Estalishing a monastery in Southern Africa

Dec 17, 2005 17:10

Monasteries have been part of the life of the Orthodox Church since the third century. During persecutions in the Roman Empire some Christians fled from the cities into the desert, as refugees. There they prayed, and some of them discovered that the spiritual struggle they faced in the desert was a bigger challenge than that against a hostile ( Read more... )

orthodoxy, monasticism, orthodox mission

Leave a comment

Comments 9

naqerj December 17 2005, 15:36:38 UTC
Glory to God!

Reply

Glory to God! methodius December 18 2005, 06:11:50 UTC
One thing i should perhaps add -- I was very pleased to see that the chapel did not have Western Protestant-style pews (as so many parish churches in South Africa seem to have), but chairs down the side, and the middle of the chapel was open so one could make prostrations etc without being encumbered by furniture.

Another nice touch was that we had the Paraklesis for St Nektarius. There were a lot of people there from St Nektarius parish in Orange Grove, and they all sang it lustily. In many parishes it is only the choir, or a Psalti, that sing, and the congregation stand there with a mouth full of teeth. It was a good beginning.

Reply


olga_1821 December 17 2005, 16:39:16 UTC
Glory be to God!
(It is such a pity I was not able to go there today... Well, maybe some other day).

Reply

Being there methodius December 17 2005, 17:48:27 UTC
If you'd like a lift to such things, just let us know!

Reply

Re: Being there olga_1821 December 17 2005, 20:33:15 UTC
Thank you very much! :) Getting lift can be a real problem sometimes...

Reply


golodhgwath December 18 2005, 00:10:13 UTC
Oh, that's great!

Reply


awesome! anonymous December 18 2005, 22:49:55 UTC
Awesome! Congratulations for your archdiocese!
Are the monastics just Fr Spyridon and Fr Panteleimon at the present?

Smitty - http://pistevo.blogspot.com

Reply

Re: awesome! methodius December 19 2005, 04:58:50 UTC
Fr Panteleimon and Fr Spiridon are the only two living in commuhnity in the Archdiocese at present, but they are noyt staying at St Nektarius -- we arer still praying for monks to go and live there.

Reply


ibid December 21 2005, 18:26:10 UTC
Wonderful.

Tha palms and icons make for an interesting juxtoposition

Reply


Leave a comment

Up