…a short celebration and then readying for battle ahead!

http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/livemonasticworld.aspx
“When people visit a monastery, they feel that it is a holy place where God is present. Paradoxically, the monastics who dwell in that monastery more often feel the intense spiritual warfare that the evil one is waging against them. When visitors came to one monastery and said to one of the nuns, It is so peaceful here, she replied, You feel the peace, we see the warfare.

Anyone who strives to fulfill the Gospel commandments, who tries to live truly according to the teachings of the Church, feels both of these aspects to some degree: both the grace of God in their lives, but also the intense battle that the devil and his legions wage against him. The more intensely we strive to serve God, the more the evil one seeks to deter us from our path. This is most true in the life of one who renounces the world and seeks to live completely for Christ.”

Eliot, what I meant by “very western Orthodox orientation” was

1) Father Peter is a convert himself and is thus in his own personality western, although certainly not in a parochial sense;

2) The monastery is named for a Western Orthodox Saint;

3) They have announced that there will be both Western Rite and Eastern Rite services.

Hope I got that right — my impression.

And again, the fact that Father Peter’s vision has been embraced by his 2nd-3rd generation ethnic parish, and his foreign-born bishop, is, I believe, cause for celebration… a sweet-smelling savor before God.

Fr. David,
Thank you for straightening it out.

What does it mean “the monastery has a very western Orthodox orientation”? My understanding of the “western Orthodoxy” concept is a mixture of humanism and Orthodoxy. The self-worshiping humanism and Orthodoxy are partially immiscible. The product can be some sort of modern Orthodox ideology.

AXIOS indeed!

Isa,

If you mean the parish founders were and are Aromanians and Vlachs yes that is correct.

It is interesting that from the website, it seems the founders were Aromanians and Vlachs.

Eliot, Father Peter Preble is not under the OCA Romanian Episcopate; he is under the Patriarchal Romanian Episcopate. No fear of ethno-phyletism, though. Fr. Peter is a convert himself… and as is clearly stated in the article, the monastery has a very western Orthodox orientation.

May it indeed be blessed. Axios to Fr. Peter, his parish, and his bishop!

They certainly do not promote Romanian ethno-phyletism. However, everyone has a past … please, allow vestiges of the past. They are enriching. One cannot erase ones own roots and declare himself to be whole.

The Ascension of The Lord Monastery Detroit, MI
http://www.oca.org/DIRlisting.asp?SID=9&KEY=oca-ro-detham

Dormition of the Mother of God Orthodox Monastery
http://www.dormitionmonastery.org/index.php

http://www.tkinter.smig.net/PrincessIleana/RicherLife/index.htm
FORMER ROMANIAN PRINCESS FINDS LIFE IS RICHER AS A NUN

“The nun of 27 years has long since buried her royal roots as founder of The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, the, first English-speaking Orthodox monastery in the United States.

But vestiges of those days remain, even at the monastery.

Portraits of her parents, Romania’s King Ferdinand and Queen Marie, hang in the living room of the A-frame house she shares with another nun.

Gold and silver icons dating back to the 15th century fill a corner of her bedroom. Antique icons also decorate the monastery’s small, candlelit chapel as do crosses and triptychs, some of which she brought from Europe.

A small, gold container on a bed stand holds her most precious possession, a handful of Romanian soil snatched during her escape from Russian Communism in World War II. She wants it buried with her.”

David,

That is very funny. I will have to change that. Although some would think that duel is rather correct!

Fr. Peter,

Yes, Yes, Yes and AMEN. This will truly be an American Monastery. Under the Romanian Archdiocese as that is my diocese but American to the core.