June 1, 2024, marked the 40th anniversary of the repose of Archbishop Dositheus (Ivanchenko), one of the preeminent hierarchs of the Moscow Patriarchate in North America. He was the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York in 1958-1968.
The long life of Vladyka Dositheus fully reflected and embraced Russian history of the twentieth century, with all its complexities and sufferings. Ordained to the priesthood in 1917, he experienced cruel persecutions from the godless authorities. Having survived the conditions of imprisonment for his faith, the future bishop was forced to engage in secular work for many years. A higher education allowed him to teach.
During the Great Patriotic War, he returned to the priestly ministry. Widowed in 1943, Archpriest Mikhail Ivanchenko took monastic vows with the name Dositheus for St. Dositheus of Palestine.
In the conditions of post-war emigration, he remained faithful to the Mother Church. In 1959, in St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, he was consecrated a bishop.
As a hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate, Vladyka Dositheus worked tirelessly in the cause of spreading and strengthening Orthodoxy in America. Thanks to his efforts, St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York, founded by St. Tikhon, was repaired and renovated after a long stay in it by the chismatics-"renovationists" and reliably, permanently, legally, and protected it from further encroachments of all kinds.
On the initiative of Archbishop Dositheus, the Patriarchal estate of St. Nicholas was purchased in Pine Bush, New York, in which he founded and consecrated the Church of All of Russia.
Archbishop Dositheus is also known as a church composer, theologian and secular scholar in the field of mathematics. He completed his glorious life path in 1984 at the age of 99, a little before his 100th birthday.
On Saturday, June 1, 2024, after the Divine Liturgy, the rector of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, and with cathedral's clerics, Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov) and Hieromonk John (Scheffler), officiated a memorial service for the ever-memorable Archbishop Dositheus.
