Hieromonk John, Br. Vincent, and Mother Thecla in front of the iconostas at St. Michael's Skete

While we strive to send out our newsletter every quarter, sometimes the fullness of our lives runs over, waylays us, time speeds by, and we’re late. As you can see, our January newsletter is in February.

In mid-October, Mother Thecla with her mother had the opportunity to worship at All Saints of North America Orthodox Mission in Albuquerque, New Mexico and to visit with friends. The next day they paid a very brief visit to Saint Michael’s Skete, in Cañones, New Mexico. Saint Michael’s Skete is our brother monastery in the Diocese of the South. The beautiful chapel and their other buildings are set in the landscape beauty of rolling hills, cliffs, and valleys. If any of you ever decide to visit them, make sure that you have ample time to make the drive, as it is easy to get lost and the road is a “two rut” one which has small, wooden bridges without guard rails, and goes through a safe stream bed. Thankfully, we found a local person who informed us that we were about a mile past the monastery and graciously led us there.

January 20th being the Sunday we, as Orthodox Christians, set aside specifically to pray for all the children who have died by abortion, this picture of a bronze statue of Christ kneeling on the ground with an unborn child in His right hand is particularly poignant. It is part of a memorial adjacent to a much larger grouping of statues (14 Stations of the Cross) around a nineteen story, white, metal cross. This monumental witness to Christ and His saving gift to mankind can be found south of I-40, just west of Groom, Texas.

At the end of October, we were visited by a couple who are relatives of Mother Helena. While the wife is great at working out building ideas, her husband is great at implementing those ideas. (Sounds like many married couples we know.) Mother Helena was most grateful for the sturdy, wooden, candle mold holders they made for the candle shop. Also, they helped to set posts and framework for the new roof on the duck pen. What framework they were not able to finish, two other friends of the monastery did during Thanksgiving weekend.

Our Saturday Liturgies continue to be a blessing for us and those who attend. On November 3rd, Fr. Nicholas Miletkov from St. John of the Ladder Orthodox Church in Greenville, South Carolina served Liturgy; then, on December 8th, Liturgy was served by Fr. John Parker from Holy Ascension Orthodox Mission, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina; and, on January 5th, Fr. Thomas Moore from Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in West Columbia, South Carolina served Liturgy. We are most grateful to have each one of these priests serve at our monastery altar.

On the second weekend in November, we hosted a retreat for a small group of women from Holy Ascension Orthodox Mission (pictured here). They are a dedicated group of women who seek God’s will for their lives and work to build Christ’s church. It was a pleasure for us to be with them.

On that same Saturday, Ekatarina Litsukova was buried in our cemetery by her daughter and her family. Memory Eternal!

Of course “there’s no rest for the weary, and the good don’t need it.” The following Saturday was our bi-annual flea market day. Over the years, we have learned to price and box things as they come in, and, then, we simply load up the stuff on Friday so we can leave early Saturday morning. This sale brought in a little over $200 for our building fund.

Speaking of our Building Fund, many of you have asked, “How much do we need?” Our answer is $500,000 to start building. It will take at least twice that much to finish the building phase. Many of you are helping us towards this goal in whatever way you can, and we are most grateful. We ourselves continue to add to this fund as we are able and to invest it wisely. Yes, this is a big step for us, but, after continuous prayer and much deliberation, we know that it is the next step we need to take. We also know that we will not have the chance to build it a second time. Handing this monastery down to the generations that come after us so that they may build onto instead of re-build, requires that we build it right the first time.

Then the next question is, “What happens to the double wide?” It will become our guest house.

In early December, we were visited by a father and son who were bicycling from Michigan to Miami, Florida. What a trek!!! We enjoyed meeting them and hearing about the many good people they met along the way. Yes, they made it safely to Miami and then flew back home. Thanks be to God who watches over all of us.

Both Thanksgiving and Christmas were rather quiet this year. As always, we attended Liturgy at either Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in West Columbia or Holy Resurrection Orthodox Mission in Aiken, and then returned to the monastery where we enjoyed the rest of the day with a few friends. As beautiful as the Liturgy for Christ’s Nativity is, the Vesperal Liturgy on Christmas Eve has something of the radiance from the star that led the Magi to the Christ Child.

Our best Christmas present came on December 15th when we became three again. Pat is learning how we pray communally, adjusting to our schedule and the way we do things here, and where to find whatever, as well as learning how to make candles and taking on numerous monastery chores. Keep praying for all of us and that we will stay three and grow to four and more.

December 31st was a sad day for many, but a glorious day for Zora Tatalovich Milasnovich, who reposed in her Redeemer, our Lord Jesus Christ. At 91, she had led a full life and was a fine example of a good matriarch to both her family and church. Our souls were always lifted by her warm smile and greeting. It was an honor to help with the Panikhida Service on the evening of January 6th, and the Liturgy, Funeral Service, and Burial the following day. Before she died, she chose her burial place among some of her friends who are also buried here. May her memory be eternal!

Tuesday, January 8th, Mother Helena and Mother Thecla headed for Manhattan to attend the wedding of one of Mother Helena’s God daughters. We pray that God will bless them with many happy years.

Since the wedding took place at the Bulgarian Cathedral on 50th Street, we had the pleasure of meeting Metropolitan Joseph and being told the stories of several Bulgarian saints whose icons were on the walls. He purposely pointed out the icons on the iconostas and told us that they were written by the nuns in Sofia, Bulgaria.

While there, we took the opportunity to visit La Lame. They have some truly gorgeous liturgical fabrics. Ah yes, drool is free. After that we visited St. Vladimir’s Bookstore and did some restocking of our monastery store.

