Talk:Gregory (Afonsky) of Sitka
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Archbishop Gregory (Afonsky) (Russian: Архиепископ Григорий (Афонский)) (April 17, 1925 - April 14, 2008) was the Archbishop of Sitka and Alaska from 1973 to 1995, and author of books on Theology and Orthodoxy in America in both Russian and English. He was a key figure in the establishment and elevation of what is now St. Herman's Orthodox Theological Seminary,[1] and served as episcopal moderator of the Department of History and Archives and chairman of the Canonization Commission for the Orthodox Church in America.
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[edit] Life
Archbishop Gregory was born George Sergeievich Afonsky in Kiev, Ukraine to the family of Archpriest Sergei Afonsky, also the son of a priest. His uncle was Russian New Martyr and Priest Michael Yedlinsky.[2] During the Second World War, George was taken to a German labor camp, becoming separated from his family. In 1949, he received his Bachelor's Degree from Real Gymnasium and emigrated to the United States to live with his uncle, noted religious composer and conductor Nicholas P. Afonsky.
From there, George began serving as choir conductor and psalm-reader for various Orthodox parishes in the New Jersey-Connecticut area. Graduating from Hofstra University, George entered St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1965. In the same year, he was ordained as a deacon, then elevated to Priest, and was assigned to the St. Sergius Chapel at the Metropolitan's Chancery in Syosset, New York, functioning also as Church archivist until 1971. Continuing his education, Fr. George received first a Bachelor's, and then a Master's Degree in Theology from St. Sergius Seminary (in 1968 and 1970, respectively); and at the same time a Master of Arts from Hoftra with a Candidacy in Theology.
In 1971, Fr. George was sent to St. Nicholas Church in Portland, Oregon as rector. Soon afterwards, he become tonsured a monk at St. Tikhon Orthodox Monastary, taking the name Gregory, and quickly elevated therefrom to the ranks of Archpriest and then Archmandrite. In 1973, Archmandrite Gregory was elected Bishop to the Diocese of Sitka and Alaska, being consecrated at St. Michael's Cathedral in Sitka.
Bishop Gregory was key in the establishment of St. Herman's Pastoral School along with Archpriest Joseph P. Kreta near Kenai, moving soon to Kodiak and by 1976 elevated to a Theological Seminary. Throughout his term as Alaskan Hierarch, Bishop Gregory taught in the Seminary as a professor of Dogmatic Theology and Canon Law.[3] Furthermore, he served an important role in revitalizing the local Orthodox community, attending annual regional conferences and visiting each parish annually, becoming especially loved by the Native Alaskans.
After the Collapse of the Soviet Union, Bishop Gregory was reunited with his brother still living in Kiev, and gained the possibility to travel to both the Ukraine and Russia. On March 23, 1995, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by the Holy Synod, but by July 20, the Archbishop regretfully retired from his post due to failing health. He spent his final years living in Jackson Township, New Jersey, living amongst the Russian-American Community of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Church.
[edit] Death
After a period of declining health, Archbishop Gregory died on April 15, 2008, three days from his birthday. By the next day, a Litany of Requiem was performed during the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts in the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in-the-Fields in the Zamoskvorechie suburb of Moscow by Archmandrite Zacchaeus (Wood) and Priest Vadim Leonov.
The Archbishop's funeral services were presided over by Rector Archpriest John Prokopiuk, along with Bishop Tikhon (Mollard) of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania on the evening of the 18th, and by Metropolitan Herman (Swaiko) of All America and Canada on for interment on the 19th, the holiday of Lazarus Saturday. Also present were clergy and faithful of the Archbishop's former Alaskan flock. He is buried in the surrounding St. Vladimir's Russian Orthodox Cemetary, to the left of the church and behind the former grave site of Russian Civil War hero General Anton Ivanovich Denikin.
