In 1930, there were 28,798 Russian-born residents, 16 percent of the population, in the area roughly coinciding with what is now Community District 5, which includes East New York. In 1950, that number had been cut virtually in half. By 2000, only 1,042 native Russians were in the area.
As the church declined, a succession of priests came and went. But in 2001, the Orthodox Church of America assigned Father [Vladimir] Alexeev, a Siberian-born priest who was in New York for six months to study English at Columbia University, to the church. His placement was temporary ”” until his bishop told him that Holy Trinity would be closed if he left.
Father Alexeev turned down a professorship at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, in Poland, where he had earned a doctorate in theology, to stay in East New York.
He had a plan: repopulate the congregation by reaching out to the new wave of Russian immigrants in the city.
A wonderfully encouraging story–God bless Father Alexeev.
The last paragraph in the story tells it all–that this priest, Father Alexeev, is truly a priest of God. To consider giving comfort to people as a higher calling and greater goal than writing a book or becoming a renowned scholar shows a True Faith of the type more of us clergy should have.