Going ever onward, we hosted a Young Adult Retreat from January 19-20. As the picture below shows, seven were in attendance with Fr. John Parker leading the retreat. Since most of these young adults are in college and have schedules which greatly vary one from the other, we never know who will be able to attend. This year we had four from South Carolina, two from Florida, and one from Georgia. Yes, God raises up His people in each generation.

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good – His mercy endureth forever." We hear these words in the matins services and similar words in many portions of the Psalms.

Do we give thanks? Are we grateful? How often in our day do we say thank you to each other – to our good God? We seem to forget that we are unprofitable servants; we act as if we are the master to be served and think we can control. How foolish we are! God is in control.

In this season when God has shown us His Light – His Birth in Bethlehem and His manifestation as Trinity in the Jordan at His Baptism – let us give thanks and try to become truly persons of gratitude.

As it is said let us look at the glass half full not half empty. This is an attitude we should work toward for each moment of our day. With God’s gift of faith to us we want to see His Hand in all that happens and trust Him to do the best for and with us. So we say thank you for the joy and/or pain of this moment. He is in our every moment for there is no life without His allowing it. God is with us; may we understand and commit ourselves.

May God grant us the grace to accept His will in all things with peace, joy and tranquility.

St. Theoclea is an excellent example of a mother who taught her son at an early age purity of life and love for God above all things. Following in the footsteps of Righteous Hannah, the mother of the Prophet Samuel, St. Theoclea prayed for the blessing of a child. She often pondered on the Triune God she so cherished. Not a pagan god, full of wrath, temper tantrums and lust, but a loving family, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, giving all without measure in peace and joy.

Saint Theoclea Drawing by James Seraphim Shealy of Columbia, South Carolina

God saw the good intention of her heart and heard her prayer. Again like Hannah, St. Theoclea offered her firstborn to God. She promised that she would raise her son, St. Calliopus, to be God-fearing, to follow the Lord’s commandments, and to seek out His holy temple within his heart in order to become an altar where the presence of God would be continually worshipped and glorified. She set the stage for what would play itself out in the life of her son, who would be called to take a stand and become a martyr for the faith.

The widow of a senator of Perga in Pamphylia, St. Theoclea lived in the late third century. When Calliopus was still young, a fierce persecution of Christians broke out under Emperor Maximian. In order to safeguard her son’s purity, integrity and faith, she arranged for him to leave the city, with servants and supplies, on a private ship destined for the port of Pompeiopolis in Cilicia. When St. Calliopus disembarked, he walked right into the midst of a pantheistic celebration and was almost trampled to death by the crazed mob. He refused to take part in the pagan feast and was brought to the governor, Maximus. Maximus, as sly as the serpent, tried to entangle the young boy in philosophical discussions, and he innocently confessed that he was a Christian. Knowing that the young man was of noble birth and quite wealthy, he offered his daughter to him in marriage if he would just renounce his faith. St. Calliopus, who loved the Triune God above all things, adamantly refused. He was beaten, burned and thrown into prison.

A few of the servants were able to escape, made their way to Perga, and related to St. Theoclea what had occurred. She foresaw that the Lord was calling her to make good her promise. She sold everything she had and gave it to the poor, keeping just a little for travel. With God’s help, she managed to get to the prison. She could hardly recognize her son. He was bruised and swollen all over. His face was such that she could barely see his features. He was unable to get up to greet his mother, but was forced to remain prostrate on the cold, hard ground. He tried to smile and said, “Greetings, mother! You have come to be a witness of the sufferings of Christ.” St. Theoclea had instructed her son well. Not once did he think of himself as anything but a member of Christ’s Church, a member of His mystical body. His mother replied, “Blessed am I, and blessed is the fruit of my womb, which I consecrated to Christ, as Hannah did of old.” She stayed that night in prison, washing and binding up his wounds, and speaking of the love of God. Her words and presence encouraged him to walk in the footsteps of Christ, bearing witness to the sublime truth of the Triune God and the reality of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The next day, the governor pronounced that St. Calliopus would be crucified. His mother was sad and joyous at the same time. She knew the eternal rewards her son would receive if he was able to courageously imitate the example of his Lord and Master. St. Theoclea, in humility and out of respect for the supreme sacrifice of Jesus for all mankind, bribed the executioner to crucify her son upside down. As she watched her son dying, she stood below the cross giving thanks to God. When they took her son’s body down from the cross, St. Theoclea fell upon it and breathed her last. Thus, they took their place together, mother and son, before the throne of the King of Glory.

Asia Minor (now Turkey) during the time of St. Theoclea

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of corn oil
1 large yellow or white onion, diced
6 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup carrots, peeled and diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into
bite-size cubes
1 15-oz. can of Cannellini beans or great northern beans
(or 2 cups cooked)
1½ pounds of fresh plum tomatoes
1 small head of Savoy cabbage, cored and thinly shredded
1 bunch Swiss Chard, stems diced and leaves coarsely
chopped
3 bay leaves
8-10 cups of water or vegetable broth

Heat corn oil in a large soup pot. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and salt and pepper and sauté until onions and garlic start to turn brown and the celery and carrots are slightly soft. Add the butternut squash, tomatoes, Cannellini or great northern beans, cabbage, Swiss chard and bay leaves and sear. Stir constantly to prevent burning. Add water or vegetable broth, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook until the vegetables are tender.

You can choose to serve the soup as is or to purée it. We prefer chunky soups.

Toppings: On fasting days you can top this soup with roasted piñon nuts or chopped, roasted pecans. On non-fasting days you can top it with grated hard cheese, like Romano or Parmesan.