Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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Barbara
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Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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Here are a few stories, to which I have added paragraphs and slight editing for clarity of reading :

  1. "Holy Hierarch Averky saved our lives.

My daughter Alla and I set out to go on a visit to our friends. On our way to Long Island, New York, my daughter speeded u to 100 miles per hour since there was no traffic [ Not too smart ! ]

I did not notice it, and we quietly talked. About halfway there we noticed the smell of burning rubber, but paid no attention and kept going. The smell increased but my daughter did not slow down. Suddenly she stopped the car and got out. I remained sitting in the front seat, crossed myself and suddenly lifted my eyes.

In front of the hood of the car, I suddenly saw Archbishop Averky standing in a gray cassock. He looked so unearthly, as if transparent, with a pleasant smile, as I had never seen him during his life life : such heavenly beauty is impossible to describe, it is only possible to depict in an icon. I never encountered anything like it in my whole life.

In this unexpected joy I even forgot that Vladyka had already left us [ had died ]. I raised m hands to get his blessing, when my daughter opened the door on my side and yelled, "Quickly, quickly, get out !" Seeing my exalted happiness, she cried, "What's the matter with you ?"

I exclaimed, "Vladyka Averky is standing here - go to get his blessing." "Where, where ?" she asked, looking at the spot to which I pointed ; but Holy Averky had disappeared and was no longer there.

When we came to the place where a lot of smelly smoke was coming from, we were shocked to see that the whole wheel had come out of its place and was standing separately next to the car ! We were petrified. Only when we took hold of ourselves and began to pray, did we understand that we had been saved from unavoidable death by Archbishop Averky, who I had just seen.

Then a mechanic arrived and, when he saw what condition our car was in, he loudly exclaimed that it was impossible to drive at such speed: "Unquestionably there occurred a miracle, for otherwise nothing would have remained of you." These were his precise words.

In our hearts there is no doubt that Holy Averky saved our lives..During his lifetime I considered him a saint, and now we pray to him, crying with gratitude : "Holy Averky, pray to God for us !"

  • Zinaida Nepomniatschy, October 12, 1977 [date the account was written, which is now the Feast of the Translation of St John Maximovitch's Relics]

The story related by the mother, Zinaida, is crisp, clear and breathtaking. To have a wheel come off and still be alive after her daughter drove so ridiculously recklessly ?

Also, pay attention to the ethereal radiance of the reposed Abp Averky [Taushev]. This is highlighted by Zinaida, who, one feels, is still reliving that experience while she records the seeming apparition of the Jordanville rector.

Next installment to follow. Stay tuned, for in one of the stories, Archbishop Averky endorses the GOC [ as it was then, anyway ] !
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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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This story is far less dramatic, but just the number of incidences which got recorded in the next year after his repose testifies to some special spiritual quality of Abp Averky.

"A woman in Birmingham, New York, had a rash on her hand and went to different doctors, but they could not help her.

She came here [ Jordanville ] and was praying at the grave of Archbishop Averky, resting her hand on the sarcophagus.

When she arose to leave, the rash had disappeared. Several people talked with her and saw it."

--Br. Macarius Shaeffer
Sept 28/October 11, 1977
Holy Trinity Monastery
Jordanville, New York

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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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The next 2 incidents are from the same spiritual daughter, Tatiana Vikliancev. Notice how she cites the exact name of the ROCOR Priest, so that her account could be authenticated.

None of the false 'saints' from the MP and elsewhere have anything like such artlessly told stories as this from Tatiana Vikliancev ; never is concrete detail provided so that the narrative could be cross checked by anyone.

"Archbishop Averky knew me from infancy and was always concerned with everything that went on with me. Only a year before his death I was employed in a very good position in a very good firm, but I had the misfortune of having a vvery disappointing supervisor ; he was terribly nervous, irritable and was constantly yelling and simply impossible. Before I came, many people had my position but would not last, so I ended up in this terrible situation. Soon I began to think of changing my job, but Archbishop Averky kept insisting, imploring me not to quit this job saying that the supervisor was simply nervous, and so on. But I would come from work every evening worn out and such a nervous wreck that I would simply collapse. And every morning again I would drag myself with repulsion to my tormentor. The bishop nevertheless telephoned me two or three times a week, encouraged me and implored me not to quit my job.

