Swimming the Dnieper: St. Alexis relics head to Ukraine
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(Orthodox Christianity) - St. Alexis Toth arrived to the United States from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1889, and now a piece of St. Alexis has returned to his native land. During the celebrations of the 113th annual Memorial Day Pilgrimage at St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Waymart, PA, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon had the blessing of gifting a particle of the relics of St. Alexis to Archimandrite Pimen (Matsola) who was visiting from the Western Ukrainian Diocese of Khust and Vinohradova, reports the Orthodox Church in America.
Archimandrite Pimen, the dean of the Monastery of the Archangel St. Michael, visited the holy sites of America from May 22 to 31 with the blessing of Metropolitan Mark of Khust and Vinohradova. The main purpose of his visit, according to the Pilgrimage Center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, was to visit St. Tikhon’s Monastery, where the incorrupt relics of the Carpatho-Russian St. Alexis Toth are kept. The Khust Diocese is located near the Slovak and Hungarian borders, the area where St. Alexis was born and ministered before coming to America.
Noting that American Orthodox Christians have traveled abroad for many years to venerate the relics of the saints, it is “something wonderful to see pilgrims from Europe coming to America to venerate our saints!” said an elated Met. Tikhon. Archimandrite Pimen received the gift at the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the anniversary of St. Alexis’ glorification, which took place at St. Tikhon’s on May 29, 1994.
The relics of St. Alexis were delivered to Ukraine on May 31, and will be carried in the traditional diocesan procession on August 20. After that, the relics will be exhibited for veneration in Sts. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Khust.
Fr. Pimen also had the blessing of traveling to San Francisco to venerate the relics of St. John Maximovitch, and to visit the Old Russian Cathedral where the saint’s mantia is kept. He also visited St. Herman’s Monastery in Platina, CA to venerate the grave and visit the cell of Fr. Seraphim Rose, as well as St. John’s Monastery in Manton, CA.
For historical accuracy, St.Alexis Toth was Carpatho Rusyn, not Galician nor Ukrainian. Prior to receiving Orthodoxy St Alexis was rector of the Greek Catholic Seminary in Presov, Slovakia. The Orthodox Primate of Slovakia, Metropolitan Rastislav, is Rusyn and resides in Presov and to me it would be more fitting for the Saint's relics to reside in the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Alexander Nevsky in Presov rather than Khust where he had no connection in life.
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