To Whom Much is Given…
On the cusp of Monday evening and Tuesday morning (April 9/March 27), at midnight, the Week of the Holy Cross, Great Lent 2013, two of the monastery’s Rassophore monks were tonsured to the Small Schema. Earlier that day, the Abbot had offered these words of exhortation and encouragement: “Today, brethren, I ask you to keep in prayer our brothers Martinian and Porphyry, who will be tonsured to the Small Schema after the night service. Remember that, at this time, the monk receives a unique grace for the living out of the Gospel. The Saviour grants great grace, but for the service...
Read MoreLove: Our Guideline for the Fast
This morning a small group of pilgrims arrived: a small but colorful group from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Minsk.. They had tea and spoke at some length with Fr. Joachim, and later joined us for the noon reading of the Hours and the synaxarion. They had numerous questions for Father: How do you see the Church in Russia? Which is your favorite community there? Did any one of those meet your expectations of the ideal set up, or location? Father shared his love and appreciation for Russia and also emphasized that no matter where you are, or which nation who happen to belong to, if you are Orthodox,...
Read MoreTalks on Russian Soil
Stretensky Monastery Press, Moscow, has just announced the publication of a new book: Talks on Russian Soil. It documents, in Russian translation, many of the spiritual conversations and lectures given by Schema-Archimandrite Joachim Parr in Russia. The publication traces meetings begun in the summer of 2011, when he began visiting the monasteries of Russia, speaking with and listening to the stories of monks and nuns, laymen and children. In the book’s Forward, Metropolitan Hilarion, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, writes, “He spoke to them about love: the...
Read MorePreparing for the Fast
Between despondency and gluttony, you can see how easy it is to get into the trap of pleasing self. Some people, for whatever weird reason, find obsessing on their misery to be a source of joy and pleasure. They often say they are suffering. But their suffering is caused by their approach to things. I say, stop obsessing and focusing on yourself. And their response is, “I can’t help it.” And the reality is, what they are saying is, “I don’t want to. I’ve chosen to think about it.” And most often, what they really don’t understand, is that by...
Read MorePriest Andrey’s Visit
Long-time friend and spiritual brother, Priest Andrey Kovalev arrived earlier this week for a short visit to the Monastery. It had been a few years since we’d seen him; in fact, the last time he was here, we were still in the early stages of restoring the old hay barn and converting it into our church. Much has happened since then, and it’s easy to see the projects that have been completed and the new things that have appeared: the church itself, landscaping work, the building of extensions for both a library and additional cells, the arrival of new novices… Fr. Andrey...
Read MorePulling Together on St. Nino’s Day
On the eve of the feast day of St. Nino, our beloved Parish in NYC gathered for the vigil service at Mercy House. Just before the service, we discovered that, due to frigid temperatures, one of the pipes in the boiler room had burst. By the end of the vigil, our ancient furnace finally gave up and also burst, creating the sounds of a waterfall in our basement. But, thanks to God, a friend of the parish came to our aid. It did mean, however, that the main water line had to be cut off, leaving us without facilities, and without heat — and late on Saturday evening! In our community,...
Read MoreModern-day Man
To modern-day Man, the Man of philosophical materialism, Man HIMSELF, is the standard of all things, HE is the prism through which all reality is passed; it is HE who judges and evaluates everything and everyone else on earth. To modern-day Man, the thought or the idea that there is an ultimate complete being, other than himself, is completely alien to him. Modern-day Man sees himself as the only judge of himself; therefore, there is nothing, there is NO ONE, that is able to restrain his passions or call him to accountability for his brother. If this is so, where does this all take the...
Read MoreSkete Feast 2012
On a perfect, sunny day in late August the parish congregated at our beloved Treadwell Abbey to celebrate the monastery’s feast of the Icon of the Savior Not-Made-By-Hands. We joined the Brotherhood of the monastery and parishioners from the surrounding neighbourhood in a joyous celebration of the feast, which began with the Divine Liturgy. This was followed by a sumptuous feast of culinary delights, which included delicious dishes prepared our Georgian parishioners and a monster of a fish caught somewhere near Brooklyn. There was so much food that a table had to be set up outdoors. Some of...
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