Faith • Grief • History • Hope
Faith • Grief • History • Hope
His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomewfrom his book, Encountering the Mystery In comparing monasticism to a vocation of freedom and love, the Orthodox Church closely relates it to the sacrament of marriage. Celibacy and marriage are not contrasted with each…
The Life of the True Monk Some weeks ago I change the image at the top of my Facebook page to the image that is at the top of this post. It is the Icon known as the Life of…
A monk is to be dead to the world, for by his very vocation he is called to be set apart, living a life in imitation of the angels. Whether he be praised or offended, a monk must react as…
St. Michael Orthodox Church and St. Columba of Iona Orthodox Monastery publishes the list of Divine Services during Great Lent. The schedule is printed below. Monday, Tuesday, Friday6:30 am ~ Midnight Office8:00 am ~ Canonical Hours (1st, 3rd, 6th)5:15 pm…
By Anneli Ahonen in Sosnovyi Bor/Halila On the former sanatorium estate of Halila, cheese is made using methods dating back to the Middle Ages. Orthodox Monk Gavriil is standing next to a huge bull in a cowshed, stroking its back.…
I have been writing about monastic topics for the last few years. I have been trying to develop a sense of what I have called the “new monasticism” although it is not really all that new. I say it is…
A petition has been started for the release of the Archimandrite Ephraim from prison in Greece. For background on this case click this link. I have printed the petition below and if you wish to add your name, as I did…
The monastic life is separated if you will into three parts; Prayer, Divine Reading, and Manual Labor. When I was a member of the Benedictine Community we often used the Benedictine phrase of Ora et Labora (Prayer and Work). Sometimes…
The Gospel was the daily bread of the desert solitaries. At the beginning of their monastic journey, as we see in the case of St. Antony the Great, the word of the Gospel was there to encourage them in their…
The Monastery Chicken Coop I have been offline since Saturday due to the very large snowstorm that hit New England over the weekend. We are used to snow here in the North East but not in October! I was honored…