Archimandrite Georges (Leroy)
Archimandrite Georges (Leroy) (194_-20__)
Igumen may be spelt Higoumène.
Georges may be spelt George.
A substantial amount of information about the life of Archimandrite Georges (Leroy) is derived from a 10-part series of interviews by Vladimir Golovanow in “Parlons d’Orthodoxie”.
Gratitude is expressed that Dr. Paul Ladouceur founded the web-site “Pages Orthodoxes la Transfiguration” ; and that he has published therein many articles with regard to the life and history of the Orthodox Church in Québec, besides liturgical, theological, and other historical texts.
Early life of Yves Leroy
Yves Leroy was born and raised in Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium. He does not give the date, although it is likely that this took place not long after World War II. It is not at present known who his parents were, the particular details of his family, nor the details of his primary and secondary education (his completion of these stages is self-evident).
Because of his place of birth, as he reported in an interview, he was baptised and raised as a Christian within the Roman Catholic Church in Belgium. However, as he wrote later, the Catholicism of the family was nominal. Following here are excerpts from a video-conference, “Trinitarian Theology and the Salvation of the Human Being”, given by Father Georges (Leroy), Monday, 29 March, 2021, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
In my parents’ house, from my childhood bedroom window, I could see above the foliage the copper bulb of the Russian Orthodox church in Brussels. I found it very pretty, but this construction did not raise any questions in me. At school, some of my classmates even thought it was a mosque ! No doubt, the golden Cross which topped the dome was invisible to their eyes. My family was [Roman] Catholic, as one could be at the time in the Belgian Bourgeoisie : there was certainly a crucifix in each room, with a piece of boxwood hanging on the arm of the corpus, but religion in no way invaded life daily, with the exception of Sunday mass. At one point, I was an altar boy in a Catholic parish. One day, an ‘ecumenical evening’ took place. There was of course a Catholic priest, a Protestant pastor, and a character with a beard and a long-sleeved coat, who seemed very extraordinary to me. And he talked about people I had absolutely never heard of : the Fathers of the Church. Keenly interested, after the meeting, I pulled him by the sleeve – it was long ! – I admit that I kept him busy, and that I hardly gave him time to talk to other people. It was Father Dimitri Hvostoff ; and I realised that he was the Rector of the church which was a stone’s throw from my house.
Orthodox spiritual exposure and formation
Shortly after, full of apprehension, I pushed open the door of the church one Sunday morning, and I found myself immersed in the sonorous melody of the Liturgy, and instantly infused with incense. Very often, I visited Father Dimitri, and he showed tireless patience with this teenager full of curiosity which undoubtedly took up a lot of his time. I attended the Offices in Slavonic, of which I understood nothing, and which I found very long, and in which I floated like a fish swimming in the infinite ocean. During the long conversations with Father Dimitri, I discovered with wonder a universe that was totally unknown to me : that of Imperial Russia, because Father Dimitri had been the cross-bearer of Patriarch Tikhon. As a child, he counted the points on the carpet while his mother said evening prayers ; his mother took him to one or another monastery, taking care to sprinkle the beds with ‘Persian powder’, which was effective against unwanted insects. His spiritual father’s cell had been blown up by a bomb, even as the Council of Moscow was being held. Father Dimitri’s father had been prefect of the Empire, and he had been the victim of a bomb thrown by a nihilist. The only thing he had kept from his father was a photo that he had cut out of a newspaper, on the sly, in Germany. He had to sell the curtain linings from the family home to survive. He always greatly admired his mother, who eventually returned to Russia, unable to adapt to life in Germany, became a nun and then was shot, following the judgement of a ‘troika’, an expeditious tribunal which sentenced her to death. The judgement documents were found after perestroika, which made it possible to locate the mass grave where his remains lie. Father Dimitri had remembered the large chandelier in the shape of a vine that was lowered from the vault, in a church in the Kremlin, in order to light the oil lamps. He held in his hands with respect a paten chiseled before the Revolution in Russia, and made me admire the work, the know-how and dexterity of which were, according to him, definitively lost. I looked with respect at the large Slavonic liturgical books, bound in full leather, which came from a now- abandoned Russian hermitage on Mount Athos. Amongst them, there was a book even bigger than the others, which he described to me as ‘the terror of the parish pries’”: it was the Ustav (Typikon), the book which contains all the rules of the Byzantine liturgical office. Father Dimitri organized meetings for theological reflection, with some young people, including me. And I gradually realised that the theology of the Orthodox Church was my thinking, but better ! The Fathers of the Church actually expressed what I thought, but much better than I could ever have said in my own words. I have never felt the theology of the Orthodox Church as something restrictive, even in the slightest. Ever since I was able to put two thoughts together, my thinking has always revolved around the question : ‘What does Christ save us from ?’ ‘What does the Salvation brought by Christ consist of ?’ Even when I was a small child, I keenly felt the inconsistency of certain aspects of Christianity that were not taught in catechism. Just because you’re a child doesn’t mean you’re stupid ! Quite the contrary : as a little child, I was offended when adults considered that I was not capable of understanding something. Generally, a child is a very good theologian, because he asks the right questions - which, very often, adults are no longer capable of doing, entangled as they are in prejudices and ready-made ideas. At some point the question arose : since I think precisely what the Orthodox Church thinks, why not become Orthodox ? At first, Father Dimitri was somewhat taken aback : I am Russian and Orthodox ; you are Belgian and Catholic. Why change ? But he was constrained by his own theology : if you claim that the Orthodox Church is the true Church, it cannot be limited to one culture. In a way, my questioning made his theology evolve. This is how one day, I stood in the Saint-Job church in Brussels, and I became Orthodox. I have always worked around monasteries, and I was in close contact with a Cistercian monastery, before my move to Orthodoxy. As soon as I became Orthodox (and to the desolate amazement of my parents) I rushed to the only French-speaking Orthodox monastic community that existed at the time. I don’t advise anyone to do this kind of madness, but when you’re young, it’s time to be idealistic. If we are not at that moment in our lives, it seems to me that we are missing out on an important aspect of the adventure of our life. Here too, chance does not exist in existence : when I was a teenager, it was the great period of Gandhian non-violence, long hair, feet in espadrilles. This is how during one summer, I found myself in the Cévennes, staying with other young people on bales of straw in a barn, in what was called ‘l’Arche’, under the direction of a certain Lanza del Vasto, whose teachings I listened to. It was only much later that I realised to what extent his teaching on Genesis and Redemption was in fact imbued with Thomism.
Monastic tonsure
One Sunday, I went to explore the nearby valley, where the small Orthodox monastery I had heard about was located, and where I attended the Divine Liturgy. This is how I came into contact with this place. So, after becoming Orthodox, I found myself directly a novice, then a rassophore, then a Microschema, in this small community (all, infinitely too quickly !). Having no authority over anyone, the herd of goats regularly escaped my control, in the steep mountains. On the other hand, I learned to make excellent goat cheese. I also learned the first elements of masonry, carpentry, electricity (in short, ‘DIY’) which would be extremely useful to me later. The adolescent that I was learned to work manually, was burned by the southern sun, breathed in the scents of thyme and rosemary, which undoubtedly did him the greatest good. But as far as the spiritual life was concerned, there was no progress. It must be said that this community came from the ‘Catholic-Orthodox Church of France’ (l’ECOF), which was a rather bizarre invention, which ended up dividing and dissolving. The community retained some marks of its strange origin. The superior of this community was an eminently picturesque character, who had all the patter of a good southerner.
