One of the most controversial figures in American Orthodoxy today, Fr. Herman was loved by many, but disregarded by others for his violation of Church canons and remaining in disobedience to his ecclesiastical superiors in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). He was defrocked by ROCOR in 1988. Fr. Herman’s missionary work continued, in fact bringing many people into the Orthodox faith.
Fr. Herman, born Gleb Dimitrievich Podmoshensky in Riga, Latvia, lost his father to the Communist camps. When the German army occupied Latvia during World War II, he fled with his mother and sister to Germany and the misery of being displaced persons. At age fourteen, he and his family went to the United States to be united with his grandmother, an accomplished ballet dancer, who had earlier immigrated to New York City. Gleb returned to the Orthodox faith of his ancestors as a young adult in America, and graduated from seminary at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York.
