Father Gerasim of Spruce Island of Alaska

IN MEMORIAM
GUARDIAN OF FATHER HERMAN

ARCHIMANDRITE GERASIM OF SPRUCE ISLAND IN ALASKA

A monk like me, fleeing the glory of men, will come and live on Spruce Island.
FATHER HERMAN

THE FATHER HERMAN Brotherhood from its beginning has had three spiritual and ideological benefactors who especially prayed and cared for its progress: Archbishop John Maximovitch († 1966), Prof. I. M. Kontzevitch († 1965), and Archimandrite Gerasim Schmaltz, who, on the eve of the Feast of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos this year, reposed into a better world, leaving us orphaned.

Long ago, when the Blessed Wonderworker of Alaska called Fr. Gerasim to serve him, Fr. Gerasim eagerly followed his call, only to discover what a lonely and a hard path it was; and seeing how very few cared for a Saint of such great importance, he began to call through the press for the formation of a Brotherhood in the name of Father Herman, that the good name of America's Apostle of Orthodoxy become widely known... But alas! his voice, although eloquent and truthful, was unheard for all these many, many years, until through the prayers of another holy man, Archbishop John Maximovitch, a humble beginning was laid in 1963, to the great joy of Fr. Gerasim, who blessed the brothers with an old metal icon found by him on Spruce Island, which, according to him, might very well have belonged to Father Herman. Giving his blessing, he wrote: "You are doing a good thing organizing a Brotherhood of Saint Herman, Wonderworker of Alaska! May God help you! But keep in mind that Satan does not like such things; he causes evil deeds to those who glorify God's chosen righteous people. I experienced myself the same thing upon my arrival in Alaska... I greet all brothers. May God and His Most Pure Mother protect you."


ARCHIMANDRITE GERASIM
Summer, 1967


Fr. Gerasim's constant prayers for us at the grave and relics of the Saint have been a living bond linking the Brotherhood to Blessed Father Herman. Therefore it is our duty, using his abundant correspondence to us, to speak the truth about Fr. Gerasim, sketching a brief, honest portrait of him and for the first time putting into proper perspective Fr. Gerasim's significance, which indeed constitutes a whole chapter in the Life of St. Herman.

FR. GERASIM was born on October 28, 1888 in the town of Alexin, Tula province, of pious Orthodox Russian parents, Alexander and Natalia. At baptism he was given the name Michael. From early childhood he was brought up on the Lives of Saints, in a strict patriarchal church consciousness. Until his fifteenth year, although he had drunk in deeply the monastic spirit, he had not once been to a monastery. Here is how he describes his first visit to a monastery, from which is well evident the spiritual orientation which did not leave him to his death, and which guided his entire life in the correct, canonical path.

"When I was fifteen years old, I came with Mother to the city of Tula, where I was to be sent to school. We stayed at the home of Mother's brother, my Uncle Nikolai Ivanovich Petrov, who then was living not far from [Shcheglov] monastery... Strolling alone near Uncle's home, I longed with tears for my green forest back home, where I so loved to wander off and where I recalled all the great ascetics – monks who lived saving their souls in dense forests in the bosom of nature... Once we were drinking tea at Uncle's in the garden and from this garden I saw golden crosses shining at sunset on dark blue domes, visible from behind the green trees. My heart leapt with joy when I heard that a holy place, for which my soul had longed since childhood, was so close.

"On the next day, early in the morning, we went to the monastery. The weather was wonderful; the sun shone brightly from behind the birch grove that surrounded the monastery. At the gates of the holy monastery sat a monk, an old man, and I at once guessed that this was the "gatekeeper," since I had already read many books on monasteries and the Lives of the Holy Fathers... I wanted to see Starets Dometian and to open my soul to him and ask his blessing to leave the world for good and settle in the hermitage." He did not see the Starets then, but "in January, 1906, I traveled to the Starets for his blessing to enter the monastery. The Starets received me kindly and asked who I was and where I was from. Having listened to me he replied: 'The Lord Himself will show you your path.' I wanted then to stay in Shcheglov, but the Starets again told me: 'Your path is a different one. The Lord Himself will show you.' In the same year, July 17, 1906, I entered the Hermitage of St. Tikhon in Kaluga province."1

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1. From an article in Archbishop Vitaly's periodical Orthodox Carpathian Russia, 1934. All quotations that follow, unless otherwise noted, are taken from Fr. Gerasim's letters to the Brotherhood.



