Hieromonk Damascene Christensen

Aliases:
John Christensen

Hieromonk Damascene Christensen

Hieromonk Damascene Christensen was introduced to the Orthodox faith while a student at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). UCSC had an Orthodox student fellowship, founded by James Paffhausen, which was greatly influenced by Fr. Seraphim Rose and his writings.

Rose was a convert to Orthodoxy. He and the monastic brotherhood he co-founded with Fr. Herman Podmoshensky belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The brotherhood was headquartered in Platina, California.

Christensen came to live at the Platina monastery very shortly before Rose's death. He was also among the few monastics who remained with it after Podmoshensky was defrocked by ROCOR in 1988.

Along with another former member of the UCSC Orthodox Fellowship, Fr. Gerasim Eliel, Christensen followed the former priest into the Archdiocese of Vasiloupolis. The decimated brotherhood was then reconstitued with former members of the Holy Order of MANS.

In 2000, the brotherhood, including Christensen, was received into the Serbian Orthodox Church, and Eliel became the new abbot of the monastery.

Christensen is probably best known for his two biographies of Rose. Not of This World and Fr. Seraphim Rose. The monk also wrote Christ the Eternal Tao.