What is a “thebaid”? Per the Catholic Encyclopaedia, The valley of the Nile, under Roman domination, was divided into four provinces: Lower and Upper Egypt, Lower and Upper Thebaid. The last two comprised the upper part of the valley. During the fourth to fifth centuries it was the chosen land of the monks, who by their sanctity and by the form they impressed on the monastic system greatly influenced …
St. Paisios of Mt. Athos: ‘Don’t sit at the crossroads. Choose a cross…’
In his edifying little patericon, 'Athonite Fathers and Athonite Matters', Elder Paisios (who was officially entered into the calendar of saints a year ago, on January 13, 2015) presents "the lives of Athonite fathers who were vessels of divine grace and lived approximately in the period from 1840-1980. As a conclusion to the book, the author …
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Am I Called to the Monastic Life?
Here we have a very profound and important message from St John Climacus, conveyed to us by Archimandrite Irenei (Steenberg), Abbot of the Monastery of St Silouan in Sonora, California. In it he reminds us that "the Christian calling involves finding a suitable place, and suitable exercises, for living out the transformative life in the …
Living in the Real World
by Fr. Stephen Freeman, Glory to God for All Things, November 24, 2015 Nothing exists in general. If something is beautiful or good, it is manifest in a particular way at a particular time such that we can know it. And this is our true life. A life lived in a “generalized” manner is no …
OCA Monastic Synaxis looks to ‘Creative Methods’ to Nurture Vocations
Key Points of Convergence show how the Thebaid Project resonates with the Monastic Mission of the OCA. The timing and topics of the Orthodox Church in America's 2015 Monastic Synaxis could not have been more significant. While His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, His Eminence, Archbishop Benjamin of the Diocese of the West, and fourteen superiors from among …
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The North American Thebaid 