The Catalog of Good Deeds: Monasticism

Showing posts with label Monasticism. Show all posts

March 13, 1876

Greetings, sister in Christ, dear Mother T.! I congratulate you on accepting the holy and angelic image. Do you know that this image is the symbol of betrothal with Jesus, the Heavenly Bridegroom? For it is sung in the troparion to a martyr, “I love You, my Bridegroom”, and for every nun is a martyr, remember, to Whom you are betrothed!

You ask me for guidance and advice on what you should do in order not to deviate from your path? Start with humility. Then do with humility and finish with humility. Thus you will reach holiness. This path, the path of humility, is the safest one. Holy Fathers say, this path just “prevent you from falling down. Where can a humble one fall, when he considers himself worse than anyone?” So, how can we not be humble, when Christ, the God of gods and the Lord of lords, humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8)? The astonishment of angels, the most beautiful of all sons of the humankind, died a shameful death for us; how dare we, weak and sinful, reject to admit our sins and weaknesses?

What concerns high thoughts: avoid them like the plague. “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). “And the heavens are not pure in His sight” (Job 15:15). And Prophet Isaiah said long ago what any our truth is: “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6).

You ask how can one follow his way? Listen not to me, a filthy man, but to the Eternal Truth Itself: “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:62).

It means that anyone who is going to reach the Kingdom of Heaven, must not recall their high virtues – and especially their high thoughts – but must look at the feats and glory of saints. Let us stick to them! But you should look at your own weaknesses and sins and remember about the possible future torments of a soul – then you will not sin.

Peace to you, mother T.

– Sinful Hieromonk Anatoliy

Although the Orthodox Church does not have religious orders as the Latin (Roman Catholic) church does, there are different styles of monastic life in Orthodoxy, both individually and in community. Generally speaking some monasteries may be more liturgical oriented, while others may be mores ascetic, while still other may have a certain mystical tradition, and other be more inclined to spiritual guidance and openness to the world for the purpose of care and counseling. These various styles of monasticism, which take both a personal as well as a corporate form, are not formally predetermined or officially legislated. They are the result of organic development under the living grace of God.

In addition to the various spiritual styles of monastic life, three formal types of organization may be mentioned. The first is that of coenobitic communion. In the coenobitic monastery everything is shared: living quarters, food, work, prayer, common efforts, cares, struggles, and achievements. The leader and spiritual father of the coenobium is the Abbot (Egoumenos). The exhortation to the Abbot in the Charter of St. Athanasius the Athonite is typical: "Take care that the brethren have everything in common. No one must own as much as a needle. Your body and soul shall be your own, and nothing else. Everything must be shared equally with love between all your spiritual children, brethren and fathers." The second form is called idiorhythmic in which the monks or nuns pray together liturgically, but work and eat individually or in small groups. In this type of monasticim the persons may even psalmodize and do the offices separately, coming together only for the Eucharistic Liturgy, and even then, perhaps, only on certain occasions. Finally, there is the eremitic type of monasticism where the individual monks or nuns are actually hermits, also called anchorites or recluses. They live in total individual seclusion and never join in the liturgical prayer of the community, except again perhaps on the most solemn occasions. In the rarest of cases it may even happen that the holy Eucharist is brought to the monk or nun who remains perpetually alone.

The Monastic Ranks

The Orthodox monastic tradition has four classic ranks that apply equally to men and women. The first step is that of novice (Greek:δόκιμος), which in church terminology is called the rank of obedience. At this first stage the candidate for monastic profession simply lives in the monastery under the direction of a spiritual father or mother. There is no formal ceremony for the clothing of a novice, he or she simply receives permission to wear the clothing of a novice. In the Eastern monastic tradition, novices, may or may not dress in the black inner cassock (Greek: Anterion [Αντερίον], Esorason [Εσώρασον], Slavonic: Podriasnik) and wear the soft monastic hat (Greek: Skoufos, Slavonic:Skufia), depending on the tradition of the local community, and in accordance to the Abbot's directives. In some communities, the novice also wears the leather belt. Monks are given a prayer rope and instructed in the use of the Jesus Prayer.

If a novice chooses to leave during the period of the novitiate, no penalty is incurred. He may also be asked to leave at any time if his behavior does not conform to the monastic life, or if the superior discerns that he is not called to monasticism. When the Abbot or Abbess(Egoumenos or Egoumenissa) deems the novice is ready, he is asked if he wishes to join the monastery. Some, out of humility, will choose to remain novices all their lives. Every stage of the monastic life must be entered into voluntarily.

Rasophore (Greek: ρασοφόρος, rasophoros; Slavonic: ryasofor), lit. "Robe-bearer"-- If the novice continues on to become a monk, he is clothed in the first degree of monasticism at a service at which he receives the tonsure. Although there are no formal vows made at this point, the candidate is normally required to affirm his commitment to persevere in the monastic life. The Abbot (Egoumenos) will then perform the tonsure, cutting a small amount of hair from four spots on the head, forming a cross. He is then given the outer robe with wide sleeves, from which the name Rassophoros is derived. He is also given a kamilavkion, a cylindrical brimless hat, which is covered with a veil called an epanokamelavkion. (These are separate items in the Greek tradition; in the Russian tradition the two are stitched together and collectively called a klobuk.) If he has not previously received it, a leather belt is fastened around his waist. His habit is usually black, signifying that he is now dead to the world and he receives a new name.

Although the Rassophoros does not make formal vows, he is still morally obligated to continue in the monastic estate for the rest of his life. Some will remain Rossophoroi permanently without going on to the higher degrees.

