A Vision for Appalachia

Providence creates boundless opportunities and surprising relationships! In its short history, Hexaemeron has worked to create venues, which sustain traditional Christian arts and principles. But it seems unlikely that we would have ever looked to a holler in the Appalachian Mountains as a place ideally suited to embrace our efforts.

Hermitage of the Holy Cross is an English speaking monastic community of the *Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Since locating in West Virginia in May of 2000, the size of the brotherhood has increased, as has the number of frequent pilgrims who look to it for inspiration. Hexaemeron’s initial visits with the monks of Holy Cross opened discussions for adding single-unit monastic dwellings. As our friendship deepened, that modestly conceived vision broadened to yield a master plan for a new church structure, bell tower, administrative offices, craft shops and dormitories.

Our mutual confidence in this project is that one day, in the not so distant future, golden cupolas will catch the morning sun and evening moonlight as the monks of Holy Cross carry out their daily cycle of work and prayer in the West Virginia hills. The Hermitage of the Holy Cross has become a happy nexus for Orthodox Christians from every jurisdiction to greet one another in faith and love. It has also become a beacon of ancient Christian tradition to local residents of Scot-Irish Protestant descent who have warmly received the monks as good neighbors.

I encourage you to watch our respective websites (http://www.hexaemeron.org and http://www.holycrosshermitage) for capital campaign news and building progress.

Thomas Stocker Smith, architect
Hexaemeron Board Member

*The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR) was established by Russian émigrés fleeing the Bolshevik revolution and the ensuing communist state that subsumed most of the nations of Eastern Europe as satellites territories under the USSR. With fall of the USSR, relations between ROCOR and the Moscow Patriarchate have moved toward normalization. After decades of relative estrangement, they have recognized each other as integral parts of the local Russian Orthodox Church and are in the process of restoring canonical communion.