On October 7, 2022, the 228th anniversary of the establishment of the Orthodox Mission on the North American continent (1794), at the intersection of Madison Avenue and East 97th Street in Manhattan, where St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral stands, a “Saint Tikhon Way” street sign was unveiled with the blessing of Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Temporary Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and Canada. Taking part in the ceremony were clergy of the Moscow Patriarchate in the USA and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, parishioners, and the leadership and partners of the Russian American Cultural Heritage Center (RACSI).
The decision of the New York City authorities to give an honorary name to a section of the street in honor of St. Tikhon, who built and in 1902 consecrated the cathedral dedicated to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, was the result of more than ten years of work by clergy, parishioners, and religious and civic organizations. The initiator of commemorating St. Tikhon in New York’s place names and the first head of the working group was Archbishop Justinian (Ovchinnikov), during his time as Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA (2010–2014), who in the early years was assisted by the president and founder of the compatriots’ historical society “Northern Cross,” Yuri Askoldovich Sandulov (+2020).
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On Sunday, October 9, the anniversary of the glorification of St. Tikhon among the saints (1989), the Divine Liturgy was celebrated at St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York with a great multitude of the faithful, after which the parishioners and guests were informed of the street renaming. The Secretary of the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov), expressed particular gratitude to the president of the Russian American Cultural Heritage Center, Olga Sergeyevna Zatsepina, for her invaluable help in organizing work with city authorities at all levels and, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, presented her with the Patriarchal medal of St. Tikhon.
O.S. Zatsepina noted that she regards this mark of the Patriarch’s attention as an award to all who labored to commemorate St. Tikhon: parishioners, the youth organization of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, representatives of local religious and civic organizations, members of the New York State Assembly, and New York’s business community, who supported the initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church with official letters.
The service concluded with a glorification of St. Tikhon and Many Years to His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, the authorities of New York and all who labor for the good of the Holy Church.
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Archbishop Justinian of Elista and Kalmykia commented on the street renaming for our website: “Yes, New York has many precedents of street sections receiving proper names in honor of famous people.
However, achieving the desired result requires serious arguments in the form of documents and historical facts that speak to the significance of St. Tikhon’s labors not only for the life of the Russian Orthodox community in the USA, but also testify to his active interethnic and interreligious ties.
In the time of the ever-memorable saint, interreligious dialogue with representatives of the Anglican Church was especially active. So it was in Western Europe, and Christians in the USA were no exception. St. Tikhon and the Anglican clergy showed sincere mutual interest in Anglican and Orthodox liturgical practice and were frequent guests at each other’s services.
Thanks to the pastoral care of the Right Reverend Tikhon, the multinational Orthodox flock that arrived in great numbers in North America from Europe and Asia at the beginning of the 20th century was able to form its own communities and build churches and parish schools. Bishop, and a little later Archbishop, Tikhon, being the only Orthodox hierarch for the two American continents, understood his great responsibility before God and the Universal Orthodox Church; therefore he did not engage in politicking and was not a nationalist, but showed himself a true spiritual leader for the Orthodox — Russians as well as Aleuts, Arabs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Serbs and Rusyns.
It can be said with confidence that thanks to the construction of the majestic St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, the whole multinational flock shared a common joy and felt the strengthening of Orthodoxy’s status in America. The Orthodox realized that they could be good citizens of their newly acquired American homeland while at the same time preserving and strengthening the faith of their ancestors — Holy Orthodoxy.”