Labour as Prayer
Your
Convent helps many people. We pray that the Lord empowers you to keep up your
good work because it is helpful not only for them but also for your own souls.
Acts of mercy give us the hope for salvation. Your actions sometimes mean more
than prayer. Please continue this ministry. There are lots of people who have
lost their roots and foundation in life and are in need of your spiritual
support.
One day,
I was comforted by an example from the life of an elder. Crowds of pilgrims
pass his cell on their way up and down the Holy Mountain. He welcomes everyone
and never expels anyone. He believes that the Lord who sees his diligence and
good deeds will count them as part of his prayer.
We should
do everything with a great deal of love and self-sacrifice, sometimes even at
the expense of canons and prayer rules.
Obedience Is a Monastic’s Chief Virtue
A monk or
a nun must not have any personal desires. He or she must persevere in
obedience. Obedience makes up for everything else. Whatever your abbess or your
spiritual father say to you is a word from God. They are responsible for what
ensues.
When people
don’t obey, everything in their lives turns upside down, and they have to face
difficulties and hardships.
Sadly,
there is jealousy among sisters in some convents: why did they tonsure that
sister but not me? Why didn’t the abbess pay attention to me? Why does this
sister talk with the spiritual father more often than I do? and so on. Everyone
should mind their own business and do their own duties. You can fall into a
trap if you overlook it. Additionally, women are more emotional, which isn’t
good for spiritual life. Monks in monasteries have a calmer, colder attitude,
even if they have many shortcomings typical of humans, for we are all human,
and to err is human.
According
to the monastic charter, the abbot is prescribed to turn to the brethren after
the Compline and bow to them, and the brothers in turn bow to their abbot. This
is a wise tradition of our Church that requires monastics to ask each other for
forgiveness at the end of each day. After that, we can peacefully go to our
cells and pray.
I would
like to tell you about a miracle, which happened in the Holy Trinity Cell on
Mount Athos. There were seven monks from one family in that cell. There are old
monks today who used to know them personally. The seven monks were quarrelling
all the time. Everyone was amazed at that temptation that had befallen them.
One day, no one heard them again. It was strange, so all monks came together,
entered the church, and saw the brothers on their knees and dead. All seven
brothers! The monks realised that they had been asking each other for
forgiveness every day; the Lord took their lives at the moment when they were
asking each other for forgiveness on their knees. The Lord showed how powerful
it is when people forgive.
Even
though we are monks, we remain human. The feeling of a family is very important
in a monastery. We must not stick out or set ourselves apart. Only then will
the younger sisters, the novices, and the abbess alike feel fine.
Every
sister has her own talent. One sister complements the other.
It is
essential that all sisters gather to talk and to celebrate feasts together.
Everything must be as simple as possible.
May
everything in your Convent be simple and good!
Fragments of a Conversation with Monks from
St John Chrysostom Cell in the Skete of Holy Righteous Anna: Schema-Monk
Gabriel, Monk Chrysostomos, and Monk Leontius from The Karakallou Monastery
September 18, 2018
St. Elisabeth Convent
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
St. Elisabeth Convent
Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds
CONVERSATION