Stavrophore (Greek: σταυροφόρος, stavrophoros; Slavonic: krestonosets), lit. "Cross-bearer"--- The next level for Eastern Orthodox monastics takes place some years after when the Abbot (Egoumenos) feels the monk has reached an appropriate level of discipline, dedication and humility. This degree is also known as the Little Schema, and is thought of as a "betrothal" to the Great Schema. At this stage, the monk makes formal vows of stability of place, chastity, obedience and poverty. Then he is tonsured and clothed in the habit, which in addition to that worn by the Rassophoroi, include the paramandyas (Greek: παραμανδύας; Slavonic: paraman), a piece of square cloth worn on the back, embroidered with the instruments of the Passion, and connected by ties to a wooden cross worn over the heart. The paramandyas represents the yoke of Christ. Because of this addition he is now called Stavrophoros, or Cross-bearer. He is also given a wooden hand cross (or "profession cross"), which he should keep in his icon corner, and a beeswax candle, symbolic of monastic vigilance the sacrificing of himself for God. He will be buried holding the cross, and the candle will be burned at his funeral. In the Slavonic practice, the Stavrophore also wears the monastic mantle, which symbolizes 40 days of the Lord's fasting on the Mountain of Temptation. The rasson worn by the Stavrophore is more ample than that worn by the Rassophore.

After the ceremony, the newly-tonsured Stavrophore will remain in vigil in the church for five days, refraining from all work, except spiritual reading. Currently, this vigil is often reduced to three days. The Egoumenos (Abbot) increases the Stavrophore monk's prayer rule, allows a more strict personal ascetic practice, and gives the monk more responsibility.

Great Schema

Great Schema (Greek: μεγαλόσχημος, megaloschemos; Slavonic: Schima)--Monks whose Egoumenoi (Abbots) feel they have reached a high level of spiritual excellence reach the final stage, called the Great Schema. The tonsure of a Schemamonk or Schemanun follows the same format as the Stavrophore, and he makes the same vows and is tonsured in the same manner. But in addition to all the garments worn by the Stavrophore, he is given the analavos (Slavonic: analav) which is the article of monastic vesture emblematic of the Great Schema. For this reason, the analavos itself is sometimes itself called the "Great Schema." It drapes over the shoulders and hangs down in front and in back, with the front portion somewhat longer, and is embroidered with the instruments of the Passion and the Trisagion (i.e., the Cross of Calvary, spear, reed, sponge, skull and Adam's cross-bones and Peter's cock.) The Greek form does not have a hood, the Slavonic form has a hood and lappets on the shoulders, so that the garment forms a large cross covering the monk's shoulders, chest, and back. Another piece added is the Polystavrion (Πολυσταύριον, "Many Crosses"), which consists of a cord with a number of small crosses plaited into it. The polystavrion forms a yoke around the monk and serves to hold the analavos in place, and reminds the monastic that he is bound to Christ and that his arms are no longer fit for worldly activities, but that he must labor only for the Kingdom of Heaven. Among the Greeks, the mantle is added at this stage. The paramandyas of the Megaloschemos is larger than that of the Stavrophoros, and if he wears the klobuk, it is of a distinctive thimble shape, called a koukoulion, the veil of which is usually embroidered with crosses.

The Schemamonk also shall remain some days in vigil in the church. On the eighth day after Tonsure, there is a special service for the "Removal of the Koukoulion".

In some monastic traditions the Great Schema is never given or is only given to monks and nuns on their death bed, while in others, e.g., the cenobitic monastaries on Mount Athos, it is common to tonsure a monastic into the Great Schema only 3 years after commencing the monastic life.

In Russia and some other traditions, when a bearer of some monastic title acquires the Great Schema, his title incorporates the word "schema". For example, a hieromonk of Great Schema is called hieroschemamonk, archimandrite becomes schema-archimandrite, hegumen - schema-hegumen, etc.

[The Orthodox attitude towards monasticism is best summed up in the collect of the Prodigal Son with which the ceremony of profession opens: (The monk here is a penitent,)

Make haste to open Thy Fatherly arms Unto me who have wasted my life like the prodigal Despise not a heart now grown poor O Savior, Who hast before Thine eyes The boundless riches of Thy mercies. For unto Thee, O Lord, in compunction do I cry: O Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee.

[and the verse which is chanted during the clothing: (The monk here is the betrothed of God.)

My soul shall rejoice in the Lord; for He hath Put on me the garment of salvation, and with the Tunic of gladness hath he clothed me. He hath put Upon me a crown as upon a bridegroom, and as a Bride hath he adorned me with an ornament.

In the Orthodox Tradition there is no prescribed length of time that a person must remain in one or another of the monastic ranks. This is so because of the radically personal character of the vocation. Thus, some persons may progress rapidly to profession, while others may take years, and still others may never be formally professed while still remaining within the monastic community. The decision in these matters is made individually in each case by the spiritual director and the head of the community.

All Christians are obligated to keep the Lord's commandments, but this requires effort. Fallen human nature, enslaved by its passions is reluctant to fulfill this obligation. It seeks pleasure and avoids the pain involved in fighting the passions and selfishness. The monastic life is so arranged as to facilitate this work. On the other hand the worldly life, particularly in our secular society, makes it harder to be an ascetic. The problem for the Christian in the world is that he is called upon to reach the same goal under adverse conditions.

Source: http://saintandrewgoc.org/home/2012/5/2/types-of-monasticism-in-the-orthodox-church.html

The priest looked out of the altar, checking to see if the choir director was ready to begin the hours before the Divine Liturgy. Just as he was ready to say, «Blessed is our God,» his newest convert, Bill, made a grand entrance into the church, having just gotten back from his latest pilgrimage to another monastery. Bill—or Vasili, as he now insisted on being called—had been a normal young evangelical convert, clean-cut, single, and working his first job out of college. Then he discovered Orthodoxy in a bookstore, and with great zeal embraced the Faith. He was chrismated after a usual six-month catechumenate, during which he read just about every book in print on the Orthodox Faith.