Military service
After six years of this life, I was called by the Belgian authorities to do my military service in the occupying troops in Germany, which was a survivor of the Second World War. This episode was fertile in misadventures, and I occupied several functions in the valiant Belgian army, such as gardener, ambulance driver, morgue attendant, military policeman and so on. I ‘walked the wall’ of the barracks, to go to the German-speaking Orthodox parish of Düsseldorf, where services were celebrated in a charming church, with a very welcoming priest and Faithful. I was well aware that there were gaping holes in my theological training, and that I knew very little about the Orthodox Tradition. This is how I decided to begin studies at the Saint Serge Institute.
Higher education
At the time, the Institute was under the authority of Monseigneur Georges (Wagner) (Diocesan Bishop from 1981 to 1993). The first thing he did was to ‘bring me up to speed’ : I began to learn Slavonic under the gentle and caring guidance of Mother Seraphima, at the monastery of Bussy-en-Othe. I have precious memories of this nun, small and slender, with an excellent education, who taught me with so much patience and such a beautiful smile ! Relations were, however, much more difficult with the Superior of the time, Mother Theodosia, a sort of dragon who showed particular aggressiveness towards anyone who seemed to her to be an intellectual. My ‘refresher course’ also took place in the liturgical field, where I had to relearn everything, because the liturgical notions that I had more or less learned in the monastery where I had lived, turned out to be highly imaginative. Archbishop Georges (Wagner) was Archbishop of the Patriarchal Exarchate of the Orthodox Parishes of the Russian Tradition in Western Europe. At that time, the exarchate belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. So I found myself in the parish of Asnières, in the suburbs of Paris. It was the place of residence of Monseigneur Georges (Wagner). This parish was extremely pious, and it lived on the spiritual heritage of Monseigneur Methodius (Culman), who had transmitted to this community a very particular love towards the Divine Office and the Divine Liturgy. This parish was as badly placed as it was possible to be : it was located right next to a terrible railway line, where commuter trains passed almost every minute, with a terrible noise. It was at this time that my tumultuous relations with Slavonic began : everything took place in Slavonic, from A to Z, with faithful people (generally very old) who were certainly of Russian ancestry, but who all spoke French as their second language. I know Slavonic very imperfectly, and above all completely passively. I know it as I would know Latin, but it must be said that Latin would be closer to me, linguistically. Prayer is what is most intimate to us. For my part, it is absolutely impossible for me to ‘do theatre’ while speaking with God. We dialogue with God as with a living Person, and it is an insult to Him to utter words in His face that we do not understand. The notion of ‘sacred language’ cannot exist since Pentecost : when the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles, and made them speak in tongues, all languages became sacred. To speak of ‘profane language’ is to insult the Holy Spirit. We do not pray to the living God with a dead tongue. Byzantium had understood this well, by evangelising the peoples in their own language, when one could have found powerful arguments to keep Greek which, after all, was the original language, that of the Apostles and the Gospels. What is quite curious is to note about Slavonic, which is a blotter translation of Greek, and which was translated precisely so that the Slavic peoples understood what was said to them, that a thousand years later, this language became a goal in itself, and an obstacle to the catechisation of younger generations. [This was accentuated by the fact that, particularly following the Bolshevik Revolution, there were no more available courses in schools for learning Slavonic.] I was quite ready to be of service to others by celebrating in Slavonic. This resulted in quite paradoxical situations : I knew full well that the people who were there were incapable of understanding a large part of the texts sung or chanted, particularly when it came to the canons of the holidays, the work of Saint John Damascene. Of course, every Russian will tell you that he/she understands Slavonic. However, when you actually put your finger on a line of the text of a Menaion, this same Russian is generally incapable of telling you what it means exactly. We get away with pirouettes, saying that ‘it is not intellectual understanding that is the main thing’, or even going so far as to say that ‘these texts are made for music’. In my point of view, the question is posed differently : it is simply a question of knowing whether we take God for an idiot, saying things before Him that we ourselves do not understand. It is perfectly obvious that the Divine Office is in no way done for the advantage of God, whose absolute perfection has no use for our ‘paternosters’, but rather for our own spiritual improvement, which is certainly not done in reciting mantras, in a magical way. And while I was willing to serve others by celebrating in Slavonic, my personal prayer could only be realised in the language that constitutes the very fabric of my being. I pray in French ; in Slavonic, I apologise, ‘that doesn’t work’. The experience will be different for another person, and I understand well that the Slavonic heard since childhood was a powerful lever for the prayer life and spiritual existence of the pious faithful of the Russian emigration. Let’s say that for me, this posed certain practical difficulties from time to time, because in Slavonic there is no room for improvisation. When something unexpected had to be said, how could I say it in Slavonic, when the only existing Slavonic dictionaries or grammars were of course in Russian, which made me feel good, if you pardon me that expression ? The choirmaster of the Saint Serge Institute was quick to tell me that there was ‘an error of declination’ in the Panikhida that I was celebrating. At the time, I asked him to kindly correct this error, but he always refused to tell me where it could be. I asked this same question to different Russian people who were highly integrated into the life of the Church, and no-one was able to answer me. Besides, no one had made the slightest comment to me concerning a possible error in the service. Perhaps there was indeed an error, but who was capable of detecting it ? Ah, the Slavonic.
Higher education
It was written previously that Father Georges had had a “monastic experience” in the south of France. As he wrote, this meant that he had received a monastic formation and tonsure. At the time of his tonsure, he was given the name Georges (George).
Because of the circumstances at the time, he admitted that his formation was not exactly “standard” as became more possible in the following years. However, this does not imply that the formation was inadequate.
Institut Saint-Serge, Paris
Following this experience, Father Georges entered the Saint Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, as a student.
Once ‘upgraded’, I was ready to complete the cycle of studies at the Institut Saint-Serge, which led to a Master of Theology degree.
Ordinations
It is evident also that while he was a student at the Institut de théologie orthodoxe Saint-Serge, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate, and to the Holy Priesthood.
It is written that during the period of his studies, he was serving in “numerous parishes of Russian emigration”. These parishes had been developing in earnest since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and they had been supplemented by subsequent emigrations from Russia during and after World War II. From the 1980s onward, there were yet more people emigrating in one or another manner and for one or another reason from Russia.
Emigration, about 1990
At some time following the completion of his studies, Hieromonk Georges (Leroy) emigrated to Canada. His motivation was and remained rooted in his monastic life and formation, despite the fact that this included some pastoral activity.
