An Orthodox Monastery Builds An American Tradition Deep In West Virginia
(ANALYSIS) There is nothing unusual about turning a corner in West Virginia's maze of rough mountain roads and seeing churches with plain white walls and big porches.
But the new sanctuary at the Hermitage of the Holy Cross — 10 miles of twists and turns into a holler outside the town of Wayne — offers a variation on that vision. Its green-metal roof has domes resembling medieval Russian helmets, topped with golden cupolas and soaring Slavic crosses.
“When you go to the monastery you begin to think that you're driving off the edge of the world, but then you come around the bend, and they've built this whole civilization up there,” said Andrew Gould, the Orthodox artist from Charleston, South Carolina, who designed this church for a compound of log cabins and rustic buildings.
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The goal was to blend Orthodox tradition and the simplicity of the local culture.
“We needed people to see this building and immediately say, ‘That’s a church. That’s a beautiful church.’ It is always my goal to design churches that are linked to Orthodox traditions but still look like churches to people here in America, even in Appalachia,” he said.
The church can hold 50 monks and 150 worshippers -- but the giant, wraparound porch can welcome twice that for feast-day celebrations and special events, especially on rainy mountain days.
“The porch was something we had in the plans, but it is serving a purpose greater than what we intended. It was something God intended,” said Abbot Gabriel, 39, a native of Appalachia who converted to Orthodoxy in 2007 and became a novice in 2011.
“The locals have become more and more comfortable with our presence” even if some may not enter the sanctuary, he said. “But gathering on a big porch for food and fellowship, that's different. That's what the locals do. That's mountain hospitality.”
The monastery was founded in 1986 by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, a self-governing body created by refugees from Soviet Russia. The services are primarily in English and all of the growing brotherhood's 28 priests, monks and novices are converts to Orthodoxy. Bible Belt accents are common.
The compound's guesthouses are booked months in advance and attract Orthodox believers as well as those considering conversion or even monastic vocations. Many regulars in worship are from families that have moved to the area to be close to the monastery.
It's a unique community in a state known for its struggles with rural poverty.
With the monks' flowing black robes and long beards, “it’s hard not to stand out when you have to go grocery shopping or go to the doctor or whatever we have to do in our interactions with the world,” said Hieromonk Basil in a video about the growth of the monastery.
The monks offer this message to neighbors: “We believe in Jesus, and we will pray for them.”
Gould said it would have been “neither affordable or appropriate” to try to build an ornate Russian cathedral in the West Virginia mountains. The sanctuary is built from concrete blocks, hand-plastered by local workers, and the roof and porch are wood-framed, crafted by Amish timber wrights from Pennsylvania. The domes are covered with thousands of diamond-shaped metal shingles, and the windows are glazed with handmade blown glass. The belltower contains real Russian bells -- donated by a supporter in Kansas.
Architecture is a powerful form of “liturgical art,” stressed Gould in a 2025 lecture for the Paideia Society, which focuses on Orthodox thought and culture. Thus, this Holy Cross project symbolizes many complex challenges facing growing Orthodox congregations in the United States.
“If Orthodoxy is to flourish, as it has flourished elsewhere, then it must acculturate here, also,” he explained. “What does American cultural heritage have to offer Orthodoxy? ... Do we go to Georgia to see 19th-century Russian Empire churches? Do we go to Greece to see modern concrete churches like those we might see anywhere in the world?”
While embracing the traditions and art of Orthodox lands around the world, said Gould, Orthodox Americans cannot offer God "a pale imitation" of Old Country architecture when building new sanctuaries for their growing flocks.
“Orthodoxy must worship within American culture. ... The public face of our churches must present a compelling vision of Orthodoxy united in America.”
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Terry Mattingly is Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at Saint Constantine College in Houston. He lives in Elizabethton, Tennessee, and writes Rational Sheep, a Substack newsletter on faith and mass media.