ in the ancient monastic tradition of desert saints and righteous ones.Abbot Philemon died during the Paschal period of 1953, on April 5, foreseeing the very conditions of both his demise and his burial: “when it will be just like on Valaam, the snow will fall in large flakes as you will bury me.”