Sermons & Homilies
Today’s feast is called the Meeting of the Lord because it refers to the meeting between the Righteous Simeon and Our Saviour.
Today we celebrate the feast of Pokrov, the Protection of the Mother of God. This feast, though not widely celebrated outside the Russian Church, is very dear to the hearts of the Russian people. It is on this feast that we celebrate the love that the Mother of God has for us. It is a celebration of the protection and great care that the Mother of God shows us. A motherly love, with warmth and affection, yet a love with great power – and the Mother of God proves this to us time and time again.
“Joachim and Anna were freed from the reproach of childlessness and Adam and Eve from the corruption of death, by thy holy nativity, O Immaculate One, which thy people, redeemed from the guilt of sin, celebrate by crying to thee: The barren woman giveth birth to the Theotokos, the nourisher of our life.”
“What shall we call thee, O thou who art full of grace?” Our helper, our protector, our comfort, our joy, our guide, our Mother!
Fourteen years ago on this date, nine monks and one nun arrived at this site to begin the monumental task of building a monastery from nothing. There was only one building here and that was the home of our benefactors the Sills, so numerous cells for monks had to be built along with a church and workshops, and converting a double wide trailer into a trapeza.