Congress of Russian Americans

SINCE 1973

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CRA at the Festival of Nations in San Diego.

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By invitation of the organizers, Congress of Russian Americans participated in the Festival of Nations which took place in San Diego on November 7th, 2021. Organizer of the event  is the Club of Russian-American Culture Passport of Rotary International, and hosted this event for a second time. Representatives of 13 nations showcased the culture, food and traditions, each nation had a display and were invited to take stage at the parade of nations which included a short presentation of each nation and its cultural heritage and a performance which included folk dancing and singing. Over 3,000 guests attended the festivities which were held at the county park. CRA Board member Mr. Ivan Podvalov was invited to the stage and read a greeting on behalf of the CRA President which expressed gratitude to the organizers, and emphasized the importance of preserving national cultures and traditions. An interesting observation was made  that all members of the delegations shared one common aspect – Russian language.  IMG_4074 IMG_4094IMG_4103IMG_4130

Celebration of the appearance of the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Kazan (1579).

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On the 21st of July, the Orthodox Church celebrates the appearance of the Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Kazan (1579). The Kazan Icon of the Mother of God is the most famous and especially revered icon of the Virgin in Russia. The shrine is truly the guardian of Russia: the Blessed Holy Mother of God has repeatedly saved the country from catastrophe by prayers before Her Kazan image.
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In celebration of the manifestation of the miraculous Kazan’ Icon of the Mother of God, one of the most important in the history of Russia, the traditional celebrations on the occasion of the parish feast-day took place on Saturday, July 24th at the Our Lady of Kazan’ Church on Vacation Beach, a picturesque suburb of Guerneville on the Russian River. The Russian Orthodox people who immigrated to the San Francisco Bay Area decades ago fell in love with the region, which reminded them of the scenery of their homeland, and acquired summer homes in the area, so that before long a community of dachas was formed. The Our Lady of Kazan church had long held services each week during the summer months for the many vacationers at Russian River and is now one of the gems of the Russian Orthodox Bay Area community. Although enveloped in redwoods, not characteristic of Russia, the nearby river, the small dachas, many of which have planted birch trees in their yard have the feel of the outskirts of many such countryside regions of Russia.
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While the actual date of the Feast Day, according to new style calendar is on July 21, the feast was moved to the Saturday following, so that more worshipers could attend. Three bishops took part in the service: Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, Bishop Theodosy of Seattle, and Bishop James of Sonora. The service was concelebrated with Rev. Paul Volmensky (Holy Ascension Church, Sacramento) and Rev. Aleksey Bykon (St. Nicholas Cathedral, San Francisco) along with 4 Deacons: Peter Karakozoff (Holy Virgin Cathedral, San Francisco), Alexander Sarandinaki (All Russian Saints, Burlingame), Paul Kazachenko (St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Sunnyvale) and Nikolai Sharkov (St. Tikhon of Zadonsk, SF & local from the Kazan Vacation Beach church) and many devoted alter servers. In the small cozy church where the service was held, an atmosphere of prayer reigned, and everyone present here felt like a member of one large family – the Church of Christ.
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Especially moving was the church procession, led by 5 nuns, including Mother Macrina and the sisters of the Holy Assumption Monastery in Calistoga and Mother Gabriela (Vacation Beach) carrying banners, cross and icons and the worshipers, some singing along with the choir, led by Matushka Ioanna Sharkov. A special moleben was included to honor St. Olga, Equal of the Apostles, whose Saints Day was also commemorated that day. Not for many years, had so many faithful attended to celebrate the Feast Day of this intimate, welcoming beloved church.
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Afterwards, all were invited to share in the festal banquet, which was served outdoors with tables beautifully set, adorned with blue tablecloths and flower arrangements on each table under white canopies overhead providing comfortable shade from the summer sun. The banquet was organized by Natalie Sabelnik and her family with the help of some other locals, Kira Poluektov and her sister-in-law, Elena Poluektov, Maria Litvinova-Lysenko, Michael Menko, Aliona Russie and the invaluable assistance from Mother Gabriela. Many of the guests responded favorably by bringing a variety of dishes to share in the potluck lunch. The food table was overflowing with an array of salads, main dishes, side dishes, appetizers, breads, desserts and fruit. Especially touching was also how many young adults attended the service and lunch. St. John’s Russian Orthodox Youth group, coordinated by Olga Yakoubovsky (commemorating her Saint’s Day), also contributed much to the variety of food at the table. The youngest helper, 11-year old Anastasia Sarandinaki eagerly assisted in setting up, serving and cleaning up throughout the entire day.
 
