Archimandrite Dimitriy (Shchur)
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Archimandrite Dimitriy (Shchur) (1908-1989)
Dimitriy may be spelt Dimitry, Dmitri, Dmitry, Dimitrius, Demetrios.
Shchur may be spelt Schur.
Pochaiv may be spelt Pochaev, Pochayiv.
Early years of Daniel P Shchur
On 4/17 December, 1908 (the Feast-day of the Great Virgin-Martyr Saint Barbara), Daniel P Shchur was born in Petrashovka village, Tulchinsk County, Vinnitsia Province (Oblast), the former Podolsk Governorate of the Russian Empire. This is southwest of Kyiv.
His parents were Orthodox Christian believers, and one of his aunts was a nun. Daniel was raised in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church, and he received his primary education in his home region. i/Tulchyn_Raion Tulchinsk County], Vinnitsia Province (Oblast), the former Podolsk Governorate of the Russian Empire. This is southwest of Kyiv.
His parents were Orthodox Christian
After the Bolshevik Revolution, 1917
The period after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was one of severe persecution of the Orthodox Church on the territory of the former Russian Empire. It was a time of the activity of rampant Ukrainian nationalist gangs, of poverty and hunger.
At that time, Daniel went to the Dormition Monastery on the Granovsky Podolia *, where there is also the city of Kamenetz–Podolsk (Kamianets Podilsk). There, he became a novice.
Granovsky Dormition Monastery
Monastic tonsure, 1928
In 1928, at the age of 20, Daniel Shchur was tonsured to the "mantiya" (small schema) and he was given the name Dimitriy, with reference to the Great Martyr Demetrios of Thessalonika, the Myrrh-giver (26 October /8 November).
Internal exile
At the final destruction of the monastery, the young monk Dimitriy was very active in expressing firmly the Orthodox Christian Faith and his disagreement with the closure and the desecration of the Temple. The Soviet government forced him into 4 years of exile in the far-distant Kamchatka region. There were special camps on this peninsula on the East coast of Asia (about 6,980 km/4,337 mi northeast of Kiev). In the opinion of the monk Dimitriy, this was for him “the best seminary”.
Pochaiv Lavra, 1940s
In the early 1940s, the monk Dimitriy, the confessor of Christ, went to the Holy Dormition Pochaiv Lavra in Volyn Rus’, where he was admitted to the number of its inhabitants. By the will of God, he became the cell-attendant and aide to the de facto abbot ("namestnik") of the monastery in the Pochaiv Lavra, the Archimandrite Panteleimon (Rudyk), who was soon ordained (in 1941) to be the Bishop of Lviv, Ukraine.
Pochaiv Dormition Lavra
External post-war exile
Father Dimitriy faithfully served his spiritual father and "abba", Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk), throughout his difficult archpastoral ministry. This included his wanderings (first to save their lives towards the end of World War II, and then under obedience to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), in which he had found refuge in exile) after the war in many parts of the world (Poland, Germany, North Africa and South America), until they arrived in Canada.
In 1941, he was with Archbishop Panteleimon in Kiev, while Vladyka Panteleimon led the Diocese of Kyiv of the Autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Kiev Caves Lavra
Father Dimitriy continued his faithful service to his spiritual father Vladyka Panteleimon until the end of the earthly life of the bishop in western Canada. Archbishop Panteleimon, in turn, greatly respected and loved his God-fearing servant for his efforts, loyalty and diligence.
In due time, Vladyka Panteleimon ordained the Monk Dimitriy to be a subdeacon.
Diaconal ordination
Later, Bishop Panteleimon ordained the Monk Dimitriy (Shchur) to the Holy Diaconate, with the right to wear double orar.
Diaconal service
Bishop Panteleimon soon elevated the Hierodeacon Dimitriy (Shchur) to the dignity of archdeacon.
They came together to Canada to serve the Church in 1952, within the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), where Vladyka Panteleimon served as the Bishop of Edmonton and Western Canada.
In 1954, Vladyka Panteleimon was moved to Eastern Canada and the Montréal diocese. However, there developed a smear campaign by certain persons against Archbishop Panteleimon within the ROCOR.
In 1957 (no later than August according to the archival data), Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk) was retired by the ROCOR.
