Saints Mary and Martha, Orthodox Monastery, Wagener, SC

The Young Adult Retreat took place on the last weekend in January. Our experience has proven to us how challenging it is to schedule a time when the 18-25 year olds can meet. On Friday morning, January 27th, we had twenty-one who had signed up to attend. Due to life’s numerous twists and turns, ten young adults from five states were able to make the journey to our monastery by Friday evening. Fr. John Parker, the priest at Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Charleston, South Carolina, led the retreat. He spoke on “The Freedom of Being a Servant of Christ: The Struggle of the Christian Life on an American College Campus”.

Since Fr. John was unable to find a priest to serve Liturgy on Sunday, he had to return to his parish. Therefore, early Sunday morning Mother Helena and Mother Thecla drove them to Fort Jackson to attend the Liturgy which was served by Fr. Peter Baktis.

Some of the Young Adults

We felt that it was important for them to experience an Orthodox Liturgy in a military chapel, meet an Orthodox Army Chaplin, and to know that other Orthodox young adults are serving in our Armed Forces.

On the return trip to the monastery, the young people who were riding in the car driven by Mother Thecla wanted to see downtown Columbia. One of the young women who lives in Columbia kept thinking of different things to see, especially the two-story fire hydrant. This created the need for numerous U-turns, which at 11am on Sunday morning in downtown Columbia is rather easy to do. After the second U-turn, one of the young persons in the back seat remembered one of his Sunday School teachers instructing his class on the meaning of the word “repent”. They had to start walking, and every time the teacher said “repent”, they had to turn around and go in the opposite direction. After that, every time Mother Thecla made a U-turn, those in the back seat erupted by saying, “Repent”.

It was such a great joy to host these young adults. We pray for them and look forward to seeing where God leads them in this great journey called life. Their exuberance for Christ and the Orthodox Faith was a joy to behold.

The end of February found our numbers reduced to two -- Mother Thecla and Mother Helena. We earnestly ask that you pray to God that He will lead other women to join us. Living the monastic life and building a monastery takes life-long commitment and requires perseverance in giving God literally everything. We know from experience that we can never out give God and that His gifts to us are beyond measure. Christ is always with us, always strengthens us, and is the One truly in control.

March 2nd found Mother Thecla attending the Garden Symposium in Columbia, South Carolina. There were four excellent speakers on different gardening topics. The last topic was on identifying garden pest/diseases. During his talk the speaker mentioned an article he had written on “Identifying Little Creatures by Their Tiny Turds.” Now you avid gardeners understand that what creatures leave behind is about all you have to work with to figure out what the pest problem is.

Throughout March and into April, several friends of our monastery volunteered to help us with the numerous tasks needed to continue keeping the grounds in order and to prepare for Pilgrimage on May 6th.

The First Saturday Liturgy in March was for the Commemoration of Departed Monastics. Being monastics ourselves and knowing of the struggle it takes to remain faithful to our monastic calling to our dying breath, we were inspired by reading the Canon of Matins which names a goodly number of the Monastic Fathers and Mothers who have gone before us and to realize that the our own list of the monastic departed were especially remembered on this day.

An article and picture by Diane Jowers was published in the April issue of the Wagener Monthly. From the telephone calls and visitors we received, we know that the people in the community really read this paper. We are most grateful for the positive press and for the greater awareness that the Wagener community has for us, and we for them.

This Lent and Holy Week have flown. As always, God custom makes the struggles we endure for our spiritual growth and salvation. Just when we think we have it all figured out, He sends us a challenge we never even considered.

We look forward to seeing those of you who can attend our Pilgrimage on Saturday, May 6th.

In the letter to the Hebrews, read at a recent liturgy, we hear, “. . . we are sure you are in a better state and on the way to salvation . . . Our one desire is that every one of you should go on showing the same earnestness to the end, to the perfect fulfillment of our hopes, never growing careless, but imitating those who have the faith and the perseverance to inherit the promises.”(Heb 6:9-12)

How was our earnestness as we lived the ending days of Great Lent and approached Pascha? Were we careless about our faith? Did we imitate those of faith and perseverance? Even now, do we earnestly continue on the path of salvation? Our world does not seem to value faith or perseverance. The divorce rate approaches 50%, longevity in a job is seen as a negative and popular earthly standards dictate that it is only important to believe in oneself!