Archbishop Kyrill thanked all who had helped organize the celebration, commenting on the unprecedented number of people (over 100) who came to share the feast together. He announced that the next service at the church would be held on Saturday, August 21 and invited all to come back for the service and the lunch. He also announced that Victoria Sabelnik, who helped with all aspects of the preparations, setup and cleanup, including all the floral decorations, would be the official coordinator of the luncheons (trapezas) from now on.
 
While the church has no sisterhood, no actual membership or dues, no permanent clergy, the entire celebration, including the abundance of pot luck food that was shared by the many attendees, locals and guests from neighboring parishes, the SF Bay Area, Sacramento and as far away as Bakersfield and Los Angeles. Much of the equipment and supplies for the Feast Day were sponsored and paid for by the Russian American Women’s League and the Congress of Russian Americans.
 
It seemed that the church had again survived trials during the past years, including the devastating effects of the pandemic, numerous disastrous floods and a surge of countless California wildfires and yet, has been miraculously strengthened, as services were again resurrected this year in May. One of the long-time residents of Russian River, Matushka Margarita Poluektov, whose husband, the late Rev. Alexey Poluektov was rector of the Our Lady of Kazan church in San Francisco (Feast Day commemorated November 4), commented how the Feast Day event this year “surpassed all her expectations”.  She said “it was like seeing some flowers or mushrooms spring up in a long forgotten place”.  

Congratulations to our 2020-2021 CRA Scholarship recipients.

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The year 2020-2021 brought many obstacles with the Covid-19 pandemic, the sheltering-in-place, closures, and schools coming to a grinding halt.  The educational difficulties of learning during the pandemic required children to adapt to new learning situations and pandemic-related accommodations including social distancing, face masks and a strong reliance on technology with on-line classes.IMG_3279 IMG_3284

Against the backdrop of  all these educational challenges and deterrents, our Russian American children were not only able to continue their education in American schools, but continued their online classes at Russian Schools throughout the U.S.   This year, Congress of Russian Americans was proud to present many of the Russian School graduates with certificates of achievements, congratulatory letters and special stipends for Gold and Silver recipients, as well as honorary CRA membership for 2021-22.   Awards were handed out by CRA directors or representatives in various schools including the Sts. Cyrill & Methodious Russian School in San Francisco and the All Russian Saints Russian School in Burlingame.
At the Sts.Peter & Paul church feast day, Congress of Russian Americans also gave out certificates of achievements, congratulatory letters and scholarships to two of this year’s recipients, Lizabella Nadelson, who will pursue her studies in medical and pharmaceutical chemistry education at the private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina and Alexander Vorobiov-Wilson, who was accepted to the software engineering department of the prestigious ITMO University in St.Petersburg, Russia.
We commend all our graduates in their hard work and accomplishments and wish all of them, as well as our scholarship recipients much success in your future endeavors!

Docu-series of interviews of families that fled from Crimea in 1920

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To observe the 100 year Great Exodus of White Russians from the Crimean Peninsula, Congress of Russian Americans produced a 4-part docu-series of interviews of descendants (and a few actual evacuees) of families that fled from Crimea in 1920.
Here are the links to
The remaining parts 3 and 4 are scheduled to be completed in 2021.   CRA gives special thanks to our sponsors, donors, participants and everyone (listed in the credits of the film) who took part in creating this commemorative docu-series.

70th anniversary of arrival of White Russian refugees from Tubabao to U.S.

