Update, Feast of St. Athanasios of Athos and St. Sergios of Radonezh, July 5/18 2001
July 2001 Bishop
Sergios
The Brotherhood
continues to live in tents and trailers while working
on its first building. Exterior and interior walls
had been framed by SS Athanasios and Sergios day,
July 5/18, and roof trusses were installed as we
celebrated St. Thomas of Maleon, July 7/20.
We were blessed by the presence, for two months, of Mihailo Repovic, a retired engineer, born in Serbia and living through the unbelievably hard years of the Second World War, who spent most of his later life as a bridge builder for the state of Massachusetts. He, with his 15 year old godson Kosta, both members of our St. Mark of Ephesos Cathedral in Boston, made significant contributions to the design and building in its early stages. A 19 year old member of our Portland parish, John Ashling, has been with us for over two months and has put his construction experience to good use energizing the day’s work through what has become a very long summer.
From June 11 to June 18, Bishop Moses of Roslindale was in residence, joining the work force daily and bringing his own construction experience, gained as a young novice at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston, to help the project along. During his stay the subflooring of the 120 foot long building was installed. His Grace held several synaxes with the Brotherhood while he was with us.
On Sunday June 17 he blessed Reader Timothy Vargas of St. Peter the Aleut Mission in Hayward to act as Ekklesiarch for that community, and our Novice Ephraim to act in the same capacity for us. At the Small Entrance of the Liturgy for that day, the Synaxis of the Fathers of Athos, he installed Priestmonk Sergios as Abbot of the Monastery, handing him the abbot’s staff and exhorting him and the Brotherhood regarding the installation and the significance of its symbol of office.
Bishop Moses was able to meet with a number of lay people who attend services at the Monastery regularly, and to discuss questions of the day with laymen from other jurisdictions, concerned about the progress of syncretist ecumenism in our time.
On Tuesday June 12 we at last commenced the drilling of our well and on June 22, the Feast of St. Kyril of Alexandria, the drillers struck water at 495 feet, continuing on to 520 feet, somewhat less than the 550 foot estimate given originally.
Monk Simon and Novice Ephraim, assisted by Monk Aimilianos (who is our foreman on the building site) are completing the largest fresco we have ever undertaken, consisting of the Ascension of the Saviour, covering the entire east wall of a newly-constructed church in Santa Rosa, the ascending Saviour depicted some 30 feet above the floor of the Church, four large angels beneath and to either side of our Lord, and the Theotokos and Apostles in two groups on either side of the apse at the level of the ikonostasis. Euphemia Briere, from our St. John the Confessor parish in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a student of ikonography, spent some 10 days with us, understudying Father Simon during the mid-phase of this painting.
Two new greeting cards have been completed and added to our catalogue, one for Pascha 2002 and the other for this coming Christmas, 2001. A newly-designed brochure detailing all of our cards will be in the mail, if God wills, early this Fall. Both new cards are based on 11th century Byzantine illuminations, and were painted in our workshop on vellum in egg tempera.
Our first garden, laid out and dug by Father Bohdan Borody from our parish in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2 months ago, has been overseen by another Calgarian, our Novice Nilos, and for all the difficulties of working with what had been for centuries a forest floor, is doing amazingly well. We have a large planting of heirloom tomatoes - a Russian variety called ‘Black Krim’ - and we are just beginning to add them to salads of fresh organic greens from our own garden.
Thanks to the help of our good friend Michael Gombos, a test planting of a dozen olive trees from northern Italy and France was put in (also by Novice Nilos) on July 4/17, the Feast of St. Andrew of Crete. The hope is that if God blesses this, a larger grove can be established.
We continue to live off the grid, away from phones and refrigeration, giving us both a great deal of peace and some extra work. We have a temporary office at St. Makrina’s House, where two women associated with our work for some years, Melania McAfee and Joanna Howland, live. Both have been away all Summer, and we are grateful for the use of their on-grid facilities.
