A photo of Igumen (Hegumen) Leonty of blessed memory posted by St Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in Pennsylvania, the oldest Orthodox monastery in the New World, where he just recently reposed.

A photo of Igumen (Hegumen) Leonty of blessed memory posted by St Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in Pennsylvania, the oldest Orthodox monastery in the New World, where he just recently reposed.

May his memory be eternal!

He was such a dear and treasured friend of Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery.

In his youth, he was a paratrooper in the Second World War.

Raised as a Roman Catholic, he became a Jesuit priest and studied in Japan, where he became fluent in Japanese.

Later, the Lord led him into the Holy Orthodox Church, where he was re-ordained as an Orthodox priest ("Father Leo") and established an Orthodox mission at the early Californian Mission San Jose in nearby Fremont.

 

His mission later became St. Innocent Orthodox Church in nearby Pleasanton, California.

An offshoot of that mission became St. Christina of Tyre Orthodox Church in nearby Fremont, California.

Both are thriving parishes today.

"Father Leo", as he was affectionately known at the time, was legendary.

He was a gifted iconographer and artist. 

He painted many wonderful icons, including the icons that adorn his St. Innocent Orthodox Church in nearby Pleasanton.

He also gifted a number of his icons to our monastery, which he dearly loved.

Both he and his Matushka (wife) came to our monastery for holy confession for many decades - first with our founding abbot, Archimandrite Theodor of blessed memory, and then with me.

We always shared lunch here afterwards.

Father Leo and his Matushka would often go to restaurants for lunch and, as he ate his meal, he would sketch portraits of other diners at nearby tables on napkins.

After he would finish eating, he would gift the diners at the nearby tables with their sketched portraits. 

The neighboring diners were of course delighted to receive such an unexpected gift and a conversation inevitably ensued.

Father Leo would introduce himself as the priest of his nearby Orthodox parish and would invite the neighboring diners to visit one day.

Many of them did -- and thereby, they discovered the treasures of Orthodox Christianity -- and so his parish grew.

Among the many, many people he attracted to the Orthodox Faith was wonderful Archimandrite Sergius, the Abbot of St Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in Pennsylvania.

Archimandrite Sergius was born and raised in nearby Fremont, California, and he discovered the holy Orthodox faith through Father Leo.

Archimandrite Sergius had a very deep devotion to his spiritual mentor, "Igumen Leonty", as he was later called in holy monasticism.

Father Leo's beloved Matushka died during the Covid epidemic a few years ago and after that, he was somewhat lost.

At first, he tried to join our monastery and then St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco in Manton, California.

But then his spiritual son, Archimandrite Sergius, invited him to St Tikhon's Orthodox Monastery in Pennsylvania.

There, Fr. Sergius tonsured him in his mid-nineties as a monk and gave him the new monastic name of "Leonty".

Father Sergius and his brotherhood took loving care of him wonderfully.

To Archimandrite Sergius and his brotherhood, many thanks and to God, be the glory!

I shall miss dear Igumen Leonty ("Father Leo") so very much. He was such a beloved altar brother, such a devoted friend and steadfast supporter of our monastery.

The sorrow that comes with his departure from this temporal and earthly life is offset by the knowledge that he is now before the throne of God praying for us in the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God.

May the Lord receive him into His everlasting kingdom and let the light of His face shine upon him. 

May He grant him the light of life and resurrect him on the last day.

May the memory of him be eternal in the mind of God. 

May the Lord never forget him!

His funeral will be held on Wednesday at 11 AM at St. Tikhon's Monastery. 

The funeral will probably be streamed on their monastery's YouTube channel at 8am Pacific time here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTa8AXLw7vPMGH5LFAsqtIQ

Please remember him in your prayers!

~ Shared by Father Abbot Stephen

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