Blessing of the Hermitage of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Hermitage

The chapel and home of the late Hieromonk Nicholas of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist Hermitage in Combermere, Ontario, was once again visited with prayers and hymns to the glory of God. The hermitage, which has been largely unused since the falling asleep of Fr. Nicholas on December 26, 2021, remains a true treasure within our Diocese.

For nearly fifty years, Hieromonk Nicholas lived and prayed there in quiet contemplation. The hermitage has no running water, only a well behind the cabin, and is heated solely by a wood-burning stove. Though located near the town of Combermere (approximately a three-and-a-half-hour drive east of Toronto), Fr. Nicholas worked out his salvation in near-complete isolation.

The wooden lodge, with its low ceilings on the main floor and what remains of the chapel above in the half-story, is tucked away off an easy-to-miss private side road—hidden from the world, yet fully known to God.

This hermitage is part of our Diocese and our Deanery, and it holds a unique place in the story of ACROD in Canada. Over the years, Fr. Nicholas would occasionally allow the faithful from our sister parish, Christ the Saviour in Ottawa, under Fr. Maxym Lysak, to visit on special occasions, though his primary calling remained one of monastic solitude.

The hermitage is situated in a very rural region of Ontario, far from any Orthodox parish. For the few Orthodox families who lived in the surrounding area, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas asked Fr. Nicholas, in fatherly love, to care for them. Opening to them the doorway of heaven through the holy Sacraments of the Church, which he did with great pastoral joy.

With the archpastoral blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory, it is our hope to hold Divine Liturgies at the hermitage periodically, as well as to offer day retreats there. May the Lord help us to continue to reveal these hidden and precious lives, so that through these 'little flowers' in the Lords garden, we too may behold the glory of God.

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