Hieromonk Gerasim in 1916


The Monastery of St. Tikhon, with 200 monks, some of them great ascetics, was not far from Optina. Fr. Gerasim recalled: "Optina and its Startsi were well known to me from childhood." He was entrusted to the holy Starets Ioasaph and given an obedience in the infirmary. There he received a sound monastic foundation, and his understanding of monasticism remained to the end of his life genuine, firm and sober. Later, on Spruce Island, he could have laid a firm foundation for a monastery if it had not been for the schism of the American Metropolia; this took all his energy and left him isolated.

In 1911 Fr. Gerasim fulfilled his childhood dream and went to Mt. Athos, intending to stay; but soon his mother's illness brought him back to Russia, to Tula, where he joined Bishop Evdok;m, with whom he came to America in 1915 as a missionary. The same year he was ordained hieromonk and in 1916 he was assigned to Alaska, traveling there with Bishop Philip. He went first to Sitka, then to Kodiak, and finally was assigned as a village priest in Afognak, where he spent 18 years.

When the Revolution of 1917 broke out in Russia, Fr. Gerasim saw a dream: "The whole sky was dark, fearful. But in the midst of it there was light, and there was Christ crucified. He was dying, His head was bent down and the muscles on His arms trembled from suffering. And I heard a voice: 'Pray, Russia is crucified. And soon we in Alaska heard of the fierce persecution of Christian believers and the destruction of holy places," including his beloved St. Tikhon's Monastery, where the monks were arrested and his Starets Ioasaph left to die from hunger.

Outside of Russia, all the free bishops formed a Synod of the Russian Church Abroad, which appointed Metropolitan Platon of Odessa to America. He, however, showed disobedience in America and first turned to Moscow, then proclaimed an uncanonical independent American Church with himself as its head. To the horror of Fr. Gerasim, almost all clergy in America accepted this unlawful act. When, finally, one vicar Bishop, Apollinary, raised his voice in protest, he was immediately deposed by Metr. Platon and literally evicted from his living quarters.

All of Orthodox Alaska blindly followed the schism, except for Fr. Gerasim. And now he remembered Blessed Father Herman: "Finally, after I had lived ten years in Alaska, God granted me to visit Spruce Island and the grave of the marvelous Elder. That day I shall never forget! The weather was wonderful, the sun was brightly shining, the birds were singing joyfully. I fell on my knees and said: 'Father Herman, Christ is risen!' And at that moment I was surrounded by such a fragrance as I had never before smelled! It was a paradisal fragrance; the Elder's soul visited then his beloved wilderness! This I believe. I said: 'Father Herman, if there should come a time when I will be able to come here to you to stay accept me!'" He left the island reassured of where to turn for sure support.

"When I received an ukase from the Synod of Bishops Outside of Russia, in which I read that Metr. Platon had been forbidden to serve by the Sobor of Russian Bishops and had been removed from the North American Diocese for three whole days, under the impression of this news, I couldn't even sleep, thinking, Where is the truth, and whom should I obey now, Metr. Platon and his vicars, or the Sobor of Russian Bishops (in Serbia)? On the day of the feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, I fervently prayed to God and begged Him to show me where the truth was and whom to obey... I wrote on two pieces of paper, on one 'Sobor of Bishops, and on the other 'Metr. Platon'; I placed both papers on the holy Altar Table and begged God by this lot to show me after the singing of 'To Thee we sing' [at the moment of the consecration during the Liturgy]. And then I took the first paper and read: 'Sobor of Bishops.' I believe that by this the Lord showed me that one must submit to the Sobor of Bishops."1

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1. From the Harbin (Manchuria) Church periodical Khleb Nebesny, 1927, по. 14, p. 15.


After this Fr. Gerasim unfailingly commemorated the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Outside of Russia: Metropolitans Anthony, Anastasy, and later Philaret. Soon he received and gave for publication a reply from Mt. Athos to his request for confirmation of his stand, from Archimandrite Misail and the brethren of the St. Panteleimon's Russian Monastery: "You have acted well and rightly... Truly you should commemorate at Divine services not Metr. Platon, but Bishop Apollinary, as having canonically accepted authority from the Synod of Bishops, by whom Metr. Platon, who formerly acknowledged this Synod and then separated from it, was canonically deposed."