Later this month, on the 26th, 4 or 5 men from our Portland parish will spend some days with us helping on the building site. For this, for the many prayers offered in our behalf by so many friends, we are grateful.
We were blessed by the presence, for two months, of Mihailo Repovic, a retired engineer, born in Serbia and living through the unbelievably hard years of the Second World War, who spent most of his later life as a bridge builder for the state of Massachusetts. He, with his 15 year old godson Kosta, both members of our St. Mark of Ephesos Cathedral in Boston, made significant contributions to the design and building in its early stages. A 19 year old member of our Portland parish, John Ashling, has been with us for over two months and has put his construction experience to good use energizing the day’s work through what has become a very long summer.
From June 11 to June 18, Bishop Moses of Roslindale was in residence, joining the work force daily and bringing his own construction experience, gained as a young novice at Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Boston, to help the project along. During his stay the subflooring of the 120 foot long building was installed. His Grace held several synaxes with the Brotherhood while he was with us.
On Sunday June 17 he blessed Reader Timothy Vargas of St. Peter the Aleut Mission in Hayward to act as Ekklesiarch for that community, and our Novice Ephraim to act in the same capacity for us. At the Small Entrance of the Liturgy for that day, the Synaxis of the Fathers of Athos, he installed Priestmonk Sergios as Abbot of the Monastery, handing him the abbot’s staff and exhorting him and the Brotherhood regarding the installation and the significance of its symbol of office.
Bishop Moses was able to meet with a number of lay people who attend services at the Monastery regularly, and to discuss questions of the day with laymen from other jurisdictions, concerned about the progress of syncretist ecumenism in our time.
On Tuesday June 12 we at last commenced the drilling of our well and on June 22, the Feast of St. Kyril of Alexandria, the drillers struck water at 495 feet, continuing on to 520 feet, somewhat less than the 550 foot estimate given originally.
Monk Simon and Novice Ephraim, assisted by Monk Aimilianos (who is our foreman on the building site) are completing the largest fresco we have ever undertaken, consisting of the Ascension of the Saviour, covering the entire east wall of a newly-constructed church in Santa Rosa, the ascending Saviour depicted some 30 feet above the floor of the Church, four large angels beneath and to either side of our Lord, and the Theotokos and Apostles in two groups on either side of the apse at the level of the ikonostasis. Euphemia Briere, from our St. John the Confessor parish in Ipswich, Massachusetts, a student of ikonography, spent some 10 days with us, understudying Father Simon during the mid-phase of this painting.
Two new greeting cards have been completed and added to our catalogue, one for Pascha 2002 and the other for this coming Christmas, 2001. A newly-designed brochure detailing all of our cards will be in the mail, if God wills, early this Fall. Both new cards are based on 11th century Byzantine illuminations, and were painted in our workshop on vellum in egg tempera.
Our first garden, laid out and dug by Father Bohdan Borody from our parish in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 2 months ago, has been overseen by another Calgarian, our Novice Nilos, and for all the difficulties of working with what had been for centuries a forest floor, is doing amazingly well. We have a large planting of heirloom tomatoes - a Russian variety called ‘Black Krim’ - and we are just beginning to add them to salads of fresh organic greens from our own garden.
Thanks to the help of our good friend Michael Gombos, a test planting of a dozen olive trees from northern Italy and France was put in (also by Novice Nilos) on July 4/17, the Feast of St. Andrew of Crete. The hope is that if God blesses this, a larger grove can be established.
We continue to live off the grid, away from phones and refrigeration, giving us both a great deal of peace and some extra work. We have a temporary office at St. Makrina’s House, where two women associated with our work for some years, Melania McAfee and Joanna Howland, live. Both have been away all Summer, and we are grateful for the use of their on-grid facilities.
Later this month, on the 26th, 4 or 5 men from our Portland parish will spend some days with us helping on the building site. For this, for the many prayers offered in our behalf by so many friends, we are grateful.