After a year or so, Bill had decided to go visit monasteries. This is where his change began. He became more pious and more serious about his faith, but also started to become, well, weird. Like this Sunday morning. Bill/Vasili was not content to come in like everyone else. Rather, prayer ropes flying from his wrists, he made grand bows at the entrance to the nave, and again, the entire congregation watching, with a flourish prostrated before virtually every icon in the church. It was such a display that no one listened to the hours.

Then, just before the time the Liturgy should have begun, Bill came up to the door of the altar and announced he must have confession, or he’d be in big trouble with the holy elders. Father, being patient with zealous youths, went to hear the confession.

«I am the worst of all sinners!» Bill began as usual. Then he read his list, only four pages this morning. «And I only could do two hundred prostrations, not my usual three hundred, and only read four akathists, so I am not fully prepared for communion,» he said. «Besides, I just had to have a cup of coffee, but since everyone else does anyway, can I still go to communion?»

The priest had heard it all before. What does one say? «You did all those prayers, and still had to have a cup of coffee?»

«Well, the Elder said I had to do the prayers, but I couldn’t stay awake to finish them all. So I had some coffee. But doesn’t everyone in this jurisdiction even have breakfast before Liturgy? I heard that Bishop So-and-so even had coffee with those godless Catholics right before Liturgy. Besides, it was at three a.m. when I had the coffee, and it’s almost ten now.»

A little after, thought the priest. «Why didn’t you start your rule a little earlier?»

«Well, the book I just read said it must only be done after midnight, as that is the time to battle demons. Besides, Madonna was on ‘Saturday Night Live.’ Uh . . . the video clips of hers really led me into a big temptation … so I did all those prostrations.»

Father really did not know what to address first. «Father,» Bill asked, «don’t you think it’s time to start being more traditional, to get rid of those paraffin candles and use real beeswax? It is more Orthodox. It really bothers me that the choir reads half the texts of the vigil, instead of singing them, like last night. And on the wrong calendar too. It took me three hours just to repeat the vigil on the right calendar! I’m afraid I am going to have to find another jurisdiction that is more Orthodox. Am I the only one in this parish who knows how to do things right? Besides, I have invited my Elder to meet you, and he’ll set you straight on all this stuff. He told me we have to do everything correctly, like they do it, otherwise we’ll all burn in hell.»

Father was losing patience, looking at his watch, 10:20 and counting. «Okay, Vasili, look, there are a number of issues here, and we need to talk about them, but not while the whole church is waiting for you to finish. When did you go to confession last?»

«Yesterday, at the monastery. I think I have finally found a spiritual father worthy of my obedience.»

«And who is he?»

«Fr. So-and-so, from the monastery in the mountains. He is coming to serve with you next Sunday.»

«Bill . . .»

«Vasili.»

«Okay, Vasili, then. That guy was defrocked years ago. I can’t serve with him! Who gave you a blessing to go see him? Much less submit yourself to him? Much less invite him here?»

«Oh, so you too are continuing to persecute that righteous man! I know in my heart he is truly Orthodox! Besides he baptized me yesterday, making up for what you did not do by chrismating me. Actually,» getting excited, «why am I here anyway? I should really go be with him as the true criterion of Orthodoxy. . . Not in this modernist, ecumenist jurisdiction. My spiritual father may have been defrocked, but he is obedient to God, not those godless bishops! I know it because I feel it in my heart. ..»

«So,» said Father, rather irritated, «why do you want to go to communion here anyway?»

«What! You would deny me my right to go to communion!» he whined, as he stormed out.

Monastery Life Vs. Parish Life

This story is a rather extreme, but not entirely uncommon, example of what can go wrong when laypeople—especially those who are spiritually immature— take to visiting monasteries for the wrong reasons and in the wrong spirit.

The growth of monasteries in North America over the past thirty years, and especially in the past five years, has brought about a tremendous opportunity for faithful Orthodox Christians to visit monasteries as pilgrims and be exposed to monastic tradition. A monastery, among other things, is a place which practices the liturgical and spiritual life in a maximalist way. This maximalism is expressed in a number of ways, including long, full services, strict ascetic discipline, and very conservative attitudes in everything from language, style, and dress to how one conducts one’s personal life. Many confuse monastic maximalism and conservatism with a kind of reactionary ethnic agenda. This is a great mistake, however.

The monasteries incarnate Orthodox culture, regardless of what ethnic flavor it may have. It is the timeless, universal (Catholic) culture passed on by the holy fathers and mothers of the Orthodox Church, through personal discipleship and obedience. The monastic culture is nothing other than obedience to the Gospel, through discipleship to our spiritual fathers, who convey the tradition of how to live out the Gospel in its fullness. To visit an Orthodox monastery is not just to visit that particular community in that place at that time. It is to enter into that living Christian culture which has been handed over from generation to generation by the holy fathers.

Monasticism, the way of repentance, is a radically different way of life from living in the world, with a family, a job, and in a parish. Parishes are the front lines of where the Church meets the world, where a culture is sanctified and transformed by the Gospel. People lead busy lives in the world, and are not able to lead as active a liturgical life as in a monastery. Parish life seldom is and often cannot be maximalist in ethos. Yet a parish is not a compromise, a second-class way of being a Christian. Being a Christian in the world is taking the Gospel to the world, and living and witnessing to Christ while participating fully and actively in the culture. This is a very high calling!