In emigration, he was accepted into the Archdiocese of Canada (after the retirement of Archbishop Sylvester (Haruns)), and to The Orthodox Church of America, under Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor).
Rawdon, Québec
Upon immigration in about 1990, he settled at first at Rawdon, Québec (north of Montréal), where there was a pre-existing hermitage of Saint-Séraphim of Sarov. He undertook some improvements to the facilities of this building (which had begun as the Holy Transfiguration Skete of Father Gregory (Papazian).
Following is his own description of his arrival, and the subsequent difficulties :
Let’s look at the map of Quebec : we can easily spot the large city of Montreal, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Sixty kilometers further north, we see the village of Rawdon, not far from the town of Joliette. In fact, Rawdon is more than a village : it is already a small town. In the centre of it, the Town Hall is crowned with a series of flags which flutter in the wind, and which reflect the diversity of origins of the inhabitants of this place. At the time – for those who knew about flags – the eye could not fail to be drawn to the tricolor flag of ancient Russia : it was the only one that was sewn by hand, by craftsmen. Because the village was notable for the existence of a Russian community, and especially a vast Orthodox cemetery. Moving away from the centre of the town, we find ourselves in the middle of a whole network of small avenues shaded by pine trees, along which countless villas and chalets are scattered. This is where we realise that Rawdon is a pleasant vacation spot. At one point, the eye is drawn to a place that is quite special : it is a very large space surrounded by hedges, and dotted with countless eight-branched Crosses. One could not fail to be charmed by the sight : everything was impeccably maintained ; the grave were abundantly flowered, their borders were painted an immaculate white. Each was surrounded by a well-trimmed lawn. A little further on, we could see a small bulb rising above the rather low silhouette of a wooden church. The whole thing couldn’t have been more Russian. The cemetery was so impeccable because it was maintained by an enthusiastic gardener, a Quebecker, who had made this cemetery his passion and his reason for living. Often, he was helped by his family, whom he directed with shouts and exclamations. Not a single weed was tolerated ; the flowers grew and beautified throughout the summer season. Crossing a barrier, we discovered a small hermitage. It was a tiny wooden house, with an equally small chapel. The complex had been built by a monk of Armenian origin who, after having stayed there for several years, left, undoubtedly not finding the meditation and solitude he desired in this place. This was the place I arrived at, after my studies at the Saint-Serge Institute. It’s quite an experience to arrive at an airport and go through the “immigration” gate. It’s certainly a decision that has serious consequences for your future life. So I moved into the hermitage of Rawdon, which I called : “Skite Sainte-Anne”. Various development works had to be carried out to make it habitable. Then, life began in this peaceful place, with the daily singing of the Divine Office. Everything was going very well ; from time to time, one or another person came from Montreal to participate in liturgical life. Obviously, the local Russian community had difficulty understanding that someone who was not Russian could exist among them. One day, someone was driving me in his car, then stopped and lowered his window to converse – in Russian – with someone he knew. She saw me in the car. And she exclaimed, addressing the driver : ‘We denied gavarit par-roussky ; we denied pravoslavny ! Translation : ‘he doesn’t speak Russian ; he is not orthodox !’ This person thought that I didn’t understand. I said to the driver : ‘it’s curious, this person doesn’t seem to be aware of the fact that there are Greeks, Romanians, Arabs, and many peoples who are Orthodox, while not speaking Russian. The driver didn’t answer me. This gives a good idea of the beginning of my relations with this Russian community. They were very simple people, mostly elderly and retired. Just on the other side of the path was Mgr Sylvestre’s ‘dacha’. This retired bishop had presided over the destiny of the Orthodox Archbishopric of Canada, under the aegis of the O.C.A. When he was not in Rawdon, he lived in Montreal, in the rectory of the vast Russian Orthodox Saints Peter and Paul church. Apparently, Mgr Sylvestre was not particularly delighted by my presence. However, everything went quite well, and I spent the winter in this hermitage.
The place completely corresponded to the image of Epinal of a skete, as one could imagine. Looking out the window, we could see the cemetery crosses through the foliage. In the evening, red lamps sparkled and burned on the graves. The environment was very beautiful. In winter, I went to the centre of the village via the frozen lake, because this path was much shorter. – I should have paid attention to the symbols : next to the door of the hermitage, a vine grew which of course never produced a single grain of grape, given the climate. The ground of the cemetery as well as that of all the surrounding areas was made of sand : an ant’s paradise ! – What can happen to a house placed on the sand, and at the door of which a barren vine grows ? I was going to find out pretty quickly. – Mgr Sylvestre presented to Metropolitan the grievances of his flock. Why “Metropolitan Theodosius”, and not the diocesan bishop ? In fact, at that time, the episcopal seat of the Archdiocese of Canada in the O.C.A. was vacant. After the retirement of Mgr Sylvestre [1981], a very long time passed until a new bishop was appointed. When the question of my presence in the hermitage of Rawdon arose, I could not refer to a diocesan bishop. I had to go see Mgr Théodosius – and Washington is a little far away. In my situation, the problem was that I could not go and ask for the opinion or directives of my bishop : practically, I could not refer myself to anyone. One day, a priest arrives at the hermitage. He brings me the message from the Metropolitan, which tells me that I must leave. The Russians no longer admit my presence. A simple hieromonk weighed much less in the scales than an important Russian church. At present, this seems very obvious to me : the ecclesiastical administration respects buildings, and much less people. Certainly, theoretically it should be the opposite, but reality must be taken into account. At the time, I saw the Church in fairly idealised terms. I admit that I was quite stunned by this decision. It was in winter. Where to go now ? I obtained a deadline from Mgr Sylvestre. But we had to leave.
Trauma and consequences
What shocked me the most, during the episode of my expulsion from Rawdon, was that these Orthodox people had clearly preferred that the church of the hermitage be empty, rather than that divine praise be celebrated there in a language other than Slavonic. This posed a question to me : was I in the presence of Christianity ? Did a Church that enforced ethnicity to such an extent have anything to do with the Gospel ? Could this Church claim to belong to Christ ? And my answer was clearly : ‘no’.
