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Theodore Nicholaevich Pashkovsky was born in the province of Kiev on [[February 6]], 1874. He was born into a [[priest]]ly family. He attended the Kiev Theological Seminary Preparatory School where he was noted as a disciplined and hard working student. The curing of a bone infection he developed while still a young student was to guide him in his future career. After doctors believed that the infection was not curable, prayers for the Theodore by the already famous John of Kronstadt, when he visited the school, resulted in a complete healing. In gratitude, Theodore vowed to become a [[novice]] at the Kiev [[Lavra]]. This he fulfilled in 1894. But, events would change this choice.
When Bishop [[Nicholas (Ziorov) of the Aleutians| Nicholas]] of the North American [[diocese]] visited the Lavra to recruit workers for his mission, Theodore was invited to America. He was assigned as the secretary of the mission administration after arriving in San Francisco in late 1894. Soon after he met and married a lady from the Serbian community. Then, on [[December 4]], 1897, he was ordained a priest following his earlier [[ordination]] as [[deacon]]. On June 20, 1900, his wife delivered him a son, Boris, who would be remembered during World War II as Colonel Boris Pash, the leader of the Alsos Mission in Europe under the ''Manhattan Project'' and as the Foreign Liaison Officer under General Douglas MacArthur during negotiations on the future of the [[Church of Japan|Japanese Orthodox Church]] in 1945-47.
When Archbishop Tikhon returned to Russia in 1906, Fr. Theodore accompanied him with his family and worked in the administration of the Warsaw-Vilna Diocese. During World War I, Fr. Theodore worked in the Famine Relief Program of the Young Men’s Christian Association on the Volga River. During these years in Russia he wife died.