The last time such a talk took place was on Sunday, and on Tuesday he died. Finally I came to a dead end. There was absolutely nothing with which I could please my boss -- nothing worked any longer.

About two weeks after Archbishop Averky's repose, one day after morning prayers I went up to his portrait that hangs near my icon-corner, and said to him "Today is the last day of my torture. Let him make only one 'peep -- I'll hand over to him the keys and simply walk out !" After thinking a little, I yet added, "Now you can't telephone me anymore, you can't implore me any longer either -- you can't do anything any longer, anyway." Feeling good about it, I slammed the door and left.

At work I sat and waited for the boss to make amove, keys in hand - all ready. At about 10 o'clock my boss came in, came up to me and asked me to come to his office. He closed the door behind me and bid me to sit down. With glee I thought to myself : "Oh, boy -- I'm getting fired -- hooray!"

He lowered his eyes and began to apologize to me for everything, for his irritability, begging forgiveness, claiming that he was under severe pressure. Then he thanked me for my patience and for my excellent "performance" at work. He informed me that he had written an outstanding recommendation to our supervisors, and said, "Tanya, I gave you an outstanding rating.

As a bonus he presented to me a $108 monthly raise. I was dumbfounded and lost the gift of speech. Somehow I managed to wobble back to my desk. Then my supervisor left for somewhere. In an hour he came back and brought me a large bouquet of roses. I at once remembered Archbishop Averky. You know how he loved rose oil, with which he loved to anoint icons, the Holy Shroud before Pascha, especially the Cross and even at times his beard. [ <= ! ]
I consider that a miracle, although of a personal nature.

Three months later my boss was transferred to another state and I received a high promotion. In our place, people wait for years for such a promotion. I am now the main assistant to the head manager of our firm, and every day I thank God and my Vladika.

Today my present boss is calm, believing, thankful for every trifle -- in general, one can't imagine anything better. Besides, this last promotion I received relatively recently, but before that there of course gradual promotions in the course of a year. And again, I must add that, at the time I was appointed to the present post, I also received roses from my co-workers.

After the death of Archbishop Averky, I often used to have pannikhidas served. After one such service, as I was leaving the church to go home, the priest - Fr Peter Mocharsky - stopped me and said "Please wait a little. I want to give you a bouquet of flowers from my little garden." And with these words he cut for me a bouquet of beautiful roses.

Vladika would always especially rejoice when I would receive Holy Communion. And again during Great Lent of this year, after receiving Communion I went home and, as I was approaching my house, I suddenly saw at my feet an absolutely fresh rose bud.

Perhaps these incidents appear insignificant. This is not for me to judge. All I can say is that I feel through them the presence of my dear spiritual father, Archbishop Averky, who thus lets himself be known.

-- Tatiana Vikliancev
November 14, 1977

******************************

When was the last time most people received bouquets of roses when they were awarded promotions ? It is certainly unusual in America.

Not to mention the miracle of the supervisor actually apologizing to Tatiana. That, as students of this field know, never happens with a person displaying the abusive traits the boss did. Also, we get the hint that he was NOT a believer in God, which makes him less accountable to Heaven - in his own mind - for his mistreatment of his subordinate. Today, this would almost never occur. It was only through the seeming intervention of her spiritual father that the man was moved to try to make up to her for the damage he inflicted by raising her salary [ $ 108 was worth much more in 1976 than today ].

Perhaps if Archbishop Averky is deemed worthy of being numbered among the saints, he could be made the patron of victims of abuse ! For stories like this NEVER happen in real life. 99.999 % of targets are left ruined while the remorseless abusive party skips away happily to prey upon his or her next victim. Apologies are offered once in a millennium, if that often !

