New Skete Monasteries News

Orthodox Liturgy: Lessons from the Past, Conemporary Trends, and Opportunities   Written by Brother Stavros   left to right: Fr. Philip Zymaris, Professor of Liturgics, Fr. Alkiviadis Calivas Professor Emeritus of Liturgics, former Dean, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology Brother Stavros, New Skete An International Conference on Liturgical Renewal, a two-day event gathering liturgical scholars and practitioners from as far away as Hong Kong, Georgia, Greece, Rumania, and Austria, was held March 15 and 16 as part of the 75 th anniversary of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology,  Brookline, Massachusetts, under the title Orthodox Liturgy, Lesson from the Past, Contemporary Trends, and Opportunities.   A Fellow of the British Academy, Archimandrite the Rev. Dr. Robert Taft, S.J., Professor Emeritus of Oriental Liturgy at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome, gave the keynote address: “ Liturgical Renewal in Orthodoxy: R...

recap written by Br. Marc New Skete’s annual spring retreat took place last Saturday, limited to forty participants. Matins (morning service) was at 8:00, followed by registration and a breakfast with bagels, fruit and coffee. Brother Luke welcomed everyone gathered in the annex conference room and gave a general preview of the day. Sister Rebecca then made the first of the day’s 75-minute presentations, “From Darkness to Light in Scripture and in our Lives,”   Using a PowerPoint visual program, she explored the Biblical creation narratives in a nuanced way based on the original Hebrew texts and the tradition of Jewish commentaries. Some topics were: darkness and chaos in the beginning, God as darkness to our perception; faulty and harmful images of God; evil, and times of darkness and suffering; wrongful action. The second part explored primal light of creation as revealing God presence and action, our resonating with this through paradox, deeper meaning, awareness, and con...

by Brother Stavros Published in The Evangelist   A Renaissance Pope, Julius Caesar and Iznik People, Places and Events that Influence the Easter - Pascha Calendar Modern commercial calendars have a citation that will generally read "Eastern Orthodox Easter." Typically, this citation falls a week after the Western Easter. You may find it as advanced as five weeks later into the month of May. The reasons for the differences in the calendar can be found by looking back over the last seventeen hundreds years at the people, places and events that influenced this occurrence.  Icon - Fathers of First Ecumenical Council holding the Nicene Creed  When the First Ecumenical Council met in the city of Nicea, now known as the town of Iznik, Turkey, the Council’s main focus was to hammer out the basics of Christology and produce an agreed upon Creed. The 318 Fathers assembled had a secondary task; arrive at a common date for Easter. At that tim...

The following is Br. Luke's sermon, preached in celebration of the profession of Br. Gregory. Sermon 122 1 Feb 3: Is 42:5-12; Heb 7:11-19; Lk 2:25-38 Encounter We all know what a bear hug is. To some it’s a warm embrace, to others it’s suffocating or even harassment! In greeting people at home, on social occasions, and even here at the Kiss of Peace or at coffee hour, we may embrace each other. And how different that can be from one person to the next! Is it three kisses on the cheek, or two or one or just a handshake or maybe a pat on the arm? The choreography of meetings can be a many-splendored-thing, an ordinary and unmemorable occasion or an embarrassment. Today we celebrate the meeting in the Temple between the child Jesus Christ and the aged Simeon. Others are there as witnesses: Mary and Joseph and the prophetess Anna, but the principal encounter that only St Luke [and no other Gospel writer] describes happens when Simeon takes Jesus into his arms. I would not ...

Brother Luke Greeting Metropolitan Tikhon St. Nicholas Cathedral in DC Site of Enthronement On Sunday, January 27, 2013, His Beatitude, the Most Blessed Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, was enthroned at Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Washington, DC. Br. Luke speaking with Metropolitan Tikhon Metropolitan Tikhon was elected at the 17th All-American Council held in Parma, OH on Tuesday, November 13, 2012.  In attendance at the Enthronement were members of the Orthodox Church in America’s Holy Synod of Bishops, as well as representatives from Moscow, all of Russia, all of Georgia, Serbia, Armenia, members of the World Council of Churches and many US dignitaries. Br. Luke and Br. Jacob next to statue of St. Nicholas Washington, DC “Our task is to preserve the Tradition and apply it in new ways,” said Metropolitan Tikhon during his banquet address, in which he spoke of the unique challenges facing the Church today....