Move to the North American Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1957
In 1957, he and his cell-attendant Father Dimitriy moved from the ROCOR to the North American Exarchate of the Moscow Patriarchate, at first unofficially. They moved from Montréal, Québec to Edmonton, Alberta, where they each spent the remainder of their life.
On 5 March, 1959, after bringing a statement of repentance to the Moscow Patriarchate (this was with regard to any voluntary or involuntary separation from communion with the Moscow Patriarchate and the Canonical Orthodox Church from the time of the German invasion of Ukraine during World War Ii), Archbishop Panteleimon was officially admitted in his rank into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church. Archbishop Panteleimon was officially admitted in his rank into communion with the Russian Orthodox Church. Their service thereafter was within the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in North America in what became the Diocese of Canada. Father Dimitriy faithfully accompanied his spiritual father.
Archbishop Panteleimon became established in a modest house in west-central Edmonton, where Archdeacon Dimitriy (Shchur) occupied one portion of the house. It was this house in which he lived for the rest of his life.
Archbishop Panteleimon reposed in the Lord in 1968.
Presbyteral ordination, 1968
After the repose of Vladyka Panteleimon, the Archbishop of New York and the Aleutians, Archbishop Jonathan (Kopolovitch), the Exarch of the Moscow Patriarchate in North America, summoned Archdeacon Dimitriy to the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in New York City. There, Archdeacon Dimitriy (Shchur) was ordained to the Holy Priesthood.
Pastoral service
As a priest-monk, Father Dimitriy was assigned in 1968 to serve amongst the clergy of Saint Barbara’s Cathedral in Edmonton.
Then, on 24 June, 1979, there came the 75th anniversary of the founding of Saint Barbara’s Cathedral, as well as the 82nd anniversary of the Orthodox Christian Faith in Canada. On that day, at the small entrance of the Divine Liturgy, with the blessing of Patriarch Pimen (Izvekov) of Moscow and All Russia, Father Dimitriy was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite. This elevation took place at the request of the Administrator of the North American Moscow Patriarchate Parishes, Bishop Ireney (Seredniy) of Serpukhov. A delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate was in Edmonton for the occasion. It was headed by the Archbishop Nikodim (Rusnak) of Kharkov and Bogodukhov, who performed the elevation.
Personality ; Christian life
Archimandrite Dimitriy knew the "Typicon" of the Church precisely, and he always followed it. To this, he called his spiritual children. It was his strong opinion that in the Russian/Ukrainian environment, worship should be only in Church Slavonic. It was Father Dimitriy's habit to be the first one to arrive in the Temple for worship. In the cathedral, he always began the proskomedia very early (since he continually prayed for all those he had met previously, who asked for his prayers), and also to hear the confessions of regular parishioners. This was his main and favorite obedience. He would often end his homilies with the encouragement : “And so we pray”.
As did many others, he referred to his homeland as “Little Russia”. He used to say, “For us in Little Russia, it was like [...]”.
Father Dimitriy was an economical and principled man who loved nature, forests, beauty and order. Near his home in the summer, a great variety of flowers of assorted colours were always growing. He loved to look at the garden, and at one time he had a small apiary.
Father Dimitriy had a subtle sense of the special “Little Russian humour”. He always spoke the truth. Unremittingly, he kept the spiritual and liturgical life as a first priority in his life. He daily governed his life in accordance with the "Typicon" and his monastic vows, as he served his monastic rule of daily prayer and repentance. After he finished his reading, his eyes and his face glowed with Divine Light. His spiritual children say that no-one could prepare and bake the prosphora to be be used in serving the Divine Liturgy as well as he did.
In his small monastic house, Father Dimitriy kept a very large oil-lamp ("lampada") perpetually burning before an accurate copy of the Pochaiv Icon of the Mother of God, which he very much respected. There were other icons also, and they were in the reception room of the house. When, for whatever reasons, there was no service in the cathedral on holy days that were particularly important for him, he tried to serve the feasts in his home-chapel. Father Dimitriy always wore his monastic habit, both in the Temple and in public. He said that he felt that it was wrong for him not to wear it. This feeling would have been emphasised by the fact that in the Soviet Union (USSR), no cleric could appear in monastic or clerical clothing in public. The clergy who came from the USSR (Soviet Union) to serve in Canada were not free, even while in Canada, to appear in public in clerical dress. This was before the decay of Communism. Unlike these clergy, Father Dimitriy was a Canadian citizen ; he was not bound by those constraints (although he probably would have behaved in the same monastic manner regardless), and he was never disciplined for doing so.
