In the fall of 1957, Archbishop Seraphim was assigned to the Diocese of Chicago and Detroit. Archimandrite Innokenty (Bystrov) was appointed Rector of New-Root Hermitage. Born in Siberia, Fr Vasily (Bystrov) was sent to prison in Vladivostok twice after the Revolution: the first time in 1927 for refusing to join the Living Church, and then later that year for teaching the Law of God. The following year, once again for refusing to serve with Living Church clergymen, he was expelled from the Vladivostok Diocese, then from the Blagoveshchensky Diocese. Fr Vasily was forced to flee his homeland and settle in Harbin, China, where he served in the “House of Mercy,” and in 1934 he founded a Russian Orthodox parish which he headed for almost fifteen years on the island of Java in Indonesia. From there he moved to San Francisco, CA. There he was welcomed by Vladyka Seraphim, who suggested that he move to New-Root Hermitage to be his senior aide. In 1953, Protopriest Vasily Bystrov was tonsured a monk and given the name Innokenty, a name he drew himself from among three slips of paper on the altar table.
In 1958, the second original resident of the Hermitage, the ekonom [steward] Hegumen Viktorin (Lyabakh), was appointed Rector of the Russian parish in Teheran, Iran. Archimandrite Innokenty remained at the Hermitage without another priest-monk, and had to celebrate Divine Liturgy at the Nativity of the Mother of God Church alone. On the feast day of the church, when the house church could not accommodate the many visiting worshipers, Liturgy would be celebrated at the outdoor chapel [which he had built himself ].
http://www.synod.com/synod/engdocuments ... nhome.html
++++++++++
More in-depth coverage :
In Memoriam: Archimandrite Innokenty (Bystrov)
(To the 35th Anniversary of His Repose)
On the night of September 26-27, 1981, the feast day of the Elevation of the Cross of the Lord, after a long, serious illness, Archimandrite Innokenty (Bystrov) reposed in the Lord.
Fr Innokenty was born in Irkutsk on December 4, 1890, and baptized with the name Vasily. His parents were Vasily and Anna Bystrov. His father died early, when young Vasily was only two. He had two brothers, Innokenty and Alexander, and a sister, Varvara. The latter two siblings also died at an early age.
Vasily spent his childhood in Irkutsk, where he sang in the church choir. In 1906, he moved to Vladivostok and studied choir directing, and was then appointed director of a cathedral choir. In 1909, he married, then moved to Nikolo-Ussuriisk, where he began teaching liturgical music.
In 1914, his wife, a teacher by the name of Elizaveta, died. Vasily then dedicated his life to serving the Church. Returning to Vladivostok in 1925, he was ordained to the preisthood and resumed leading the cathedral choir, and also began teaching the Law of God. In 1930, he was arrested and sent to a lumber camp, whence he managed to escape to Harbin, China. He lived there until 1935, taking part in local Church life, after moving [ to Java, the most populous island in the world and the center of Indonesia's political, economic and cultural life ], where he ministered to Russian refugees. [ One would like to know more about this. Was Fr Vasily based in Jakarta, the capital ? What kind of Church was he in charge of there - or did he build one ? This is fascinating information which invites further research. Perhaps Fr Vasily traveled visiting the emigres wherever they were located. How did the emigres arrrive in mostly Muslim Java, one wonders ? Perhaps business interests going back to the colonial era when Holland ruled Indonesia were a factor in the presence of Russian emigration to this sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands rich in natural resources such as petroleum, natural gas, tin, copper and other minerals. ]
In 1950, Protopriest Vasily moved to the United States, and lived in San Francisco’s St Tikhon of Zadonsk House. A year later, Fr Vasily moved to New Kursk-Root Hermitage in Mahopac, NY. At the time, Bishop Seraphim (Ivanov) was the monastery’s abbot, who tonsured Fr Vasily to monasticism and gave him the name Innokenty. Fr Innokenty was soon elevated to the rank of hegumen, then, in 1958, archimandrite. Upon the appointment of Bishop Seraphim to the Chicago Diocese, Fr Innokenty became the abbot of New Kursk-Root Hermitage. Fr Innokenty labored for 25 long years at the monastery. Through his efforts and prayers, he attracted many worshipers, especially on the feast day of the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign.”
In 1977, Archimandrite Innokenty was sent to the Holy Land and served at Mt of Olives Ascension Convent and St Mary Magdalene Convent in Gethsemane. He lived in Ascension Convent and prayed at the great holy sites of Jerusalem, finding consolation and spiritual joy in praying for his many spiritual children.
In the spring of 1981, it was discovered that Fr Innokenty had esophageal cancer. After Holy Pascha, he returned to the USA and his spiritual children had him hospitalized, where he was cured.
After he was discharged from the hospital, he was settled at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY, where he frequently communed of the Holy Gifts of Christ. A week before his death, the Queen of Heaven visited him in the form of the Kursk-Root Icon."