Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky)

Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) (1866-1934)

Porphyry may be spelt Porphiry, Porphyriy, Porphirius, Porphirios.

Platon may be spelt Plato.

Early life of Porphyry Theodorovich Rozhdestvensky

On 11/23 February, 1886, Porphyry Theodorovich Rozhdestvensky was born in the Grayvoron County of the Kursk Governorate (Province) of the Russian Empire. Being a son of a parish priest, he grew up in the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church, and in the Orthodox Christian Faith.

His elder brother, Archpriest Vasily Rozhdestvensky was an honourary member of the Grayvoron Archeological Committee of the Kursk Province, a member of the county college council, a law instructor of the higher elementary school, the senior priest of the cathedral Temple, and also a member of the 3rd State Duma as a representative of the Kursk Governorate. The capital city of the province, Kursk, is situated 565 km (350 mi) south of Moscow.

Porphyry completed his primary and secondary education in his home region.

Kursk city before the revolution

Higher education

Porphyry Theodorovich then attended the Kursk Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1886.

Marriage, 1886

After having completed his courses of study at the seminary, Porphyry Theodorovich was married.

Ordinations, 1887

In 1887, Porphyry Rozhdestvensky was ordained to the Holy Diaconate and then to the Holy Priesthood.

Pastoral service, bereavement

Priest Porphyry Rozhdestvensky was then assigned to be a village priest in Lukashevsky in the Kursk Province (Governorate).

His wife soon gave birth to a daughter, but within 5 years she had reposed in the Lord.

Monastic tonsure, 1894

In 1894, Priest Porphyry Rozhdestvensky was tonsured to be a monk in 1894, and he was given the name Platon (in honour of Saint Plato the Studite).

This was a common step taken by clergy who had been widowed. If a cleric decided to remarry, the cleric would have to be deposed from his service and to live and serve as a lay-person.

Further education, 1895

After this, Hieromonk Platon (Rozhdestvensky) entered the Kyiv Theological Academy.

Kyiv Theological Academy

In 1895, he graduated from the Kyiv Academy with the degree Candidate of Theology (with the right to receive a master's degree without new oral tests, through the presentation of a satisfactory printed dissertation and a public defence of it), and he was retained at the Academy with a professorial scholarship.

Hieromonk Platon (Rozhdestvensky) served as an assistant professor and instructor of Moral Theology while he continued his studies.

In 1898, Hieromonk Platon received a Master's Degree in Theology on the basis of his thesis, “The Ancient East in the Light of Divine Revelation”.

In 1898, Hieromonk Platon was assigned to serve as Inspector at the Kyiv Academy, and extraordinary professor of the Kiev Theological Academy.

In the same year, Hieromonk Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was elevated to the dignity of archimandrite.

In 1902, Archimandrite Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was assigned to be the rector of the Kyiv Orthodox Theological Academy.

Later in 1902, Archimandrite Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was chosen and elected by the Most Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church to become a bishop.

Episcopal ordination, 1902

In 1902, Archimandrite Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was ordained to the Holy Episcopate in the main Temple of the Kiev-Bratsk Epiphany Monastery by the Metropolitan Theognost (Levedev) of Kiev and Galicia, Bishop Sylvester (Malevansky) of Kanev, and others.

Epiphany Catholicon, Epiphany Monastery, Kyiv

Episcopal service

Bishop Platon

Bishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was assigned to serve as the Bishop of Chyhyryn in Chigirin, and as the second Vicar-Bishop of the Kyiv Diocese.

Holy Theotokos of Kazan Cathedral, Chyhyryn

From 1906, Bishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) published the magazine "Church and the People".

On 12 February, 1907, Vladyka Platon was elected to be a member of the 2nd State Duma as a representative of the Kyiv Governorate.

Vladyka Platon

Transfer to the USA, 1907

In 1907, Bishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was transferred and assigned to the North American diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (at that time also called the "Russian Mission"), to be the successor to Archbishop Tikhon (Belavin). The official name of the diocese was "Diocese of the Aleutian Islands and North America.

At the same time, Bishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was elevated to the dignity of archbishop.

Saint Nicholas Cathedral, New York City

Responding to the needs of the diocese, Vladyka Platon welcomed many more Carpatho-Rusyn Uniats back into Orthodoxy, thus supplementing the multitude already received through the work of Saint Alexis Toth and others.

A similar work was undertaken in Canada at about this time by Archimandrite Arseny (Chahovtsov), both as an archimandrite and then later as a bishop.

Archbishop Platon met social needs by founding the Russian Immigrants Home and an orphanage in New York City.

In 1907, the year of his arrival, the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul was founded formally in Montréal, Québec, Canada.

In this 1907-1910 photo at Saint Tikhon's Monastery (South Canaan, Pennsylvania), Bishop Saint Raphael of Brooklyn is standing on the far left, while the Hieromartyr Alexander Hotovitzky is seated second from the left. Seated third from the left is Archbishop Platon Rozhdestvensky. Saint Alexander was martyred by the Soviets after his return to Russia.