Monastics have a different calling: to be «not of this world,» and to structure their lives solely by the Gospel, and by the traditions of the Church, especially the liturgical cycles. It is very important to remember that there is no difference between the services prescribed for a parish and those of a monastery. There is no difference in the rules of fasting, prayer, or piety. The main difference is that people in parishes are engaged in the world, and monks are not. The monasteries are critically important to the life of the parishes: they constitute the reservoir of the living Tradition, in its purity, where people can experience the Gospel lived out in a radical way. Monasticism can inform their lives, inspire faithful laity to greater dedication of their lives to Christ and the Gospel, and provide a place of healing and spiritual consolation.

But as Bill/Vasili’s story illustrates, there are also some great temptations that people can fall into in visiting monasteries. These temptations are all centered around spiritual pride, and the prelest (delusion) which can go along with it.

1. The Trap of Spiritual Pride

Spiritual pride is an easy trap for those new to the faith, who are newly exposed to monastic life, and who are seeking and striving to live an authentic Orthodox spiritual life. It can especially be a trap for those visiting monasteries, seeking spiritual direction, and not knowing what an authentic Orthodox life in the world, in a parish, is all about.

Faithful people go to monasteries, and see people’s piety and how things are done in that monastic tradition, and want to emulate it—but without understanding it. Pilgrims go and encounter spiritual elders and monks who live lives which, in their view, are more «spiritual» than that of their own parish priest—so they judge him as inadequate to fit their spiritual needs. They go to confession, develop a spiritual relationship with a spiritual father or mother in a monastery, and think that theirs is the only way to salvation. They receive spiritual direction which they may interpret wrongly. Sometimes, people just get some bad advice, and uncritically turn it into the ultimate criterion of spiritual life. And sometimes people will go to a monastery or spiritual father who has been disciplined by the Church, and disregarded the discipline. Then the pilgrim-turned-disciple gets caught up in the self-justification of the errant elder, which in some cases has created a schism.

Excessive external piety, false humility, preoccupation with gossip and «issues» in the life of the Church, judging people on their piety or stance in these issues, complete assurance that one knows exactly how things should be done, and perhaps most dangerous of all, idolizing a person or place as the ultimate criterion of Orthodoxy, can all be symptoms of this malady. They are all aspects of spiritual immaturity. What is missing in all this is Christ and the real spiritual struggle with oneself.

2. Excessive Piety

Zeal for Christ and the Church are great and wonderful things; but authentic zeal is very different from a zeal that comes from one’s passions. Carnal zeal always has some element of self-gratification or self-centeredness, by which one justifies oneself as truly Orthodox, truly pious, and «in the know.» Authentic zeal is not directed towards anything but union in Christ, or against anything but one’s own fallenness. With true zeal, there is no hypocrisy. False zeal, the delusion of spiritual pride and conceit, is always hypocritical.

Piety is an important way of personalizing the experience and mystery of the faith. Bowing, making the sign of the cross, behaving reverently, and all the other forms given to us by the Tradition are very useful in this. But they are never to be used except to express one’s own love for God. They should never be used to «teach» others who are doing things «wrong,» or to try to «convict» people of their impiety; much less, to show others that «I know how to do things ‘right’.» In many monasteries, the rules for external expression of piety— bowing, crossing oneself, prostrations, and so forth—are observed very carefully; in parishes, however, they often are not. One should never attract attention to oneself through external piety. That only feeds the pride and self-centeredness that is in us, and distracts other people from their prayers.

The rules of fasting also fall into this category. Monasteries generally follow the rules quite strictly. And there is no difference whatsoever in the rules for fasting between monks and laity. That does not mean, however, that one should ever judge another, much less comment, on how someone fasts or doesn’t fast. Not only is it usually hypocritical, but it misses the point. Fasting, and all the other rules of the Church, are a means and not an end. If we fast, and feel proud about it, and condemn another for not being so strict, it would have been better for us if we had not fasted at all (Romans 14:3 ff).

The same rule applies to the liturgical life of the Church. Monasteries, by their very constitution, serve the liturgical services very fully and according to the ancient St. Sabbas Typikon. Services can go on for hours and hours, sometimes, and occupy a major proportion of each day. There is no difference whatever, at least in the Slavic traditions, in the services prescribed for monasteries and those for parishes. For a pilgrim to a monastery, while at first the services may seem a real chore, and too long, eventually they grow on you, and you want nothing else. Parish services, abbreviated out of pastoral necessity, can seem incomplete.

There are a couple of temptations here. The first is to think that the monasteries are doing it «right,» while the parish is doing it «wrong.» The second temptation is to think that there is not as much grace in the parish services, and that the services and liturgical/spiritual life are not being taken seriously. This inevitably leads to judging the parish priest as less «spiritual» and lazy because he cuts the services. Little do we remember that at our first monastic services we were the first to sit down when we had a chance, and glance at our watches every five minutes, wondering if and when it was ever going to end! Parishes abbreviate out of pastoral necessity, and at the discretion of the pastor. One must not judge a priest or parish when they are doing all they can!

3. Judgmentalism

The biggest sin is to judge some one, especially the priest. The standard we set for the priest is usually impossibly high, something we ourselves could never live up to. Thus, any such judgment is immediately hypocrisy. The life of a parish priest is very different, filled with completely different cares, concerns, and responsibilities, from that of a priestmonk in a monastery. The laity see very little of the actual life of their priest. Many think he only works for two hours on Sundays! But to be a pastor is actually an eighty-plus-hour-a-week job. How can the laity judge him? And especially his «spirituality»?