It is very easy for us to fall into the “worldly” mindset since it is so comfortable and places “me” in the center. However, this is not “a better state and on the way to salvation.” Our salvation comes from the Lord Jesus Christ Who has called us His own – Who has suffered and died for us that we might rise with Him to eternal life.

Jesus asks us to be faithful. Even when we fail, He is always faithful. Look at the history of His chosen people, Israel. Look at our own personal journeys with Him. God is so very good! The only way we can persevere is by His grace, and His grace is always present and more than sufficient to get us through each moment.

Let us imitate “those who have the faith and perseverance to inherit the promises” by being faithful to our Lord – faith is His gift to us to follow Him – by persevering on His path. He guides us through His church, His people. The Lord is the center of life and when we recognize Him and allow Him His position, we are at peace and will inherit the promises.

Around 812 in Syracuse, Sicily, Plotinus and Agatha, a Christian couple, had a son and named him Joseph. As good Christian parents, Plotinus and Agatha taught their children to have faith in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to love God and to walk in His ways according to the doctrines of the Orthodox Christian Faith. At 15 years of age, Joseph proved himself capable of avoiding the Moslems (Saracens) who were invading Sicily and bringing his parents and siblings to a Sicilian port from which they sailed to the Peloponnesus and then north to Thessalonica.

Hearing the call of God to the monastic life and being an honest and upright young man of 17, Joseph entered the Latomou Monastery which is in the northern part of Thessalonica. There he showed a great aptitude in calligraphy, writing, reading, oratory, and singing/chanting while striving to live a virtuous and simple monastic life. Before the canonical age of 30, Joseph was ordained to the priesthood.

Shortly after his ordination, Saint Gregory the Dekapolite visited the Latomou Monastery and became friends with the now Father Joseph. Having obtained permission from his abbot, Gregory and Joseph traveled to Constantinople. There they lived as hermits at the Church of the Hieromartyr Antipas. During this time a renewed persecution was waged against the iconophiles with the support of the Emperor Theophilos (829-842) who was a stanch iconoclast. The church of the Hieromartyr Antipas became a meeting place for the iconophiles who chose the articulate Joseph to travel to Rome and represent them before Pope Gregory IV in the hopes of obtaining help.

Bowing to obedience, Father Joseph boarded a ship for Rome. On the voyage, the ship was besieged by Spanish-Arab pirates who enslaved those on board and took them to Crete. For six years Joseph endured imprisonment with its many hardships. During this time, he used his gift of speech to strengthen and prepare a pious layman for martyrdom. Most notably, Joseph also persuaded an Orthodox bishop to reject Iconoclasm and to be resolute in his Christian faith.

One Christmas eve while Joseph was bound in stocks and an iron collar, Saint Nicholas from Myra of Lycia appeared to him with a parchment, handed it to Joseph and instructed him to read it. Joseph read, “O greatly compassionate Lord, hasten and come quickly to our aid, for Thou art able to do whatsoever thou willest.” Along with these beautiful words, Saint Nicholas informed Joseph that the Emperor Theophilos would die soon, that he would be freed from his bondage, and that Theodora, the wife of Theophilos and an iconophile, would be regent since their son, Michael III, was two years of age.

Upon the death of Emperor Theophilos, Father Joseph was miraculously freed from his stocks and iron collar and carried by the powers above to a road that led to Constantinople. Entering the great city, Joseph sought out and found his friend and elder, Gregory the Dekapolite, who was in the latter stages of dropsy, but who had remained faithful and continued his fight against the iconoclast. Within a very short time Gregory died (November 20th).

The disciples of Saint Gregory the Dekapolite returned to the Church of the Hieromartyr Antipas, but realized that the church was too small for their numbers. Looking to Father Joseph as the successor to Gregory, they traveled a short distance from Constantinople, elected Joseph as their abbot, and established a monastery. Having been given a portion of the Apostle Bartholomew’s relics by a virtuous man from Thessalonica, Joseph wanted to build a church in honor of the Apostle Bartholomew.

Joseph had a special devotion to the Apostle Bartholomew. Often, while sleeping, Bartholomew, who was known to have a wonderful singing voice among the Apostles, would appear to Joseph. The Abbot Joseph was unsure as to whether or not he should build the church in honor of the Apostle. Therefore, he decided to fast and pray for the forty days before the apostles’ feastday (June 11th). On the eve of Bartholomew’s feastday, Fr. Joseph beheld the apostle who was clothe in garments of light open the curtain to the altar area and motion for Joseph to draw near. When Joseph approached, Bartholomew took the Gospel book from the altar table, placed it on Joseph’s breasts, and blessed him saying, “May the right hand of the living God bless thee. May streams of heavenly words pour forth from thy tongue! May the Holy Spirit dwell in the temple of thy heart. May thy hymnody inspire the whole world to lift up their hearts in praise to God.”