Bishop Raphael, Archbishop Platon, Bishop Alexander

In 1909, Saint George’s Greek Orthodox Church was founded in Toronto, Ontario. This development occurred during the time of Archbishop Platon, but it is possible that Bishop Raphael (Hawaweeny) was also involved in this particular foundation. It was in 1937 that this congregation was able to buy a former synagogue on Bond Street and to begin its transformation into an Orthodox Christian Temple.

In 1910, Archimandrite Sebastian (Dabovich) left the Serbian mission. After he had done some other work, he taught at the Saint Platon Seminary in Tenafly, New Jersey. Then, in 1914, he had felt a strong call to go to serve in Serbia, and he received the blessing to do so. Thus, he departed for Serbia in Yugoslavia.

An effort was made to extend the overarching plan to include the Greeks in North America in a similar manner to the Syro-Arabians and others.

In 1912, Father Michael Andreades, a priest of Greek extraction and Dean of the West Coast parishes of the Russian Missionary Archdiocese, was sent to Constantinople in order to make a request that the Ecumenical Patriarch send a Greek bishop to North America. It was the intention that he serve as head of the Greek-American parishes, and to be within the Mission Archdiocese. Despite the hope in this overture, nothing came of it.

Transfer of the seminary from Minnesota to New Jersey, 1912

In 1912, Archbishop Platon transferred the Seminary from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Tenafly, New Jersey, in order to bring it nearer to its main source of students, the eastern USA, and to the Central Administration of the Church.

Saint Platon's Theological Seminary, Tenafly, New Jersey

Vladyka Platon

Transfer to Russia/Moldova, 1914

In 1914, Archbishop Platon was recalled to Russia.

On 20 March, 1914, Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was assigned to serve the Diocese of Kishinev and Khotin (Moldavia). These 2 cities were part of the region known as Bessarabia, which is historically a part of the Moldavian principality of Romania.

Holy Nativity Cathedral, Chișinău (Kishinev), Bessarabia

In 1915, Archbishop Platon was elected to be an honourary member of the Petrograd Theological Academy.

Transfer to Georgia, 1915

Then, on 5 December, 1915, Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was transferred and assigned to be the Archbishop of Kartli and Kakheti, and the Exarch of Georgia.

Bolnisi Sioni Cathedral, Kartli, Georgia

Protopresbyter George Shavelsky, who had recommended Vladyka Platon to the Governor of the Caucasus Governorate (the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich) to be a candidate for the position of Exarch of Georgia, said, “Archbishop Platon, according to my observations, had quite unusual qualities for our bishops : initiative, great energy and scope in work”.

Also in 1915, Archbishop Platon served in the Second State Duma.

On 4 December, 1916, Vladyka Platon was approved as an honourary member of the Kazan Theological Academy.

On 12/25 March, 1917, a group of bishops, priests and laity, led by Bishop Leonid (Okropiridze) of Guria-Mingrelia, gathered in Mtskheta, and they proclaimed the restoration of the autocephaly of the Church of Georgia. This occurred after the February Revolution of 1917, and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II on 15 March.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, Mtskheta

The exarch of Georgia, Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky), was then told locally by the newly independent government that he was now being removed from office ; that a decision had been made to abolish the Georgian-Imeretin Synodal Office of the Church of Russia in Georgia, and that he would have to return to Russia.

Return to Russia, 1917

In 1917, Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was assigned to be a member of the Most Holy Synod of the Church of Russia.

On 15 July, 1917, Archbishop Platon gave a speech at Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in Saint Petersburg (Petrograd) at the funeral of the Cossacks who were killed on 5 July during the dispersal of an armed demonstration led by the Bolsheviks :

 What a striking in its enormity is the difference between these, whom we now mourn, and those who also came 
 from our people, who, hiding behind the holy name of the Russian soldier, create a betrayal of the motherland 
 and a betrayal of it ! [...] The feeling of deep sorrow and sadness causes the action of those Russian warriors who, 
 under the influence of agitators, are ready to do away with their duty to their homeland and love for it. 
 This feeling, we are sure, is shared by everything loyal to the good of the homeland, Russia. 
 All Russia that has not forgotten itself grieves for the people who have betrayed the new betrayal to the people. [...] 
 Did she not think, that the time will come when some Russians, in the face of the enemy, will cease to be Russians. [...] 
 With the Russian hand the children of the Russian land have been killed !  

Saint Isaac's Cathedral, Saint Petersburg

At the State Meeting in Moscow on 14 August, Archbishop Platon made a speech :

 Our history did not know the other because of the difficulty of this moment.  But this gravity should double 
 the strength and power of the national will, should not kill, but elevate the spirit of the people. 
 Extremely constrained, our country still has to defend its world position and should arrange its inner life 
 on new beginnings, under new conditions corresponding to her good, her happiness. [...] The people achieved freedom, 
 the citizen became free. And I want to shout with all the strength of the Russian breast : free citizen, 
 go to this hearth, make a flame of this fire to rushed, came all the peoples inhabiting Russia, 
 so that they would have a warm and cozy atmosphere at this hearth.   

