Day with Many Surprises - A Reflection by a Recent Prior

by Brother Luke

 

On September 27, 2000, I was busy attending to my usual chores, including cleaning the visitors’ bathrooms in our residence’s entrance hall. It was a beautiful sunny autumn day, but our minds were on anything but the weather. At mid-morning, the entire community gathered to meet with our Abbot, Father Laurence, in his office, which was located in his private cell.  At that time I had been a member of the community for only five years, and professed for only two years. But at that meeting I had been asked to read a statement to our Abbot that had been signed by every member of the community. Why me? Emotions were running high, and it seemed that since I was the newest member, I was more likely to be able to read the statement calmly. Well, I may have read the statement calmly, but inside I was as emotionally anxious as anyone. At the conclusion of the statement being read, our Abbot resigned, signed the necessary papers formalizing that action, and then left New Skete. 

As one era ended and a new one began, none of us knew what the future held in store for us. None of our lives would ever be the same again. For me, that was true beyond my wildest imagination.  The brothers asked me to serve as an interim superior for the Monks of New Skete. Little did I suspect that my designation as locum tenens would evolve into the position of prior and last for 13 years. I felt the least qualified of anyone to serve in that position, but I also knew that our future would be determined by the efforts of all in the community and not just one person. I would not be alone, but accompanied on this new journey by all the community members and by God. I believed that if this was what God wanted me to do now, then I would do it to the best of my abilities for as long as the community desired.  

Very shortly after this event, our bishop, Metropolitan Theodosius, visited New Skete to assure us of his support in our new direction. Even before his visit, we had spoken to him by telephone and received his approval for our change in governance. Without an Abbot over all three monasteries—the Monks of New Skete, the Nuns of New Skete, and the Companions of New Skete—we needed to establish a new arrangement for community decision-making.  This began with the creation of a council made up of the three superiors of the three houses. Metropolitan Theodosius immediately accepted this idea and compared it to the governing council on Mount Athos. It was good to know that our bishop was both supportive of this plan and able to connect what seemed a radical change for us to a long-standing tradition in the Orthodox Church. So as this new era began, we felt that with the blessing of our bishop, we had at least some form of safety net under us.  

For me personally, that unique day in September had another level of anxiety attached to it.  My mother and sister had scheduled a visit to New Skete, and they were to arrive from California on that very day!  They were expected early in the afternoon, and only because they got lost driving from Albany Airport to the monastery did they miss arriving right in the middle of these momentous events. So when they got on the plane in San Diego, I was Brother Luke, Monk of New Skete.  When they arrived, I was Brother Luke, superior, locum tenens, of the Monks of New Skete. Just one more surprise on a day filled with surprises.