The Morning Offering

The Planting of a Monastery (chapter 18)

The Miracle

In the middle of September 1999, John Noe drove up from Vancouver, WA, to join the monks for a public hearing concerning a sand mining operation that would remove one-tenth of Maury Island. A short distance from the monastery (Vashon Island is actually two connecting island), the Glacier Northwest, a Japanese owned mining company, was requesting permission from the State of Washington and King County to begin an operation that would run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and stretch a potential twenty years. The noise level would negatively impacted many households, including the monastery's, and endangered our sole aquifer.

As John approached the final approach to the ferry crossing to Vashon Island, he was later to recount how the steering wheel seemed to move on it's own, and he found himself driving into the parking lot of a Bank of America branch. He figured he'd subconsciously needed cash from the ATM machine so he drove around the building and saw a branch of a small community bank in the rear. Since John had been helping the monastery in our attempt to find a financial institution that would loan us the money to purchase the neighboring property, he felt inspired to ask just one more time.

He walked into the bank, sat down at the desk of the Assistant Manager and proceeded to tell her the recent history of the monastery, and the Abbot’s problems with the owner of the property in question. John found her to be an enthusiastic ally to the possibility of loaning the monastery the needed funds to purchase the eleven acres. When she presented her business card, John saw this whole encounter as providential, for her name was Connie Pentecost!

Within a short period of time John informed us that the bank had agreed to make the loan, so the monastery, through our attorney, contacted the attorney for the owner, and we made an offer on the property. The offer was rejected, but with the cooperation of the bank, John acted as a “straw” buyer. The bank was willing to keep the true buyer, the monastery, a secret until the deal was accomplished. Without this kind of cooperation we would not have been allowed to purchase the property.

Meanwhile, our the attorneys negotiated an agreement whereby the monastery would ask the State of Washington to drop all charges against our neighbor, and he, in turn, would agree to ask the court to drop the financial judgement against us.

On the morning of September 27th, John signed, in escrow, the purchase documents and then executed a Nominee excise tax affidavit and a quick claim deed to the Monastery, with Connie Pentecost holding bank loan documents which had already been executed by the Monastery. At approximately 11:00 AM the following morning, the transaction was recorded in King County, and the money was wired to escrow.

This whole trial that had begun with the desecration of the cross, and the assault of the abbot, ended with the monastery taking possession of the property on The Feast of the Exaltation of the
Holy Cross.

With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon


Saturday November 24, 2012 / November 11, 2012
25^th Week after Pentecost. Tone seven.

Martyr Menas of Egypt (304).
Martyrs Victor at Damascus (160) and Stephanida (Stephanis) of Spain (161).
Martyr Vincent of Spain (304).
Venerable Theodore the Confessor, abbot of the Studion (826).
Repose of Blessed Maximus of Moscow Fool-for-Christ (1434).
New Hieromartyr Eugene priest (1937).
Venerable Martyrius, abbot of Zelenets (1603).
Great-martyr Stephen-Urosh III of Dechani, Serbia (1331) (Serbia).
St. Martin the Merciful, bishop of Tours (397).
Appearance of the Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Iveron Mother of God in Montreal.
St. Militsa, princess of Serbia (1405) (Serbia).
Blessed Euthymius and Nestor of Dechani (14th c.) (Serbia).
St. Neophytus and St. Uroshitsa of Serbia (14th c.) (Serbia).
Martyrs of Zelenetsk: hegumen Victor with brotherhood (1927).
Martyr Drakonas of Arauraka in Armenia (4th c.).
St. Nicodemus the Younger of Beroea in Macedonia (1305).
Synaxis of the Saints of Dechani.
St. Bartholomew the Younger, of Rossano, Calabria (1054)

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

Galatians 1:3-10

³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Only One Gospel

⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Luke 9:37-43

A Boy Is Healed

³⁷ Now it happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met Him. ³⁸ Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. ³⁹ And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. ⁴⁰ So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
⁴¹ Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.

Jesus Again Predicts His Death

⁴³ And they were all amazed at the majesty of God.
But while everyone marveled at all the things which Jesus did, He said to His disciples,