On 13 August, 1917, Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was elevated to the dignity of metropolitan.

All-Russia Sobor of 1917-1918

Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was a participant of the Sacred Council of 1917-1918 in Moscow.

Christ the Saviour Cathedral, Moscow

He concelebrated the Divine Liturgy at the opening of the Council on 15 August in Christ the Saviour Cathedral in Moscow.

At this Council, he was elected to serve as the Chairman of the Department of External and Internal Missions, and to serve as a member of several other departments.

All-Russian Sobor session

As explained by Alexis P Liberovsky,

 As the All-Russian Council opened, Metropolitan Platon was among the senior ranking hierarchs of the Russian
 Church, and was likewise one of the most dynamic participants in the Council.  When the Council decided to 
 restore the Patriarchate of the Russian Church, Metropolitan Platon became a leading candidate for the 
 Patriarchal See.  Although he was not elected to be one of the three candidates for final selection of the 
 Patriarch by lot, Metropolitan Platon received a significant number of votes in each of the four ballots 
 in the patriarchal electoral process.  The election of the Patriarch took place just as the Bolsheviks took 
 power in Russia. 
 
 With armed conflict and bloodshed taking place, the Council appointed a special delegation, headed by 
 Metropolitan Platon, to negotiate with the revolutionary military leaders in the Kremlin in an effort 
 to end bloodshed and establish peace.  Metropolitan Platon’s heart-wrenching account before the Council 
 of his encounter with the revolutionaries was so moving that it was even suggested that his name also be 
 included in the final list of patriarchal candidates, but as the list had already been finalized by decision 
 of the Council, this was impossible.  When Patriarch Tikhon was elected, Metropolitan Platon, as one of the
 senior hierarchs, liturgically enthroned the new patriarch.

Transfer to Odessa, 1917

Before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was transferred, and he was assigned to be the Metropolitan of Kherson and Odessa.

Nevertheless, Metropolitan Platon was in Moscow during the battles of October, 1917. On behalf of the Sacred Council, he conducted negotiations with the Bolsheviks about a truce and the cessation of hostilities. On 2 November, Metropolitan Platon, together with Bishop Nestor, singing prayers as they walked, went to the Moscow Military Revolutionary Committee. Metropolitan Platon tried to persuade the leaders to stop the fight against the "junkers" (the young nobility of the White Resistance Movement). At the entrance to the Revolutionary Military Committee, a crowd of soldiers met them with the words : "Where have you been before ? Why does religion interfere in our affairs ? Why are the clergy here ? You had better go to your junkers !"

In 1918, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was a member of the All-Ukrainian Council.

From 22 February, 1918, Metropolitan Platon chaired the Holy Synod of Bishops of the newly-formed Ukrainian Autonomous Church.

On this date (as was the case in other dioceses), there was another election in the Diocese of Kherson and Odessa. This was an opportunity for the diocese either to confirm the pre-revolutionary assignment of their bishop, or to reject it and to choose another. Metropolitan Platon was elected to remain, and he was confirmed in his position as Ruling Bishop of Kherson and Odessa.

Exile, 1922

After the defeat of the White Army by the Bolsheviks in 1922, he was forced to leave Odessa for Western Europe.

In his case, he arrived in Athens, Greece. There, he took the position as the Rector of the Russian Embassy Temple, the Temple of the Metamorphosis (Kottakis).

Metamorphosis Temple, Athens

Transfer to the USA, 1922

Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) with Bishop Alexander (Nemolovsky)

Extended process of transition

On 7-9 November, 1922, after the return of Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky) to Europe, the 3rd All-American Sobor (Council) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania chose Archbishop Platon (Rozhdestvensky) to be the diocesan bishop of the North American diocese of the Moscow Patriarchate (also known as the "Russian Mission").

Meanwhile, in Europe, the question arose about sending an auditor to investigate the disorder in the Aleutian and North American diocese. Archbishop Evlogiy (Georgievsky) (to whom Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin) had initially offered this mission) put forward the name of Metropolitan Platon instead of himself. He noted that Metropolitan Platon already knew the American situation well because of his personal experience. By a decision of 11 January, 1921, the Higher Church Administration of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia gave Metropolitan Platon a 4-month leave with the authority to arrange American Church affairs.

This selection was later confirmed by the Russian Orthodox Church on 27 April, 1922.

In 1922, when Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was returned from Europe to serve in the USA a second time, he found the diocese to be impoverished. It had been deprived of all missionary funds from the ecclesiastical missionary societies of the Russian Empire, and the local income was yet very meagre. He returned to find considerable confusion within the flock, because the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 had caused so many sudden and unexpected changes. There were also many refugees, and with them came many differing political opinions. In the context of the chaos that spread everywhere after the revolution, and of the catastrophic loss of financial support, Archbishop Platon had to draw deeply from all his previous formative experience in order to cope with this situation.

