Your Town: Jordanville monastery on historic register

By CAROLYN BOSTICK
Observer-Dispatch
11/12/2011

JORDANVILLE — Golden cupolas swirl skyward. Crosses extending from their shining domes point towards the heavens. And inside, bearded monks chant and sing a service in Slavonic.

While it may seem that this description belongs in the cold regions of Eastern Europe, the Russian Orthodox Holy Trinity Monastery is located in the small hamlet of Jordanville — no farther away than eastern Herkimer County.

Built entirely by monks in 1930, the original property was 300 acres, but has extended to more than 500 acres over the years, according to David Mahand, a second-year seminarian who sometimes serves as a guide for visitors to the monastery. The Ukrainian monks, he added with a smile, chose the area not only because it was removed from urban centers, but because its climate during the winter reminded them of home.

Recently added to the National Register of Historic Places, the property boasts a printing press, a bookstore, a seminary and a 30,000-volume library.

Currently, the monastery is home to monks and seminary students from Sweden, Brazil, Mongolia, Russia and the Ukraine.

“People from all walks of life join the monastic. (The seminary) has educated decades of monks and deacons. It’s a very diverse student body, and it continues to do good work,” Mahand said.

Behind the Iron Curtain

Jordanvile became a sort of beacon for those practicing Russian Orthodox Christianity during the years of communism in Eastern Europe, printing books on the faith that were not allowed by the government.

“They would smuggle them behind the Iron Curtain,” Mahand said. “In its own spiritual way, (the monastery) fought communism. … So many books in Russia have that Jordanville stamp on it.”

As a result, the monastery is better known in Orthodox circles in Russia than it is to its neighbors here.

But Mahand and others hope to change that.

“It’s important our own neighbors get to know us,” he said. “The hope is that people will be exposed to the monastery as a welcoming place.”

The monastery, he added, estimates it receives about 1,000 visitors each year, but no formal tally is kept.

Holding to tradition

One of the most beautiful and ethereal aspects of the Eastern Orthodox Church is the iconography adorning every surface of the church at Holy Trinity Monastery. Some of the monks are iconographers, and by their work, they help bridge the gap between humanity and the divine with the power and moving beauty of their images.

“We venerate icons by kissing the image,” Mahand said, adding that it’s similar to kissing a photo of a loved one who is absent. “The love is passing through the image to the saint. The icons, for us, are like windows into heaven.”

The services are conducted in Slavonic, what Mahand calls the “King James Russian.” And although he has only studied Russian since joining the seminary, Mahand believes the universality of the meaning transcends the language.

“Even if we don’t understand the language that is spoken, they understand the language in a different sense,” he said.

What’s special about Your Town? Contact Carolyn Bostick at cbostick@uticaod.com or 792-5075 to have your town featured in this weekly column.

Copyright 2011 The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York. Some rights reserved

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