A Ray of Light

Archimandrite Panteleimon was the founder and first abbot of Holy Trinity Monastery, in Jordanville New York.  Father Panteleimon was born Peter Nizhnik on January 16, 1895 in the village of Rechitsa, Grodno Province, Russia.  Immigrating to the United States in 1913, he found work in a factory in Chicago.  Spurred by the radical changes that were occurring in his homeland due to the Revolution and Civil War, he entered St. Tikhon’s Monastery in Pennsylvania in 1918.  Quickly ordained first a deacon and then a priest, Fr. Panteleimon was in charge of agricultural projects at the monastery.  Desiring a life even more removed from the vanity and bustle of the world, he wanted to build his own monastery far away in the woods. Along with a fellow desirer of the quiet monastic life Ivan Kolos, (the future Archimandrite Joseph) Fr. Panteleimon received permission to work in the Sikorsky factory in Connecticut to raise money to buy land for a monastery.  Eventually, in 1928 he was able to purchase farmland near Jordanville NY, where he started to slowly build Holy Trinity Monastery.  Facing many early challenges, including a fire that burned down the first wooden church that was built, Fr. Panteleimon and his fellow monks nevertheless continued to labor, and eventually were able to build a stone cathedral dedicated to The Holy Trinity, along with a large building to house the monks and printing press.  Strengthened with the movement of the St. Job of Pochaev Brotherhood from Slovakia, which drew its roots from the famous Pochaev Lavra, the monastery continued the printing tradition of the Pochaev monastery, and became one of the main sources for Russian language spiritual literature and service books during the Soviet period.  Father Panteleimon was a tireless compiler and author of spiritual texts.  He fell asleep in the Lord in 1984.

Preface

Chapter 1 A Ray of Light, How to Leave the Darkness of Death, The Perception of Truth
Chapter 2 What Will be the Status of the Incomplete Blessedness of Righteous Souls and the Incomplete Torture of Sinful Souls?
Chapter 3 The Fate in the Future Life of Sinful People, Unrepentant of Their Sins
Chapter 4 The Incorruptibility and Miraculous Powers of Holy Relics
Chapter 5 The Veneration of Holy Icons
Chapter 6 Christ’s Holy Church
Chapter 7 The Characteristics of People before the End of the World. A Prophecy
Chapter 8 Apostasy in the Last Days of the World
Chapter 9 Signs by which the Nearness of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ Can Be Judged
Chapter 10 The Coming of Antichrist
Chapter 11 The Birth of Antichrist and His Acceptance by the Jews as the True Messiah
Chapter 12 Antichrist Foretold
Chapter 13 The Actions and Name of the Antichrist
Chapter 14 Seal of Antichrist
Chapter 15 Miracles of Antichrist
Chapter 16 The Disparagement of Divine Law by Antichrist; Persecutions and Tortures of those Confessing Christ
Chapter 17 The Construction by Antichrist of his Altar in the Temple of Jerusalem
Chapter 18 The Terrible State of the World and All Mankind during the Reign of Antichrist
Chapter 19 Posthumous Prophecies of our Holy Father Nilus the Myrrh-streamer of Athos
Chapter 20 The Word of our Holy Father Ephraim the Syrian on the Coming of Antichrist

Appendix: A Short Biography of Archimandrite Panteleimon (Nizhnik
Notes