The priestmonk may appear to be more «spiritual» because he is in church for six or eight hours a day, and has few other responsibilities. Try to do that with a family, and dozens or hundreds of parishioners to serve! The asceticism of being in the world and serving Christ, whether as priest or layperson, is equally as great as that of a monk in a monastery. It takes as profound a «spirituality» to do it. But the details will differ with the circumstances.

4. Abuse of Spiritual Guidance

Often people will go to monasteries for spiritual guidance and confession. It is a venerable and ancient Orthodox tradition to have a priestmonk in a monastery as a spiritual father, and to submit one’s life to him. Sometimes people will go to a great elder, mostly for the big questions in life. It is also true that some people will connect better with their parish priest than others. This should be supported by the parish clergy.

If the Church is a spiritual hospital, the monasteries are the intensive care wards, with the specialists. You don’t go to a family doctor for cancer; but you also don’t go to a neurosurgeon for a cold. The great elders are those specialists who through years of ascetic purification and experience know how to deal with many of the big questions in life that people bring. Many have great spiritual gifts. Many do not. Most monastics are not elders by any stretch of the imagination. This does not compromise their ability to serve as confessor, consoler, and spiritual father. Whether it is a parish priest, a priestmonk, an eldress, or a great elder, the source of the advice and consolation is ultimately the same: God.

A true elder is one who always leaves a person with a profound sense of freedom, even when he reveals to a person the will of God. There is never any manipulation or personal agenda. The elder simply wants the salvation of the person, and is a vessel for him of God’s love and forgiveness. The great temptation is to idolize the elder, and even substitute him/her for Christ. A personality cult leads to the destruction of both the elder and the disciples.

Obedience is very important in the spiritual life. Obedience, however, is always within certain boundaries. It can never involve doing what is illegal or immoral. True spiritual obedience has one end: to lead us to obedience to God. It is always within the Church, always toward a more profound level of communion, both ecclesially and personally.

A great temptation, especially for Americans, is to try to find an elder (read also priest or bishop) who is «worthy of my obedience.» This is complete spiritual pride and delusion. We may think that we need a great elder, only the best, to submit ourselves to, because only such a gifted one could understand us, and «I could only associate myself with someone who could recognize and develop my unique potential.» This is presumption, conceit, and arrogance, presuming oneself to be on the highest of spiritual planes. In reality, especially if we have such an attitude, the last person we would be able to deal with would be a great elder of profound spiritual life, who would quickly cut us down to size. Our pride could not handle that, and we would disregard his advice—even, paradoxically, if what he advises would be the best thing for us.

5. Ecclesiastical Gossip

A last great temptation is to get involved in gossip about people, places, practices, and especially the «issues» confronting the Church. Whether it is who is doing what, how they serve this or that service and with whom, or the like, which is all gossip; or whether it involves the greater problems confronting the Church, such as ecumenism, the calendar, or what they are or are not teaching at such and such a seminary; there is very little fruitful and much more that is sinful in all that idle talk. The Lord said that we will be accountable for each word.

Not only does this gossip involve judging people, especially hierarchs, clergy, and teachers who will have to answer for themselves before God; it distracts us from the one thing needful: to pursue our own salvation. We are only accountable to God for our own salvation, not for issues which we can have no effect on. One of the saddest things is that monasteries tend to attract people who in the name of being serious about their spiritual-life fall into this delusion, while all this kind of gossip and factionalism actually destroys their souls.

It is bad enough that people talk about such things in person; many also read whole publications that are essentially scandal sheets. The Internet is perhaps the worst vehicle for such gossip. This is nothing other than ecclesiastical pornography. It must be avoided at all costs!

Why We Should Visit Monasteries

Faithful Orthodox Christians should go on pilgrimage to monasteries often, should strive to emulate the piety and asceticism of the monastics as far as possible, and should seek the counsel of monastic spiritual fathers and mothers. The temptations and trials come primarily from our own spiritual immaturity and ignorance. We have to be aware of our weaknesses, and strive for the authentic spiritual values of humility, faith, and love.

The prayer of St. Ephraim should always be with us, as the overall guide for our spiritual life: O Lord and Master of my life, do not give me the spirit of sloth, faintheartedness, lust of power, and idle talk; but give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see my own sins and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen!

By Hieromonk Jonah (Paffhausen)

Published in AGAIN magazine

Source: http://www.kiev-orthodox.org/site/english/722/

By Fr. Andrew Lemeshonok

Recently, three new novices joined our Convent! It has been a long-standing tradition in our Convent that postulants become novices during a midnight office in a fasting season. This ceremony is accompanied by the singing of "Behold The Bridegroom Cometh." They are making their first steps on the monastic path. It is crucial that they set out on this journey with proper feelings and attitudes. It depends to a large extent on the words and the support of their spiritual father. We were present during Father Andrew's conversation with the new sisters before and after the ceremony.

Before

You must learn to live like humans. You must not be crybabies. You must not gossip. You must not walk around with sad faces.

You should live simply. Every person has a heart and a mind that he has to protect. Mind includes imagination. If you want to seek God, you must carry in your mind only the things that are godly. You must control your heart if you want to do anything good. As soon as you run into something bad, you must immediately reveal it at a confession, and you will be clean. The algorithm is simple. When someone doesn't care about his own soul, he will find it hard to fight. On the contrary, you can always start all over again in any situation.

Once you receive God's grace, you should take care of it as hard as you can, with God's help. You can be puffed up beyond measure and then explode. You must be aware of the extent of your capabilities, and to do so, you must ask for prayers and advice. Life cannot be squeezed into fixed sets of instructions and rules, however wonderful they might be. Sometimes, you have to laugh or joke. Sometimes, you have to cry or just to keep silent. You must be a sentient being, not a doll that can take any shape you want. A living human being changes over time. It's like natural phenomena: rain or snow, hot or cold, that's life as it is. People cannot be the same. Someone may be naughty, someone may be silent, and someone may be sulky. Everything changes rapidly.