Nevertheless, there were and are many people in society who were and are glad to see a priest, monk or nun traditionally attired in clerical or monastic dress in public. They felt then and they feel now encouraged to persevere. This is especially the case when a cleric such as he radiates the love of Jesus Christ. Father Dimitriy was a true monk, who simply lived his monastic life in a matter-of-fact manner. He did not ask for help from people, but if they offered help, he would accept. He did not impose himself, but he served the Lord and he served the Lord's flock of rational sheep.
Father Dimitriy and service to others
Father Dimitriy helped others as well as he could. By regularly depositing a small amount of money, he helped monasteries in Mount Athos, Jerusalem and Russia, as much as was possible for him. Just before his repose, Father Dimitriy bequeathed to his own sister (who lived in difficult conditions in Odessa, Ukraine) his property, which he had accumulated during the years of his demanding monastic life in Canada, with a view to enable the purchase in Odessa of an apartment for his family. In view of the need, Father Dimitriy's house was purchased by the office of the Moscow patriarchal parishes, and the money was sent to Odessa. Father Dimitriy continued to live in the house.
The families of some of the spiritual children of Father Dimitriy were of one mind about the Mystery of Baptism and the Christian formation which follow Baptism. It is absolutely necessary to teach children to make the Sign of the Cross, to pray correctly, and to live the Orthodox Christian life correctly. Even when parents are for some reason less available to provide the example and formation, then someone looking after young children – such as a nurse (nanny) – may use the time with the children to do this also.
Father Dimitriy was entirely devoted to the Orthodox Church in the Moscow Patriarchate. He was her true spiritual son ; and, in faraway Canada, he was an excellent representative of holiness in his homeland. Father Dimitriy asked those pilgrims who annually went to worship at shrines in Russia and Ukraine, to bring him Church books published in Moscow. He acquired all the issues of the “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate”, the periodical publication of the Church at that time, and available only in the USSR. He was constantly interested in the life of Orthodox believers under the yoke of the godless authorities.
In 1970, the Moscow Patriarchate gave the gift of autocephaly (self-government) to the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America, often called the “Metropolia”. It then became known as “The Orthodox Church in America”. At that time, it was led by Metropolitan Ireney (Bekish). Father Dimitriy seems to have thought that this move was premature. One of his concerns was that there was a great lack of monastic life in this newly autocephalous Church. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the ensuing turmoil, the relationship between the Russian Orthodox Church in the USSR and the North American Metropolitanate was broken (see Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky)). It was a similar situation in Western Europe (see Metropolitan Evlogiy (Georgievsky)). It was after a series of rather extended and complicated negotiations that Eucharistic Communion between the Moscow Patriarchate and the “Metropolia” was restored along with this granting of independence. At this time, the Russian Orthodox Exarchate in North America was replaced by non-diocesan administrations of the parishes in Canada and in the USA which remained with the patriarchate after the autocephaly. Nevertheless, Archimandrite Dimitriy's concern about the lack of monastic life in North America was well-founded.
During his life, Father Dimitriy sewed priestly vestments, covers for the Holy Table and other types of liturgical textile items in order to have a domestic income for the monastic residence. He truly had a great skill and ability in tailoring. Much of what he sewed is still in use in Divine Services today, not only in Western Canada, but also in various parts of the world. The bishop’s residence still preserves 2 items with rhodonite stones (rose-coloured gemstones) that he embroidered as beautiful gifts for his spiritual father, Vladyka Panteleimon. On one of them is the inscription on the back that Father Dimitriy made himself : “For dear Vladyka Panteleimon, from his faithful sub-deacon Dimitriy (Bavaria Shleysgeym) 26.XI.49”. These items were prepared in 1949 in Bavaria, as the inscription indicates.
His sister, P Aquilina Shchur, who lived in Odessa, was able at last in the 1980s to visit Canada for several months. When she came to Edmonton, she was able to live at the house with Father Dimitriy.
