n the latest Valaam skete there lived only one
hermit, hieroschemamonk Ephrem (Khrobosov, in the
small schema Georgy; 1871-1947). At the age of
twelve he came to Valaam secretly and begged the
hegumen to let him stay with the brethren. After twelve
years of novitiate he took vows and in four years was
ordained. When he served in Moscow, he was invited as
a confessor to the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian
army, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolajevich. In late June,
1914, the Grand Duke with his family, followed by father
Georgy, visited Valaam when archbishop (later
Patriarch) Sergy was there, and suggested building a skete on
the Skitsky island, where twelve elders would
continuously read the Psalter in remembrance of the warriors
perished for their Faith, Tsar, and Motherland. The
construction work lasted from 1915 to 1917, the church
was designed by Grand Duke Peter Nikolajevich in the
style of ancient churches of Pskov and Novgorod. The
austere church had two helm-like domes. On June 24,
1917, archbishop Sergy consecrated it in honour of the
Smolensk icon of Our Lady because the Valaam icon
was not worshipped by all Orthodoxy.
Father Georgy did not forget the idea of the Grand
Duke. He settled in the skete and every day, starting at
five in the morning, prayed for the heroes perished in
the Great War. In 1919 he took vows of great schema. In
his modest cell he received pilgrims, and secretly made
his spiritual daughter, the Empress's maid of honour
Anna Vyrubova, a nun. God made him die far from
Valaam, evacuated to Finland. The Valaam icon of Our
Lady also came to Finland, and is currently one of the
most sacred things in the New Valaam monastery. The
Smolenskaya church is in ruins now, but the chapel has
been built anew.
Map of Valaam