People must realise that they are in the Convent now. That's why they must keep going forward. Respect your Mother Abbess! An unpredictable person though she might be, she does not claim to be the big boss. She has her positive and negative traits but God can tell you a lot through her. You mustn't be carried away by your dreams. You should be simpler and more understandable so as not to be messed up. Carry your own burdens. I think that God will do everything, you just shouldn't interfere with him. Start a new life! Go with God!

After

We congratulate our sisters who are now wearing undercassocks. They have become novices. They have prayer ropes in their hands in order to learn to live with God. This step is their first step on the road to Golgotha, but there will be Resurrection, too. Each person must go through the process in which his or her old self dies and a new self is born.

It is a joy for us because we see three new warriors who have decided to challenge their flesh and blood and the devil, and to challenge this world that does not accept Christ, crucifies him, and lives by its own laws, which result in eternal death.

We thank God for the fact that our Convent is growing and new sisters are coming. I would like to wish them to move forward gradually and not to justify themselves. I would like them to learn humility and obedience. May their progress be small but persistent. Dear sisters, I wish you to gain salvation in your newly-acquired status of novices! Learn to listen, to talk less, to be patient more, so that you would be a quiet God's blessing for our Convent.

December 29, 2017

St. Elisabeth Convent

Gerontissa Taxiarchia (Dukas) came to the US from the Greek monastery of Panagia Hodigitria in 1989 by the blessing of her spiritual father, the Athonite elder Ephraim (Moraitis) of Philotheou, the spiritual son of the great elder Joseph the Hesychast. Gerontissa Taxiarchia became the first inhabitant and abbess of the Monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. This monastery was the first of the twenty habitations founded by Elder Ephraim of Philotheou and Arizona on American soil.

The blessed gerontissa Taxiarchia acquired the gifts of ceaseless prayer, of healing the human body and soul, clairvoyance, fervent faith, and the love of Christ. Gerontissa labored in monastic podvigs for many long years. There are known cases of when her prayers healed cancer patients. After Gerontissa Taxiarchia’s blessed repose the Lord attested to her podvig by the appearance of fragrant myrrh on her face. Below is a collection of memories of Gerontissa, from those who knew her well.

Eleana Mitchell, spiritual child of Elder Ephraim:

The blessed Gerontissa Taxiarchia was born and raised in the Greek village of Agria, near the city of Volos. In early childhood, during the civil war, she was left without a father. Her name in the world was Aphrodita Dukas. The blessed gerontissa was generously endowed with beauty, both external and internal. She was, from an early age, as they say, a true bride of Christ.

In early childhood she was diagnosed with severe heart disease. A fight for her health began from that time. From time to time she had to go stay at the hospital in Thessaloniki for at least two months. At first, being still quite young, she had to go to the hospital in Thessaloniki completely on her own, due to a lack of funds in her family. No one visited her, as they did other patients, and she received no communications. It was then that the manliness of her soul was first manifested.

All alone in a strange city, amidst unknown people, growing weak, emaciated, with sunken cheeks, the young girl battled her illness alone, dreaming only of how to see her mama sooner and tell her about all her sufferings. However, when this long-awaited day finally arrived, and her mother came to see her, Aphrodita as if heard the voice of God, which enlightened her to refrain from speaking about her sufferings. It’s as if her ego was put in second place.

She began to reason with wisdom surprising for her young age: “Oh, how I grieve for my mama, poor widow! After all, doesn’t she love me? Doesn’t she worry about me?” And, recognizing in this inner voice the voice of God, Aphrodita said to her mother: “Oh, dear mama! I’m fine in the hospital: they take care of me and feed me here! There are several women who visit me and bring me sweets, and chocolates and books. Time flew by so quickly!” “Then, Aphrodita, you weren’t upset that I couldn’t often visit you?” “No, mama, I didn’t have any time to be sad or upset!” Her words greatly comforted her mother and she returned home with peace of soul.

The girl was again left alone, but now her sickness and needs were of no consequence in comparison with the joy of seeing and comforting her mother.

At that time, she prayed every day, as she herself told us, that the Lord would take her from this life, because she saw herself as undeserving and worthless and only complicating the lives of her mother, brothers, and sisters.

But the Omniscient God did not fulfill her request, but instead vouchsafed her to accept the angelic schema in the monastery of the Panagia Hodigitria, not far from Volos, with the great gerontissa Macrina, who taught her and nourished within her, along with the other sisters of the monastery, the virtues of sacrifice, love, patience, and obedience.

As I recall from her words, she said: “Do you know when I understood why the Lord didn’t take me then? When Elder Ephraim told me, when I was fifty, that I had to live in America!”

Blessed be the Lord God, leaving this blessed soul on earth, that we might be granted to meet and get to know her! The blessed gerontissa was a pious, chaste, good, and noble eldress, prone to self-sacrifice. She was the guardian of orphans here in the US.

The good things of the world and worldly viewpoints didn’t interest her in the slightest. Mother’s sole concern was the salvation of all, and of her own soul. Day and night, despite being tired to the point of exhaustion, she gave herself to heartfelt prayer. “Have you ever slept standing up, with open eyes?” Gerontissa asked us, smiling with her blessed smile which filled our hearts with heavenly bliss. “No, Gerontissa, never!” “It has happened to me,” answered this blessed soul.