In old age, Father Dimitriy had a desire to return to his homeland. One option was to enter into a small brotherhood of the men’s monastery of Saint Onufriy in Yablochinski in Eastern Poland, at the border with Byelorus. It was a very strong desire and a real possibility. He was able to entertain this hope, especially because in the year of the 1,000th Anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’, the attitude of the Soviet state towards the Russian Orthodox Church had changed in a somewhat positive direction. This was the time of "Glasnost", which brought the very beginning of the re-opening of Temples, monasteries and seminaries in the USSR. However, God’s Will was different.
Repose, 1989
On 25 September, 1989, on the Leave-taking of the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Old Style), in a hospital in Edmonton, Archimandrite Dimitriy (Shchur) suddenly fell asleep in the Lord.
The Funeral Services for the Burial of a Hieromonk were offered at Saint Barbara's Cathedral in Edmonton.
After the funeral services in the cathedral, the body of Archimandrite Dimitriy was interred in Canadian soil. His earthly resting place is near the grave of his Abba-Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk), in the cemetery of the Temple of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary near the hamlet of Nisku, south of Edmonton.
His body rests near the graves of other clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate in Canada, including Hieromonk Mefodiy (Osadchuk †1960) and Archimandrite Hermogen (Cherkashin †1985).
Archimandrite Dimitriy's marker
Reflections :
Most of the material in this article was derived from an article written in Russian by Bishop Job (Smakouz).
Father Dimitriy had been born on the Feast-day of Saint Barbara, and the last 30 years of his life had been served in the cathedral dedicated to her name.
To his spiritual children, their spiritual mentor's death was a great loss. He left his spiritual children a good example of monasticism, unwavering faith in God, knowledge of Orthodox worship, the spirit of prayerfulness and devotion to the "'ideals' of 'Holy Russia'".
Eternal memory be to the good shepherd (see John 20:1-21) of the Church of Christ in Canada, Archimandrite Dimitriy ; and by his holy prayers, may our Saviour save us.
* Note :
The Granovsky Dormition Monastery was situated in a picturesque corner of the Vinnytsia Province in Tishkovsky Sloboda, Gaysinsky district. Its name comes from the large granite quarry nearby (about 10 km/6 mi distant). The small village of Tishkvska Sloboda, formerly known simply as “Sloboda”, employs only 55 people today. The monastery previously had 3 Temples. The Transfiguration and the Saint Onufrievsky (1833) Temples have not survived the Bolshevik Revolution, Sovietism and wars. At present, the monastery includes only the Dormition Cathedral, which was built in 1867. It was constructed of brick, and the plan followed Russian forms of architecture (decorative cupolas) in the neo-Russian style of the 19th century. Attached to the Altar are the side-rooms of the sacristy (“ponomarki”), and proskomedia-room (“diakonikon”). In some old Temples, these side-rooms are actually side-chapels. In the western part, there is a 3-tiered bell-tower, with a spire on top. The architecture of the building is characterised by semicircular arches and arrises (sharp edges). The interior of the cathedral is characterised by wall-painting of the late 19th century, in the style of the academic painting of the cathedral in Kyiv. The painting also covers the outer walls of the Temple (unusual and rare for church architecture of the region) in imitation of the outer gate of the Temple iconography of the Holy Trinity and the Dormition Temples of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
References :
(Smakouz), Bishop Job, ‘Archimandrite Dimitriy (Shchur) – Orthodox Ascetic in the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada’ (in Russian) in “A Century of Faith : St. Barbara’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, Edmonton, Alberta, 1902-2002”. (Edmonton : Saint Barbara’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, 2002). ISBN : 0973117400. ISBN : 9780973117400.
Additional information
Kireev, Protodeacon Alexander, "Dioceses and Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church in 1943-2002" (Moscow, 2002).
Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk)
Saint Barbara's Cathedral, Edmonton
Church of Ukraine (Moscow Patriarchate)
Orthodoxwiki article about the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
The North American Exarchate of the Church of Russia
50th Anniversary of the Repose of Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk)
The Canadian Parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate
'Archbishop Panteleimon (Rudyk)' in "Canadian Orthodox Church History Project", no. 31, pp. 108-120.