The
birthday of the Sisterhood in honour of Holy Martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth
was a key event in the history of St Elisabeth Convent. The Sisterhood was
started in Ss Peter and Paul Cathedral in Minsk, where Father Andrew Lemeshonok
served.
On December 7th the Convent and our Sisterhood are one single whole, a united community of mercy.
It began with several sisters and Father Andrew Lemeshonok praying in the
psychiatric hospital. Currently, St Elisabeth Convent, together with the
hospitals and the boarding homes around it, prays for the entire world!
What we
can see today is the result of love, immense effort, selfless and truthful
ministry and prayers of Father Andrew Lemeshonok and the sisters. Our heavenly
patroness the Holy Martyr Grand Princess Elisabeth is our example. Each sister
prayerfully asks her for help. We have an Akathist to Saint Elisabeth in front
of her icon located in St Elisabeth Church every Sunday.
Our
school of sisters of mercy consists of joint prayer, conversations, and
confessions, weekly meetings of the Sisterhood, which make us interpret our
duties from the spiritual standpoint and grow spiritually.
There are
more than three hundred sisters who carry out various duties. Some of them have
visited hospitals and boarding homes for over two decades. Some work in church
shops and encounter humans with their pain. Some become visiting nurses and are
responsible for a certain disabled person. Some teach the youth.
Something
changes wherever a sister in a white robe comes: her prayer makes pain
disappear or at least feel less acute… The sisters prayerfully hope that there
will soon be a shelter for the elderly and the disabled near the Convent, where
they will live and receive proper assistance and spiritual care.
December
7, 2017
St. Elisabeth Convent
CONVERSATION