On the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearers (April 12/25), the Superior of Holy Nativity Convent of Boston, Mother Seraphima, with Mother Martha, traveled after the Divine Liturgy to Seattle Washington. On Tuesday, of the Myrrh-bearers week (April 14/27) Archimandrite Panteleimon also arrived in Seattle. The purpose of the trip was to see a property which was acquired by the parish of St. Nectarios for the founding of a convent in the Northwest. For some years now it has been the desire of our Metropolitan Ephraim to see a convent opened on the west coast. At the time this did not seem plausible, but with the influx of many new novices at the convent in Boston and a waiting-list of others desiring to enter, it became evident that the only solution was the founding of another convent. Our Saviour has blessed both Holy Transfiguration Monastery and Holy Nativity Convent with many new candidates, sons and daughters of our clergy and parishes. And whereas Holy Transfiguration Monastery has been able to accommodate the influx, Holy Nativity Convent has been crowded for some time now, even with the addition of a new refectory and three additional cells.

    The parish therefore of St. Nectarios began to explore the availability of properties in the area and the feasibility of such an undertaking as far as financing, etc. As soon as word got out concerning such an endeavor, an anonymous donor, a couple of the parish, immediately pledged a large sum ($200,000) even before the search began for properties. Parishioners got very excited and worked like beavers in locating available properties. The seventh property that was looked at seemed just right. It was only forty minutes to the north of the Church of St. Nectarios, a ten acre property in the country, mostly with pastures, a lovely house with a large cathedral ceiling addition that could be used as a church, two additional buildings with ample room for development, and some acreage of old forest with very tall firs which are famous in the Northwest. The whole property was lovely nestled in a quiet setting off a paved country road onto a dirt road which ended at the property. The price was $350,000. With the generous anonymous donation, only an additional $150,000 was needed.

    Since both monastic houses in Boston have never made an appeal for funds, following an injunction of the saintly Elder Joseph of the Holy Mountain, who was the spiritual father of Archimandrite Panteleimon, it was decided that the remaining amount needed would be financed through a bank. Fr. Neketas Palassis of St. Nectarios therefore inquired at a local bank of the parish and to his surprise the bank offered amazingly good terms. Since the parish of St. Nectarios is well known and respected in Seattle, the bank was willing to finance the remaining $150,000 without any signatories for thirty years at 6.50% interest with a monthly payment of a little under $800. It was therefore decided that Holy Transfiguration Monastery would contribute $400 a month and the benevolent fund of St. Nectarios Church the other $400 for the mortgage payments.

    All this was decided without any in Boston having seen the property. But the reports coming from the parish convinced everyone that the property should be acquired at all speed before it was sold to someone else.

    Fr. Neketas, therefore, made an announcement at the end of the Sunday Liturgy concerning the decision to acquire the property and the arrangements made. Whereupon another couple of the parish approached father afterwards and told him that it was not necessary to finance the remaining $150,000 since they would donate it anonymously. This overwhelmed everybody both in Seattle and in Boston.

    And this is not the end. The whole parish got so enthusiastic about a convent in the area that they began outdoing one another in helping in whatever way they could. They had a “shower party” and signed up for whatever was needed to furbish the house and property for the sisters before they came. They went on shopping sprees, mowed the lawn, etc., etc., etc. It goes without saying that both Fr. Panteleimon and Mothers Seraphima and Martha loved the property at first sight and returned to Boston enthusiastically describing the property to all. This helped alleviate the pain and hesitation that some sisters had about members of the community being sent so far away on the other coast of the country.

    Thus, on the feast of the Holy Chinese Martyrs (Jun 10/23), Mother Seraphima with three nuns, Mothers Eupraxia, Elizabeth (who originally came from the parish fourteen years ago) and Sister Evdokia arrived in Seattle to set up house in the new convent. The three sisters will remain and Mother Seraphima will return after a prolonged stay to Holy Nativity Convent in Boston. Some thirty boxes preceded the nuns with icons, books, clothing, etc. The sisters in time will be self-supporting as the other monastic houses in Boston are. They will start making hand-dipped candles and vessel covers, etc. Metropolitan Ephraim also visited Seattle and on Saturday the 13/26 of June, blessed the buildings and grounds of the new convent.

