And the flowering of a monastic brotherhood (part 1)
In many ways this monastery was founded as one would plant a garden. The germination took place in a small blue collar house in a poor part of Richmond, CA, in 1983, where we struggled in a neighborhood constructed for ship builders in World War II. With police helicopters hovering over the monastery at night, and drug busts at the homes of neighbors, it was sometimes a rather scary place. The noise of cars with their boom box stereos blasting, the attempted break-ins, and untended yards, was a far cry from my days living in a beautiful Portland, Oregon, neighborhood.
I remember laying in bed at night, looking at the orange colored sky tinted by the flames of a nearby refinery, hearing jets flying overhead, and remembering the star studded skies of Northern Idaho, home to my youth. The night we were awakened by the sound of a police helicopter hovering directly overhead for forty-five minutes, spotlights trained on the front and back doors of a neighbor’s house during a drug bust, was the very night I decided to pray that God, if it be His will, would let us relocate to a rural location. Little did I know that All-Merciful Saviour Monastery would one day be nestled in a forest, on an island, in the Salish Sea.
After receiving a request from a publishing company to write the history of our monastery, I have decided to resurrect a series on the beginnings of our monastic community that I wrote in late 2012. With God’s help, I intend to complete what I originally started, with the aim of submitting it for publication.
Love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Thursday November 2, 2017 / October 20, 2017
22nd Week after Pentecost. Tone four.
Great-martyr Artemius at Antioch (362).
New Martyr Priest Nicholas (Liubomudrov) of Latskoye village, Yaroslavl (1918).
New Hieromartyrs Herman bishop of Alatyr, Zosima, John, John, John, Nicholas, Leonid, John and Alexander priests, Michael and Peter deacons and Martyr Paul (1937).
Venerable Gabriel of Samtavisi (1995) (Gergia).
St. Artemius of Verkola (1545).
Martyrs Aborsam ans Senoe, of Persia (341).
Martyrs Eboras and Eunous of Persia.
Venerable Matrona of Chios (1462).
Martyr Zebinas of Caesarea in Palestine.
Venerable Gerasimus the New, ascetic of Cephalonia (1579) (Greek).
St. Acca, bishop of Hexham (England) (ca. 740) (Celtic & British).
Translation of the relics of New Monk-martyr Ignatius of Mt. Athos (1814) (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
Colossians 4:2-9
Christian Graces
2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time. 6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
Final Greetings
7 Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me. 8 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that he[a] may know your circumstances and comfort your hearts, 9 with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here.
Luke 9:49-56
Jesus Forbids Sectarianism
49 Now John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow with us.”
50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not forbid him, for he who is not against us is on our side.”
A Samaritan Village Rejects the Savior
51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”
55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. 56 For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.
This is great! Would love to hear more about the monastery and how it started! Thank you!