This "disobedience," of course, caused great displeasure on the part of the local clergy. But Fr. Gerasim, confirmed by God for preferring truth above all, made the final decision to leave his parish altogether and seek refuge on Father Herman's island.

"In 1935, at the end of August, at the time when the 'Platonites' had maliciously armed themselves against me and tried with the aid of the police not to allow me on Spruce Island, I saw a dream in Afognak: It is as if I am somewhere around a high mountain. A beautiful place. All around spruce trees are growing, and green grass. And I hear the pealing of a bell and think: probably there is a monastery here, I'll go and look. I go and see that among some young spruce trees stands a monk short in stature and kindly says to me: 'It is I who am here ringing the Easter bells,' and he consoled me and told me who it was who was against me. I awoke, and joy visited my soul. I said: 'Father Herman is for me, I don't fear anyone.' And on August 26, I moved to the island."

And thus Fr. Gerasim abandoned everything, and taking his abbot's staff went to guard the Saint's premises, becoming the one guiding light of 20th-century Orthodox Alaska. And the Saint, looking down from above, blessed this fearless witnessing of the truth and made his prophecy be fulfilled upon Fr. Gerasim, who bore the same name as Father Herman's beloved disciple.;

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1. See F. A. Golder, Father Herman, Alaska's Saint, San Francisco, 1968, pp. 39-42.


Fr. Gerasim repaired the chapel over the Saint's grave, built another on the site of Father Herman's old cell, and he was even deemed worthy to uncover the relics of the Saint. "If I hadn't moved to Spruce Island in 1935, there would be nothing but ruins there now."

In the '30's there were unsuccessful attempts to build a monastery on Spruce Island by bishops who knew nothing of monasticism; one of them had never even heard of St. Seraphim of Sarov until Fr. Gerasim told him of this Saint, for whom he had a particular devotion. They even tried to drive Fr. Gerasim off the island, and the natives of Kodiak then collected 250 signatures on a petition to allow him to stay.

Fr. Gerasim was adamant whenever the question arose of moving the Saint's relics away from Alaska. "I have heard that they are dreaming of taking away Father Herman's relics to New York... That would be only blasphemy!! Father Herman belongs to Orthodox Alaska; he lived here for over forty years, and his place is the Spruce Island Hermitage."

After the lamentable Cleveland Sobor of 1946, Fr. Gerasim suffered again a great deal, but now it was different. He had no parish and so was not obliged to consider himself in the Metropolia. Besides, the Synod of Bishops did not this time, as in 1927, proclaim an official condemnation of the Metropolia, apparently viewing its schism as not yet final. But if the Metropolia considered him its own, Fr. Gerasim left no doubt as to where he thought himself to be. "In their malice, the 'Leontyites' have armed themselves against the canonization of our luminary, the holy Righteous Father John of Kronstadt. They are all 'Platonites.' Do such ones need the canonization of a Saint of God?" But the Synodal bishops are "our great hierarch, the unforgettable Abba Vladika Metropolitan Anthony" (Khrapovitsky), "Archbishop Vitaly, a true monk," "the righteous hierarch Tikhon" (of San Francisco), "our Vladika Bishops Sava and Averky" and Vladika John Maximovitch, "who had a blessed death." After Fr. Gerasim's death, his close friend for many years, Gene Sundberg, wrote: "In all the years I have known Fr. Gerasim, I've known that he was a member of another part of the Russian Church, other than the Kodiak Church, that is. As I understand, the Russian Church in Exile."