    After much prayer, it was decided to name the new convent in honor of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple, the singular feast in the liturgical year which is both a Dominical feast (of the Saviour) and a feast of the Holy Mother of God simultaneously. In the Greek usage this feast is Mother’s Day, since all mothers bring their newborn babes to the Temple to be churched on the fortieth day and both are blessed. Patrons of the convent will be St. Symeon the God-receiver and St. Anna the Prophetess. Fr. Panteleimon says that SS. Symeon and Anna are patrons of the old people, therefore their feast on the 3rd of February, the day after the Feast of the Meeting in the Temple, is Geriatrics Day.

    Prayers are requested for the establishment of the new convent.

    (Photographs of the Convent, its buildings and grounds will be posted in September on this page.)

ADDRESS AND PHONE:

29206 64th Ave. NW
Stanwood, WA 98292

1-360-629-0285

                                                                                                        The Royal Martyrs of Russia July 4/17, 1999

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Thanks be to God, in these recent months our Church in North America has been blessed with both the establishment and expansion of three monastic communities.

The Hermitage of St. Mary Magdalene, which is served by Fr. Michael Lightfoot, has purchased a valuable new property in a beautiful and verdant area of Virginia near Warrenton, which, in turn, is a little over an hour's drive from the nation's capitol.

The Holy Ascension Skete has been established in Mt. Holly Springs, Pennsylvania by the Very Reverend Abbot Adrian, who was newly received into our Church from the Russian Church Abroad on the feast of the Holy Apostles this year. The Skete is situated high on a thickly forested hillside, from which the beautiful new church temple of the Pillars of Orthodoxy parish can be seen some two miles distant.

Also, the Convent of the Meeting of our Lord-a metochion of  Holy Nativity Convent in Brookline, Massachusetts-has recently taken possession of a ten acre property in Stanwood, Washington, some fifty minutes north of Seattle by car. The new Convent is located in a quiet rural area, surrounded by pasture iand and a large tract of old growth forest, with giant fit and cedar trees. The Convent will be served by Frs. Neketas Palassis and Ihnat Ponomarchuk of the parish of St. Nectarios in Seattle.

The parishioners of St. Nectarios Church in Seattle are especially to be commended for their generous contributions of time, monies, effort and enthusiasm'    In fact, two members of the parish-who wish to remain anonymous--Aonated the entire sum for the purchase of the convent's new property. The mothers of the new convent in Stanwood and I are profoundly grateful for this outpouring of love on the part of our faithful there. On the 30th anniversary of our St. Nectarios parish, I presented three challenges to our people: 1) to have one of their own ordained to the diaconate; 2) to implement antiphonal chanting in the church services; and 3) to assist in the establishment of a monastery or convent in their area. To their eternal credit, they have responded in a more than praiseworthy manner to the last two challenges. As for the ordination of a deacon, this-in my opinion-remains a viable possibility in the foreseeable future.

These developments are a very great blessing for our Church. As Vladyka Andrei of Novo-Diveyevo pointed out repeatedly in his sermons, our Orthodox Christian life is marked by three elements: 1) a correct confession of the Christian Faith; 2) a renunciation of all that is irrelevant to our salvation; and 3) our taking up of the Cross of Christ-whatever form that Cross may take in our lives. These three elements are exemplified especially in the monastic life, and this too is why our monasteries, convents, sketes and hermitages are the spinal cord of the Orthodox Christian Church.

As we know from the tradition of the Church, our monastic establishments should be self- supporting; in addition, they are not meant to be social centers, or picnic or camping grounds, but rather centers of prayer, spiritual reflection and repentance. They are also sites of spiritual pilgrimage, as well, where spiritual pilgrims may find solace and guidance during their temporal sojourn in this world.

This is what Saint Isaac of Syria says about monastics,

Monastics ought to be in their appearance and all their actions exemplars of profit to those who see them, so that by reason of their many virtues which shine forth like sun-beams, the enemies of truth, when they look upon them, will involuntarily confess that the hope of salvation which Christians have is firm and unshakable, and from every side will run to them as a refuge. And so the home of the Church will be exalted over Her enemies, and many will be moved to emulation of their virtue, and will come forth from out of the world; and they will be venerable among all because of the beauty of their life, so that on their account the mouth of the children of the Church will be opened and their head will be exalted above all religions. For the boast of the Church of Christ is the monastic way of life.(cf. Homily Eleven)
 

 Because of this, the monastics of the Church deserve our love, our esteem, and our moral support, for they support us and our parishes by their love and prayers to God. Our monastic establishments have assisted our parishes in every way that they are able and have asked for nothing in return. If anyone is able or willing, however, to assist our monastic institutions establish themselves-so that they in turn may be able to continue to support the Church's work of evangelization and spiritual edification in the midst of an unbelieving society-these individuals will most certainly find their reward a hundredfold from our Saviour.

