Friday, March 29, 2024
The war in Ukraine has left tens of thousands of men, women and children scattered around the world, forced to flee their homes and leave their lives and possessions behind in their search for safety. Parishioners at Saint Seraphim of Sarov Russian Church, in Sea Cliff, understand better than most the struggle of living in exile, which led the church’s Women’s Committee to hold a rummage sale last Saturday to help raise funds for displaced Ukrainians.
Saint Seraphim has a history of exile. It is the only Orthodox church on Long Island that is part of the archdiocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, a splinter group of the main Russian Orthodox Church.
ROCOR was established in the early 1920s, following the dissolution of the church in Russia by the Soviet Union. After the main church swore loyalty to the Bolshevik regime, some members living in exile refused to forget the brutality they had witnessed by the Red Army and the Soviet high command, and they defiantly chose to maintain a separate identity from their former co-religionists.
Exiles who had settled in Sea Cliff were among ROCOR’s member, and in 1955 they founded St. Seraphim, which was consecrated in 1959. The church was named after Saint Seraphim of Sarov, a miracle worker who was considered the greatest Russian saint of the 18th century.
Elizabeth Miheyev, of Sea Cliff, the head of the parish’s Women’s Committee, explained that this history of living in exile has always been a central pillar of the church’s culture and mission. According to Miheyev, members’ understanding and shared memories of the hardships of involuntary exile informed their decision to do what they could to help raise money for Ukrainian refugees at the rummage sale.
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