Thus, we can see what a truly remarkable occurrence this was. The fact that Archbishop Averky knew in advance that his spiritual daughter needed to persevere in her predicament is a testimony to some possible clairvoyant ability of his.
And his having phoned Tatiana only 2 days before his repose to underline that point shows what a caring spiritual father he was.

TOMORROW : Archbishop Averky and the GOC

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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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The same recipient of apparent help from Archbishop Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville had another experience, this time a remarkably realistic dream on the Vigil of the Dormition. Fittingly to relate the following, today is the Vigil of the Nativity of the Mother of God.

Tatiana V. described this unexpected scene starting below the photo.

There is a former thread discussing Archbishop Averky's possible sanctity as well as the Astoria connection here :
http://euphrosynoscafe.com/forum/viewto ... ria#p65013

Image
St John Maximovitch, Bishop Petros of Astoria and Archbishop Averky at St Markella's Cathedral, Astoria

"I saw myself standing near to where the candles are sold [ that is, at the entrance ] in the Old Calendarist church of Bishop Petros [ in Astoria ]. Bishop Petros together with his clergy came out of the altar in bright, dazzling vestments. They moved towards the exit : this was a procession with the cross. When they all passed me, then, at the end of the procession I saw Archbishop Averky, who was not in full vestments but only in a mantle, as it appeared to me. I was full of joy and with tears rushed to Vladika.

Meanwhile, all the [GOC] clergy went outside and began to sing a litia in front of the church. Archbishop Averky stopped and kindly looked at me... I didn't know what to say to him because I had an endless number of things which I wanted to talk to him about.

Not knowing with what to begin, I said "Dear Vladika, what are you doing here ? After all, we all know you to be dead !"

He smiled and said "Look at me carefully, and conclude yourself : am I dead or alive ?

"Vladika ! How wonderful ! You are as alive as I am ! That means you didn't die !"

"Well, you see I'm not dead at all - I am alive ! You ask me why I'm here ? I'm always here ! I live here !

"Here ? With them [ the Greeks ] ?"

To this he responded affirmatively, and I asked again, "What are you doing here ?"

"There is a lot to do here," he answered, "but mostly I teach the little children."

"Do they treat you well ? Do they take good care of you ?"

"Oh yes, very well. It is good for me to be here."

At this moment, the litia being finished, all the clergy passed by us and went into the altar, and Archbishop Averky remained standing with me. Then he pointed with his hand outside and said, "Tanya, look how the cross is brilliantly shining there where they were just praying."

His face at this moment was bright and glowing and joyful. I was trying to see this cross but could not see it. Nearby, next to Archbishop Averky on the candle table, I saw some small cross and I thought that he had spoken about that one. but Vladika said again, "Not that one -- the one over there, outside. Look how brightly and beautifully shines this cross."

Then I said that I did not see it. He came to himself and said, "My child, there where they pray there always remains great grace. But now you go home. I don't want you to go home late. And here, as a blessing for your safety, I bless you with this little cross." Here he took from the shelf a little copper cross, just like the ones I think the Greeks give to newly baptized.

"Vladika," I said, "This is not your cross, it is theirs. How can you give it to me ?"

Archbishop Averky smiled and said, "Not theirs, but ours."

Then I woke up and for a long time could not come to myself because of the vividness of the dream.

Several people saw him in their dreams and there are several cases of miraculous intercessions."

-- Tatiana Vikliancev
November 14, 1977

***************

I see that a 'yelp' review characterizes St Markella's as a "Beautiful church inside and out". However, it might be interesting to look at some footage of the candle stand area to visualize where Tatiana V.'s dream played out.

On a more serious note, the lesson imparted by Archbishop Averky about the existence of an invisible spiritual Cross hovering in the location where a service was performed is a beneficial insight for all.

And as for the small cross, a GOC parish website said "Infants and adults who are baptized and chrismated in the Orthodox Christian Church receive a blessed gold Cross to be worn around the neck from the time of their Baptism to their departure from this earthly life."

So it is gold or gold-plated or gold color -- not copper -- but the colors would look similar in a dream ...