In the meantime, there was some overlapping in the process. On 20 May, 1922, a meeting of the bishops of the Aleutian Diocese welcomed Metropolitan Platon as the patriarchal representative "with full ecclesiastical and administrative rights" in North America. The ROCOR synodal decree from Europe had not yet reached Metropolitan Platon.

Nevertheless, on 20 June, 1922, he accepted the petition of Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky), the previous bishop of the diocese, that the administration of the diocese be transferred to Metropolitan Platon. From that time, Vladyka Platon began to manage the affairs of the Russian North American Diocese. In fact, he had been appointed head of the American archdiocese by Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), who made this appointment verbally in the presence of Father Theodore Pashkovsky and Mr. E T Colton, chairman of the YMCA, who happened to be in Moscow at this time.

These events were soon followed by the reception of the official approval of the situation by the ROCOR Holy Synod.

On 5 September, 1922, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was assigned by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad to the Diocese of the Aleutians and North America. Then, the 3rd All-American Sobor of the Diocese on 7-9 November, 1922, elected Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) to be the ruling bishop. Finally, this election was approved on 29 September, 1923, by Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), along with his simultaneous release from the administration of the Kherson and Odessa dioceses. Responses from the patriarchate were sometimes slow because of the persecution of the Church in the Soviet Union. The effects of this persecution were being felt also in North America.

Nevertheless, Metropolitan Platon did not shy away from making speeches sharply criticising the activities of the Bolsheviks. It was necessary that he do so (as did some other bishops in exile), because he was free to do so, and it was necessary to support the persecuted Church by whatever limited means were available. Moreover, he was an eyewitness of the horrific events which accompanied the revolution. He had seen also the effects of the devastating Russian Civil War (1917-1923) which followed the revolution, and he had ultimately arrived in the USA as a refugee.

A few years afterwards, Metropolitan Platon’s daughter and her family were also able to emigrate to USA from Bulgaria. Their descendants settled in Connecticut.

Struggle to maintain diocesan unity

It was necessary that, over the next decade, Metropolitan Platon invest great efforts in maintaining the unity of the diocese, particularly against attacks by the Soviet “Living Church”, and fending off financial crisis. There also began a period of sporadic co-operation and disjunction with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). The North American diocese was a part of this Synod of Bishops in exile. Its administrative centre at that time was in Karlovtsy, Serbia, so communication amongst the bishops was slow, excepting the telegraph and transatlantic cables. Differences of opinion were difficult to solve without face-to-face contact amongst the bishops (mostly refugees), who were by then scattered to many different continents.

The main source of the differences of opinion has been aptly attributed to the great difference in self-perception between the peoples of the North American missionary diocese, and that of the refugee peoples of most of the rest of the ROCOR. The North American diocese had been founded as a missionary effort by the Church of Russia. In addition to the missionary work, there had been the substantial pre-revolutionary immigration to North America for economic reasons. The vast majority of the constituency of this diocese perceived themselves as being permanently settled in North America. The rest of the assembly of bishops (together with their dioceses) were made up of refugees from the revolution in Russia. For a very long time indeed, many of the refugee people and bishops expected and hoped to be able to return to their homelands. They supposed that their residency in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa and China was only temporary.

Third All-American Sobor, 1922

At the Third All-American Sobor of the American archdiocese, held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1922, Archbishop Platon was accepted to lead the Church once again. At the time of this election, he was given the title “Metropolitan of All America and Canada”.

However, although Patriarch Tikhon himself had suggested this change in ecclesiastical leadership in America and approved it once it had occurred, several factions disputed Metropolitan Platon’s position as ruling hierarch of the diocese. 

The Church suffered another major blow at this time when it was considered necessary to close the seminary in Tenafly, New Jersey, in 1924. At the time, the Church was bereft of the financial resources necessary to maintain it. Its properties and library were sold. There would be no Orthodox seminary in North America for the next 14 years.

A serious example of the breakdown in communication, and the difficult position of the Patriarch of Moscow is seen in the 16 January, 1924 decree by Patriarch Saint Tikhon (Belavin) of Moscow (the former Archbishop of North America). In this decree, he removed Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) from his responsibility as primate in North America for “public acts of counter-revolution”. Of course, it was understood that Patriarch Tikhon was under pressure from the Soviet government, and that in fact he had been compelled to issue that decree.

As explained by Alexis P Liberovsky,

 While in 1923 Patriarch Tikhon had confirmed Metropolitan Platon’s election by the Third Sobor in 1922, 
 a Patriarchal decree appeared in the press in which Metropolitan Platon was supposedly relieved of his 
 position for 'counterrevolution directed against the Soviet state'.  According to the decree itself, it 
 was to have no validity until announced personally to Metropolitan Platon by the hierarch appointed 
 to succeed him – an inconceivable scenario at that time.  The resulting situation was one of chaos and 
 instability. 

