A Ray of Light

Archimandrite Panteleimon was the founder and first abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery, in Jordanville New York. Father Panteleimon was born Peter Nizhnik on January 16, 1895 in the village of Rechitsa, Grodno Province, Russia. Immigrating to the United States in 1913, he found work in a factory in Chicago. Spurred by the radical changes that were occurring in his homeland due to the Revolution and Civil War, he entered St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania in 1918. Quickly ordained first a deacon and then a priest, Fr. Panteleimon was in charge of agricultural projects at the monastery. Desiring a life even more removed from the vanity and bustle of the world, he wanted to build his own monastery far away in the woods. Along with a fellow desirer of the quiet monastic life Ivan Kolos, (the future Archimandrite Joseph) Fr. Panteleimon received permission to work in the Sikorsky factory in Connecticut to raise money to buy land for a monastery. Eventually, in 1928 he was able to purchase farmland near Jordanville NY, where he started to slowly build Holy Trinity Monastery. Facing many early challenges, including a fire that burned down the first wooden church that was built, Fr. Panteleimon and his fellow monks nevertheless continued to labor, and eventually were able to build a stone cathedral dedicated to The Holy Trinity, along with a large building to house the monks and printing press. Strengthened with the movement of the St. Job of Pochaev Brotherhood from Slovakia, which drew its roots from the famous Pochaev Lavra, the monastery continued the printing tradition of the Pochaev monastery, and became one of the main sources for Russian language spiritual literature and service books during the Soviet period. Father Panteleimon was a tireless compiler and author of spiritual texts. He fell asleep in the Lord in 1984.