Saint James, New York, January 31, 2024
Fr. Vasilieos (Willard), pictured here at his ordination in 2020 with Met. Hilarion of blessed memory (right) and Met. Nicholas, the current First Hierarch of ROCOR (left). Photo: saintdionysiosmonastery.org
As of last night, the Monastery of St. Dionysios the Areopagite (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) in the hamlet of Saint James on Long Island has a new abbot.
Former abbot Archimandrite Maximos (Weimar) writes: “As of this evening, I am retiring as Abbot of the Monastery of St Dionysios the Areopagite, per agreement with the Brotherhood, I will assume the role as Abbot Emeritus.”
He notes that “This decision is not brought on by ill health or other negative reasons.” Rather, the brotherhood agreed that the Monastery of the Glorious Ascension, where Fr. Maximos also serves as abbot, and its dependencies, Holy Great Martyr and Healer Panteleimon Skete in Florida and St. John Cassian Orthodox Chapel in Alabama, require more attention.
Thus, Fr. Maximos remains a member of the St. Dionysios brotherhood and will split his time between the various sites.
On the feast of St. Nicholas, the brotherhood elected Hieromonk Vasilieos (Willard) as its new abbot. Fr. Vasilieos was ordained to the priesthood on October 16, 2020.
In an interview in 2017, Fr. Maximos spoke about the history of the Monastery of St. Dionysios. It began in the 1970s in the Bulgarian Church as St. John of Rila Monastery when a priest acquired a 19th-century Catholic church on Long Island.
In the 1990s, it was sold to the Jerusalem Patriarchate, though it then sat dormant until 2003, when Archbishop Damascinos from the Patriarchate renamed it Holy Cross Monastery and appointed Fr. Maximos as abbot. At that time, there was only one other monk, though the brotherhood has steadily grown over the years.
Following the dissolution of the Patriarchate’s parishes in North America, the monastery was received into ROCOR in 2010. But in 2015, the Jerusalem Patriarchate informed the brotherhood that if they wanted to stay on the property, they would have to return to the Patriarchate’s jurisdiction.
However, the monks wanted to remain in ROCOR and so had to move to a new location and establish a new monastery, dedicated to St. Dionysios the Areopagite.
And now, the next stage of the brotherhood’s life begins, under the leadership of Fr. Vasilieos.
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