The Wilde
Mario Rousseau, the Québec student I met at the ‘Institut Saint-Serge’, and who had informed me of the existence of the Rawdon hermitage, introduced me to his region : Abitibi. Let’s take our map of Québec again and put our finger on the place where the city of Montréal is located. From there, let’s draw a line of six hundred kilometres towards the North : our pencil stops on Abitibi ! It is a vast region, with three main towns : Amos, Val-d’Or, and Rouyn. This region is covered with forests and lakes, on granite soil. Its relief was flattened during the ice age, by the scraping of the formidable glaciers which covered this part of the earth. At the end of the glaciation, the glaciers retreated and then disappeared, leaving behind them recognizable piles of sand, called “eskers”, from which springs of water of remarkable purity gush. Everywhere, we find beautiful round granite pebbles – often streaked with a vein of quartz – which are sometimes real works of art – signs of the strong erosion that the glaciers exerted on the rock. Immense forests cover the territory. They include softwoods, birches, and aspens - a type of false poplar. The undergrowth is inextricable, dotted with swamps and dead wood, but often they offer walkers who venture there wonderful beds of moss which charm the eye with all the shades of green. Various species of lichens grow on the ground, attesting to the purity of the air. An abundance of wildlife lives in this natural environment, but it remains invisible most of the time, frightened by the presence of humans. Each person who, when the season comes, picks raspberries in the bushes, can tell you the adventure of meeting a bear, who is himself just as fond of these delicious red fruits as human beings. Generally, the plantigrade is as surprised by its encounter as the two-legged mammal, which holds a basket in its hands. From the end of November to April – depending on the year – this relatively austere landscape is covered in snow, whose layer thickens over the winter. Before you lies an immense white landscape, under a cobalt blue sky. Ideal for meditation ! Cold, ‘wetting snow’, in other words “man snow”, which is quite heavy and adherent, can fall. If it is humid, the trees can be ‘frimassed’, that is to say covered with frost ; with a ray of sunlight, it gives magical effects. On the other hand, if it is colder, ‘loose snow’ falls, easily carried by the wind. This same wind tears crystals from the ‘snowbanks’ that line the roads, making visibility often problematic. This is ‘blowing snow’. In winter, we quickly learned to protect our hands and cover our heads, through which we lose precious heat. When it’s minus twenty or so, and you’re bearded, you immediately feel the difference when you see your mustache covered in frost. At minus thirty, we change categories : the snow makes a metallic sound under your feet. Generally, in winter the cold is not at all unpleasant, since it is a dry cold, similar to that felt in the mountainous landscapes of Europe. As in the mountains, in spring, depending on the location, the fields are covered with multicolored flowers. The colours are much bolder than their equivalent in a European landscape, and the textures – harsher. Often, in summer, the skies are remarkably beautiful and give a real feeling of depth : regularly, it happens that the bases of the clouds are completely horizontal, as if cut with a knife, and that these cloud bases are all exactly at the same altitude, the same level. The alignment of these cloud masses follows the curvature of the earth and makes you feel how we live on a round planet. The purity of the air gives, on summer nights, skies ablaze with stars, where the Milky Way can be seen in all its splendour – particularly in the many places devoid of any night lighting. In summer, you stand still, listening attentively : far away in the forest, two owls respond to each other, and their slow alternating hoots seem to come from a league away. But the splendour of the sky is never revealed better than when, on frosty nights, you stand still, listening out there, in the distance, to the cracking in the forest : these are the trunks of trees contracting in the cold. I look up towards the bulb of the chapel, which glows gently, and towards its cross which cuts through the night. The stars sparkle by the thousands all around the dome, and you really have the impression of being able to grasp them by the hands, of being surrounded by the sky yourself. The climate is really contrasting : between the 30° below zero that we reach on certain days in January, and the 30° above zero that is common during the sultry days of July, there is a 60° difference ! In the same day, the temperature can change abruptly. The houses are made of a wooden structure, and they creak during these sudden drops in temperature. The climatic contrasts offer you all the pleasures of distinct seasonal changes : the pleasure of being wrapped up in a warm coat and returning to the cozy and comfortable house, while a cutting wind reigns outside, and you see nothing, in the snowstorm – in spring, rediscover a beautiful morning, the long-forgotten sensations : the scent of damp earth that is thawing, the murmur of running water, the joyful song birds that we have not heard all winter, the shrill cries of wild geese which arrive from the South in ‘sailing boats’, these large ‘V’ shaped formations, which travel so many thousands of kilometres – in summer, looking for a corner of shade to shelter from the sun in the very place where an enormous snowdrift accumulated, not so long ago ; sit on the rocking chair, facing the lake, and watch the loon diving and retrieving a fish – and in autumn, enjoy truly heavenly moments on the most beautiful days of the year, when the sunlight turns golden and of a velvety softness, and that the trees are adorned with all shades before losing their foliage. You are starting to understand why I love Abitibi ! I probably spent too much time describing my adopted region. So Mario Rousseau introduced me to his region and introduced me to his family. I was received warmly, as Abitibians do. I met the parents, brothers, and sisters ; they took me to the chalet they owned on the edge of a huge lake, dotted with islands. After some time of research, I purchased a house, located deep in the countryside. This was for sale for a very affordable price. It was located in the middle of a wide valley, in a beautiful site. I moved there ; a chapel was built in one of the rooms of the house. And there, I had the time to think.
Move to Abitibi, 1991
As he described previously, Father Georges found a property at La Corne (between Val-d’Or and Amos), Québec, and he moved there in order to pursue an eremitic (hermitical) life. Of course, it was his hope that his visible witness as an Orthodox Christian in this region might in time attract local people to the Church. The locals were more resistant than expected.
On 22 May, 1991, Hieromonk Georges (LeRoy) was attached at the Annunciation to the Theotokos-Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Ottawa, Ontario, while he was living as a hermit in La Corne, Québec. Because he was a priest of the Archdiocese of Canada, as any cleric, he had to be attached to the Holy Table of an existing Temple. Later, it made more sense linguistically that he be attached to the Parish of Saint-Benoît-de-Nursie in Montréal, Québec. At that time, Igumen Irenée (Rochon) was the rector.
Although he lived most of the time in his hermitage, there was an annual period during which he returned to Belgium (where his parents still lived) for various reasons.
Further, Father Georges was suffering as a consequence of the very difficult condition that existed at that time within the Archdiocese of Canada in which he lived.
Move to Amos
As he indicated previously, later, Father Georges bought a house in the northwestern suburbs of the town of Amos (125, Chemin du Cimetière des Ukrainiens, Trécesson, Québec), on the way to the German Cemetery, near the village of “La Ferme”, not far from the site of the cemetery of the Spirit Lake detention camp (242, Chemin Joseph-Langlois, Spirit Lake, Quebec, J0Y 2S0).
He built a private chapel there, dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalene, in order to celebrate the services of the Orthodox Church.
In 1996, thanks to these contacts with the Anglicans of Amos, Father Georges was able to acquire the iconostas of the Saint-Nicolas Church in Val-d’Or, in order to restore it and reinstall it in the chapel of Saint Mary-Madeleine, where it remained.
Then, in 1997, when the “Communauté Monastique Saint-Séraphim de Sarov” was established, with Igumen Irenée (Rochon) as the abbot, he was attached to this monastic community.
On 6 September, 1997, Hiéromoine Georges (Leroy) was released from his attachment at the Church of Saint-Benoît de Nursie in Montréal, Québec. He was attached at the Communauté Monastique Saint-Séraphim de Sarov at Skite Saint-Séraphim in Rawdon, Québec (Monastic Community of Saint Seraphim of Sarov at the Saint Seraphim Skete). This attachment was for the double purpose of having a Holy Table (Altar) to which he was attached, and a monastic community which could act as spiritual support for him (a function it served for other solitary francophone monks).
In 2025, the chapel of Saint Mary Magdalene remains the only Orthodox Christian place of worship and, in fact, the only Orthodox Christian presence in Abitibi.
