On Clean Monday, March 15, the first day of Great Lent, Archpriest Viktor Tseshkovsky, cleric of the Western American Diocese of ROCOR and rector of Protection of the Holy Virgin Church in Hollywood, CA, died suddenly at the age of 62.

Two of the three churches of the Russian tradition in Los Angeles are located in Hollywood. Of them, Protection of the Holy Virgin Church, where Fr. Viktor served, is closest to Hollywood’s landmarks.

Fr. Viktor was from the Kamenko-Dneprovsk region of the Zaporozhia Oblast (Province) in Ukraine, and during the decade between 1982-1992 he served as rector of St. Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Melitopol, Ukraine.

Fr. Viktor was drawn to the Church from an early age, loving the church and the divine services. All five sons of his parents became priests, his sister is married to a priest, and his nephews are priests. They all served in the Crimean and Dnepropetrovsk Dioceses, Ukraine.

Fr. Viktor served for a good deal of time abroad, first in Sweden, then at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in San Francisco, then in Canada as the rector of St. Barbara’s Cathedral in Edmonton, Alberta, and at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York City. He also served at church in Milan, Spain, and the Canary Islands. Over the last ten years, he served in the Russian Church Abroad: at New Kursk-Root Hermitage in Mahopac, NY, the Church of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in Brooklyn, and then at the Protection of the Holy Virgin Church in Hollywood.

“It would not be good for people to think that Orthodox Christianity is somehow alien to Hollywood, incompatible to it. Orthodox life is led here. Our parish is well organized and active. The parishioners of Hollywood are Russian artists, directors, athletes, creative professionals, and ordinary Russian émigrés from various parts of the former Soviet Union. On Sundays, we celebrate two Liturgies: an American priest serves in English, followed by a Slavonic Liturgy. Some 200 people partake of the Holy Eucharist at both services,” said Fr. Viktor.

Memory Eternal to the newly reposed Archpriest Viktor!