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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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Two pictures of Archbishop Averky :

Image
Feast of Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, 1953 [ from left ] Archimandrite Averky (Taushev), Bp. Nikon, Bp. Seraphim, Abp. James, Protopresbyter George Grabbe , Metropolitan Anastassy, Abp. Vitaly [Maximenko], St. John Maximovitch

Image

Now, reading his life between emigration to Varna on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria from a war-torn Russia and his emigration to Jordanville in 1951 or so, there seems to be some things possibly suppressed. For, he seems to have been under a different hierarchy than Rocor's during those long years. No affiliation with Rocor is ever mentioned up UNTIL Archbishop Vitaly {Maximenko, pictured above, 1st Abbot of Rocor's Holy Trinity Monastery } invites Fr Averky to come to America and teach at Jordanville.
If anyone has any information, please explain what happened during this mysterious gap.

A clue finally revealed 2 years ago was the disclosure that he was a student [ disciple ? ] of Abp Seraphim Sobolev in Bulgaria. We know that Abp Seraphim went over to the MP. How did this affect the young Fr Averky ? I would like to hear the FULL story.

At any rate, from the solo picture above, we can see that at that time, the future Archbishop Averky wore his hair exactly like his mentor, Abp Seraphim [Sobolev].

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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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In fact, I was looking back through old pictures and that hair was incredibly long and a bit wild -looking when Abp Averky was younger and probably through middle age. By the time of old age, it doesn't show any more.

I came across a fascinating photo of then-Archimandrite Averky serving on the Vigil of Theophany 1950 at a St Vladimir's Chapel [ in Germany ? ].

Note the Kursk Icon in a shrine on the far left of the picture. Imagine how far She has traveled in the 68 years since !

There is no ability to copy any of the images or I would bring this valuable one here to the post. One has to follow the link and click through many interesting photos of the early history of the Russian emigration and foundation of Rocor to find this. Neither is there any numbering which would speed up the search.

These remarkable pictures appeared at a [I think the date is correct >] February 4, 2014 Exhibition in Moscow at the Solzhenitsyn Centre for Russian Émigré Studies which examined the creation and development of the Russian Church Outside of Russia [ Rocor ] in rare pictures. This beautifully done exhibition seems to have escaped notice at the time in this country ; I could find only a brief mention on the Holy Trinity Seminary website giving brief news of the exhibition timed to coincide with the launch of a new Jordanville book on Metropolitan Anthony [Khrapovitsky] "Metropolitan Antonii (Khrapovitskii): Archpastor of the Russian Diaspora".

Comments on a few other of the pictures will appear on another thread.

https://artsandculture.google.com/exhib ... _XX49GB4Jg

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Re: Holy Hierarch Averky [Taushev] of Jordanville

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Emerging from probably a Bishops Council at Jordanville's Holy Trinity Cathedral, Archbishop Averky literally stands behind St John Maximovitch, reinforcing the support given to the Saint when he was under massive attack from various factions - visible and invisible - during St John's attempt to get the construction of the Holy Virgin Cathedral to resume. Of course, it was the fact that the Saint would be buried in the Cathedral and a shrine built for him that so enraged myriad evil spirits. These infernal legions tried to stop any association of St John with this beautiful projected Church, destined to become the biggest in Rocor. The dark hordes knew how spiritually beneficial the Cathedral and the shrine would prove. Thus, they worked ferociously to attempt to discourage Archbishop John from remaining in San Francisco. If St John had given up and returned to Europe, there would have been no landmark Cathedral so closely connected with him. The power of the pilgrimage location would have been lessened. Fewer Americans would have journeyed there ; fewer cures and spiritual conversions taken place, less publicity, etc.

Archbishop Averky loyally flew out to sit with St John during the tragic scene provoked by the cruel implacable enemies of the holy Saint of God.
And, just as he descended the Cathedral stairs slightly behind Archbishop John in the picture, so did Archbishop Averky follow the Saint in death precisely 10 years later, in 1976.

Image
Metropolitan Philaret, left front, and St John Maximovitch front right, with Archbishop Averky behind

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