From that time, Father Georges (Leroy), with Mario Rousseau present, remained in Amos. He persevered in solitude. Likely, he felt rejected, abandoned, and probably without support or purpose. Indeed, he was not the only cleric in the vastness of Canada to feel this way (at least sometimes). Moreover, the difficulty for bishops was that there is one diocese for the whole territory of the country, and very, very meagre financial resources. Pastoral visiting of parishes and their clergy was difficult, and some parishes received few or even no visits from the bishop in the course of a century. For the great majority of the history of the diocese, there was not yet the convenience of quick communication, nor even quick travel. The bishops who served the diocese faced many obstacles.
It must be mentioned that in the place where Father Georges took up residence, it seems that the people ignore the presence of the Chapel of Saint Mary-Madeleine. It seems that there has been thus far no response from the people, which indicates that the spiritual soil of this region in particular is very stony.
During the course of his days at Amos, he studied “Gestionnaire” (administration) at l’Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT).
In this complex context, the particular sort of solitude of Father Georges contributed to various difficulties with communication with the various bishops of the Archdiocese of Canada.
Ultimately, it became more practical for him that he transfer his ecclesiastical attachment to the bishop of the Archdiocese of Russian Orthodox Churches in Western Europe in the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Jean (Renneteau) de Dubna. This was in part because of his place of origin, and also because of his continuing connexion with Belgium.
Reflections
Following here is an article by and about Archimandrite Georges (Leroy). Paul Ladouceur has published a large amount of information about the missionary work, Temples, and territory of Abitibi in “Orthodoxes la Transfiguration”. Father Georges suffered greatly throughout his life, in a manner not unknown to other clergy and lay-persons in Canada. The territory is vast, and mostly uninhabited. He found himself in a position similar to that of his predecessors in that region, but in an overall context which was much more challenging. Even so, he was not alone, because there are and have been Orthodox Christian clergy serving in parishes many hours distant by car from any other parish ; and there are and have been Orthodox Christian lay-persons living in settlements and cities in which there is no Orthodox presence whatsoever. It caused a spiritual crisis for him (as it can do for others), and it was, as it were, a refining fire for him.
The following interview was made by Vladimir Golovanov, and published as “Chronicles of Abitibi”
In the context of a long interview about his life and environment, Father Georges spoke from his heart about the many difficulties he faced upon arrival in Canada :
“What shocked me the most, during the episode of my expulsion from Rawdon, was that these Orthodox people had clearly preferred that the church of the hermitage be empty, rather than that divine praise be celebrated there in a language other than Slavonic. This posed a question to me : was I in the presence of Christianity ? Did a Church that enforced ethnicity to such an extent have anything to do with the Gospel ? Could this Church claim to belong to Christ ? And my answer was clearly : ‘no’.”
Acquiring the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Part 1
“From then on, Orthodoxy had lost all interest in my eyes. Throughout my life, my relationships with the ecclesiastical structure have never altered or influenced the personal relationship I have with Christ. It never occurred to me the idea of reproaching Christ for the disappointments I felt in the presence of the ecclesiastical apparatus which claimed to be Him. I have never understood people who become “atheists” because they have experienced this or that thing in this or that Church. As the slogan that was daubed on the Parisian walls in May 1968 says : ‘the slime of toads does not reach the splendour of the stars’. My dialogue with Christ, with God, is one thing ; what happens with a given Church is another”.
“At this stage of my inner evolution, as I had noticed that Orthodoxy was not, in fact, Christianity, all that remained for me was to draw the conclusions which flowed from this conviction. I was in Abitibi : I could without difficulty – neither seen nor known – ‘disappear’ from the Orthodox horizon, without scandalising anyone. Besides, practically no one noticed it, and certainly not my bishop, because the episcopal throne was vacant. Some time later, a bishop was finally appointed to take over the reins of the Archdiocese of Canada, in the O.C.A. – In the meantime, I noticed the existence of a branch of the University of Québec in the region. This is the U.Q.A.T. : ‘University of Québec in Abitibi Témiscamingue’. – Theology is good, but it is not the best way to ‘boil the pot’. The U.Q.A.T. offered studies in social sciences and management sciences. The social sciences would have been more accessible to a literary mind like me ; I nevertheless choose management sciences, for their versatility : whatever the situation where we find ourselves, whatever the place where we live, we must always carry out management tasks. So I enrolled at this regional university and started classes. To follow the courses I rented a student room in Rouyn, a mining town located one hundred and forty kilometers from my home. During the whole week I literally led a hermit’s life there, entirely spent studying, and I came home for the weekends. I have done this journey in all weathers, in all conditions. In winter, at night, during snowstorms, it was especially important not to lose sight of the red lights of the vehicle in front of me, because it was really the only thing that was visible. I was driving hoping that the driver of this vehicle knew where the road was.”
Acquiring the Gifts of the Holy Spirit Part 2
“As far as studies went, I wasn’t particularly good, other than – lo and behold! – in marketing and management. We had to go through the dreaded Finance and Statistics courses. I had never touched a computer, while a fairy had placed a screen and a keyboard in the cradle of my classmates. But I know the French language well : I could therefore correct the many spelling and syntax errors of their written works, while they introduced me to the mysteries of the computer. At the time, there were still orange screens on black backgrounds, needle printers, and large flexible plastic discs where data was stored. The computer was much more complicated and laborious to use than today : the ‘mouse’ was not even invented yet ! All this was for me a wonderful opportunity to learn about the ‘real life’ of people around me, and the mentality of the inhabitants of Québec. The students came from diverse backgrounds ; a good number of them had already practiced a professional activity, which gave them a good maturity. This regional university had human dimensions : the student could ask questions to the professor or lecturer, who remained accessible. It was an extremely interesting experience, and my relations with the students were friendly and warm. I have good memories of that time”.
Where will intolerance nestle !
“One day a bailiff rang the doorbell and gave me a “formal notice”, with a resolution from the municipal council attached. This resolution was decidedly Stalinist in style ; one would have thought that it had been written by Stalin himself. Here are some extracts : the municipal council wants to take action before the Superior Court, in order to ‘ORDER Mr. Yves Leroy (civil name of Father Georges), his representatives or beneficiaries to stop using and no longer use the identified building (…) for purposes of chapel, church, oratory, for purposes of religious activities involving any grouping of people, for purposes of prayer activities, liturgy, divine offices involving the participation of persons other than the owner and the people living in his residence (…), and this within 30 days of the notification of the judgement to be intervened’. The municipality therefore wants to prohibit me from praying and singing the Divine Office in this place. It’s interesting”.
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 1
“Let’s continue the quote : ‘ORDER the respondent, his representatives or beneficiaries, to lower the building so that its height does not exceed five meters in height’. It is therefore a question of removing the Cross, which seems to bother these people. Let us continue the quote : ‘If the respondent fails to comply with the judgement to be issued within the allotted time, ALLOW the applicant to remove from the premises (…) all objects and furniture usable or used for purposes other than the “storage incidental to residential use and in particular, and without limiting the above, all objects and furniture used for purposes of chapel, oratory church, for religious activities involving a grouping of people, for prayer activities, liturgy and divine office involving the participation of persons other than the owner and the person(s) living in his residence”’”.
