A Sixteen Year Old’s Call to Monasticism
My paternal grandfather built a lakeside home during his summer vacations and weekends while I was in high school. My brother Dwayne and I spent many summer days camping in tents on that property, a newly opened area previously owned by the Idaho State Forest Service. Priest Lake was a few hours drive from my grandfather’s city home in Spokane, Washington. Every moment of my grandfather’s free time was focused on that lakeside home. When he’d completed the house our whole family celebrated with a picnic near the dock where he kept his motor boat.
My very first thought of becoming a monk came to me on that property. At sixteen years of age I remember sitting on my grandfather’s dock in a lawn chair reading the classic Lutheran theological work, The Book of Concord. That part of the lake was rather remote, the perfect place for sitting in silence with my thoughts on God. I remember thinking that I would like to spend the rest of my life right there in that house, nestled in the forest on that beautiful lake.
I was aware of a Lutheran monastery, Saint Augustine’s House, located in Michigan. My pastor, when hearing of my interest, dismissed it as something we Lutherans just did not do. It was a foolish Catholic idea, and certainly something that I should put out of my mind. He told me I should find a nice wife, and live my life as a Lutheran minister.
Still, every time I went to my grandfather’s lakeside home I would think about how wonderful my life could be if the house were a monastery and I could live out my life in prayer and spiritual study.
My father was a golf pro, so my brother and I grew up playing golf and living a family life that was centered around the country club. Yet my desire to become a monk and dedicate my life to God grew stronger and stronger and I’m finally living that very life I’ve been drawn to for most of my life.
I still think about the game of golf once in a while and how much I used to enjoy playing with my dad and my brother. We have a country club about three miles from the monastery that we drive by whenever going to town to get our mail. As much as I enjoy seeing people playing golf, I could not imagine a life happier and more fulfilling than the one I am living.
My grandfather and father are both long gone, and the lakeside home is no longer owned by our family, but the joy I felt during those solitary moments with God, on that dock sixty-two years ago, are still with me today.
With love in Christ,
Abbot Tryphon
Photo: John and Noah, members of Saint Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Langley, British Columbia, spent two nights with us.
Thursday August 24, 2023 / August 11, 2023
12th Week after Pentecost. Tone two.
Dormition (Theotokos) Fast. By Monastic Charter: Food without Oil
Holy Martyr and Archdeacon Euplus of Catania (304).
Martyrs Basil and Theodore of the Kiev Caves (1098).
Venerable Theodore (in monasticism Theodosius) of the Kiev Caves, prince of Ostrog (1483).
St. John, recluse of Svyatogorsk Monastery (1867).
Virgin-martyr Susanna and those with her: Martyrs Gaius, pope of Rome; presbyter Gabinus, his brother and father of Susanna; Maximus, Claudius and his wife, Praepedigna, and their sons Alexander and Cutias (295).
St. Niphon, patriarch of Constantinople (Mt. Athos) (1515).
Venerable Passarion of Palestine.
St. Blaan, bishop of Bute (Dunblane), Scotland (590) (Celtic & British).
Commemoration of the Miracle (1816) of St. Spyridon (348) on Kerkyra (Corfu) with the Hagarenes (Greek).
New Martyrs Anastasius of Asomaton in Asia Minor and Demetrius of Lesbos (1816) (Greek).
St. Taurinus, first bishop of Evreux, Gaul (2nd c.).
Martyrs Neophytus, Zeno, Gaius, Mark, Macarius, and Gaianus (Greek).
The Scripture Readings
2 Corinthians 7:1-10
The Corinthians’ Repentance
7 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
The Corinthians’ Repentance
2 Open your hearts to us. We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have cheated no one. 3 I do not say this to condemn; for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. 4 Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort. I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.
5 For indeed, when we came to Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. 6 Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus, 7 and not only by his coming, but also by the consolation with which he was comforted in you, when he told us of your earnest desire, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
8 For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. For I perceive that the same epistle made you sorry, though only for a while. 9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
Mark 1:29-35
Peter’s Mother-in-Law Healed
29 Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon’s wife’s mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. 31 So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.
Many Healed After Sabbath Sunset
32 At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to Him all who were sick and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city was gathered together at the door. 34 Then He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him.
Preaching in Galilee
35 Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.