On the morning of January 10, 2008, Igumen Gennady (Eykalovich) fell asleep in the Lord at 93 years of age.
Igumen Gennady was born in Pinsk, Belarus, on September 11, 1914. From 1932 to 1939, he studied and worked in Poland, receiving a Masters in Economic Studies degree in Warsaw.
From 1940 to 1942, Fr. Gennady was imprisoned in a Soviet concentration camp in Siberia. From 1942 to 1945, he served in the 2nd Polish Corps, 8th Allied Army, in Italy. Following the Second World War, from 1946 to 1948, he was with the Polish Resettlement Corps in England. The Resettlement Corps was a unit that helped Polish soldiers that did not want to return to communist Poland transition into life in the west.
Fr. Gennady studied theology at St. Sergius Institute in Paris, France, from 1948 to 1953. In 1948, he received monastic tonsure. He was ordained to the diaconate in 1949 and to the priesthood in 1950.
In 1953, Fr. Gennady came to the United States to taking a teaching position at St. Tikhon’s Seminary in South Canaan, PA. During his time as a professor at the seminary, he taught Old Testament, Dogmatic Theology, Philosophy, Logic and Psychology. From 1955 to 1959, he served as Inspector of the seminary.
In 1972, Fr. Gennady received a canonical release from the OCA to serve in Europe. He returned to the USA in 1982 and lived in retirement in California. In recent years Fr. Gennady moved back to the South Canaan area, where he lived in a nursing home.
On Friday, January 11, 2007, a Panikhida will be celebrated for Igumen Gennady at 6:00 PM at St. Tikhon’s Monastery by His Beatitude, Metropolitan Herman.
On Saturday, January 12, the Funeral Service for a Monastic will be celebrated by His Beatitude at St. Tikhon’s Monastery at 12:00 PM. Interment will follow.
May Igumen Gennady’s memory be eternal!