“It is therefore a question of removing, ‘manu militari’, the icons, the sacred vases, the Altar, the iconostasis, undoubtedly to break them into pieces and make a beautiful burning of them in line with the Bolshevik regime. Let us continue our interesting quotes : ‘ALLOW the applicant to enter the lot (…) to carry out the work to lower the height of the building so that it does not exceed five meters in height’ : it is therefore a question of to arrive with a mechanical excavator and level the building so as to destroy the Cross ; ‘ALLOW the applicant to remove any poster (…) announcing that this building is a chapel which will be a place of contemplation and prayer where the divine office and the Divine Liturgy (Eucharist) will be celebrated’. Care must be taken to ensure that any external display is impossible ; the very idea that this place could be a place of contemplation and prayer is unbearable to our interlocutors’.
“And finally this : ‘DECLARE that the costs incurred by the municipality of Trécesson in execution of the judgement constitute (…) a priority claim on the building’. Obviously, bringing in a mechanical excavator to destroy the chapel is expensive, and the cost will be borne by Father Georges, as it should be”.
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 2
“Foreign religion” in Canada
“I was really surprised that all of this could be written, in a democratic country, in the West, where freedom of conscience and religious practice should reign. This was totally and absolutely unacceptable. In my eyes, this was a blatant violation of citizen freedoms, regardless of any other consideration. A lawsuit therefore followed, brought by the municipality. – All this had its origins in the anti-religious enthusiasm of a neighbour, who no longer lives there today. He affirmed that if ‘foreign religions’ existed, they must be discreet : ‘a frame on the wall should be enough for them !’ he raged. [...] It should be noted that the opposition to the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel did not come in any way from practicing and believing Catholics. Those who opposed it most energetically were people who never set foot in their Catholic church, and who were purely cultural Catholics, bordering on unbelief. As someone told me : ‘The most narrow-minded people I have ever met, it was not in the Churches that I found them !’ – For my part, faced with the inevitable outcome of a trial, I said to myself : ‘if I am asked for this testimony, well, I will give it’”.
“After numerous procedures, the day of the trial finally arrives. The opposing party presented, dragging a full ‘caddy’ on wheels, loaded to the brim with a mountain of documents. I would never have thought that the dispute between the chapel and the municipality would have generated so much paperwork. It is true that in all this documentation, there were many heterogeneous elements : the entire O.C.A. website. had been printed, resulting in a considerable sheaf of paper, presented to the prosecution. This was a complete waste, because this file really did not include anything incriminating. There was also a video. At one point, a local television reporter came to interview me. I spent almost the afternoon answering his questions. When I saw this report on local television news, everything I had said had been deleted, except for a few sentences that related to the dispute with the municipality. I had really wasted my time. I learned as a lesson that you have to be extremely careful with the media. By presenting this video as an incriminating document, the opposing party lost out, because this document, too, did not contain anything very compromising. In the courtroom, there were no less than four lawyers : the lawyer for the opposing party as well as an intern, the lawyer who represented me, and a luminary in the legal world – someone very friendly, moreover – who had come to attend these pleadings, because the case was very interesting for a lawyer : surprisingly, there was no case law concerning this dispute. There had, of course, been numerous trials between religious groups and municipalities, but it was the first time in Québec that a trial was held – for religious reasons – between an individual and a municipality. So I stood in the dock for a whole day ! I never thought it would have taken so long. Praying close to home, in a chapel, seemed like a major crime. If I had killed someone, it wouldn’t have been any more complicated”.
“For my part, I felt that it was necessary to obey municipal regulations as they exist, and not as we would like them to be, or as we imagine them ! The opposing party, for its part, tried to persuade the judge that he was in front of an unacknowledged ‘public place’. The opposing lawyer tried to persuade the court to go to the scene of the crime, in order to see what the room located under the chapel looked like. It was always a workshop, but no one would believe me, it seems. Everyone was convinced that it was in fact a meeting room for hypothetical undeclared faithful, with chairs, tables, and a coffee maker which would have testified to this terrible reality. The judge, for his part, considered that he had all the necessary documentation on hand and, indeed, I had provided an ample photographic file. I supported my argument, but at one point I had to clarify the fact that I could not think like an atheist. Because no-one understood why exactly I had built this chapel, if there really were no faithful that I could have made appear, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of his hat. No, there was no social or economic motive for this construction : it arose from a necessity, from an inner evidence, which, in my opinion, came immediately from divine inspiration. What do you want me to do there ? That’s how it is. . The judgement was deliberated and, much later, the sentence was handed down : the municipality saw its claims dismissed. Our rights were recognised. From now on, the text of this judgement provides us with a certain security : we can no longer be accused for this same reason. Since then, peace has reigned”.
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 3
Dechristianisation
“The reason for this trial finds its origin in the history of Québec. Until the 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church ruled as absolute mistress of all aspects of life in Québec. Québec was the most practicing country in the world, and even surpassed the Irish and the Poles, which was saying something ! To understand this state of affairs, we must go back to the 19th century. In 1837, in Québec, the French Canadians revolted against the English occupiers. This revolt was heroic, but unrealistic : the British Empire was at the height of its power. The revolt was therefore crushed, and many houses burned along the St. Lawrence River. There followed a period of moral despair, during which the Roman Catholic Church concluded a sort of implicit agreement with the English civil power : the Roman Catholic Church would ensure order and guarantee the submission of the population, vis-à-vis the English occupier – and in return the Power was going to give full latitude to the Catholic Church to assemble ir its power over the French-speaking population. Those who had taken the lead in the revolt were excommunicated by the Roman Church. Thus began the rise of the social influence of the Roman Catholic Church on Québec, an influence which would reach unequaled heights. The ideology presented to the population was this : ‘the English have their Monarch, but we have our Pope’”.
“‘The English have the universities, the libraries, and are the owners of the factories ; but anyway, they will go to Hell. For our part, our palaces are our churches !’ Indeed, throughout the 19th century, and at the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of magnificent and grandiose churches were built, with the donations of a poor and hard-working population. The French Canadians formed the proletariat of a booming industry, led by the English. In Montréal, the French-speaking population teemed in the lower neighbourhoods, while the rich homes that stood in the tree-shaded avenues belonged to the English. After the Second World War, in Québec, one woman in twenty was religious, which constituted an absolute record. The clergy literally swarmed ; schools as well as hospitals, and even the universities (non-Catholics were forbidden to enter the French-speaking university ; even ballet was prohibited : it was considered immoral) were totally in the hands of the religious. No book appearing in the ‘Index’ (list of books prohibited by the Roman Catholic Church) was tolerated in libraries. This Church was fanatically ultramontane : adoration of the Pope reached unimaginable heights. The Roman Catholic Church in Québec, at the time, was entirely devoted to the organisation of social life ; apart from childish devotions, spiritual life was the least of his concerns”.
