The Journey Beyond Death

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.