AbpAndrew[Rymarenko]: A Retrospective Look After 40 Years

[Barbara]

Here is the above-mentioned Abp Andrei of Rockland, the contemporary ROAC hierarch briefly recounting in Russian Elder Nektary's prophesy from 1927 about the Church :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdGOwqR4TA

[Barbara]

Here is a video showing likely for the 1st time EVER the interior of Archbishop Andrei's cell at Novo-Divievo Convent in New York.
Apparently, the room has been preserved exactly the same since its owner reposed in 1978.

Note the drawing of Elder Nektary with which most people are familiar on the upper part of the wall.
Apparently, Abp Andrew of Rockland was the source for all copied pictures of that published in books.

It's more than obvious why the calendar open to July 12, 1978 is pointed out. That was the last day that Abp Andrew lived in his cell !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_8d_xKEabM

[Barbara]

There is a 7 minute by the GOC-K Metropolitan Demetrios on Archbishop Andrei, founder of the Novo-Divievo Convent :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AQfSVmHe9Q

[Barbara]

There is a lecture being given October 6 by the rector of the OCA Bay Area parish, St John the Baptist in the East Bay on precisely this topic. It's titled "The One Thing Needful" and will discuss Archbishop Andrei [Rymarenko's] life and teachings.

Thus, we see from these clips and the lecture topic that in 2024, Abp Andrei [Rymarenko] remains of enduring interest, even to clergymen outside the reposed Abp Andrew's jurisdiction !

[Barbara]

Today is the birthday of Archbishop Andrew - in 1893 ! Imagine the different society in which he grew up.

I heard a lecture which has now disappeared off the internet, I think, saying that his father was a wealthy industrialist in Romny, their hometown. The type of industry was mentioned, but unless i find my notes from that video, I've forgotten exactly what it was. There is hardly anyone today who could know this information [only Abp Andrei of ROAC] ; that's why it's valuable to shed light on the background of the future Rocor hierarch and Novo-Diveyevo founder

[Barbara]

I want to mention here the stunning revelation shown to Abp Andrew when he was still a priest in Russia

Then-Fr Adrian had gone to visit Elder Nektary of Optina in the latter's refuge in Kholmishche.

Fr Adrian was reeling under the confusion of the turmoil of the Communist takeover and suppression of the Russian Church, and as a relatively newly ordained Priest, was seeking spiritual guidance in the chaos.

Fr Adrian received much better than that : a glimpse into the higher world. This vision has been vouchsafed to few over the millenia.

Elder Nektary smiled mysteriously and bade his disciple to prepare for Communion and to read the Gospel lying on a tall analogion out loud.

Meanwhile, the Elder withdrew into his adjacent cell, leaving the door partway open.

Fr Adrian stopped reading after awhile and glanced thru the door to see why the Elder had stopped pacing bac and forth as he had been doing throughout the reading.

To his shock, Fr Adrian saw Elder Nektary "all aflame ; he was surrounded by a radiance of bright violet light A FOOT WIDE"

However, when Fr Adrian cried out in amazement, the vision instantly ceased.

Still, this quick sight of the Light of Tabor would sustain Fr Adrian thru many early Soviet-era trials, such as catching the dread disease typhus, having to travel in an open sleigh all night in below freezing temperatures ; political strife in parishes needing to be calmed.

Then with emigration to WWII Europe and later America, Fr Adrian had to face many awful ordeals. Perhaps the vision helped bolster him through all the decades to the end of his life.

He spoke once about this to some pilgrims to Novo-Diveyevo, but they were barely interested, surprisingly. Likely, he never talked about it again except to a few close disciples.

[Barbara]

I DID find the video. And the industry was exactly what i was thinking but didn't want to say in case wrong !

Abp Andrew's father was very successful in sales of tobacco ; hence the family was well off.

Nonetheless, the family was pious but there were no priests in it.

The young Adrian Rymarenko went through business school, but by the time he graduated, the Communist regime had taken over. Thus few opportunities existed for private-owned enterprise.

The young man from a worldly background instead opted for the religious life -- at the most unpopular time possible, when the Church was under severe persecution.

Later, Fr Adrian was shipped with other people from Kiev to Berlin. They were intended to be Ostarbeiters [laborers from the East, a name that endures up to the present].

Somehow when the Germans had to retreat under the Allied advance, they knew about Fr Adrian's community of Orthodox Christians and gave him a huge icon of St Seraphim of Sarov which, as we know, was painted during the lifetime of that Saint.

THAT'S how the icon came to fall into Fr Adrian's hands and be transported to Novo-Diveyevo Convent later.