“This lack of spiritual roots will cause its downfall : in the sixties of the 20th century a cultural earthquake occurred, the ‘Quiet Revolution’. Suddenly, modernity invades Québec. And this happened at the same time as the Second Vatican Council. The clerical ice of Québec thawed and melted in a few moments. In a few decades, Québec practically became one of the most progressive cultures in the West. Suddenly, Québec got rid of its Church ; the clerics threw their cassocks to the nettles ; the chalices and monstrances found themselves in flea markets ; the demolition picks attacked the walls of the churches ; the old Tridentine altars were demolished with axes. Now, we are witnessing the collapse of the Churches in Québec : from year to year, the number of faithful decreases, disaffection continues, religious orders die out, churches close. Now, all Christian denominations in Québec face the same situation, whether traditional or liberal. In Québec, the decrease is truly striking : in Montréal, we drove past a magnificent church transformed into apartments (“condominiums”), even though the rubble, woodwork and panelling that once constituted its decor. During my last visit to Montréal, I walked in front of the former Sanctuary of Saint-Jude and the Rosary on rue Saint-Denis ; this building was under construction to be transformed into a hammam !
All this does not happen without financial losses
“Let’s take a few examples : in the Archdiocese of Sherbrooke, there were still 120 parishes in 2005, and it is expected that there will only be 30 left very soon. As for the Diocese of Joliette, with 53 parishes in 2010, there will remain 22 in 2020. The Archdiocese of Québec, which had 207 parishes, will transform them into 29 community communions. The Archdiocese of Montréal, for its part, still has 132 parishes, after the suppression of 90 of them. Around fifty churches are for sale in Montréal. In Abitibi, the town of Val d’Or had five Roman Catholic churches ; there is only one left. We could multiply the examples indefinitely. Even old people seem to remember nothing : it’s as if all this religious past had never existed. Or rather, it is as if these people had been traumatised and had erased these painful memories from their memory”.
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 4
The distrust remained
“However, this past leaves lasting traces in people’s minds. At the time, the Roman Catholic Church had hammered into people’s minds distrust of other Christian faiths. There was no question of crossing the threshold of a Protestant temple ! In any case, we prayed there in English. Even today, people are moving from Roman Catholicism to total indifference ; in no case would they go looking for something in another Church. I address their religious concerns. We know a young man, from a Catholic family, who converted to Protestantism. Well, one of his friends told him : ‘If you don’t want to be Catholic, don’t be anything at all, but at least don’t be Protestant !’ What is most remarkable is that such reflections come from people who are in no way practicing Catholics, and who do not set foot in a church, apart from baptisms and burials, if there is still someone there, someone to celebrate them. Their adherence to Catholicism is purely cultural. Unlike what happens in France for example, here in Québec we do not have cases where certain people, in spiritual search, push the door of an Orthodox church out of curiosity, in order to get to know another form of spirituality (in any case, in this Orthodox parish, he would be answered in English). From Catholicism, we move on to pure and simple unbelief”.
“The ‘baby boomers’ retain a real hatred towards anything that can be called a ‘religious institution’. We can even find ourselves facing aggressive reactions. Some topics are explosive, with people in this age group !”
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 5
“Everyone is in their own bubble”
“On the other hand, it is much easier with those who are younger : for them, an Orthodox Christian is simply someone who comes from another galaxy. It’s a strange alien. There is no negative reaction, just friendly curiosity. But ‘everyone is in their own bubble’, and the new generation reasons in a perfectly individual way, far from any idea of ecclesial community. At least young people are no longer afraid, unlike their elders”.
“One last legacy of the past remains. Before the ‘Quiet Revolution’, French-speaking schools were totally and absolutely in the hands of the clergy. They were wary of foreign influences. Thus, even Italians were likely to bring ‘bad ideas’ into virtuous Québec. French-speaking schools were closed to them ; they had to go through their schooling in English. The same was true for Arabs coming from the Middle East. This is why all immigrants had English as their second language. Even today, when you enter a Russian church in Montréal, there is a good chance that you will be answered in English, if you do not speak Russian. This is one more barrier, which slows down integration in French-speaking Québec : at least, in France, the second language of Russian emigrants was French. Today, the situation is changing, because young people go to school in French. But as usual, the Churches are around fifty years behind the evolution of the society around them. In many ethnic churches, English continues to be used as a second language. I was far from having measured the full extent of this problem when I set about building the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel”.
“All of these cultural data can explain why the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel was a failure, from a pastoral point of view. Very candidly, I imagined that after having built the Chapel, and by praying there every day, the Holy Spirit would ensure that various people would be attracted to Orthodox spirituality. This was not the case : we failed to arouse any appreciable interest in the Orthodox Church. When a Russian or a Greek crosses the threshold of the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel, the difference in language means that they quickly realise that the atmosphere is not exactly that of their native village. He leaves, disappointed at not having found the familiar atmosphere he was looking for. A Québecer, for his part, will not risk crossing the threshold, given the ‘fear of other religions’ that the history of Québec has bequeathed to him. We have seen that this ‘fear of other religions’ motivated the trial against the very existence of the Chapel”.
Painting of ordinary secularisation Part 6
We are the seat of a spiritual issue
“So, ultimately, what is this chapel for ? An Orthodox priest of my acquaintance, living in Québec, said to me one day a word full of wisdom : ‘once upon a time, at one point in my life, I fell in love with Orthodoxy. Now, from now on, I am Orthodox for myself. It is not a question of selfishness : everyone is very welcome to participate in our liturgical prayer. If one day we manage to build a great cathedral with golden bulbs, so much the better. But in the meantime, the priority is our own progression in the knowledge of God, much more than the building of structures and institutions. Let’s take a somewhat trivial image : formerly, in taverns, there were ‘slot machines’ where a metal ball bounced on all kinds of cursors, to finally fall into a notch, which represented the goal to be achieved’”.
The Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel is invisible to most people “I have the impression of being this kind of marble, and of having been pushed, pulled, by Providence (always benevolent but sometimes harsh), until I fell in the only place where it is possible for me to live and to progress spiritually, even if this place is the most unexpected in the world. Now, I can sing the Divine Office every day in French, without offending anyone ; I have in my library enough to deepen theological research, probably until the age of 90(!) ; I live in the middle of a magnificent natural environment : what more could you ask for ?”
“As for the real reason for the existence of the Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel, this is known to God alone. This will probably be revealed long after my time on this earth. It is certainly necessary that there be a place of prayer in this region, so that the drop of spirituality, falling every day, ends up piercing a hole in the three meters of concrete of unbelief and materialism. Setting up a Cross in the sky is always a challenge to the Powers of Darkness. When we started building the Chapel, a rather astonishing event happened. The main beams of the frame were already installed. Suddenly the sky turned black, a violent wind rose, and the lake whitened with foam. Our friend the carpenter barely had time to drive long nails into a pile of wooden panels to prevent them from flying away. The wind was so wild that we saw the main beams of the frame twist horizontally. Just as suddenly, the storm subsided. Since then, I have never seen the lake in such an aspect again”.