This work of spiritual edification will last as long as this world exists, because every 'new- born generation must be educated in the faith and life in Christ, just as our generation was nurtured and taught by those that went before us.

My beloved Orthodox Christians, let us thank God for this increase in the monastic vocations which our Church has experienced. Let us do this by encouraging those who have a calling to the monastic life, by lending moral support to our monastic establishments, by helping them in any way we can, and, above all, by remembering them in our prayers.

May God strengthen all our monastics and, indeed, all our faithful, in striving and progressing in the spiritual life, and may He count us all worthy of a good defense before His dread judgment seat and of a place at His right hand in His Heavenly Kingdom. Amen.

Your suppliant before our Saviour,
 

Metropolitan Ephraim of Boston
 

    The founding recently of the Convent of the Meeting of the Lord in Seattle, Washington, through the generous contribution of two families anonymously, and the response of the entire parish of Saint Nectarios, gives rise to certain reflections concerning the founding of churches and monasteries.

    The present instance is a continuation of a sacred tradition from olden times. Our forefathers in the Faith, emperors and illustrious families of Byzantium, as also of the Slavic lands and the Russian Empire, vied with one another in building churches and founding monasteries and convents. The Christians of old understood well the spiritual significance of such undertakings and the great privilege and blessing that one is deemed worthy of. They loved our Saviour and the Saints and as an expression of their love and gratitude for the gift of salvation and the many benefactions showered upon us by our Creator, they were earnest to found churches and monastic houses. This was a way of saying “Thank you” as also an everlasting memorial for them and their descendants. They were very conscious of the many prayers offered daily in the divine services “for the founders of this holy Temple,” “the founders of this holy monastery,” “the founders of the holy churches of God,” to mention just a few of the many petitions in the liturgical prayers.

    Whatever was more precious, they dedicated to God—gold and silver vessels, precious Crosses, mosaics, icons, vestments, lamps, censers, etc., etc. They brought to mind the prayer behind the ambo at the end of every holy liturgy which says:

    O Lord, Who blessest them that bless Thee, and sanctifiest them that put their trust in Thee: save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance. Preserve the fulness of Thy Church, sanctify them that love the beauty of Thy house. Do Thou in turn glorify them by Thy divine power, and forsake us not that hope in Thee. . .

    Many families built chapels in their homes or on the grounds of their estates, others because of vows in thanksgiving for healings or some other benefactions. This continued even after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 when the people were enslaved and greatly impoverished. Wherefore the countless modest country chapels and shrines that dot the mountains and countryside of the Orthodox homelands. This is a testimony to their piety and living faith.

    Some years ago, a book was printed in Greek containing a collection of wills by prominent people of the Greek community of Venice of the 18th and 19th century. These wills were deposited in the archives of the “Church of the Greeks” as the Church of Saint George is known in Venice. With the fall of Constantinople in the 15th century, many prominent Byzantine families fled to Europe and set up communities in different countries. A point of interest is that invariably in all the wills monies and properties were left to the “Church of the Greeks” or for the repair of churches in their enslaved homeland as a perpetual memorial for the deceased. In one will a goodly sum was left for the procuring of a set of vestments of fine brocade for the Patriarch in Constantinople and another twelve matching sets for the members of the synod when they concelebrated, as well as for the deacons and priests.

    And thus we come to this century which is ending, in which countless churches and monasteries were destroyed by the atheist authorities in the Communist lands. Yet in Greece and other free Orthodox lands this sacred tradition continued, as now it has been revived in the Orthodox countries freed from the atheist yoke. In Greece a recent example of a monastery founded by a pious family is that of the Convent of the Annunciation on the island of Oinoussai, Chios, by Panagos and Katingo Pateras, who themselves became monastics in time.

    Thus the founders and benefactors of the newly formed Convent of the Meeting of the Lord in the Temple are following in this hallowed and timeless tradition of the pious and Orthodox Christians.

    Sanctify them and preserve them, O Lord, both them and their families. Amen.