Monasticism
Sisters! Let us give thanks to God for all we have, and say, “Glory to You, O God!”
One of the greatest blessings that the Lord can bestow on a person is being called to the monastic life. “The life of monasticism is a life of perpetual spiritual ascent. While the world goes on its earthbound way, and the faithful with their obligations and distractions of the world try to stay within the institutional limits of the church tradition, monasticism goes to the other direction and soars. It rejects any kind of compromise and seeks the absolute. It launches itself from this world and heads for the Kingdom of God. This is in essence the goal of the Church itself…”
What is God’s Will for
you?
“The life of every person who loves God, especially of every struggling monastic, is a mystery. All of a person’s communication and relation with God takes place in the depth of his heart and is oftentimes secret and hidden from the attention of men. Only when someone has a duty to train others in Christ is he then compelled to teach them from his own experience, and so some of his secret experiences are revealed. Thus it is explained how, from among the many women who had real experiences of the hesychastic life, the only ones who became known were those who, as eldresses, exercised a pastoral ministry to their nuns.
This means that the life of a monastic is a mystery inaccessible to most people, and God allows only some of its effulgence to be revealed to those who thirst for this way of life and desire it, for it is understood only by those who share the same experiences with them.” - Gerondissa Makrina
A few words from our brothers and sisters…
“All the sisters, who are one in spirit, one soul and one heart with their elder, kneeling down… A gathering of nuns in prayer has great power, it works wonders.”
— St. Porphyrios
“We need patience under the darts of the evil one, persistence in the breaking of our ego, and submission to the holy will of God. Only with these can we progress.”
— Mother Gabriela
“Whether we are monastics or laypeople, we should have theoria, saying, “Let us now go for a walk through Paradise,” even if we do not see Paradise. We must be very attentive to our thoughts, because God loves purity of the mind very much. We must not let anything negative stick in our nous but immediately in every instance say, “May God forgive you.”
— Gerondissa Makrina
“Let our words be few and wholesome. And let us exercise ourselves in silence. Without silence virtue does not advance. Without silence, we do not acquire prayer. With idle chatter, judging and condemning, our mind loses all direction.”
“We need a spirit of penitence and prayer. Each should pray for himself and for his brother. The Saints always say: “I am to blame.” Never do they judge the other. What a wonderful thing that is. That is what we must do and we will live in Paradise even in the present world. If we have these things, do you know what repose and respite comes to our soul? Great relief! Infinite peace! Let us face all things with silence and prayer and a spirit of repentance.”
— Mother Theosemni
“The monastic life consists of ceaselessly seeking God’s countenance, yearning for Him, possessing a strong love for Him, and perpetually hastening towards Him.”
— St. Nektarios of Aegina
“Outward prayer alone is not enough. God pays attention to the mind, and they are not true monks who fail to unite exterior prayer with inner prayer. Strictly defined, the word “monk” means a recluse, a solitary. Whoever has not withdrawn within himself is not yet a recluse, he is not yet a monk even though he lives in the most isolated monastery. The mind of the ascetic who is not withdrawn and enclosed within himself dwells necessarily amongst tumult and unquietness. Innumerable thoughts, having free admission to his mind, bring this about; without purpose or necessity his mind wanders painfully through the world, bringing harm upon itself. The withdrawal of a man within himself cannot be achieved without the help of concentrated prayer, especially the attentive practice of the Jesus Prayer.”
— St. Ignatius Brianchaninov
A Christian Receipe for Happiness
“…And you realize if you’re happy when you ask yourself, “Lord, is what I am doing now making me happy? Is this happiness the one You promised? Are You part of this? And, in general, the technique is the following:
In the evening you should mourn for your sins: stay in front of an icon, even if you have no tears, briefly review everything you did during the day and place the bitterness before God…and the next day you will be happy!