The chaos and instability were, of course, not of Metropolitan Platon's making. However it was he who did everything possible under the stormy circumstances to navigate the Church as safely as possible through the unpredictable and destructive waves.

Fourth All-American Sobor, 1924

In 1924, the Fourth All-American Sobor of the Russian-American Archdiocese was held in Detroit, Michigan.  

After the clear evidence was seen regarding the complexity and difficulty in communication with the Church in Russia, Metropolitan Platon felt compelled to declare the North American diocese to be temporarily autonomous, partly on the basis of the previous provisions offered by Patriarch Tikhon for local accommodations to this extraordinary situation, in view of the pre-existing problem of communication with the Russian Church. It was clear that any real communication with the Russian Orthodox Church was now, in fact, almost impossible.

Metropolitan Platon’s election at the previous sobor was resoundingly reconfirmed at this session. 

The council also requested Metropolitan Platon to draft a governing statute (constitution) for the North American Church, based on the Statute adopted by the Moscow Council of 1917-1918. This sobor, on the basis of Patriarch Tikhon’s decree of 20 November, 1920 (no. 362) — which declared that all dioceses of the Russian Church cut off from the Moscow Patriarchate should govern themselves and carry on their church life under local supervision — declared that the archdiocese would be a self-governing metropolitanate, maintaining only a spiritual bond with the Church in Russia, until such time as normal relations could be resumed with the Russian Church.

In February, 1924, Archbishop Platon was officially installed as the metropolitan, with the title "Metropolitan of All America and Canada". The Church was legally incorporated as the "Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of America".

"Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in North America" : "The Metropolia"

Thus, the "Russian Mission" had come to an end, and the Diocese of the Aleutians and North America had been transformed into a Metropolitanate of All America and Canada (also called "Metropolia").

With this, the temporary autonomy was proclaimed until the next All-Russian Council would be convened. This step, however, resulted in a strong difference of opinion with other bishops of the ROCOR.

At a synod meeting in 1926 in Karlovtsy, Serbia, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) was asked by his fellow hierarchs on the synod to renounce the “temporary self-government” which his diocese had declared. When he refused, the ROCOR bishops condemned the Detroit Sobor of 1924 as “extremely dangerous and harmful for the interests of the Russian Church in America”. Metropolitan Platon separated from the ROCOR at this time, as did Metropolitan Evlogiy (Georgievsky).

There followed a painful series of actions and reactions.

Increasing division, differences of opinion

As the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese had done in 1921, so also in 1926, the Serbian Orthodox Church organised a diocese in the USA.

In 1927, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) convened a Sobor in North America, which labelled the ROCOR as “uncanonical”. One bishop of the “Metropolia” dissented, Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy), who subsequently moved to the ROCOR itself, as distinct from the “Metropolia”. The ROCOR Synod then deposed Metropolitan Platon from being Primate of the “Metropolia” and assigned Bishop Apollinary (Koshevoy) in his place. As a consequence, 62 parishes followed Bishop Apollinary and accepted his authority during the following 6 years.

In 1927, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) began the attempt to form a self-governing Orthodox Church in North America by blessing (together with his local synod of bishops) the creation of the “American Orthodox Catholic Church”, whose constitution gave it authority over all Orthodox Christians living on the continent. The charter itself referenced the authority of a letter from Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky) (locum tenens of the Patriarchate of Moscow) which indicated that autonomous Orthodox churches could be founded outside Russia. However, this new entity, led by Archbishop Aftimios (Ofiesh) of Brooklyn, collapsed within 6 or 7 years. There were many internal and external pressures and conflicts which undermined any good intentions. Indeed, the fact that Archbishop Aftimios chose to contract a civil marriage doomed the attempt altogether.

In 1929, after failing in an attempt to reach an agreement with the ROCOR synod, Metropolitan Platon attempted to recover parishes and property through legal processes. Most of these failed.

Break in communication with the Moscow Patriarchate, 1933

In March, 1933, Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky) instructed Archbishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov), who was leaving for the USA, to clarify the position of Metropolitan Platon. The talks included a request that was received by Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) and his brother bishops from Metropolitan Sergiy (Stragorodsky) that they all pledge “loyalty” to the Soviet government. Although the representatives of the patriarchate suggested that this “loyalty” could be expressed simply by refraining from engaging in anti-Soviet political activism, the bishops and membership of the “Metropolia” would not and could not accept the request. Therefore, Archbishop Benjamin had to confirm the refusal of Metropolitan Platon and the other bishops to submit to the Moscow hierarchy's demands (which were obviously made under duress).

In response, Metropolitan Sergiy and the Holy Synod with him, in a resolution of 6 August, 1933, recognised the declaration of autonomy of the North American Diocese, initiated by Metropolitan Platon, as being a gross violation of Church discipline and abolished it, as a canonically untenable action that brought division. They further decided to bring Metropolitan Platon and the bishops to trial. They prohibited the bishops from any liturgical serving until repentance, or until the ecclesiastical judicial decision about it. Further, the Moscow Patriarchate declared Metropolitan Platon to be in schism, and deposed him in absentia (it was impossible that he travel to be present) before an ecclesiastical court.

