The
Clergy and Parishioners of the Cathedral of the Mother of God "Joy
of All Who Sorrow" Mark the 25th Anniversary of the Repose
of Protopriest Nikolai Dombrowksy
On Sunday, December 5, the clergy and parishioners of the Cathedral
of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" in San Francisco
marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Protopriest Nikolai
Dombrowsky. During divine liturgy, Protopriest Peter Perekrestov
commemorated the late priest during the great entrance, and at the
end of the service, he said a few words on the long-time clergyman
of the Cathedral, after which a funerary litany was performed, sung
with special ardor by the Cathedral choir under the direction of
V.V. Krassovsky, since most of the singers remembered and loved
Fr Nikolai and honored his memory.
Father Nikolai died on the day of the Entrance into the Temple of
the Most-Holy Mother of God, the holiday of churchliness and piety.
Fr Nikolai's entire life was tied to the Church: from seminary and
the Theology Department of Warsaw University to his first parishes
in Poland, Polesje, then in Warsaw, then in the diaspora: in Austria
(Vienna and Salzburg), South America (Chile) and finally in the
USA (San Francisco), where he arrived with his family in 1953. It
was here that the unburied talents of this pastoral servant reached
their peak. He took over and completed the task of the eminent pastor,
Protopresbyter Michael Polsky (the famous author of the book on
the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia): he finished the construction
of the new "Joy of All Who Sorrow" Cathedral. A great
deal was endured by this priest at that time, and he showed so much
humility! How all-forgiving he was to everyone, to those who hurt
him and to those close to him. One can say with confidence that
this gained for him much-deserved love, recognition and honor. As
one parishioner noted in the pages of Russkaya zhizn' [Russian Life]:
"May the grand new cathedral be a worthy memorial to our dear
father, who until his final days gave his all; he did not relent,
he did not give up, he did not compromise. May everyone kneel before
the grave of the loyal, most-worthy Mitred Protopriest Nikolai—those
who loved and respected him and those who gave him sorrow, those
who knew him and those who did not, for in this grave lies a loyal
son of the Orthodox Church, a devoted child of the Russian people
and a great man, before whom every self-respecting person can kneel!
May he abide in the Kingdom of Heaven in eternal peace!" (December
1979).
![](../../images/people/FrNDombrovsky1.jpg)
Mitred
Protopriest Nikolai Dombrowsky at the open Royal Doors of the main
altar of the Cathedral of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who
Sorrow" in San Francsico.
Protopriest Nikolai Dombrowsky was born in Krementz, Volynia guberniya,
on March 26th, 1911, the son of Simeon and Maria, nee Fursuk. In
1933, he graduated Krementz Theological Seminary, and in 1937, the
Theological Department of Warsaw University. Upon graduation, by
a resolution of Archbishop Alexander of Polessk of December 15th,
1937, he was appointed as a clergyman of the Polessk Diocese to
the town of Lopatin in the First Deanery of Pinsk.
The future Fr Nikolai married Vera Georgievna Erogina at the Metropolitan
Cathedral of Warsaw in the beginning of 1938. On January 18th, 1938,
Bishop Simon of Ostrog ordained him to the deaconate in Pinsk Cathedral,
and the following day, on the Epiphany, he was ordained into the
priesthood. On November 12, 1938, he was transferred to be second
priest in the city of Luninetz, and also appointed a teacher of
church law in the municipal high school. On December 6th, 1938,
Fr Nikolai was appointed rector in a church in Lemeshevich of the
First Deanery of Pinsk. On January 2, 1939, on the Nativity of the
Lord, Fr Nikolai was awarded the nabedrennik and skufia. On February
8th, 1939, he was made Assistant Dean of the First Deanery. On June
1st, 1939, he took the exam for his Master's Degree at the Theology
Department of Warsaw University. On Pascha, 1940, he was awarded
the kamilavka. On September 21, 1942, on the Nativity of the Mother
of God, the feast day of the Lemeshevich church, he was granted
the gold pectoral cross.
On March 2, 1943, he was appointed second priest of Brest-Litovsk
Cathedral. Two months later, by his own request, Fr Nikolai returned
to his old parish in Lemeshevic.
![](../../images/people/FrNDombrovsky2.jpg)
Archbishop
Anthony (Medvedev, +2000) of Western America and San Francisco and
Mitred Protopriest Nikolai Dombrowsky (+1979).
On September 7, 1943, a resolution was made to appoint Fr Nikolai
as the regional missionary of the Pinsk Missionary Region. Military
actions forced him to leave Polessk Diocese on March 22, 1944, with
the permission of the Ruling Bishop, and move to Warsaw, where by
ukase of the Metropolitan of Warsaw of May 13, 1944, he was assigned
to the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Passions of Christ in that
city.
Finding himself a refugee in Vienna, by resolution of His Eminence
Metropolitan Seraphim of Berlin and Germany of October 25, 1944,
Fr Nikolai was permitted to serve in the churches of the German
Diocese. From April 1946 until June 1948, he was a clergyman of
the Austrian Diocese as a priest in church communities in Gmunden
and the surrounding area: Bad Ischl, Goisern, Bad Aussee, then at
the Russian camp in Kufstein, and from May 1947, at the house church
in the labor camp in Salzburg. In the 1947-48 school year, he was
a teacher of canon law at the Russian gymnasium in Parsch camp in
Salzburg. On May 31, 1947, on the Pentecost, he was elevated to
the rank of protopriest by Archbishop Stephan of Austria (+1965).
On September 11, 1948, Archbishop Theodosius included him in his
Brazilian Diocese and appointed him second priest at the Church
of the Holy Trinity in Santiago, Chile. On August 11, 1952, he was
awarded the palitsa by decree of the Synod of Bishops. In April
1953, he was appointed Secretary of the Diocesan Council of the
Diocese of Chile and Paraguay. In September 1953, he was transferred
to San Francisco, where he was made priest of "Joy of All Who
Sorrow" Cathedral. In 1956, he was given the ornamented cross.
In 1972, Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev, +2000) of Western America
and San Francisco wrote to the Synod of Bishops: "I respectfully
request the awarding of the mitre to the clergyman of the Cathedral
of the Most-Holy Mother of God 'Joy of All Who Sorrow' in San Francisco,
Protopriest Nikolai Dombrowsky, for his excellent, earnest service
at the Cathedral, combined with his various pastoral duties, the
teaching of church law at the High School of SS Cyril and Methodius,
his visits to children's camps, the execution of his responsibilities
as Diocesan Treasurer, and for his previous work of raising money
for the Cathedral's construction. It is especially desirable to
grant this award on the 100th anniversary of the bishop's see in
San Fransciso." The Synod of Bishops granted this request "for
services rendered as according to His Eminence."
Fr Nikolai died on December 5, 1979.
Eternal memory to Fr Nikolai, and for us, God's help on our path
to Him.
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