This is applicable for everyone (some say it is only for monks)! People who are grumpy during the day haven’t spoken in intimacy with God about their mistakes…and then they see the mistakes in others…It is the evil which I didn’t mourn or confess before God the one which I will see in other people the next day…And I will think that they are actually the ones that hurt me…” - Mother Siluana
“God’s Will for you is to be happy and to prepare yourself even deeper for happiness…”
All people want to be happy. Everything in the world happens for this purpose. Even wars and revolutions take place because people struggle for happiness. But has any revolution ever made anyone happy? No. What then? Maybe happiness doesn’t exist? No, it exists.
“What is happiness? I know what it is. I had a lot of happiness throughout my life. You know, I was born very long ago—in 1924, exactly two weeks after Lenin’s death,” Nun Ekaterina related.
"I even have lived to see such happiness when I found the Lord, and He even vouchsafed me the monastic tonsure. Happiness is in God and in living for Him.”
The monastic life is a conscious life-long struggle to attain to the perfection of the Gospel, according to the Lord’s words: “if you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess…and come, follow me.”(Mt 19:21). The person who desires to taste the love, the hope, the enthusiasm and the joy that flow from union with Christ, forsakes the things of the world and, putting on the monastic robe, seeks throughout his life that “one thing needful” of which the Gospel speaks (Lk 10:42)
Saint Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia (+1991) says: The monastic life is a great thing! Very great. It is a great and exalted life, a divine and poetic life. It is a life that transcends the common human lot, a life of resurrection. A monk’s joy is to enter into the love of God, to enter into the Church, into the Holy Trinity and into Christ. He is united with Christ and his heart leaps for joy and is filled with grace. Christ is his joy, his enthusiasm, his hope and his love.” (Wounded by Love)
Love for Christ and complete devotion to Him is the driving force that leads one to the monastic life. A monk or nun, preserving the fundamental monastic virtues of obedience, chastity, and poverty, struggles to maintain the true life in Christ, maturing in His likeness and restoring the original beauty of Man, made in the image of God.
In this way, with the grace of God, a monk or a nun prays for the whole word, seeing in the heart of each man the image of God and discerning in the visible world the seal of divine creation and majesty. Monastics devote themselves to God and with a soul full of love they pray and work for the salvation of the whole universe.
“That is how important a monk’s prayer is, says St. Porphyrios. He is on his own in his cell, but the reverberations of his prayer reach everyone, even if they are far off. With his prayer, the monk participates in all the problems which people face and works miracles.”
Saint Xenia of St. Petersburg (+1803)
Saint Maria of Olonets (+1860)
Saint Alexandra Petrovna, Grand Duchess (+1900)
Saint Anastasia of Kiev (+1900)
Saint Methodia of Kimolos (+1908)
Blessed Mother Thaisia (+1915)
Saint Barbara Yakovleva (+1918)
Saint Elizabeth the New Martyr (+1918)
Saint Euphrosyne (Mezenova), schema-abbess of Siberia (+1918)
Saint Seraphima the New Martyr (+1918)
Saint Eudocia, Fool for Christ, (+1919)
Martyr Daria (Timolina) (+1919)
Martyr Daria (Siushinskaya) (+1919)
Martyr Maria of Puzo (+1919)
