Platina, California, August 17, 2021
St. Herman's Monastery. Photo: flickr.com
The monks of St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in Platina, California, were forced to evacuate yesterday due to wildfires racing towards the monastery.
The brotherhood posted a request for prayers on its official Facebook page:
The wildfires in our area, thanks be to God, did no damage to St. Xenia Skete in Wildwood. However, last night 35 mile-an-hour winds pushed the fire 8 miles in the direction of our St. Herman Monastery. We received a notification this morning that we need to evacuate within 3 hours. During the evacuation, most of us will be staying at the Monastery of St. John in Manton, thanks to the kind invitation of its superior, Fr. Innocent, and the blessing of Archbishop Benjamin.
We will be posting further developments. In the meantime, please pray that the monastery will be spared.
As the post notes, thankfully the nearby St. Xenia Skete, whose sisters had to be evacuated earlier this month, suffered no damage. The fire spread miraculously around the town of Wildwood, and through the prayers of the faithful and the labors of the firefighters, everyone was spared and the sisters are back at the monastery.
St. Herman’s Monastery was founded by Blessed Seraphim (Rose) and Fr. Herman (Podmoshensky) in the late 1960s, and is now home to the grave of Fr. Seraphim, who died at the age of 48 in 1982.
The monastery has been threatened by wildfire numerous times, though it has thus far been preserved by God’s grace.
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