Fr. Alexii Altschul

Abbot of Holy Archangel Michael and All Angels Skete

Project: The Church of the Holy Archangel Michael and All Angels

On November 7, 2022, a devastating fire destroyed the chapel of Holy Archangel Michael and All Angels Skete. In the aftermath of this tragedy, we faced the necessary but daunting task of rebuilding and designing a new, more spacious church for our community.

Our vision was to build a traditional, solid limestone church—a true load-bearing structural stone edifice, rather than a modern building simply covered in stone veneer. This proved to be a significant challenge. The tradition of constructing structural stone churches has largely faded in the United States, and we could not find a local architect willing or able to take on such a project.

We were truly blessed to connect with Aleksandr. As an outstanding architect, scholar, and historian, he possesses a profound and precise understanding of Orthodox architectural traditions. Aleksandr approached our project with exceptional professionalism and delivered work of the highest quality. He masterfully organized both the interior space and the exterior, faithfully rooting the design in the authentic traditions of ancient Serbian monastic architecture.

The excellence of his work was immediately evident. When we presented the project to our Metropolitan, the design was approved on the very first review without a single revision. We received the archpastoral blessing to construct the church exactly as Aleksandr had envisioned it.

I thank God that we had the opportunity to work with Aleksandr. He is an incredibly reliable person and a specialist of the highest caliber. I wholeheartedly recommend him to any community seeking an architect who truly understands and can flawlessly execute complex, traditional ecclesiastical architecture.

In Christ,

Hieromonk Alexii (Altschul) Abbot, Holy Archangel Michael and All Angels Skete