The vigil lamp of church life in The Hermitage of The Holy Protection was lit in 1953, when in the Southern New Jersey village of Buena Vista a church community was established, consisting primarily of Russian Cossacks who could not conceive of life and activities without their Orthodox traditions, divine services and missionary outreach.
The community set out to build a small church in the style of Russian Church architecture with a full-fledged parish and liturgical life, to establish a church school and apportion land for a cemetery where any Orthodox Christian could find a place for his eternal rest in the shadow of the church domes.
Parish life progressively developed in this manner for many decades. The peace and tranquility of the surroundings of the church and, with time, the decreasing number of active parishioners, has led to the realization that this location is an ideal spot for the establishment of a small monastic community. The relative isolation and distance from the tumult of a secular city favor the development here of traditional Russian monastic life and inner prayer.
Thus, with the blessing of His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, in 2015 the parish of the Protection of the Mother of God was transformed into The Hermitage of The Holy Protection with the establishment there of a monastic brotherhood dedicated to St. Varlaam, Abbot of Hutin, the Wonderworker of Novgorod. Hieromonk Tikhon (Gayfudinov) was appointed superior of the newly-established hermitage.
The Hermitage of The Holy Protection welcomes all faithful worshippers who desire to pray and labor for the glory of God in this holy place, every person who sincerely seeks a tranquil prayer life.
The Hermitage Of The Holy Protection
333 Weymouth Road; Buena, NJ 08310