Jordanville, New York, January 20, 2026
Photo: Holy Trinity Orthodox Seminary
Archimandrite Theophylact, deputy abbot of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, has suffered a stroke and is currently hospitalized.
A post in the I Love Jordanville social media group on January 18 reads:
We are asking for prayers for Archimandrite Theophylact. He had a mini stroke yesterday, and is currently in the hospital.
Archimandrite Theophylact (Clapper-De Well) is both a graduate of Holy Trinity Seminary (class of ’86) and a long-time, dedicated member of the monastic brotherhood. He has held many different monastic obediences over the last several decades, including previously serving as the monastery and seminary’s bookkeeper, the inspector in the seminary dormitory, and teaching in the seminary in the Department of Liturgics, Sacred Art, and Music.
He currently serves as the deputy abbot of the monastery, and together with His Grace, Bishop Luke, is one of the monastery’s confessors, while concurrently serving as head of the kitchen.
Reflecting on his path to monastic life, Fr. Theophylact has said:
When I decided to come to Holy Trinity Monastery in 1980, I wasn’t sure whether or not I wanted to be a monk. So, it occurred to me that I could study Russian, Church Slavonic, and the Orthodox faith in general by enrolling in the Seminary, and then with time, figure out my future. At that time, even if I decided to become a monastic, I knew that having the languages and education in the Faith under my belt could only be beneficial for me, as a monk or as a layman.
As it turned out, it became obvious to me that I should petition the abbot (the future Metropolitan Laurus) to become a novice. This was over a year after arriving here in Jordanville. My seminary education thus far had given me the tools to more deeply study and also to participate in the spiritual life of the monastery. This has all together aided me in having the advantage of being a monastic in the age-old tradition of Holy Trinity Monastery, which is linked back to Pochaev and Kiev Caves, our Mother houses.
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