New Skete Monasteries News

 by  Brother Christopher   There is a healthy tension in Orthodoxy during the weeks leading up to Great Lent. Interestingly, three out of the four pre-Lenten Sundays have forgiveness as their principal theme: the Publican and Pharisee, the Prodigal Son, and Forgiveness Sunday. It is as if the Church intends to have us experience the true meaning of forgiveness before Lent even begins, so that our Lenten observance is less one of “earning” God’s forgiveness through our ascetic practice, and more our response of gratitude for the forgiveness we have already received. Now, while that might be a consoling thought, such forgiveness is not the whole story. Sandwiched between the Sunday of the Prodigal Son and Forgiveness Sunday is Judgement Sunday, which offers a salutary counterbalance to any temptation to take God’s forgiveness for granted. So let’s reflect a bit on Matthew’s apocalyptic scene in chapter 25 of his gospel and that scary word “judgement,” which can make us ...

  by Brother Christopher   It is not often that monks get to travel, given that our focus is on living the monastic life in this particular community. However, occasionally situations come up when travel is warranted, and one such opportunity presented itself recently for Brothers Christopher and Theophan. The Institute for the Study of Eastern Christianity at Catholic University of America was hosting a conference titled “Ascetic Practices and the Mind: Mental Healing in Eastern Christianity” on March 1-2. We found out about the conference when Robin Darling Young, one of the theology professors at Catholic U and an organizer of the conference, paid a brief visit to New Skete last fall. During the course of her visit she learned that Brother Theo had a background in neuroscience, and she mentioned to us how the conference planners were looking for an Orthodox participant(s) whose interests were in both spirituality and neuroscience. She took advantage of the synchronicity...