ROCOR Abuse History: The Case of Gleb "Fr. Herman" Podmoshensky

Gleb “Fr Herman” Podmoshensky. One of ROCOR’s most notorious pedophiles.

Writing about clerical sexual abuse and child protection issues in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, takes one down many dark rabbit holes. One of these rabbit holes is researching historical abuse cases. Without a doubt, one of the most notorious abuse cases in ROCOR history is that of Gleb “Fr Herman” Podmoshensky. What makes the Podmoshensky case particularly troubling, is his close association with the much-loved writer and speaker Fr Seraphim Rose.

Fr. Herman, was born Gleb Dimitrievich Podmoshensky in Riga, Latvia. When the Nazis occupied Latvia during World War II, he fled with his mother and sister to Germany. At age fourteen in 1942, he and his family went to the United States to be united with his grandmother, an accomplished ballet dancer, who had earlier immigrated to New York City. Gleb returned to the Orthodox faith of his ancestors as a young adult in America, and graduated in 1962 from seminary at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York.

In 1963, together with his friend Eugene Rose (the future Fr Seraphim Rose), with the blessing of Archbishop John (Maximovich), he founded the St. Herman Orthodox Brotherhood in the United States, which was actively engaged in missionary work. After the death of Archbishop John (Maximovich) in 1966, on behalf of the brotherhood, he and Rose collected information about the miracles performed through the intercession of St. John.

Fr Seraphim Rose (L) and Gleb Podmoshensky (R)

In the summer of 1967, Podmoshensky and Rose purchased a plot of land a few miles from the small town of Platina in Northern California, where the skete of the St. Herman Brotherhood was founded in 1969. Later the skete was transformed into the monastery of St Herman of Alaska. In October 1970, he took monastic vows with the name Herman in honor of Herman of Alaska, who was canonized that same year. In 1976, he was elevated to the rank of hieromonk and became abbot of the monastery.

Fr Seraphim Rose and Abbot Herman. According to Fr Alexey Young, Fr Seraphim is said to have condemned Podmoshensky on his death bed.

From the early 1980’s onwards, many accounts from multiple sources began to circulate within the ROCOR Western American Diocese community, of Podmoshenky’s abuse of young boys. It was later confirmed that he assaulted numerous boys and young men, both while they were visiting the monastery at Platina, and while Gleb was traveling to other places. It was alleged that he would grope them and try to kiss them, either while they were asleep, or when he was alone with them.

Fr Seraphim Rose and Gleb Fr Herman Podmoshensky holding an abbot’s crozier. circa late 1970’s.

Following the death of Fr Seraphim Rose in 1982, more complaints began to pour in to Archbishop Anthony of San Francisco and the ROCOR Synod in New York about Podmoshenky’s predatory behaviour and abuse. At this time, he also got into severe conflicts with Platina’s ruling bishop, Archbishop Anthony over issues of obedience. In 1983 Podmoshensky also became associated with a San Francisco-based New Age cult called the Holy Order of MANS. Similar to other esoteric cults that originated from the turbulent cultural milieu of the 1960s, the Order of MANS incorporated a variety of faith traditions from Christianity and Buddhism to Rosicrucianism. By the late 1970s, the ever-dwindling group began to turn towards Orthodoxy with the guidance of Gleb “Fr Herman” Podmoshensky.

Gleb Podmoshensky giving a video lecture c.2000’s

With the allegations of sexual abuse reaching a crescendo, an investigation was finally launched by the ROCOR Western American Diocese leading to Podmoshenky’s suspension in 1984. Due to his obstructionist stance, and his refusal to give up the office of abbot, he was defrocked by ROCOR altogether in 1988 without issuing a decision on the underlying moral charges. Unwilling to accept his defrocking, he left the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia together with the inhabitants of Platina and was accepted into the jurisdiction of a schismatic, non-canonical sect called the “Greek Orthodox Missionary Archdiocese of America.” Monk Damascene Christensen, who wrote Fr Seraphim Rose’s biography, followed Gleb into schism, as did Monk Gerasim Eliel, who eventually became abbot of St Herman of Alaska monastery and brought it back under the canonical Serbian Orthodox church, and is now a bishop in the OCA (Bishop of Fort Worth, Texas). Even Podmoshensky was allowed back into communion, and received this relatively glowing obituary from Orthochristian: https://orthochristian.com/71886.html

Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev) of San Francisco. Originally a supporter of Fr Seraphim Rose and Fr Herman Podmoshensky, he later led an investigation against Fr Herman who deeply hurt and betrayed him.

