This reflection was written for the commemorative book produced for the 50th Anniversary Jubilee celebration at St. Mark's Orthodox Church in Wrightstown, PA (Orthodox Church in America).
Our little St. Mark’s parish was truly blessed to have as its first pastor Fr. Vladimir Borichevsky who, while a resident professor and Dean of Faculty at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in upstate Pennsylvania, traveled 120 miles every Sunday and feast day to serve the Divine Liturgy at the Old Trinity Episcopal Church, and to minister to the faithful of St. Mark’s mission parish.
He was a truly humble man and humble priest who began life modestly as a priest’s son, born in a log home in the Gardenton Prairie near Manitoba, Canada, one year before his family emigrated to the United States. After studying at Columbia University, he entered the first class of St. Vladimir’s Seminary; after finishing seminary, he married the love of his life, Mary Slava Salamanchuk, with whom he would raise a family of 9 children, on August 1st, 1944. Fr. Vladimir was ordained to the priesthood shortly thereafter, on August 19th of the same year, and soon entered the US Army as the first Orthodox Chaplain in the United States Armed Forces. A true pastor, author and evangelist, he proclaimed and championed the Orthodox Faith during the latter years of the Metropolia through the birth of the autocephalous Orthodox Church in America (OCA) and beyond.
I remember Fr. Vladimir from his days at St. Nicholas Church in Philadelphia, when in the 1960’s I would accompany my father, the subdeacon Dimitri, to Hierarchal Liturgies in which he was assisting throughout the area. Fr. Vladimir was the imposing, charismatic priest with the rich and sonorous voice, whom I quickly came to admire because of his pious and dignified manner of serving the Liturgy. Although he knew who I was, I came to personally know Fr. Vladimir later, in the summer of 1973, before he was assigned to St. Mark’s. Once, during my frequent visits to St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary, he asked me to translate the Akathist Service to the Icon of the Theotokos, “She Who is Quick to Hear,” that was given as a gift to the monastery by St. Patriarch Tikhon. This icon is deeply revered at the monastery, and that Akathist is sung weekly before her image to this day.
Fr. Vladimir liked my translation, and as my next “assignment” he asked me to translate the inaugural address given by St. Tikhon upon his 1899 arrival on the American shore as the new Bishop of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands, to be included in the commemorative book Orthodox America: 1794-1976. After reviewing several of my early translations of the Menaion services he “assigned” to me, he commented on the accuracy and poetic nature of my work. Thus, with his encouragement and blessing, I embarked on a lifelong journey of translating the liturgical poetry of our Orthodox Faith.
A true Renaissance man, Fr. Vladimir read voraciously and collected books on the broad topics of world religions and culture. He developed a wide range of interests and expertise in subjects ranging from linguistics to poetry, liturgics, art and Orthodox iconography, the history of world Orthodoxy and its relations with non-Orthodox religious bodies, Orthodox theology, and most importantly Orthodox pastoral theology. This was Fr. Vladimir’s favorite subject, which he taught at St. Tikhon’s seminary, often surrounded by his beloved students while sitting outside under a tree during warm Pocono autumn and spring days.
He was a pioneer in bringing Orthodoxy to the general American public, and produced the radio program Hour of Orthodoxy, which was broadcast in the 1970’s on local radio stations across the United States. He also wrote countless prayers, paeans, and observations in the form of haiku poems, and his Service to St. Herman of Alaska, which was used for the saint’s glorification in 1970, has become part of the patrimony of the Orthodox Church in America.
Fr. Vladimir was assigned to St. Mark’s mission parish in July 1973, and remained its pastor until the appointment of our first resident pastor, Fr. John Kowalczyk, on August 1st, 1977. After Fr. John’s appointment to St. Andrew’s Church in Philadelphia in November 1979, Fr. Vladimir returned to our parish, where he remained until his retirement in 1986.
Many of his personal books are now integrated into the collection at the St. Tikhon’s Seminary library, while his class notes, lectures, articles and haiku poems reside in the institutional archive, awaiting eventual editing and publication for the edification of the faithful. Not much has been written and published about the life and work of this remarkable man, outside several websites and the recollections and brief articles contained in our past commemorative anniversary booklets here at St. Mark’s. I have excerpted several of these below, which I offer both to introduce Fr. Vladimir to our many new parishioners who never personally knew him, and as a tribute of love to him from those who did:
“My fondest memories are of Sundays when we would gather around Fr. Vladimir and Matushka Mary after the Divine Liturgy to learn and discuss. Father and Matushka gave everything to St. Mark’s, and to us. Their priceless gifts were love and spirituality, which will always be with us.” — Janice Kalenish
“I do not remember one Sunday when Father and Matushka were not there, no matter what the weather — rain, sleet, snow, good weather or storm. One time, Matushka related how their car was sliding on the icy mountain roads as they drove from their home. She said it was her belief that Fr. Vladimir had seven guardian angels on each side of the car when he was driving it.” — Hebe Bulley
“From time to time, Fr. Vladimir would speak of a dream: a dream of a mission parish where the community would have the opportunity to practice and develop the Orthodox Faith without the weight of certain problems that hamper the long-established parishes. Although he deeply loved his own Russian cultural heritage, he dreamed prophetically of a place of worship and learning that would be home for all people, without regard for their background.” — Theodore Heckman.
“Fr. Vladimir set the spiritual and psychological foundation for the pan-Orthodox expression of Faith: a community in which everyone, of whatever ethnic background, would feel welcome and at home. On the one hand, no ethnic emphasis would dominate the parish or take precedence over the Gospel message. On the other hand, no individual or family should deny his or her heritage or pretend that it does not exist. One’s heritage is like one’s ancestors: to be remembered and held in sacred honor. The Church in this land of immigrants, he felt, must always be open to all, and must forge a fundamental identity not with old-country cultures, nor with the American culture — for that would only be replacing one ethnicity with another. One’s true identity in the Church of Jesus Christ cannot be with this or that earthly nation, but as brothers and sisters of the kingdom of God. This was a very deep conviction of Fr. Vladimir: that he loved, above all, the Kingdom on High.” — Anonymous, 2009
“Once I knew a saint…His name was Fr. Vladimir Borichevsky.” — Richard John Friedlander (www.amphilochios.blogspot.com/2021/03/once-i knew-a-saint.html)
May we never forget the humility, faith, love and dedication of our first pastor, Fr. Vladimir.
Your brother in Christ,
Subdeacon Sergei D. Arhipov, 2024
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