On Saturday, February 14, His Eminence Nicholas, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, officiated the Rite of Nomination of Archimandrite Michael (Crowley) as Bishop of Boston, vicar of the Eastern American Diocese, in Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, NY.

Serving alongside His Eminence were Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal & Canada and Bishops Luke of Syracuse and Spyridon of Toronto, the latter of whom was consecrated earlier in the week.

The rite of nomination was performed in accordance with the resolution of the Synod of Bishops of December 9, 2025.

Upon his nomination, Archimandrite Michael delivered the traditional address, the text of which is provided below.

After supper was served for the clergy, monastics, and pilgrims in the monastery refectory, All-Night Vigil for the great feast of the Meeting of the Lord and the Sunday of the Dread Judgement was served in the main Holy Trinity Cathedral. Bishop Spyridon led the Litia, while Metropolitan Nicholas – joined by Archbishop Gabriel, Bishop Spyridon, and a multitude of monastery and visiting clergy – led the Polyeleos and anointed the faithful. Bishop Luke heard confessions, while Fr. Michael prayed in the altar.

The choir sang beautifully under the direction of Deacon Nicholas Kotar.

The church was filled with pilgrims, many of whom came from St. Xenia Church in Methuen, MA – of which Fr. Michael is the rector – to be present for the consecration of their beloved pastor to the episcopate. Among those present were Fr. Michael’s five daughters and sons-in-law (including Priest Alexei Klar), and 17 grandchildren.

When the service concluded, all departed for their rooms and cells with joy and gratitude in their hearts, awaiting Divine Liturgy the following morning.

Address of Archimandrite Michael (Crowley) upon his Nomination as Bishop of Boston

Your Eminences, Metropolitan Nicholas!
Your Eminence, Archbishop Gabriel!
Your Grace, Bishop Luke!
Your Grace, Bishop Spyridon!

I stand before you humbled and in awe. To be elected to the episcopal ranks of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, to be received into the brotherhood of such esteemed persons as our Synod of Bishops, immediately serves to plunge me into the deepest reflection upon my unworthiness. "With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible" (Matt. 19:26).

For truly, I am a rich man. I was blessed with a right-believing wife, an unwavering partner in life and ministry to whom I was married for forty-two years. I am blessed with five daughters, dedicated to our family and the life of the Church. They in turn married five upstanding men, one now a priest, and four who converted to Holy Orthodoxy not only in form, but in spirit and in truth. I am blessed with seventeen grandchildren, eighteen if we count the angel taken from us by Heaven, who are as well embedded in the Church in both belief and practice. I am surrounded by a pious parish community who continue to bring me inspiration.

As my beloved matushka said the year before she was diagnosed with cancer, "How then might I be saved, having such a beautiful life?" She was then blessed with a two-year struggle that prepared her for her journey to Heaven.

I am blessed with a different struggle. "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt, 16:24). These words of our Savior strengthen and encourage me in this new journey.

I began as a restless youth. The religion into which I was born left me, and I left it, in my teenage years. At university during the turbulent years of the late 1960s, as many of my generation, I wanted the truth, to know the meaning of life. There were many temptations and false prophets beckoning in those years and soon after graduation I found myself immersed in a community of people, called the Holy Order of MANS, that claimed to be seeking the true Way of Jesus Christ. We endeavored to live and worship as the early Christians. But as with all things that spring from the world, this good intention was mixed with the corruption of heterodoxy and "New Age" thinking. We eventually became desperate as many of our naïve hopes crumbled before us. Then, by the grace of God, we came upon the writings of Hieromonk Seraphim (Rose) of blessed memory.

Immediately, we were filled with hope and renewed vigor. We would become Orthodox Christians and serve the Church. We studied, read the works of Fathers and Ascetics of the past, and were inspired. Unfortunately, there were again wolves in sheep’s clothing who would lead us down a false path. Without making excuse, I have to say that these were difficult times. We were ignorant, naïve products of American education, who had no idea how to make our way. There was no Internet. Information about Orthodoxy in English language was yet scarce. The Orthodox Church in our country was predominantly tucked away in ethnic communities speaking in foreign tongues.

Nevertheless, we continued to struggle, to read whatever we could find, to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He would save us.

Matushka and I, with four children and one on the way, fled to Maine. My brother, Fr. Brendan, was already living there serving a small mission. He could stay just one year after we arrived, leaving us with the mission and the desire to make things right. I took a Master’s degree at a local Protestant seminary, delving into the study of Scripture and Church History.

We were by then mostly estranged from the HOOM, already renamed Christ the Savior Brotherhood. We heard rumors of wrongdoing. Having been, in our ignorance, yoked to an un-canonical "bishop," we were in deep unrest. As rumors began circulating about his disgraceful behavior, past and present, we again were desperate to separate ourselves.

By the Grace of God, and the brotherly encouragement of my friend the Priest Basil of Saco, ME, I sought the advice of a holy elder, Ephraim of Philotheou. I explained my plight and he sent me to Bishop Hilarion of Manhattan, “He knows me, tell him I sent you.”

Bishop Hilarion welcomed us (my brother came with me) with open arms. He told me that if our little mission was agreeable, that he would receive us properly into the ROCOR, first by Chrismation and then by proper Ordination.

This was indeed life-changing for me, my family, and our small flock. We had all been inspired by ROCOR, especially by Hieromonk Seraphim, and now we were completely immersed in it. I was soon visited in Maine by both Fr. Elias Gorsky and Fr. Chad Williams, who helped us learn to serve correctly. We participated in all of the clergy conferences and retreats, where even more learning and brotherly embrace brought us help and healing. I was humbled and edified through meeting such luminaries as Bishop Mitrophan of Boston, and the many battle-tested priests who had survived persecution and dispersion from their homeland, serving faithfully in the midst of hardship.

I became close with the now Metropolitan Hilarion, asking God to give me the strength to never betray the trust he showed by taking a chance on bringing me in from the cold. I was able to travel Russia with His Eminence in 2014, visiting 50 churches and 26 monasteries in two weeks, always walking by his side as he translated to me in English so that I would understand the wonders we beheld. We were able to serve 9 liturgies in, as he said, "all the place you have read about," much to my wonder and delight.

My story is not that unique. It is one of a “stranger in a strange land,” a man in a supposed Christian country struggling to find the Truth of Christ. I firmly believe that I have found this in the ROCOR, in our esteemed Hierarchy, our dedicated clergy, and in our pious communities. I previously sought and failed, but like the prodigal of the parable I was lovingly received into the arms of the Father.

My story is an American story. I am an American, though perhaps a "Russian by adoption" as Metropolitan Vitaly of blessed memory referred to me. This land of my birth seems only now to be awakening to Orthodoxy. Since my ordination as a priest, and continuing forward nows as a bishop, I consider it my sacred duty to preach the Orthodox Faith, the fullness of the Christian Tradition, to all who have ears to hear.

There are, and have been, many false paths in our generation. I thank God every day that I was rescued from the hands of men and delivered into the hands of God. I thank God every day for the integrity and adherence to Holy Tradition that I have found in the ROCOR, and pledge to hold fast to that which has been delivered to me.

And what now? With the Holy Apostle Paul, I declare:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:19-20)

With faith and hope in the Triune God, and by His strength, I am delivered into your hands.

Amen.