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1950-1951 marks the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the three Military Sea Transport Ships that brought White Russian refugees from the island, Tubabao in the Philippines to the United States. The three
ships that arrived in San Francisco arrived on November 30, 1950,, January 25, 1951, and June 14, 1951.  Previous ships carried White Russian refugees that made the tent camp their home from 1949 to
other countries, including Australia, South America and Europe.  And some of refugees arrived either by ship or plane from Shanghai, Harbin and other cities of China, directly to the U.S.
With the blessing of Archbishop Kyrimage_67216385ill, a thanksgiving moleben was held on Sunday, January 24, 2021 at the Holy Virgin Cathedral by the relics of St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco after the liturgy.
It was available to view through livestreaming on the Cathedral’s website:   Livestream   http://sfsobor.tilda.ws/livestreaming
After World War II and the defeat of Japan, a full-scale civil war erupted between the Chinese communists led by revolutionary Mao Tse-Tung and the ruling republican party led by militarist, Chang Kai Tsek.
As it became ominously clear that Mao would soon undoubtedly take Shanghai, the White Russians, “stateless” since they no longer had valid “Imperial Russian” passports, and with no nation to shield them
from harm, as anti-communists, they would surely be persecuted by the Chinese communists.
Gregory K. Bologoff, a former Cossack colonel in the Tsar’s Imperial Army, managed to unify several ethnic groups of refugees within the Russian Emigre’ Association in Shanghai and planned their mass
departure.   Bologoff’s powerful leadership resulted in most of the white refugees to affirm their opposition to communism by refusing to accept Soviet citizenship and return to Russia, where they had already
heard from relatives and friends who did return, that life was not as it was before and there was dangerous times for them if they returned.   Bologoff sent letters appealing to the world’s free countries to grant
asylum to the refugees, indicating the imminent danger and great tragedy that was in their future if no help arrived.   Despite receiving letters of comfort and sympathy, no country offered to take any of them.
Then President of the Philippines, Elpidio Quirino, expressed a willingness to house the refugees.  Through the International Refugee Organization (IRO), as transient guests, the Philippines offered the nearly
6,000 White Russians (this included all the ethnic groups that were part of this evacuation) refuge in Tubabao, until arrangements could be made for their immigration to other countries. And thus, from 1949 to
1951, a camp was set-up by the refugees, with tents for family’s living quarters.  Several churches, converted from left-over US army buildings from WWII,  in various denominations held services.  Numerous
groups, founded in Shanghai, League of Russian American Women, All Cossacks Union, Cadets, Monarchists continued their active work.  Russian Scouts in great numbers, not only held their traditional
campfires, processions, they were instrumental in helping clear the brush in the over-grown jungle of Tubabao and build the camp.   IRO set up a school for all the children and youth on the island.  St.John of
Shanghai’s orphans from the St.Tichon’s Orphanage had also come to the island.  A band was organized and entertained residents of the island with weekly dances.  An orchestra, theater group, ballet, folk
dancers all played their part in entertaining the “White Russians”.

Tubabao - Bologoff with Vladyka Ioann
It was with great anticipation and joy that the refugees welcomed St. John of Shanghai to the island.  His prayers and blessings sustained the refugees with hope, and while some refugees were able to leave
the island in the beginning of 1950 to Australia, those that remained for nearly another year, remained optimistic that their prayers would be answered.   It was Vladyka Ioann (St. John of Shanghai and San
Francisco) that intervened on their behalf and appealed to the United States government to permit the remaining refugees to the U.S.  His holy prayers were answered when then-California Senator William
Knowland visited the Tubabao encampment in 1950 and upon returning to the U.S., introduced a bill to change the Displaced Person’s Act to allow the remainder of the refugees into the U.S.
With the passing of the bill, on November 30, 1950 on the Military Sea Transportation Service (MSTS) ship, USS General M. L. Hersey, 620 White Russian refugees arrived in San Francisco. The second ship,
USS General W. G. Haan arrived in SF on January 25, 1951 with another 1117 persons and the final ship of 490 arrived on June 14, 1951 (another 620 refugees came earlier on their own before the MSTS ships).
The remaining nearly 30 TB patients on Tubabao left the island in 1953 for France.  Thus ended the epoch time of the Tubabao refugee camp.
Special thanks to St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco for his holy prayers to accept the refugees to the U.S., to Colonel Ataman Gregory K. Bologoff for his tireless efforts in organizing the evacuation of the nearly
6000 emigres from China to safety and temporary asylum in Tubabao; to then-President Elpidio Quirino and the people of the Philippines for their hospitality, to Senator Knowland for his efforts in changing the bill
to allow entry to the U.S., to all the residents of Tubabao camp that made the camp a home, to the Russian-American community, already living in the U.S. and to the Russian Orthodox clergy in helping the refugees
in their introduction into a new life, finding jobs, finding accommodations, finding friendships in a new country, and to the United States for allowing us to call this country our home.

CRA is a proud sponsor of the “Virtual Yolka” in collaboration with the Russian-American Women’s League.

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Register today for our community’s first virtual ‘Yolka’ organized by Russian-American Women’s League on January 9, 2021 at 11 am.

With the Blessing of His Eminence, Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America, the children in our community have prepared a short program that they wish to share with everyone on Saturday, January 9th, 2021.
RAWL is gathering sponsors for this event to help raise funds for our Russian Life Newspaper in SF, which is celebrating its 100th year anniversary in 2021.
Our schools will be singing and dancing via Zoom, with special guests making appearances throughout the event. To register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJb100-HTbRaPOoSjVHijQ4ZtstBb1d4aLrcuqfKecB4Zy-w/viewform
To donate or support: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=BT6JGE8Z7TTUL&source=url