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Andrew Lvovich Chagovstov was born on [[March 10]], 1866, into the family of a village church [[reader]] in the Kharkov Eparchy. As a young boy he tended his father's sheep, but his intelligence and love for school did not go unnoticed. When his father died, leaving him as the eldest of five children, he was sent to a school for [[clergy]] children for eleven years. From there he was admitted to the Kharkov Theological [[Seminary]] from which he graduated with distinction in 1887. The same year he was [[ordination|ordained]] a [[deacon]] and then [[priest]].
His years in the seminary and thereafter are only vaguely known. He apparently married while in the seminary and was assigned as a priest to a village church in Kharkov. There is a question as to whether he had a son, but soon his wife died, probably about 1890, of an unknown cause. At some point later he was [[tonsure]]d a [[monk]] with the name Arseny, in honor of St. Arsenius of Konevits. But, his journey from his wife’s wife's death to his tonsure was a time of great anguish as he related in his elevation speech as [[Bishop]] of Winnipeg. In 1900, he was appointed [[Igumen]] (Abbot) of Kuriansk Monastery. Two years later he joined [[Tikhon of Moscow|Bp. Tikhon]] in America as he was a natural preacher with fluency in many Russian dialects, and thus, well suited to the American missionary scene. He was active among those returning from the Unia and served many communities after his arrival, including Troy, New York, and Mayfield and Simpson, Pennsylvania.
While he was active among the people, a dream of his came true when with the blessing of the then Abp. Tikhon, [[Hieromonk]] Arseny founded the St. Tikhon's Monastery and orphanage in the rural countryside near Carbondale and Mayfield, Pennsylvania at South Canaan. The Wagner farm was purchased for $2580 during the summer of 1905. On the day of its dedication, [[July 31]], 1905, a crowd on foot formed a [[pilgrimage]] walk of the ten miles through the mountains from Mayfield to the site of the new monastery. On the following [[May 30]], 1906, at the dedication of the [[chapel]] at the partially finished monastery building with Abp. Tikhon present, [[Raphael of Brooklyn|Bp. Raphael]] spoke of the hard work by Fr. Igumen Arseny for the realization of the monastery. When Fr. Arseny was named the superior of the monastery, the crowd answered loudly, "He is worthy." The anniversary of this dedication has become an annual Memorial Day pilgrimage to the monastery.