Without any abuse, rigor, condemnation or reproach, but only with her kindness and gentleness, she could easily open a person’s soul and purify it. And she knew how to make every one of your days spent with her lived to the glory of God! As soon as the sun rises in the dawn, you immediately and involuntarily say: “What can I do today to thank God?” and you do it automatically, from your whole heart.

She fell asleep in the Lord on August 3, 1994. From the hospital to the monastery huge pure streams of rain accompanied her exodus. There was another miracle—that numerous sweet-smelling droplets of myrrh, glistening in the sun, appeared on her face after death. We all experienced this blessed “joyful sorrow.”

Gerontissa Theophano, the current abbess of the Monastery of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos:

Gerontissa Taxiarchia came to Pennsylvania in 1989 in July, and I came in March 1990, from New York. At first we just had a small wooden home with two bedrooms, and nothing more. We were three sisters.

When Elder Ephraim came to visit our monastery for the first time (at that time he would spend three months in America and nine months at Philotheou Monastery on Mt. Athos), I said to him, about Gerontissa Taxiarchia: “She is truly a saint!” which was obvious from first sight. And he answered me: “I sent here one of my best nuns… No, she is my very best nun.”

Gerontissa Theophano

Gerontissa Taxiarchia really was a holy person. She had a heart condition, and upon arriving in America they discovered she had breast cancer. Other women suffering from cancer were healed by her prayers. For example, there was a case where once three or four pilgrims visited us to meet with Gerontissa. Among them was one nun, the mother of one of our sisters, who was discovered to have cancer. She wanted to tell Gerontissa about it, but she didn’t allow her to say anything, only repeating: “It’s nothing, nothing.” And so, not asking anything, Gerontissa touched the place where the cancer was found.

Nuns usually avoid touching, but Gerontissa touched precisely on the suffering spot and said to her: “Don’t worry, matushka, you are all clean.” When matushka returned home, the doctors couldn’t find any cancer at all.

Another pilgrim, who also had breast cancer, came to us as part of the same group. Gerontissa Taxiarchia was giving out something as a blessing, and this woman wanted to stand in line. Here Gerontissa begins to push her out of the line. This pilgrim was quite surprised and after a while came back and stood again at the end of the line. Gerontissa again asked her to leave. This repeated several times, and then Gerontissa said to her: “You have no more cancer.”

Another miracle occurred with a family from Tennessee that we know well. Throughout many years they had no children, and Gerontissa said to them: “Don’t fret! Next year you will come to me with a child.” And so it happened that in a year they visited with their newborn daughter.

There was another case of healing already after Gerontissa’s death. There was a woman who worked in a beauty salon as a hairdresser. From working with chemicals for so many years she had serious problems with her fingernails. She took oil from the lampada that we lit in church during Gerontissa’s funeral. We always add oil to this lampada. So, this woman anointed her fingers with the oil from the lampada and after that she was healed.

There was another woman, who has already passed away, who from her youth suffered from a very severe form of asthma. She helped Elder Ephraim with the building of our monastery. Before Gerontissa reposed, this woman asked her: “Gerontissa, can I ask you a favor? Please, take away my asthma!” Then after Gerontissa’s death, and this woman was already around eighty years old, her asthma left her forever.

We have accumulated many such stories. She was holy, a real saint. Just like Elder Ephraim, she was able to read our thoughts. She was all love.

Because she was the first of Elder’s nuns to move to America, and also because of her all-consuming love, women from completely different places sought her out, from the places where other monasteries of Elder Ephraim were subsequently built—from New York, Chicago, and so on. Sometimes she would tell these pilgrims: “When you build a monastery for your home, don’t forget that you should help your gerontissa just as you help me.” Thus she prepared them for this mission beforehand.

One day a man brought us an old icon of the Most Holy Theotokos. He didn’t realize what kind of icon it was. This was an Orthodox man married to a Protestant. His wife was going to throw out all the icons. It so happened that two nuns, mother and daughter, passed by and heard their conversation, as he tried to convince his wife not to toss the icons. They suggested that he give the icons to the monastery.

The man came to the monastery with the icon wrapped up and said to Gerontissa: “I won’t open it until tomorrow.” He didn’t realize what a treasure he had. They next day we celebrated the “Unfading Bloom” icon of the Mother of God. They unwrapped the bundle and saw that it was precisely the same icon, the “Unfading Bloom.” When Gerontissa took the icon, the whole monastery was filled with the sweet scent. You could smell it everywhere—upstairs, downstairs, even in the basement. This icon is still in our monastery.

Gerontissa Taxiarchia departed to the Lord on August 3, 1994 at the age of fifty-eight. Probably about a thousand people came here for her funeral. Each person felt loved by Gerontissa more than all…

When Gerontissa reposed, before we buried her, droplets of myrrh appeared on her face, which emanated a wondrous fragrance. I collected this myrrh with cotton which I have kept until now. It’s been twenty-one years, and that cotton swab to this day is fragrant.

Nun Nektaria, oldest inhabitant of the Monastery of Panagia Hodigitria in Portaria:

Gerontissas Macrina and Taxiarchia

I knew Gerontissa Taxiarchia from the moment she arrived to our monastery. She had a heart condition and had to undergo two heart surgeries: one while she was still living in the world, and the second after she had become a nun. Before the first operation she made a vow: if the operation would be successful then she would spend six months in a monastery, helping the sisters and praying, in this way thanking the Most Holy Theotokos.

Having spent six months in Portaria, she realized that she liked the monastic life and that she wanted to stay here. She began to ask Gerontissa Macrina to accept her into the monastery. At first Gerontissa was afraid to keep her, fearing that her weak heart couldn’t endure the severe monastic style of life. But she so begged and was so kind and obedient that in the end Gerontissa agreed, and Elder Ephraim blessed her to stay.

