Metr. Nicolae Highlights St. John Jacob’s Legacy in North America

ALLEGAN, MI — Metr. Nicolae of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Romanian Orthodox Protection of the Mother of God Monastery in Allegan, Michigan, highlighting the enduring spiritual connection between St. John Jacob of Neamț and Romanian Orthodox Christians in North America.

The service served as an early celebration of St. John Jacob’s feast day, as the monastery honors him as its second patron saint. During his homily, Metr. Nicolae reflected on the saint’s relationship with Abp. Victorin Ursache, who led Romanian Orthodox faithful in America from 1966 to 2001.

The Metropolitan recalled that Abp. Victorin played an important role in St. John Jacob’s monastic journey, recommending him for ordination as a hierodeacon and later as a hieromonk in 1947 while serving as superior of Romanian Orthodox settlements in the Holy Land. After his ordination, St. John Jacob became abbot of the Romanian Skete of St. John the Baptist in the Jordan Valley, where he formed a close spiritual bond with Archimandrite Victorin.

That relationship continued after Abp. Victorin moved to the United States in 1956. Letters exchanged between the two, along with poems written by St. John Jacob, were recently discovered in the Romanian Orthodox Metropolis of the Americas’ archives in Chicago. Some correspondence relates to "Holy Places," a publication Abp. Victorin produced in the United States to support Romanian monastic communities in the Holy Land.

The Romanian Orthodox Church commemorates St. John Jacob of Neamț, also known as the New Chozebite, on Aug. 5.

Previously, the UOJ reported that South Carolina’s first Romanian Orthodox church was consecrated.