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His Grace, the Most Reverend '''Anthony (Grabbe) of New York''' was a retired [[bishop]] of the [[Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church]] during the latter part of the twentieth century, having earlier served with the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]] and a Greek True Orthodox Old Calendarist [[jurisdiction]].
==Life==
Count Alexei Georgievich Grabbe was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia on [[June 22]], 1926, the son of Count George Pavlovich Grabbe, the future Bishop [[Gregory (Grabbe) of Washington and Florida|Gregory]] of the [[Russian Orthodox Orthodox Church Outside of Russia]]. The Grabbe family was in Yugoslavia as refuges following the Bolshevik revolution in Russia. Alexei attended a Russian cadet school in Serbian town of Bela Crkva until it was closed by the invading Germans early in World War II. He then attended a Russian grammar school in Belgrade, Yugoslavia until he was conscripted into the pro-Nazi, anti-bolshevik force of the former Soviet General Andrei Vlasov.
Sent to a prisoner-of-war camp at the end of World War II awaiting reparation to the Soviet Union, Alexei was rescued by his brother Dmitri before his deportation. Reaching Munich, Germany, which was under American control, the two brothers joined their father George Grabbe who had move the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia to Munich from Yugoslavia to escape the communist takeover of Yugoslavia.
Over the years, Fr. Anthony was secretary to the monastery [[abbot]] Archbishop [[Vitaly (Maximenko) of Jersey City|Vitaly Maximenko]] and priest of the diocesan cathedral in New York City. There, he founded the [http://en.nycathedralofsign.org/stsergius_history.html St. Sergius High School], which he headed for nearly three decades. In 1962, he was awarded a [[Pectoral cross|Jeweled Cross]].
In 1968, Archimandrite Anthony was appointed head of the [[Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem ]] and the Orthodox Society of Palestine. For the next 15 years he was in charge of the key properties in the [[Holy Land]] in the care of the mission that was founded during the late nineteenth century. Fr. Anthony faced serious challenges trying to maintain control of property in the face of encroachments by the Israeli and Soviet governments. He won a court case against the Israeli government that had illegally transferred ownership of St. Mary Magdalene convent on the Mount of Olives and other property to the Moscow Patriarchate, forcing the State of Israeli to pay compensation of $7,000,000. In 1962, Fr. Anthony was raised to the dignity of archimandrite.
After his return to the United States in the 1980s, Fr. Anthony was forced to resign his position as church secretary due to rumors associated with a financial scandal. After a disagreement with the ROCOR hierarchy and failed attempts to regain links with the [[Church of Serbia|Serbian Orthodox Church]], Fr. Anthony joined a [[Old Calendarists|Greek True Orthodox jurisdiction]] jurisdiction in 1985. In 1996, he was [[consecration of a bishop|consecrated]] a bishop in New York. However, he was scarcely active as a bishop and soon retired.
In 2001, he joined the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church, that was led from the city of Suzdal in Russia by Bishop [[Valentine(Rusantsov)]]. This group had broken away from ROCOR after complaints of pro-Fascist sympathies among ROCOR followers and moves by ROCOR to rejoin the Moscow Patriarchatein mid 1990s. The Valentine group recognized the validity of Anthony's consecration as bishop and at his death he was its oldest bishop.
Bp. Anthony died in New York on [[September 12]], 2005. He was buried at Novo-Diveeyevo Convent in Spring Valley, New York.
[[Category: Bishops]]
[[Category:20th-21st-century bishops]]