From this time forth, Abbot Joseph began to compose sacred hymns in great number. He completed the works of Saints Theodore and Joseph the Stoudites in filling in the Triodion and Pentecostarion (hymns sung from the beginning of Lent to two weeks after Pentecost), as well as the Octoechos (hymns for an eight-week cycle of eight melodies – one melody for each week). Joseph is noted as the first hymnographer to give the title “Inexhaustible Well-Spring” to the Theotokos. He also composed much of the Menaion (hymns to the saints on their feastdays). In the ninth ode of the canons he wrote, Joseph signed his work acrostically (the first letter of each of the six verses (stichera) spelled out his name). Thus, he is attributed with having penned over a thousand canons.

The events of Joseph’s day did not leave him to the work of his hands or the peace of his monastery. Due to the cut-throat intrigue of Byzantine politics, Empress Theodora was dethroned (856). Bardas, the uncle of Michael III, became Emperor, forced Patriarch Ignatius to resign, and exiled Father Joseph to Cherson on the Crimea (c. 858) for nine years. There Joseph dealt with the difficulties imposed on him and continued composing.

In 865, Basil, a friend of Michael III, assassinated Bardas and became co-emperor with Michael. A year and a half later, Basil murdered Michael III and took power. Basil I the Macedonian recalled Patriarch Ignatius and Father Joseph from exile. Patriarch Ignatius insisted that Father Joseph accept the important post as Skevophylax (the Keeper of the Sacred Vessels and Other Valuables) at Hagia Sophia in Constantinople. In 877, Patriarch Photius, who had served as Patriarch of Constantinople during Ignatius’ exile and became Patriarch again after Ignatius’ death, appointed Father Joseph, who now had the gift of insight, as advisor and confessor to his clergy. Patriarch Photius referred to Father Joseph as “Father of Fathers, equal to the angels and a man of God.”

Being a man in his seventies and knowing the day of his repose, the Abbot Joseph made an inventory of the sacred vessels and other valuables in his care, submitted that list along with his resignation to Photius. Joseph returned to his monastery where he prayed for several days, partook of the Holy Mysteries, and fell asleep in the Lord (c. 886).

On the day Joseph reposed, a Christian nobleman, whose manservant had run away, went to the shrine of Saint Theodore the Teron. (This saint had previously healed the nobleman.) After praying for three days, the nobleman was distraught that his prayers had not been answered and was preparing to leave when he heard beneficial words being read in a service at the shrine. Stopping to listen, he dozed off. St. Theodore appeared to the nobleman and explained that he was delayed from answering his prayer due to God’s command that all the choirs and ranks of saints were to escort the soul of Joseph into the Kingdom of Heaven and to honor him with the same love and respect that he had for them in his compositions. St. Theodore also instructed the nobleman on where to find his manservant.

Joseph the Poet and Hymnographer is the most prolific hymnographer in the history of Orthodox Christianity. For over 1100 years, his hymns continue to adorn the services of the Orthodox Church. Let us be encouraged by his example and remain steadfast in our faith in Christ Jesus through all our trials and struggles and offer up all our life and talents to God, the only lover of the human race.

Pesto:
1/2 cup fresh basil
8 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
1/4 cup olive oil

Place above ingredients in food processor or blender until it becomes a paste.

1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach,
    thawed and drained
2 15-ounce cans of Progresso Cannellini beans, drained
    (Great Northern beans can be substituted.)
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped
4 12”x 18” sheets of heavy aluminum foil
4 5-6 ounce fish steaks (Halibut, grouper, mahi mahi, or some
    other firm fish can be used.)
2 tablespoons (or more to taste) lemon juice
Olive oil
Lemon slices

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Combine spinach, beans, and chopped tomatoes with pesto. Place one-fourth of this mixture in the center of each sheet of aluminum foil. Put a fish steak on top. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil and top with lemon slices.
Leaving room for heat circulation, bring up the long sides of the foil and double fold, then double fold the ends to form four packets. Place on an oven proof pan with space between the packets. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes.

This is also a good outdoor grill recipe.

Seventh Annual Pilgrimage May 6, 2006

Seventh Annual
Pilgrimage
May 6, 2006