“We can believe what we want, but for my part, I am convinced that the erection of a place of prayer had upset certain ‘powers’. The lawsuit for the destruction of the Chapel was brought by very brave people, who had absolutely no idea that the words they were saying were inspired by a ‘power’ that was totally beyond them. Despite this attempt by the powers of darkness, prayer is there, daily, like a night light : fragile and easy to extinguish, but illuminating all the same. Each of us is the seat of a spiritual issue which is infinitely more extensive than our little person. It is not necessary to read every spiritual book. Their content can be summarised in a very simple formulation : at the beginning of our conversion, we receive special and particular graces, in order to be able to persevere. This is what we could call ‘graces of blindness’ : everything is beautiful ; we do not see certain negative aspects which will blow up in our faces later. Then comes the time of drought and darkness. This time can last for years. But it is a very great grace : God wants us to love Him in pure Faith, for Himself, and not for the spiritual pleasures or comforts that He grants us. H e wants us to progress before Him purely in Faith”.
The Sainte Marie-Madeleine Chapel is invisible to most people
Amen, Maranatha : come, Lord Jesus.
“I cannot stress this point enough. The great spiritual Tradition distrusts feeling. Because the feeling is unstable : we cannot rely on it. It is not bad in itself, but it is evanescent. This concern to distance oneself from all sentimentality builds in us an essential quality, which is sobriety. We can thus feel a joy which is not cheerfulness, and which cannot be seen from the outside. – And throughout this period, he is surprised : where is God ? I don’t feel Him like I used to. All the spiritual Fathers warn us : above all, do not go back to rediscover the pleasures so much regretted, as the Israelites longed for the foods of Egypt, in the aridity of the desert (Numbers 11:5). It is not only a question of aridity in our interior life : this extinction of initial graces is also expressed by trials, by persecutions, by the oppositions that we encounter in all the activities of our life, and especially in the Church. At this moment, an extremely dangerous temptation arises, that of letting yourself go thinking that ‘it’s other people’s fault’. In all our disappointments, our responsibility is at least half committed. The pastoral failure of the Chapelle Sainte Marie-Madeleine is due, in large part, to my poor appreciation of the cultural situation in Québec. At least, benevolent Providence will have ensured that I do not inflate my Ego, telling myself : ‘I achieved this !’ It would be a pretentious conceit, which would be enough to block my path that leads to God”.
“Finally, in this labourious journey, a sort of miracle is accomplished : through daily prayer, an impregnation of the Grace of the Holy Spirit takes place. It’s a slow process : as one nun said, with humour : ‘it’s the first 25 years that are the most difficult ; afterwards, it goes by itself’. And for this, it is essential to pray every day : a Sunday religion makes this type of result much more difficult. It’s a question of impregnation. Very gradually, our spiritual eye begins to perceive things. It is not a question of form, ideas or words, but of a perception of the divine Presence which becomes more and more evident. We begin to find it ‘srange’ the fact that others do not see or feel anything. Obviously, the Chapelle Sainte Marie-Madeleine is invisible to most people – not as a building, but as a very truly existing spiritual reality. And the ultimate reward is that we have become so accustomed to life with God that when the time comes, we will only have to hold out our hand for it to be grasped by our Guardian Angel, and that it gently leads us into the Kingdom, making us discover the fantastically irradiating Light of the risen Christ. Let us say, as the Disciples of the first times : Amen, Maranatha : come, Lord Jesus.
A postscript
Later, Father Georges wrote :
“I will be happy to see the last part of the text of that we must rather pretentiously call my ‘biography’ appear in the PO [Pages Orthodoxes] block. When we have completed this task, it will have been quite a feat : to present an entire life in a few pages, and succeed in having some remarks which are sometimes quite risky, concerning the ecclesiastical structure accepted. I tried to convey a sort of ‘message’ which essentially says that we must be careful not to reproach – either to others – whether to the ecclesiastical institution or to any other social structure – the misadventures, and disappointments, which are the essential corollary to the acquisition of detachment and ‘letting go’, which itself is necessary and inevitable in the process of building the spiritual life. Everyone’s life is at the meeting point of divergent forces, some from the Lord, and others from the world ; and it is very useful to learn about what is at stake, what reality that lies behind the events of our lives. – If I manage to make one or another person understand this, that would already be very good”.
References
Centre d’études et de prières Saint-Croix : Chapelle Saint Marie-Madeleine, Amos, Québec
Pages orthodoxes la Transfiguration : Lieux de culte orthodoxe au Québec
Pages orthodoxes la Transfiguration : Les communautés orthodoxes de l’Abitibi et de Rawdon (Québec)
Amos QC Hermitage and Chapel of Saint Mary-Magdalene 1990
Additional information :
Parlons d’Orthodoxie (new address)
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Québec
Orthodox Church in America (OCA)
Archbishop Georges (Tarassoff)
Archbishop Gabriel (de Vylder)
Metropolitan Jean (Renneteau) de Dubna
Metropolitan Theodosius (Lazor)
Community Stories : Photographic Travels of Reuben R Sallows
Spirit Lake Quebec Internment Legacy Fund
Wikipedia article about the Ukrainian Canadian Internment
Wikipedia article about the name “Yves”
Findagrave reference for German Orthodox Cemetery, Trécesson, Abitibi (Cimetière des Allemands-Orthodoxe, Trécesson, Abitibi-Temiscamingue)
Ukrainian Canadian Congress article : “Official Opening of Spirit Lake Interment Centre” (2 December, 2011)
Parlons d'Orthodoxie : Higoumène Georges (Leroy) "Vers l'Abitibi" (1 juin, 2013) [Let’s talk about Orthodoxy : Hieromonk Georges Leroy : “Towards Abitibi” (1 June, 2013)]
Higoumène Georges Leroy : "Acquérir des Dons du Saint Esprit" (18 juin, 2013) [Hieromonk Georges Leroy : “Acquiring the Gifts of the Holy Spirit” (18 June, 2013)]
Parlons d’Orthodoxie : Higoumène George Leroy: “L’Église comme réalité spirituelle” (2 août, 2013) [Let’s talk about Orthodoxy : Hieromonk Georges Leroy : (Chronicles of Abitibi 2) “The Church as a spiritual Reality” (2 August, 2013)
Conférence par Père Georges Leroy : “La théologie trinitaire et le Salut de l’être humain” (29 mars, 2021) [Lecture by Father Georges Leroy : “Trinitarian Theology and the Salvation of the Human Being” (29 March, 2021)]
“Ukrainian Canadians fight to save a forgotten cemetery in Quebec’s Abitibi region” (10 November, 2021)
“The hidden History of Ukrainians imprisoned in Canadian labour Camps in World War I” (12 June, 2023)
« Typikon – Partie du Triode » (en français) [Translation of the “Triodion” from Russian to French by Archimandrite Georges Leroy (3 March, 2025) ISBN : 9798317560669.]