Gerontissa Taxiarchia was very quickly accounted worthy of tonsure into the schema, because, in the words of Gerontissa Macrina, “she was completely ready for it.”

She had obediences in the kitchen and guest house. Gerontissa Macrina had high blood sugar, and Sister Taxiarchia prepared her food. She attended to this obedience very attentively, measured everything meticulously—how much of what to add so as not to violate the doctor’s orders. She loved her gerontissa very much.

Unfinished work of Gerontissa Taxiarchia

She was very good at embroidering, which she started doing while still in the world. Her embroidery looked as if it wasn’t created by human hands. When Gerontissa Taxiarchia lived in our monastery she embroidered with her own hands golden altar cloths for the Holy Mountain. She had many such gifts and grace from God. She loved everyone and was equally kind to everyone.

Her second obedience in the monastery was to meet guests and pilgrims. She had the gift of words. She could find a path to any person, and her words were always enlightened with love; that is, they enlightened others. She helped the sisters at other obediences—she always hastened to help where help was needed.

She was a person of God and a great woman of prayer. She was distinguished by nobility, mercy, and sacrifice. Prayer came from her mouth continuously. When you spoke with her, you could feel that the Holy Spirit dwelt within her.

She had to have a second operation before leaving for America. She had so much faith in God that she didn’t fear this operation even a little bit. After she left for America we continued to communicate, writing letters to one another.

From a story of Elena Ksenu from Volos, sixty-five years old, and a spiritual child of Elder Ephraim for twelve years:

Gerontissa Taxiarchia was from the village neighboring us, Agria. As a child, they say, she was very kind and gentle. From childhood her future character was evident—very easy and accommodating.

She was a very talented iconographer, and embroidered icons by hand. Faces of Christ, and of the Mother of God and of the saints came from her like living faces—because she did it with prayer.

She had some kind of special softness in her face, and her words were very comforting—there was a feeling as if you were speaking with an angel. That’s why Elder Ephraim chose to send her to America when he opened his first monastery there. She lived there alone at first.

I knew her sister according to the flesh, who has already departed to the Lord. They all lived in Agria. Her sister showed me a dried twig from some tree, which Gerontissa Taxiarchia sent her in one of her letters from America. She wrote: “My dear sister, do you see this twig? This twig is from one of the trees that grow here, around my monastery. Each of them has been abundantly watered by the tears of my loneliness.

Elder Ephraim

She didn’t know the language or customs—nothing. The elder decided, and she showed unconditional obedience—that’s how Elder Ephraim’s first monastery appeared in America. She didn’t object to the elder’s decision, not even a word. She accepted it with peace. She left for America to live there; and there she died.

After some time local Greeks and immigrants learned about the monastery and began to go there for Sunday services. At first they appeared in the monastery dressed up, with stylish hairdos, and they came to the monastery to socialize with one another. The Greek diaspora in America at that time had seriously deviated and fallen under the influence of the Catholic Church. Gerontissa very quickly made them Orthodox Christians again.

Some older nuns from Portaria told me this story about Gerontissa Taxiarchia. During her second heart surgery in Greece there was a Greek Orthodox priest there next to her. When she came to herself after the operation she suffered greatly from pain. It was so painful that she lost consciousness. In that moment, when she had just recovered, this priest heard her say: “O, Mother of God, how beautiful you are! You are the most beautiful, the most beautiful on earth!” She saw the Theotokos directly before her. She saw the holy apostles and spoke with them: “O holy Apostles Peter and Paul, how beautiful, how beautiful you are! Oh, how beautiful!”

Gerontissa Taxiarchia labored in America for five years and died due to her poor health. After her death, immediately after her funeral, miracles began to happen at her grave. A few days after her funeral a family came to the monastery that had earlier visited Gerontissa. Their daughter had eczema. They found out that Gerontissa had reposed and they got upset. The girl’s skin was anointed with oil from the lampada that burned at her grave. Her eczema cleared up immediately and hasn’t returned yet. There have been many other miracles.

Ioannis Devorak, an American with Russian roots living near St. Anthony’s Monastery in Arizona:

When my wife and I first went to the monastery in Pennsylvania, I didn’t know anything about Gerontissa Taxiarchia. I hadn’t even seen a photo of her. We hadn’t spent much time in the monastery, were already planning to leave and got into the car when my wife asked me to return to the church and buy some candles. It was already evening and and the church was deserted. There was nobody around except for one elderly nun who was sitting and making prayer ropes. Off in the distance I spotted three deer peacefully grazing.

I went up to the nun to say hello and take her blessing. “Did you see those three deer? They come here every evening when I sit here and tie prayer ropes. Do you know how to tie prayer ropes?” she asked me. I answered that I didn’t know how, and then she asked: “Would you like me to teach you?” I responded that, unfortunately, we were leaving just then, and they were waiting for me. She said: “Ok, then I’ll teach you next time when you come visit me in a year.”

I wasn’t planning to come here again, but I didn’t object, politely said goodbye, bought some candles, and we left. Sometime later I was at a friend’s house and I saw a photograph of Gerontissa Taxiarchia, and was surprised to recognize her as the same nun that spoke with me in Pennsylvania. I started asking about her and was even more surprised to learn that she had already died. And after a year I really did go back to the monastery. Exactly one year later was the uncovering of the relics of blessed Gerontissa Taxiarchia; Elders Ephraim and Paisios invited me to go with them, and, of course, I agreed.

Through the prayers of our holy fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy upon us!

By Olga Rozhneva

Source: http://orthochristian.com/98455.html

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