Russian Exarchate of North America, 1933

Subsequently, the Russian Exarchate of North America was formed, whose bishop was regarded by Russia at that time as being the rightful canonical successor of all Russian jurisdictions in North America.

Metropolitan Platon

Repose, 1934

On 20 April, 1934, Metropolitan Platon (Rozhdestvensky) fell asleep in the Lord at his residence in New York City, after a long illness.

The Funeral Services for the Burial of Hierarch took place at the Holy Protection Cathedral in New York City.

After the funeral services, his body was interred in the cemetery at Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Monastery in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, under the floor of the Cemetery Chapel of Saint Platon.

Saint Platon Cemetery Chapel, Saint Tikhon's Monastery Cemetery

— Bishop of Chigirin 1902-1907. Preceded by : Bishop Dimitriy (Kovalnitsky). Succeeded by : Bishop Agapit (Vishnievsky).

— Vicar-Bishop of the Kyiv Diocese 1902-1907.

— Archbishop of the Aleutian Islands and Alaska 1907-1914. Preceded by : Archbishop Tikhon (Belavin). Succeeded by : Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky).

— Archbishop of Kishinev & Khotin 1914-1915. Preceded by : Archbishop Seraphim (Chichagov). Succeeded by : Archbishop Anastasy (Gribanovsky).

— Exarch of Georgia 1915-1917. Preceded by : Archbishop Pitirim (Oknov). Position of Exarch terminated with the restoration of the Georgian Patriarchate in 1917.

— Metropolitan of Kherson and Odessa 1917-1921. Preceded by : Archbishop Nazariy (Kirillov). Succeeded by : Bishop Prokopiy (Titov).

— Metropolitan of New York, All America and Canada 1923-1934. Preceded by : Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky). Succeeded by : Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky).

Reflections

After the repose of Metropolitan Platon, the ROCOR lifted its ban against the “Metropolia” as a goodwill gesture, and this led to a renewal in 1935 of relations with Metropolitan Platon’s successor, Metropolitan Theophilus (Pashkovsky).

On 19 April, 1946, Patriarch Alexei I (Simansky), listening to the request of the flock of the reposed Metropolitan Platon, blessed that a panikhida be served for the reposed metropolitan. Thus, from that moment on, the ecclesiastical ban against him was considered to have been posthumously removed.

In the “Slavonic and East European Review”, vol. 13, no. 35 (January, 1935), pp. 431-433, the article about Metropolitan Platon reported :

 On 20 April of this year, one of the most outstanding bishops of the Russian Church died in New York.
 Metropolitan Platon was a learned theologian, but above all he was a great leader of the Church, upon 
 whom fell the heavy burden of administering its affairs in the very difficult years of the Russian 
 Revolution.  

Alexis P Liberovsky wrote :

 Metropolitan Platon tenaciously faced countless challenges in leading the Church through a period of disunity 
 and canonical chaos.  On 20 April, 1934, Metropolitan Platon fell asleep in the Lord at age 68 and was buried 
 at Saint Tikhon’s Monastery.  Patriarch Aleksy I of Moscow posthumously lifted the ecclesiastical sanctions 
 against him in 1946.
 
 The century of subjugation of the Georgian Church by the Russian Church is generally considered a dark period 
 in Georgian history.  It is therefore noteworthy that during his US visit in 1998, Catholicos-Patriarch Ilia II 
 of Georgia expressed interest in – and even reverence for – Metropolitan Platon when he celebrated a spontaneous
 memorial service at the chapel erected over his grave.

Writings

• “The Ancient East in the light of Divine Revelation” (Master's dissertation, Kiev, 1898). See also “Kyiv Theological Academy Journal (“TKDA”) 1898, (June-December, 1898), (February-April, 1899).

• ‘The Word uttered on April 6, 1899 at the Tomb in Bose of the deceased Confessor of the Kiev-Pechersk Uspenskaya Lavra, Nikolai the Jerome-monk’ in “TKDA” (May, 1899), p. 79.

• ‘A Word in the Memory of the Venerable Father of our Theodosius, Hegumen of Kiev-Pechersk’ in “TKDA” (May, 1899), p. 113.

• ‘Word on the Day of Archangel Michael’ in “TKDA” (December, 1899), p. 517.

• ‘The Word spoken on the Requiem Liturgy, on the Day of the Burial of the Most High Johannikia, Metropolitan of Kiev and Galich’ in “TKDA” (July, 1900), p. 336.

• ‘Christianity and Socialism’, Speech delivered at the annual act of the Kiev Theological Academy in “TKDA” (November, 1900), p. 315.

• ‘A Word on the Day of Remembrance of our Father St. Anthony of Pechersk : the Difficulty and Significance of Monastic Life’ in "TKDA” (August, 1901), p. 464.

