New Skete Monasteries News

by Ida Williams It has been a month.   30 days since I drove up the mountain road and saw the “closed” sign.   30 days since I have seen my co-workers, the dogs, and the monastics.   There have been emails and phone calls, but no face-to-face time.   For me, there has been work for the monastery to be done, and then there are things around home.   I have my horses (very well-groomed horses), I bake, clean, make phone calls to old friends, family, and people in my community who may need something picked up from the grocery store, and I go a little stir-crazy. It is easy to do these days.    What have I learned from the monks and nuns that can help me live this (temporary) cloistered life? Turn off the television.    The monastics have a television in each of their monasteries, but it is not on from the moment they get up until they go to bed at night.   It is not needed for background noise, blah, blah, blah...

By Ida Williams Staff Member of New Skete Monastery The sign says, “Closed.   No Guest. No Visitors. No Gift Shop.” This is the first time in almost nine years of employment at New Skete Monasteries that I cried when I arrived at work.      New Skete has always been a welcoming place.   A place of hospitality, warmth, and goodness.   And there it is.   The sign.   It might as well say, “Do Not Enter. No Trespassing.” If this is heartbreaking to me, how much more must it be for the monks and nuns?    No guests at meals to share stories with, no puppy socializers clapping their hands to encourage the puppies to come to them, and no parishioners to worship with during services.  What about spiritual direction with Brother Christopher and Sister Rebecca, Brother Gregory entertaining and educating groups about the history of New Skete during tours, and retreatants seeking the quiet and solitude of the gue...

By Sister Cecelia In January, Brother Christopher and I were invited to attend the ordination of the newly elected auxiliary bishop for Metropolitan Tikhon, Father Alexis (Trader), in Washington, D.C., at St Nicholas Cathedral. Bishop Alexis will help the Metropolitan with all the duties connected with Stavropegial institutions and monasteries in the OC A . While most of the monasteries in the OCA are directly under the bishop of the diocese, about six or seven, including New Skete, are directly under the Metropolitan.  Despite the unpredictable effect of winter weather on travel, we decided to fly, and fortunately everything worked out without a hitch. When we arrived at our hotel in the early afternoon, Br Christopher was able to get in his exercise regimen, and I enjoyed a few hours of quiet meditation before we walked to St Nicholas for the special Vesper service on the eve of the ordination. For many of us it was the first time we had seen Father Alexis. To help ...