Blessed with a multi-day visitation from the Holy myrrh-streaming Hawaiian Iveron icon of the Mother of God and Her caretaker Father Nectarios.
Following Divine Liturgy, the blessing of the waters was held in our home church.
Christ Is Born! Glorifying Him!
Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, Hath shone forth the light of knowledge upon the world, for thereby they who worshiped the stars, were instructed by a star, to worship Thee the Son of righteousness, and to know Thee the Dayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee!
Beginning with a recipe passed down from Metropolitan Philaret, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, and fashioned with all natural ingredients and prayer, this glimpse into our "working kitchen" shares the origins of the blessed recipe.
Blessed Nativity of our Lord to all who are celebrating this glorious feast according to the new calendar!
In winter, when everything growing has slowed down or even stopped, life here, in the monastery, is very busy. In addition to maintaining a daily routine of individual and common prayer/services, simple work known as obediences keep our hands busy while our minds and hearts are focused on prayer.
Upcoming is a series of updates to share some of the winter work which occupies a part of each day.
On our Thanksgiving, we added the Akathist hymn Glory To God For All Things to our prayer schedule. This poetic outpour of gratitude was originally written by Metropolitan Tryphon, born as Prince Boric Petrovich Turkestanov, shortly before his death in 1934 during Soviet persecutuion. In his memory, it was hand copied by his spiritual children and distributed underground. The title itself is from the words of Saint John Chrysostom as he was dying in the year 407.
A molebin service was held Thursday morning served by our priest Father Dimitry Don.
By the grace of God and through help from the Mother of God, we are agian able to make updates and share monastery events with you. Please forgive our silence during this period of building the living quarters of our new monastery.
The Montreal Iveron Icon
Our in home church is dedicated to the Iveron icon of the Mother of God. The main feast of the appearance of this icon near the shore of Mount Athos is the third day after Pascha, Bright Tuesday, a movable feast. Read more about this icon and remarkable events involving it which include the Mother of God carrying this image of Herself across the sea and Her miraculous ways of directly communicating Her wishes to us by clicking on this link: https://iveronmonastery.org/iveronicon
November 24th marks the streaming of the Montreal Iveron Icxon and the second feast of our monastery! On the night of November 24, 1982, after José Muñoz, now referred to as Brother José, spent three weeks standing in front of the icon and reading the Akathist to the Mother of God, it began to stream myrrh! The Mother of God was reaching out to us in our time of need literally traveling around the world healing people of physical, mental, and spiritual infirmities while igniting the flame for Christ in others.
In our tiny home church, a Vigil was served by Father Dimitri Don followed by Divine Liturgy the next morning. A few members of our community joined filling the church to overflowing causing the kitchen to become part of the church. A full meal reception followed by a small word from our priest highlighting the necessity of prayer and its growing importance in these challenging times.
Spring is coming, and there is a joke in New York State that says, "Our seasons are before-winter, winter, after-winter and CONSTRUCTION." So we live accordingly with these seasons. A new building has already been planned for a new monastery store. It will also be very important for us to set up workshops for candles, incense and our other obediences. All of these projects will require digging a new well and the necessary connecting pipes, as well as a new septic system.
Last summer our builders prepared a construction site to the south of the house where we now live, as you can see in the photos.
We are so sorry. It has been too long since we have shared with you news of what has been happening with our monastery over this past year. Please forgive us; but now finally let us relay to you the progress we have made in 2023.
Much has been accomplished, but the largest and most important work has been the completion of an extension to the main house, a completion which has greatly improved our ability to function as monastics. We now have a working kitchen, additional rooms which will allow our monastery to expand, and a pantry. A much needed mud room is in the process of being completed, a mud room which will also be large enough to serve as a utility room.
Dear friends,
The time has come to tell about what we have managed to accomplish in the six months after the blessing of our land.
A plateau has been erected to the south of the main house, where the monastery store and a small guesthouse will be built.
Аll mass excavation for Phase 1 has been completed including a privacy berm along the road and drainage for the site.
A raised bed vegetable garden has begun and preparations are underway for planting an orchard.
On the 2nd of November we were happy to receive a visit from our new First Hierarch Vladyka Nicholas.
After an informal tea, we discussed new developments at the building site of the monastery. Vladyka listened with great interest and gave his support in continuing our efforts, reminding us that prayer always comes first.
His Eminence then presented us with a beautiful icon of the Venerable Elder Ambrose of Optina, which belonged to his predecessor, Metropolitan Hilarion of blessed memory.
At the end of his visit Vladyka greeted our alpacas, who were curious to meet the new Metropolitan.
On Sunday May 29, 2022 after Liturgy, Father Dimitri served a Blessing of the grounds of the Iveron Mother of God Monastery. Site work for Phase 1 of construction began the following day with a fully blessed Bulldozer.
We are, as always, so honoured to have Deacon Nectarios Yangson, with the myrrh-streaming Hawaiian-Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, visit the Iveron Monastery. Fr. Nectarios was nearby in PA and made a quick round trip to bless us with the icon. We read the akathist to the Iveron Mother of God and were then anointed with Holy Myrrh.
We were so honoured to have Deacon Nectarios Yangson, with the myrrh-streaming Hawaiian-Iveron Icon of the Mother of God, visit the Iveron Monastery.
Liturgy was celebrated by Fr. Dmitry Don in the Iveron house chapel. After the liturgy a molieben with an Akathist was served. All then were anointed with the myrrh from the holy icon , which streamed in abundence.
Fr.Nectarios then proceded to bless the property of our new monastery with the holy icon.
We are so grateful to Fr.Nectarios to have visited us, especially during these times. The visit of the Holy Mother of God was a great source of comfort and encouragement for us.