The Morning Offering

The Planting of a Monastery (chapter 6)

Holy Community (parliament)

The main street of Karyes, capital of Mt. Athos

 The Holy Community

Arriving in Karyes, Father Basil and I proceeded to the Holy Community in order to present our passports and visas, thus gaining official entrance to the Holy Mountain, the world's only monastic republic. Mount Athos is governed by an assembly of twenty appointed representatives from each of the twenty principal monasteries. From among these is elected annually, and in due rotation, a committee of four presidents, with one of these presidents chosen as Protos. The parliamentary assembly meets every Saturday throughout the year, acting as the supreme governmental and tribunal authority of the Holy Mountain.

Having gained our official blessings to be on the Holy Mountain, we headed for the Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, known as the Protaton, to offer our prayers of thanksgiving. Returning to the center of Karyes, we entered a small cafe for our first meal on the Holy Mountain. The cafe was a medieval building with an ancient kitchen, wood burning cook stove and oven, and no refrigeration. Karyes has a population of around two hundred and thirty men, most of them monastics. Two small shops run by monks, two little bread bakeries, and one small cafe, make up the entirety of the business section of Karyes.

After our meal, we walked about a mile to a small monastery where we sought lodging for the night. Leaving the next morning we began our hike to the Monastery of the Great Lavra, founded in 963 by Saint Athanasius the Athonite. Ranked first in the hierarchical order of the Athonite monasteries, it is considered the mother monastery of Mount Athos, and is a medieval fortress city virtually unchanged since it was built.

With love in Christ,

Abbot Tryphon

Karyes

Great Lavra (click on photos to enlarge)

Wednesday October 17, 2012 / October 4, 2012

20^th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Fast. By Monastic Charter: Strict Fast (Bread, Vegetables, Fruits)

Hieromartyr Hierotheus, bishop of Athens (1st c.).
Uncovering of the relics (1595) of St. Gurias, first archbishop of Kazan (1563) and St. Barsanuphius, bishop of Tver (1576).
Synaxis of All Saints of Kazan.
New Hieromartyr Demetrius priest (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Demetrius priest Nicholas, Micael, Jacob and Tikhon priests, Martyr Basil (1937).
St. Khionia confessor (1945).
St. Vladimir Yaroslavich, prince of Novgorod (1052), and his mother, St. Anna of Novgorod (1050).
Venerables Helladius and Onesimus of the Near Caves in Kiev (12th-13th c.).
Venerable Ammon of the Far Caves in Kiev (13th c.).
Martyrs Gaius, Faustus, Eusebius, and Chaeremon of Alexandria (3rd c.).
Venerable Peter of Capitolia, bishop of Bostra (715).
Martyrs Domnina and her daughters Berenice (Bernice) and Prosdoce, of Syria (4th c.).
Venerable Paul the Simple (340) and Venerable Ammon (350), of Egypt, disciples of St. Anthony the Great.
Martyr Adauctus and his daughter St. Callisthene, of Ephesus (4th c.).
Martyr Stephen (Stiljanovich) of Serbia (1515) and his wife, St. Elena (Serbia).
Blessed Elizabeth of Serbia (Greek).
St. Theodore the Wonderworker, bishop of Tamassos in Cyprus (2nd. c.).
St. John (Lampadistes) of Cyprus (10th c.).
Sts. Jonah and Nectarius of Kazan, monks (16th c.).
Martyr Evdemoz the Catholicos of Georgia (1642).
Venerable Peor recluse of the Kiev Caves (13 c.).
St. Peter (Michurin) of Siberia (1820).
 

You can read the life of the saint in green, by click on the name.

THANK YOU, to all of you who have been able to contribute towards the support of the monastery. These difficult times of economic hardship have impacted the monastery, and those of you who have been able to donate, have been our lifeline. May God bless you for your generosity, and kindness.

With love in Christ,  
Abbot Tryphon

Donations can be made directly to the monastery through PayPal, or you may send donations to:

All-Merciful Saviour Monastery
PO Box 2420
Vashon Island, WA 98070-2420 USA

Philippians 2:24-30

²⁴ But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Epaphroditus Praised

²⁵ Yet I considered it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier, but your messenger and the one who ministered to my need; ²⁶ since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹ Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; ³⁰ because for the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

Luke 6:46-7:1

Build on the Rock

⁴⁶ “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? ⁴⁷ Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. ⁴⁹ But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Servant

7 Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum.

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