Matushka Lydia, her three daughters, and mother Domnica (+1919)
Saint Antonina the New Martyr (+1924)
Martyr Anna (Petrovna Lykoshina) (+1925)
Saint Rachel, Schemanun of Borodino Convent (+1928)
Blessed Eldress Konstantia of Africa (+19th Century)
Nun-Martyr Maria of Gatchina, (+1930)
St. Athanasia the New Martyr (+1932)
Venerable Vera Confessor (1932)
Nun-Martyr Tatiana (Fomicheva) (+1937)
Matushka Agatha, New Martyr (+1938)
Blessed Evdokia (Safronova), Virgin-martyr (+1938)
Nun-Martyr Ekaterina (Konstantinos) (+1938)
Martyr Olga (Vasilievna Evdokimova) (+1938)
Blessed Nina (Kuznetsova), New Martyr (+1938)
Martyr Olga (Semyonovna Kosheleva) (+1939)
Saint Sophia, Abbess-Confessor of Kiev (+1941)
Presbytera Joanna of Graboviec, New Martyr (+1943)
Saint Maria of Paris (+1945)
Blessed Gerondissa Makrina (+1995)
Saints and Elders of
the modern day
Modern Holy Women
& Elders
in both life and teaching
Abbess Theologia
Abbess Ines of Guatemala
Eldress Veronica
Mother Christophora
Abbess Xenia (Oschepkova)
Venerable Martha (Milyukova) (+1829)
Venerable Helena (Manturova) (+1832)
Blessed Pelagia (Serebrennikova) (+1884)
Matushka Elizabeth of Kronstadt (+1909)
Blessed Paraskeva (Pasha of Sarov) (+1915)
Blessed Maria Fedina (+1931)
Schema-Abbess Magdalena (Dosmanova) (+1934)
Abbess Rufina of Shanghai (+1937)
Venerable Martyr Martha (Testova), (+1941)
Eldress Maria Velichko (+1943)
Blessed Olga of St. Petersburg, Fool for Christ, (+1960)
Eldress Agatha, Mother of Elder Cleopa, (+1968)
Princess Alice of Britain, Greece & Denmark (+1969)
Eldress Mary of Gethsemane (+1969)
Eldress Myrtidiotissa, the Ascetic (+1974)
Marina Hociotă the Frontline Nurse and Nun of WW1 (+1977)
Eldress Katerina (+1978)
Gerontissa Anastasia (+1979)
Eldress Eulambia (+1980)
Gerondissa Theophano (+1986)
Maria Berushko of Brazil (+1986)
Nun Alypia of Goloseyevo, Fool-for-Christ, (+1988)
Mother Alexandra, formerly Princess Illeana of Romania (+1991)
Gerondissa Gavrielia (+1992)
Preoteasa Maria Staniloae (+1993)
Gerondissa Taxiarchia (+1994)
Schemanun Margarita (+1997)
Schema-abbess Ariadna (+1997)
Schemanun Sepphora (+1997)
Eldress Theosemni (+2000)
Eldress Nazaria (+2001)
Gerontissa Nantieznta (Hope) (+~2000s)
Eldress Christina, the Hermitess, (+2012)
Eldress Mary Magdelene of Jerusalem (+2013)
Schemanun Theocletia (+2014)
Eldress Georgia (+2018)
Eldress Catherine (+2019)
Abbess Theodosia (+2019)
Eldress Philothei (+2020)
Mother Siluana of Romania (+2021)
Eldress Galaktia (+2021)
Mother Elizabeth (+2024)
Recently
Canonized…
Saint Irene of Lesbos, the Virgin-Martyr (+1463, Canonized 1970)
Saint Theodora of the Carpathians (+18th century, Canonized 1992)
Saint Eutropia Isayenkova of Kherson in Crimea (+1863, Canonized 2011)
Saint Bosiljka of Pasjane (+19th Century, Canonized 2019)
Abbess Nina (Nino) Amilakhvari (+19th Century, Canonized 2016)
Saint Alexandra Feodorovna and her daughters (+1918)
Saint Zosima (+1935, Canonized 2006)
Schema-Abbess Tamara (+1936, Canonized 2016)
Holy Martyr Natalia (Kozlova) (+1937, Canonized 2004)
Holy New Martyr Tatiana (Grimblit) (+1937, Canonized 2002)
Nun Martyr Xenia (Cherlina-Brailovskaya) (+1937, Canonized 2000)
Venerable Nun-Martyr Martha (+1941, Canonized 2002)
Venerable Nun-Martyr Pelagia (+1944, Canonized 2001)
Saint Matrona of Moscow (+1952, Canonized 1999)
Novice Nun Matrona (Vlasova) (+1963, Canonized 2001)
Eldress Sophia, the Ascetic of Kleisoura (+1974, Canonized 2011)
Saint Olga of Kwethluk (+1979, Canonized 2024)
Am I being called to the Monastic life?
Questions by Sister Ioanna, St. Innocent Monastic Community