Thus did Fr. Gerasim come to the end of a life of much tribulation and sorrow. "Yes, I had to suffer here persecution, slander, and insults, but not from Communists, not from American unbelievers, no, but from 'humble' bishops and my own brethren. And here I have been working in Alaska for 49 years. And all these years have been lived by me in strict poverty, in cold. And for these long years I did not have a warm nook. But, of course, I know what our great martyr, the Russian people, is suffering, and I pray for it and suffer all. Indeed, I did not seek in America either a good parish or a warmer climate. I love my little hermitage and I wish to lay down my bones here. Yea, may it be so! May it be so!"1

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1. From a letter to the Russian periodical Free Word, 1965, no. 73-4


And the Lord granted Fr. Gerasim to find his final resting place on Spruce Island, even though for the last several years of his life, to his great sorrow, he was unable to live there. After the disastrous earthquake and tidal wave of March 27, 1964, in which he almost lost his life, being in the flood waters up to his neck, Fr. Gerasim's health declined, and in September, 1965, his good friend Gene Sundberg (who has supplied the information that follows in quotes) brought him to Kodiak and took care of him.

In the last year Fr. Gerasim "became so forgetful that the only thought left in his mind was to get to Monk's Lagoon and Father Herman... He then started wandering at night." Since June of this year he was in a Kodiak hospital, where in October he developed double pneumonia. On Sunday, October 12, he received Holy Communion, and in the evening Holy Unction. "Fr. Gerasim requested it and hung on till the last prayer, and when it was finished, just peacefully left us... It was so beautiful, I know I smiled... There was no pain, no strain, no effort."

After the funeral service on October 15, "the sea was rough, but the best captains felt we could make it... After a fairly rough trip we landed at Pestrikoff Beach and began the most exhilarating experience I have ever had.... About a hundred men, women and children made the trek. After a two-hour walk we arrived at the spot he picked for himself 32 years ago, and there he was laid to rest in the place he loved best and near the one he loved best, his Father Herman. Some people said the birds began to sing as if welcoming him back home. Others said there were sweet fragrances, and some even said they felt as though Father Herman was watching us... His burial was somewhat comparable to Father Herman's, in that there weren't enough priests to bury him and so the natives whom he taught and loved carried him to his resting place. The sea was stormy too, but not enough to keep us away.

"Many people since then have said to me, what a shame he couldn't see Father Herman's canonization..."

Indeed, the ways of God are unfathomable. The man who all these years more than anyone else loved and cared for Father Herman, without whom, indeed, the Spruce Island Hermitage would be ruins and the relics perhaps lost—died on the eve of the Saint's canonization. We may pray God's limitless mercy that Fr. Gerasim is now with his beloved Saint and will participate in the canonization in another world; but it would be unjust to Fr. Gerasim to leave unmentioned the dark project that now threatens Orthodox Alaska, and which, if he had lived to see its realization, would have broken his heart.

Fr. Gerasim suffered literal torments over the crucifixion of Holy Russia by the God-hating Bolsheviks. He witnessed the treason of Sovietpleasing bishops within Russia – his own Bishop Evdokim apostacized to the "Living Church," and he saw clearly that "Patriarch Alexy and his loyal friends intercede for the godless power and against our faithful confessors." He suffered terribly over the "Platonites" and others who destroyed Church unity abroad, and was persecuted by them. He knew that "now the times of Antichrist have come." He stood his whole halfcentury in Alaska for faithfulness to the one canonical Russian Church abroad, the Russian Synodal Church. And now on the eve of Father Herman's canonization, the Metropolia announces that it has come to terms with the betrayers of the Church and will accept "autocephaly" from Moscow an act that puts an end to all thought of confessing true Orthodoxy, that abandons the persecuted and crucified and forms a union with their oppressors, that outdoes and culminates all the evils of the "Platonites" of yesterday. Fr. Gerasim, now an old warrior, could not have survived this blow.


Sprnce Island: Funeral procession of Fr. Gerasim, led by Bp. Theodosius of Sitka. The cross is the one planted by Fr. Gerasim 32 years ago on the site of his own grave.


But Fr. Gerasim's testament remains. Will his voice not be heard now in these critical times? One prays that the whole of Alaska will hear it, beginning with its young bishop who took such care, in difficult circumstances, to bury Fr. Gerasim in his beloved hermitage. The first fruits of Fr. Herman's apostleship was the Aleut Martyr Peter, who was tortured and killed for refusing to abandon Orthodoxy for Roman Catholicism. Would that Orthodox Alaska itself would rise up today as a second Peter to bring forth the fruits of Fr. Gerasim's labors by openly confessing true and canonical Orthodoxy.