• ‘A Word on the Day of the Transfiguration of the Lord and the Consecration of the Great Laurel Church’ in “TKDA” (September, 1901), p. 37.

• ‘Speech when he was appointed Bishop on May 31, 1902’ in “TKDA” (July, 1902), p. 4.

• ‘Speech at the Opening in Kiev of the local diocesan Department of the Imperial Pravosl. Palestinian Ob-va December 6, 1902’ in “TKDA” (February, 1903), p. 185.

• ‘Speech at the Meeting of Metropolitan Flavian’ in “TKDA”, (March, 1903), p. 7.

• ‘Speech at the Opening of the All-Ukrainian Church Council’ in “Ukrainian Churcch Messenger", 1918, no. 13-14 (1918), p. 439.

• ‘To the Ukrainian Rada’ in "Ukrainian Church Messenger”, no. 13-14 (1918), p. 441.

• ‘Orthodoxy under the Austro-Hungarian court’ in "Ukrainian Church Messenger", no. 23 (1918), p. 1043.

• ‘Message of His Eminence, Platon, Metropolitan of All America and Canada’ in “Church News of the Western Europe Diocese”, no. 2 (1930), pp. 4-8. (In Russian : 'Poslanie Vysokopreosv Platona Mitropolita Vseja Amerikii Kanady', in : "Cerkovni Vestnik Zapadnoi Evropy Eparkhiya", 1930), no. 2, s. 4-8.

Partial bibliography of articles by others from various sources about the metropolitan :

• "Church Tribune", no. 20 (1902), p. 172 ; no. 25 (1907), p. 273 ; no. 47 (1909), p. 411 ; no. 12 (1914), p. 95 ; no. 52 (1916), p. 453 ; no. 27 (1917), p. 178 & no. 35, p. 295 ; nos. 7-8 (1918), p. 37 & nos. 19-20, p. 114.

• "Ukrainian Church Messenger", no. 26 (1902), pp. 858-860 ; nos. 51-52 (1910), p. 2249 ; no. 16 (1912), p. 683, no. 5 (1918), pp. 172-174 & nos. 11-12, p. 389.

• "Missionary Calendar" (1907), p. 137.

• ‘The Truth About Religion in Russia’ in “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” (1942), pp. 46, 279.

• "Russian Orthodox Church", p. 155.

• "Composition of the Holy Ruling All Russian Synod and Russian Church Hierarchy for 1917", pp. 302-303.

• "Russian Pilgrim" (1912) p. 254 ; 1914, no. 29 (1914), pp. 470, 471, 472 ; 1915, no. 21 (1915), p. 336 ; no. 38, p. 607.

• “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” (“JMP”) 1933, nos. 16-17 (1933), p.1 ; nos. 18-19, pp. 2, 3 ; 1950, no. 7 (1950), pp. 69-70 ; 1955, no. 3 (1955), pp. 71-72 ; no. 6 (1957), pp. 66-70 ; no. 11 (1959), p. 14 ; no. 2 (1960), pp. 31-32 & no. 8, p. 11.

• "Izv. Kaz. Bp." 1912, no. 39 (1912), p. 1185 ; 1914, nos. 13-14 (1914), pp. 421-422 & nos. 31-32, p. 976.

• "The Memorial Book of the Petrograd Spiritual Academy for the 1915-1916 Academic Year", p. 12.

• Eleutherius, Metropolitan, "Conciliarity of the Church : God and Caesar" (Paris, 1938), pp. 88, 262, 263.

• “FPS” vol. I, no. 8, p. 1 ; vol. III, p. 5.

• Bulgakov, pp.1394, 1403.

• “Great Russian Encyclopedia” (“BES”), vol. 2 (Saint Petersburg, 1815).

• “BEL”, vol. 10 (St Petersburg), pp. 620-621.

• Tarasar, Constance J, ed., "Orthodox America 1794-1976 : Development of The Orthodox Church in America" (Syosset, NY : The Orthodox Church in America Department of History and Archives, 1975). ASIN : B000ZLZAUE, p. 128.

• Afonsky, Bishop Gregory, “A History of the Orthodox Church in Alaska” (Kodiak, Alaska : St Herman’s Theological Seminary, 1978), p. 90. ASIN : B00AWIXZ9I

• Seide, G, “History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia” (“Geschichte der ROK im Ausland”), passim, bes. 422.

• Regelson, L, “Tragedy of the Russian Church, 1917-1945”, afterword by John Meyendorff (Paris : YMCA Press, 1977), p. 492.

• Rklitsky, Archbishop Nikon, “Russian Church Distemper Abroad” (“Zizneopisanie”), vol. 7, pp. 382-385 ; 387-391.

• I Vlasovs'kyj, Narys istorii UPC IV, 1, 14-20, 25 und passim.

• Heyer, Friedrich, “The Orthodox Church in Ukraine 1917-1945” (“Die orthodoxe Kirche”) (Cologne, Germany : 1953), passim.

