Prayer Request:Wild Fires threaten Saint Herman of Alaska Monastery (Update)
Posted on Fri Jul 04 2008

News Release:
Tuesday, June 24, 2008

His Grace Bishop Maxim of the Western American Diocese urges all of our Orthodox faithful to offer prayers for the protection of the St. Herman of Alaska Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Platina, California.

Wild fires are quickly approaching the Monastery grounds and the Monastery is in great danger of being burned down. The Monastic Community has been evacuated and are seeking refuge in the neighboring parish of Redding, California.

LATEST UPDATE

Prayers of Thanksgiving

His Grace Bishop Maxim of the Western American Diocese would like to thank all of our Orthodox faithful for offering prayers for the protection of the St. Herman of Alaska Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Platina, California and the St. Xenia Skete in Wildwood. Our monasteries were in great danger from the quickly approaching fires that spread throughout area. God has heard our prayers and has been merciful to us. He has returned our monks and nuns safely to their homes and has spared our monasteries.

His Grace Bishop Maxim would like to ask all of our Orthodox faithful to offer prayers of Thanksgiving for the protection that our monasterieshave received from our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother.

Nuns Return to St. Xenia Skete

From: Father Damascene
Date: Thu, Jul 3, 2008 at 5:23 PM
Subject: Nuns Return to Skete; More Indications of God's Mercy
To: Bishop Maxim

Your Grace, Bless, Master!

Thanks be to God, we just heard that the nuns are returning to St. Xenia Skete today. The fires in their area are now more under control, and those in our area are almost all put out. Today a fire crew walked along the top of our ridge with Monk Nicolas, to check for and put out spot fires. Over the past few days, we learned more from the fire crews about what happened at our monastery during our evacuation. It turns out that the monastery had been in even greater danger than we first thought on returning to it on Monday. The captain of one of the fire crews said that they had not done back-fires on the ridge directly above our monastery; they had only done a back-fire on the western side of the mountain, along western side of the road leading down from the monastery to the town of Platina. This means that the fire at the top of our ridge was not a controlled back-fire, but the actual wildfire that came shooting from the gorge to the southeast. The fire captain said that, when the wildfire reached the top of the ridge, the flames were up to 30 feet in the air. The fire crew thought that the fire might well jump the fire break they had created, igniting the upper branches of the trees on the other side. If that had happened, they would not have been able to stop the fire from going down the other side of the ridge and engulfing the monastery. By the Grace of God, and through the prayers of the faithful, the fire did not catch the upper part of the trees on the monastery side of the fire break. However, at the very top of the ridge, at Transfiguration Skete, some cinders from the fire started a ground fire on the monastery side, burning up the fallen leaves and the bottom of the trees for 50-75 yards. The firefighters were able to stop this fire when it got as close as 50 yards from the "Valaam" cell. Thus, they were able to save all the buildings -- just barely. It is amazing to see how close we came to losing the monastery to the fire, and it is both inspiring and humbling to see how God clearly showed His mercy by stopping it just in time. On the morning of the evacuation (Tuesday, June 11/24), I went to our Mt. Athos "skete" atop our ridge, blessing the area with holy water and singing hymns to the Mother of God, asking her to protect the monastery. I placed an "Axion Estin" icon of her, which was commemorated that day, on top of the altar table at "Mt. Athos," praying that she would not let the fire past that point. When I went to "Mt. Athos" after we had returned to the monastery, I found that the icon had fallen off the altar table, but that both the icon and the altar table were totally unharmed. The Mt. Athos skete was not on the monastery side of the fire break, but on the other side, where the wildfire was. The wildfire scorched the area around the altar table and the icon, leaving charcoal debris all around, and stopped right at the edge of the table. Also, the cross along the road past our monastery was totally unharmed, but the wooden bench right next to it had been burnt up by the fire. Such are little indications to us of the heavenly protection that our monastery received from our Lord Jesus Christ and His Most Holy Mother. Asking Your Archpastoral blessings and prayers, In Christ,

hieromonk Damascene

Nuns from St. Xenia Skete still evacuated

From: Father Damascene
Date: Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 1:47 PM
Subject: Tues July 1 Update: Nuns still evacuated
To: Bishop Maxim

Your Grace, Bless, Master!

