{"id":6998,"date":"2023-01-31T06:07:03","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T06:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/?p=6998"},"modified":"2024-07-08T14:30:48","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T14:30:48","slug":"archbishop-victorin-a-saint-among-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/2023\/01\/archbishop-victorin-a-saint-among-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Archbishop Victorin: a saint among us"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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We continue our publication of Archbishop Victorin\u2019s letters by presenting those that contain his first impressions on American soil.<\/em><\/p>

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August 14, 1956
Detroit, USA<\/p>

Your Eminence,<\/p>

As I wrote you, I arrived safe and sound in the United States. I stayed only two days or so in NY. I paid a visit to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese and several other of my Jerusalemite acquaintances, who I have there. I lodged with them so I didn\u2019t have a chance to meet any of our Romanians in NY.<\/p>

I came to Detroit. Here I \u201cran into\u201d Fr. Moraru, who offered me to stay at their rectory or, as they call it, the clergy house, in which HG Andrei also stays. How am I? I think you can imagine pretty well: every day is like a year. I can barely wait to arrange my necessary formalities in regards to my stay in USA and especially my visit to Canada. Honestly, I also think that in the USA I won\u2019t be able to prolong my stay, not even as a visitor. I find myself in a world so foreign that I\u2019d rather take the first boat \u2013 to Europe \u2013 and to return as soon as possible to the tranquility of our Jordan, whose value I feel that much more from here and for the life that I\u2019ve chosen.<\/p>

Your Eminence, pray that the good God may help me to pass over these trials and temptations and I may recover at least my freedom, which I didn\u2019t know how to treasure in Jerusalem, of remaining a monk.<\/p>

With the same filial sentiments,
Archim. Victorin<\/p>

I think that in a day or two, I\u2019ll give you a more stable address to which you can write me.<\/p>

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Detroit, Sept 6 1956<\/p>

Your Eminence,<\/p>

We\u2019re approaching one month since I arrived here and I still haven\u2019t managed to orient myself even with what I have to do. The excessive suggestions in which I see nothing but private interests of \u201cbenefactors\u201d make me pass my days with headaches and my nights without sleeping.<\/p>

I was thinking to leave everyone as I found them and to return immediately to Jerusalem. But even there I see an uncertainty \u2013 with the Suez.<\/p>

I am still at the residence of the Romanian Mission here. There\u2019s also another priest \u201cwithout a parish\u201d, also miserable because he sacrificed the freedom of his former profession \u2013 donning priestly vestments (he was ordained only a few years ago). HG Andrei is not here; for three weeks he\u2019s been in Canada. If he comes, I think, whether we like it or not, we\u2019ll have to move out. In this regard, I understand that Fr. Moraru hinted to the other priest that if HG comes, no one else will be able to stay with him.<\/p>

I didn\u2019t do anything for Jerusalem either, because I\u2019m not too clear on the formalities of my status in America. I\u2019m not allowed to enter Canada \u2013 with a Laissez Passer \u2013 except if I have a \u201cpermanent resident\u201d visa in USA. And for that, I\u2019d definitely need to extend my stay for at least one year \u2013 here. On the other hand, sometimes too discouraged, I feel like taking just the luggage which I had when I visited Your Eminence, so as not to worry about bags, and to go and recover my peaceful cell next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Maybe sometimes I was ungrateful there as well, and that\u2019s why God let me taste American bread too.<\/p>

As far as concerns the ecclesial and Romanian problems over here, although they don\u2019t appear to be totally unsolvable, yet nonetheless I can\u2019t allow myself an opinion until I don\u2019t become familiar with the other groups too. Maybe HG Teofil wrote you. He passes by here often and I see that he speaks with HG Andrei and they struggle in every direction, north and south \u2013 with great hopes of emerging victorious from \u201ctheir battles\u201d \u2013 but those who are less securely hitched to the battle chariots think that only a hierarch with a history of pastoral activity and an indisputable personal moral authority would be able to save the ecclesial life of the Romanians here. That\u2019s why many think of Your Eminence, and ask themselves whether you would accept to come to the United States.<\/p>

Take these with a grain of salt \u2013 everything I write you \u2013 because I wouldn\u2019t want to create any spiritual anxiety for Your Eminence with my misfortunes. I continually hope for the better \u2013 but since \u201cthe better\u201d is delayed, I thought it better to send you these few lines \u2013 rather than causing any spiritual anxiety for you in another way, through my excessive silence.<\/p>

With the same filial sentiments,
Archim. Victorin<\/p>

If you are able to write me something, send the letter to the address of Fr. George Nan in Windsor \u2013 he brings them to me as soon as they arrive there.<\/p>

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Viels-Maisons (Aisne). France.
September 11, 1956<\/p>

Dear Abbot,<\/p>

Indeed, I was unsettled by the long pause you made between letters. But I\u2019m not surprised by the contents of this one, sent from Detroit on September 6, this year.<\/p>

Have no regrets about the unpleasant events you endure and will continue to endure. On the contrary, take a good look through the window that you\u2019ve opened for yourself, coming to North America. You are familiar with most of the ecclesial matters in the home country; familiarize yourself now with the matters of these Romanians, whom no one back home has ever cared for in the past, and who are on the brink of denationalization even with the rising generation.<\/p>

Arm yourself with patience and wait for the possibility to visit Canada (although I presuppose that the delay of documents is caused by your very hosts in Detroit). If you encounter understanding and goodwill, remain there; otherwise, take a plane or boat from Montreal and return tranquilly to Jerusalem. From there, God again will call you to serve His Church, in which the need for workhands is increasingly greater. Going forward, you\u2019ll have an even greater baggage of knowledge.<\/p>

In your letters, in reference to the disorders you see, you add my name as well. Without an official delegation and without a number of priests whom I can lean on in my arrival and ecclesial actions in USA, it would have been a big mistake for me. More pronouncedly, only two people called me over: Fr. Gl. Moraru \u2013 on unacceptable conditions \u2013 and Father Nan, who also sent me a plant ticket. Moreover, the weak and numb clergy has remained complacent under the helm of adventurers. I was at their service, but they didn\u2019t use me; now, it\u2019s too late. The care for clearing up this tumultuous situation belongs rightfully to the future canonical Synod at Bucharest \u2013 if it won\u2019t be then even later.<\/p>

As you know, I want you to remain in Canada. If, however, you see that this is impossible, head back to your cell. (In hopes that tranquility will follow.) Write to them always in a friendly and courteous manner.<\/p>

Visit also other places in USA.<\/p>

Receive and share also with Father Nan all my best wishes.
\u2020 Visarion<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We continue our publication of Archbishop Victorin\u2019s letters by presenting those that contain his first impressions on American soil. +++ August 14, 1956Detroit, USA Your Eminence, As I wrote you, I arrived safe and sound in the United States. I stayed only two days or so in NY. I paid a visit to the Greek […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-6998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-icon-from-within-jan-feb-23","tag-our-fathers-in-the-lord","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6998"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7113,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6998\/revisions\/7113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfdumitru.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}