• 'In Memoriam Metropolitan Platon' ('Pamjati Vysokopreosv. Mitropolita Platona'), in : "Church Messenger of the Western Europe Diocese" ("Cerk. Vest. Zap. Evr. Ep."), no. 5 (1934), pp. 4-7.

• Chrysostomus, Johannes, “Kirchengeschichte”, (“Church History”), vols. I, II, III, passim.

• Struve, N, 26, p. 508.

• ‘Une lettre du Catholicos Leonide au Patriarche Tykhon’ in “Echos d'Orient”, no. 35 (1932), p. 365. (no. 3 from 5.8.1919).

• Pospielovsky, Dmitry, “The Russian Church”, passim.

• Golostenov, M E, ‘Politicians of Russia 1917” in “Biographical Dictionary” (Moscow, 1993), pp. 251-252.

References

Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Archives biography

Orthodoxwiki biography

Russian Wikipedia biography

Drevo (Tree Open Orthodox Encyclopaedia) biography

Baku biography

Russian Authors biography

World History Encyclopaedia biography

Russian Persons Abroad biography

Academic Dictionary biography

“The Russian Mission in North America”

Additional information :

Corey, George S, Gilquist, Peter E, Mackoul, Anne Glynn, Sqm, Jean. Schneirla, Paul, eds., "The First One Hundred Years : A Centennial Anthology Celebrating Antiochian Orthodoxy in North America" (Englewood, NJ : Antakya Press, 1995) BX738.A753F57.

Firsov, Sergey Lvovich, "Time as Judge : Orthodox Churches of Russia and Constantinople in the 20th Century" (Moscow : Department of External Church Relations, 12 December 2018).

Grigoriev, Dimitri, Archpriest, Buevsky, A S, 'Aleutian and North American Diocese' in "Orthodox Encyclopedia", vol. 2, pp. 14-16.

Kostur, Nikolaj L, "The Relationship between The Russian Orthodox Church in North America and The Russian Orthodox Church Abroad from 1920-1950" (Crestwood, New York : Saint Vladimir's Theological Seminary, 2009) (Master of Theology thesis)

Pospielovsky, Dmitry Vladimirovich, “Pravoslavnaia tserkov’ v istorii Rusi, Rossii i SSSR” (Moscow, 1996) ISBN : 5-87507-019-6. Translated into English : “The Orthodox Church in the History of Russia” (Crestwood, NY : Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1998). ISBN : 0-88141-179-5.

...... “The Russian Church Under the Soviet Regime 1917-1982”, 2 volumes (Crestwood, NY : Saint Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984), vol. 1. ISBN : 0-88141-015-2.

Regelson, L, “Tragedy of the Russian Church, 1917-1945”, afterword by John Meyendorff (Paris : YMCA Press, 1977), p. 488.

Seide, Gernot (Archpriest George), ‘History of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russian from its Beginning to the Present (1983)’ in “Rocor Studies”.

Tarasar, Constance J, ed., "Orthodox America 1794-1976 : Development of The Orthodox Church in America" (Syosset, NY : The Orthodox Church in America Department of History and Archives, 1975). ASIN : B000ZLZAUE.

Outline of North American Church History

Orthodoxwiki article about the All Russian Church Council of 1917-1918

Orthodoxwiki article about the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Orthodoxwiki article about the ROCOR and the OCA relationship

Orthodox Christians in North America (1794-1994)

OCA archives : History of the Orthodox Christians in North America (1870-1920), Part 2

The 3rd All-American Sobor 1922

The 4th All-American Sobor 1924

Orthodoxhistory.org references to Metropolitan Platon

Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin)

Patriarch Sergiy (Stragorodsky)

Metropolitan Antony (Khrapovitsky)

Metropolitan Evlogiy (Georgievsky)

Metropolitan Theognost (Lebedev)

Archbishop Alexander (Nemolovsky)

Archbishop Evdokim (Meschersky)

Archbishop Arseny (Chahovtsov)

Archbishop Benjamin (Fedchenkov)

Bishop Saint Raphael (Hawaweeny)

Bishop Sylvester (Malevansky)

Archimandrite Saint Sebastian (Dabovich)

Protopresbyter Saint Alexis Toth

Russian Orthodox Church web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about the Russian Orthodox Church

Wikipedia article about the Russian Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) web-site

Orthodoxwiki article about the Orthodox Church in America

Wikipedia article about the Orthodox Church in America

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) web-site

Wikipedia article about the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia

Russian Mission in North America

Photos of Metropolitan Platon

‘Obituary of Metropolitan Platon’ in “Slavonic and East European Review”, vol. 13, no. 35 (January, 1935), pp. 431-433.

OCA article : “Remembering Metropolitan Platon” (20 April, 2021)

OCA Diocese of the West article : “Remembering Metropolitan Platon” (20 April, 2021)

Canadian Orthodox Church History Project, no. 6, pp. 34-37