St. Xenia Skete in Wildwood is still under voluntary evacuation. I spoke with Nun Dorothea today (Tuesday). She said that the firefighters have not yet done the controlled burn ("back burn") near the town of Wildwood, about three miles north of the skete. The controlled burn will be done in order to stop the advance of the Telephone Fire that is close to Wildwood. Although such controlled burns are usually successful, sometimes the fire gets out of control. Therefore, the forest rangers are advising that people remain evacuated until the controlled burn is finished. The nuns will stay in Redding until they get they hear that the burn is successful and that the voluntary evacuation notice has been lifted. Hopefully the controlled burn will happen today, and the nuns will be able to return home tomorrow, on the feast of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco. The forest rangers told Mother Dorothea that both Platina and Wildwood should remain on alert, since the fires in the area are still not fully under control. Besides the Telephone Fire north of Wildwood, the western end of the Noble Fire, between Platina and Wildwood, is still burning. The ability of the firefighters to contain these fires will depend on the weather over the next several days. We ask that the faithful continue to pray for us, especially for the nuns of St. Xenia Skete.

Asking Your Archpastoral blessings and prayers,
In Christ, hieromonk Damascene

Monks Return to Monastery
Nuns expected to return to Skete tomorrow

From: Father Damascene
Date: Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 5:59 PM
Subject: Mon June 30 Update: Monks Back at the Monastery
To: Bishop Maxim

Your Grace, Bless, Master!

We have now returned to the St. Herman Monastery, and are busy unpacking our vehicles. Thanks be to God, the whole monastery, as well as our office two miles away, was untouched by the fire. However, three "sketes" on the other (south) side of our ridge were scorched. These "sketes" are actually sites for the celebration of the Divine services outdoors, and were created during the time of Hieromonk Seraphim of blessed memory. The "sketes" that are damaged are: Transfiguration Skete, St. Elias Skete, and "Mount Athos." Some of us went to along our ridge to see the extent of the fire. Most of the back side of the ridge directly above our monastery is totally burnt, from the fire break down into the Beegum Gorge. Also, sections of the mountains on the other side of the gorge are burnt. Along the south side of the road which leads beyond our monastery up Beegum Gorge, the manzanita bushes and trees are scorched along the bottom, but not totally burnt. The east side of the road leading up to the monastery from Hiway 36 is partially burnt as well. We're not sure at this point which of these areas along the road were burnt due to the wildfires, and which were burnt in the controlled burns ("back burns") that the fire crews did in order to stop the spread of the wildfires. None of the burned areas are visible from the monastery itself. The cells further away from the monastery, including Hieromonk Seraphim's cell and the cells toward the top of the ridge, are all fine. People in the town of Platina told us today that it's a miracle that our monastery was not destroyed in the fire. As the locals know, the fire had been headed right for our monastery last Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday morning, winds were expected to blow the fire northeastward, over our ridge. If that had happened, the monastery, as the closest human dwelling to the top of the ridge, would have been quickly devoured by the flames. The threat was so real that the fire crew was clearing out areas around the monastery buildings, so that if the fire swept through the monastery there would be a greater chance that the buildings would not be totally destroyed. Glory be to God, the fire never got that far. God had mercy on us, through the prayers of the faithful from all over the world. We cannot express the depth of our gratitude to all those who spread the word about the fires in order to call for prayers, and to all those who heard this call and implored our Lord to spare the monastery. It was not only the monastery that was spared. Since the fire did not rapidly spread over the ridge as it was originally expected to do, dwellings further down the north side of the ridge were also spared, including those in the town of Platina. Driving up to the monastery on Highway 36, I saw huge areas that had been burned up in the fire. It was not for nothing that so many people were evacuated. When one sees these burned up areas, including the charcoal-gray back side of our ridge, and then when one walks around the monastery, with green trees and grasses all around, one really feels that the Grace of God overshadowed the monastery and protected it. Our Lord heard the supplications poured out from so many hearts throughout the world. In giving thanks to God and to the faithful who prayed for us, we also wish to express our profound gratitude to the fire crews who have sacrificed themselves to protect the lives and homes of so many people in northern California during this past week, and who continue their heroic labor as fires continue to rage in other areas. The fire crew in Platina told us that they would do everything possible to save our monastery, and they truly fulfilled that promise. In going up the road beyond our monastery, we saw some small spot fires. The firefighters have been on the lookout for these, and even as we were going back down to the monastery, we passed some firefighters going to put out the spot fires. Also, we saw a helicopter down in the ridge, undoubtedly either reporting on or helping to put out spot fires. St. Xenia Skete in Wildwood is still on voluntary evacuation. I spoke with Nun Dorothea a few hours ago, as she was visiting the skete. She said the nuns will probably spend another night in Redding and then move back into the skete tomorrow. The firefighters are doing a controlled burn ("back burn") near the town of Wildwood a few miles north of the skete, and the forest rangers are suggesting that people remain evacuated until the controlled burn is finished. The area around Platina and our monastery is still hazy, but the sky is not filled with smoke as it was when we evacuated on Tuesday. We are of course very joyful to be back in our monastery, where we will celebrate a service of Thanksgiving to God. Thanking You again for Your Archpastoral prayers, encouragement, and help, and asking Your blessings and continued prayers for us,