In 2000, Herman Podmoshensky retired from his role as abbot of the Platina Monastery. He and the brethren of the monastery were then accepted into communion by the Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA. The ruling bishop, John (Mladenovic), recognized the defrocking of the former abbot Herman Podmoshensky as lawful. Podmoshensky lived out the remainder of his life in retirement at the St. Seraphim Skete near Minneapolis as a simple monk. For at least the last ten years, he suffered from Parkinson's disease and diabetes. He died on the morning of June 30, 2014, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at the age of eighty.

Podmoshensky shortly before his passing. He never expressed any sorrow for his child abuse and ROCOR has never revealed its true extent from the investigation in 1984. It is time for those investigation documents to be released.

No Justice or Accountability. The Coverup and the Whitewashing of History.

At no time during the Podmoshensky saga, did the ROCOR hierarchy bring any of the sexual abuse allegations to the attention of the police or child protection agencies. At this time, the culture of covering up clerical sexual abuse of children was at its height, not only in the Orthodox Church, but in all the other churches as well. Once the Western American Diocese had completed it’s investigation and suspended Podmoshensky, no further action was taken and it appears that ROCOR simply washed its hands of him.

Another matter of concern is that to the present day, there are some within the Orthodox community who do not even want to acknowledge Podmoshenky’s evil past as a pedophile and child sexual abuser and to some extent even want to rehabilitate his memory. A good example of this is the ROCOR Studies website run by Protodeacon Fr Andrei Psarev. ROCOR Studies still carries an interview conducted by Fr Andrei with Podmoshensky in 2014 https://www.rocorstudies.org/2015/03/14/monk-herman-podmoshenskii-children-of-an-age-of-martyrs/ .

In the interview, Fr Andrei makes no mention of Podmoshenky’s criminal past as a child predator and only states that:

Having become a “conscientious” [сознательный] member of the Russian Church Abroad, I judged Fr. Herman for the turmoil he caused, as a result of which he was defrocked by ROCOR in 1986.

And:

Suffice it to say that I know of the problems and accusations tied to his person.

And:

I wanted to highlight the loyalty (albeit obscured) he carried throughout his life to the ideal of beauty, about which he speaks in his interview.

How is it possible for an academic of Fr Andrei Psarev’s standing to simply write off Podmoshensky’s crimes as “turmoil” and “problems”? He even admits he knows of Podmoshensky’s past but insists on ignoring it because he wants to focus on his loyalty to beauty. It seems the main beauty that Podmoshensky had loyalty to was his perceived beauty of young boys! How can ROCOR ever confront its child abuse response problem when even senior ROCOR historians refuse to disclose the full and documented truth about the pedophiles and abusers within its ranks and omit mention of their evil crimes?

Incidentally, Fr Andrei also still has an interview with another, present day child abuser, Fr Matthew Williams, also still posted on his website without any mention of that individuals self-confessed crimes. Those crimes and their apparent coverup are outlined at rocorabuse.org. At the very least a trigger warning and preface at the beginning of the interview would be appropriate to indicate that this person is now facing serious child abuse charges. How can any historian claim to have any academic credibility if they only selectively publish certain facts and omit others they want to hide? Even more appropriate would be to remove interviews with these pedophiles altogether given the trauma they have caused.

The ROCOR Studies article that conveniently omits any mention of Fr Matthew Williams horrific and self-confessed child abuse.

On top of the ROCOR Studies whitewashing of Podmoshenky’s legacy, just as bad is the in-memoriam article by the Pravoslavie.ru website. Their article written after Podmoshenky’s passing in 2014, conveniently makes no mention of his crimes either and only states that after 1982:

Fr. Herman took a turn for the worse.

See the full article here: https://pravoslavie.ru/71886.html

Let that sink in and weep. He “took a turn for the worse”. You don’t say. It’s no wonder that ROCOR has a problem with its ability to respond appropriately to child sexual abuse when its historians and associated publications, go out of their way to hide the truth about pedophiles in the church and publish such laughable apologetics.

The pravoslavie.ru article that conveniently omits any mention of Podmoshenky’s child abuse.

Podmoshensky and Rosentool

The convicted Alexis Rosentool studied at Holy Trinity Seminary at Jordanville in 1969 while Podmoshensky finished there in 1962. It is unknown if they ever met or shared their common predilection of young boys with each other. What is certain however is there are many common factors including:

• A magnetic and charismatic personality they used to groom and brainwash their followers.

• Placing themselves as abbot (head) of a monastery in a remote location where they could carry out their abuse unhindered.

• A devoted following of supporters who are brainwashed and unable to see their guru’s crimes.

• In Podmoshenky’s case the drift into an actual cult, while in Rosentool’s the creation of his own cult.

• Their stubborn denial of their crimes, in Podmoshenky’s case, right up to the bitter end.

1984 and 2025. Podmoshensky (L) and Rosentool (R). 40 years apart but has anything really changed in ROCOR or does more of the same lie ahead?

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