New Skete Monasteries News

Brother John Hoffman Over the years, several people have asked about the Jesus Prayer and how to use it. I would like to share an answer I received from Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, some thirty-six years ago. To use a phrase of Theophan the Recluse: the Jesus Prayer is not a talisman or an amulet, and although the powers of darkness cannot hear the holy name of Jesus without fear, it has no magic power over us. Anyone can use it if he does so with simplicity of heart (not as though he was engaging in a mysterious mystical exercise) and if the words are really meant; i.e., express a need and sincere attitude of mind. To use it, you must be deeply, intensely, sincerely, aware that you are in need of God and that only in Him is salvation for you. To say that you are a sinner means just that; a sinner is one who is afraid of depth, who shrinks away from his own depth, who feels safer on the superficial levels of his being and his life, to whom the storms life experienced on its surface are ...

Brother Christopher             In the summer of 2007, we began to introduce into our board and train program the use of the remote training collar. Earlier that summer I had attended a workshop held by Marc Goldberg and Martin Deeley, two experts on its use, and experienced first-hand how effective and gentle it could be when used properly for regular obedience training. Until that point, I had used the remote collar only to solve particularly difficult behavior problems. What I witnessed at the workshop was a new way of approaching this sort of training that provided dog owners reliable obedience and a new level of freedom in both communicating and relating with their dogs. The effect that seminar had on the way we train dogs here at New Skete has been revolutionary. Building on the tradition of training we have been known for many years, we were now able to help owners reach off-leash reliability with their dogs much more ...

Reflections by Brother Luke The year 2016 is our golden jubilee, marking 50 years since the founding of New Skete in 1966.  On our web site and our Facebook page you will find announcements of events commemorating this milestone in our community’s history. These include a benefit concert that was held on the day of our Open House, June 4 (see article by Br. Stavros), a new icon painted by Sr. Cecelia featuring the Transfiguration surrounded by other images of our life and work, and our annual Pilgrimage on Saturday, August 6, which will include a visit by our bishop, Metropolitan Tikhon, and a lecture by Fr. Michael Oleksa on the Alaskan roots of Orthodoxy in America. A new CD of a collection of New Skete recordings made over those 50 years will be available at the Pilgrimage. As a community renewal event, the monastics will gather on August 11–14 with Columba Stewart, OSB, who will lead a four-day conference. A new book of articles assembled by friends of New Skete on the the...