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Feast Day. Our monastery’s summer feast day, the Ascension of the Lord, was celebrated on Saturday, June 4. The feast began the evening before with the service of Great Vespers with Litya, and continued in the morning with Matins and Divine Liturgy. We rejoiced at the presence of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae, a synaxis of priests, and a large multitude of faithful.

In his sermon, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae spoke about the hope of salvation that Christ’s Ascension into heaven gives us: “Christ, Who has ascended to the heavens and is enthroned at the righthand of the Father, is the foundation of our hope that we also will eventually arrive in the house of the Father. And from there, from the house of the Father, from His place at the Father’s righthand, Christ will send the Holy Spirit upon His disciples, in 10 days’ time. At that moment, they will become strong, perceptive, full of the Holy Spirit so that they might proclaim the Gospel of the Resurrection.”

Besides gifting us with his word of instruction, His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae also granted each of the faithful a copy of a special icon, which was painted for the occasion of the commemorative year of the hesychast saints Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, and Paisie Velichikovsky of Neamț, as celebrated this year in the Romanian Patriarchate. This icon depicts not only these three hesychast saints, but also two dear American saints: John Maximovitch and Nikolai Velimirovich.

The church service was followed, as is custom, by a communal agape meal. This warm, peaceful, beautiful, and grace-filled feast was made possible by the loving sacrifices especially of several devoted pilgrims of the monastery and by everyone present: clergy and faithful (and many children). We are grateful to God that He blessed us with such a beautiful day and because He filled our hearts with His peace. Glory to God for all things!

Sărindar. With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicolae, we will continue a beautiful tradition, namely every year to serve a Sărindar, i.e., a series of 40 daily Divine Liturgies. With God’s help, we will begin on Sunday, July 3, and will finish on Thursday, August 11.

Pavilion. As we have announced, we intend to build a multifunctional pavilion, which will allow us to organize feast days and other activities (retreats, etc.) in better conditions. By God’s grace, we are at the phase of seeking the necessary building permits. We are grateful to our Christian brothers and sisters who have expressed their support for this project as well as those who have already sent donations to the pavilion construction account.

Icons. With the blessing of His Eminence Nicolae, printed icons are mounted to wood in our monastery.

Pure beeswax candles. Pure beeswax candles are also made in our monastery to adorn the prayer of every Christian. A pure wax candle burning during private or church prayer is a sacrifice pleasing to God.