In Christ,
hieromonk Damascene


Update
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 4:58 p.m.

An Email from Fr. Damascene to His Grace Bishop Maxim

Your Grace, Bless, Master!

I'm writing this from our office in Platina, and will return soon to Redding with Monk Paisius. We just went up to the monastery briefly. At 3 pm, Monk Paisius talked to the district supervisor of the fire crew at the top of the ridge on which our monastery in located. The monastery is not yet out of danger. The fire has slightly broken over a ridge which is two ridges away from our monastery, and it also gone down into the gorge, where it is moving closer to the area directly below our monastery. The fire crew, however, is very pleased with the fire's behavior. It has given them time to make a 20-foot-wide fire break along the top of our ridge, and to prepare more fully for a back burn, which is a controlled burn to clear away shrubs and trees along the edge of the fire break. The fire break, together with the back-burn, will make it so that the fire will have no "fuel" if it reaches the top of our ridge. The fire crew are planning to do the back burn today, and are just waiting for a little more favorable conditions. The back burn itself is somewhat dangerous, since if the wind changes the controlled fire could become uncontrolled. So, the situation is better today than it looked yesterday, thanks be to God. However, things could change for the worse, depending on the weather. We are extremely grateful for all the prayers that have been offered on our behalf, and we ask everyone to keep praying. The fire crew wants us to remain evacuated from the monastery, so we are spending the night in Redding. Asking Your Archpastoral blessings and prayers,

In Christ, hieromonk Damascene

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 - 1:07 p.m.

A message from Fr. Damascene of the St. Herman Monastery to His Grace Bishop Maxim:

Fr. Damascene informed His Grace that he called Platina this morning and was told that the fire is not spreading in the direction of the Monastery. Fr. Damascene and Monk Paisius have left to Platina to talk with firefighters and forest rangers. The other monks will remain in Redding until further notice.


Update
Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - 5:37 p.m.
Dear Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,

The Monks have evacuated from Platina and are now in Redding with us (St. Andrew's). They brought down all of their vehicles loaded with possessions of the Monastery. They are collected at one parishioners home right now and we will be finding them accommodations this evening. The fires are still raging. The forest Service just set a back fire on Noble Ridge (the winds were favorable) as a mans of cutting out fuel for the main fire to go over the Ridge. The smoke at Platina was so thick you could barely see or breathe. We will be having Vespers and Compline at St. Andrews tonight.

The nuns at St. Xenia Skete are still there and have not had to evacuate yet, but are on high alert. Two of our parishioners went up today with trucks to bring down Monastery possessions to Redding We still are awaiting to see what they will be doing.

The Monastics will probably be staying in Redding for a while, secondary to the extreme fire conditions (over 875 fires are going in Northern California from a Saturday lightening strike) and the smoke is quite thick. The sky in Redding is like overcast with ash falling.

Please keep them all in your prayers. We ask God's help to send relief to the Monastics, the fire fighters and others made homeless.

Thank you for your prayers and blessings to all of you,

Fr. Michael Boyle, Parish Priest
St. Andrew Fool-for-Christ Serbian Orthodox Mission Parish Redding, California

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