E-Mail: monkmax@mscomm.com

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From Father Nicholas Christ is Risen! "Then He opened their minds to understand the scriptures...that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations...." (Luke 24:45 & 47). Have you ever thought how profoundly radical "forgiveness" is? In order to achieve it the God of the universe made himself lower than all creatures. He suffered humiliation and death on a cross. He was buried and descended to the lowest depths of Hades. He wrestled with death so as to trample it down. All this so that we might be forgiven our sins. All this to show us what forgiveness is. As St. Paul says, we "were bought for a price" (1 Cor. 6: 20), the price of the blood of Jesus Christ.

Christ, the Bridegroom of the Church

The whole point of the incarnation of Christ was the forgiveness of our sins so that we might escape, as St. Athanasius teaches us, the corruption of death and return again to Paradise as participants by adoption in God's divine nature. This process of theosis has no end - unless the infinite depths of God's inner life can be called an "end." It has no end, but it has a definite beginning. It starts with our response to God's offer of forgiveness through the grace of the Holy Spirit poured out on us by our Lord Jesus Christ. It starts with repentance.

On the first Sunday of Lent this year Pope John Paul II made what has by now become a famous apology for the various sins that people in the Catholic Church have committed throughout the centuries. Many people have misinterpreted this act, even Catholics. Some people say the Pope went too far. Some say he didn't go far enough. In other words, they see the whole action as politics. They judge the statement from a purely secular point of view: does it give anything away? does it gain us anything? All this is to miss the whole point.

When the Pope turned to God and asked forgiveness for the violence, hatred and division which so many times have marred our ecclesial history, he was actually proclaiming in a new way the central fact of Christian revelation. He was professing faith in the forgiveness of sins. By asking for forgiveness the Church proclaims the possibility of repentance.

On the same day as the Pope made his "apology" we in the Monastery served the special office in the Lenten Triodion for the "Triumph of Orthodoxy." In this service we read a series of condemnations of various heresies throughout history and solemnly pronounced the "anathema" on them. The same service is performed in many Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches on the first Lenten Sunday, the Sunday dedicated to the victory of the Church over the iconoclasts and hence over all untruth.

To the secular mind this service of Anathemas must seem utterly at odds with the spirit of the Holy Father's act of repentance. It seems to assert the politics of triumphalism over the politics of self-criticism. But to me these two actions are completely compatible. Together they are expressions of a single great truth: that true faith in Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sin.

To be a Christian is to be a great realist. Authentic faith knows nothing pretend, no fantasy. On the contrary, it is all sobriety. It calls forth what the Pope has often called the "purification of memory." In anathematizing falsehood and, at the same time, repenting of all that is false in her own history, the Church embraces over and again the pure vision of truth and reality that is her life. This is the thinking behind the beautiful words of Cardinal Etchegaray who said that the ceremony of repentance will only be truly understood by people who are of the Church: "only those who are profoundly in love with the Church are ready to look upon her with a strong, clear gaze."

My friends, this is true of the Church but it is also true of each one of us in whom the Church is represented in microcosm according to the teaching of St. Maximos the Confessor. None of us is ready to look on our own lives "with a strong, clear gaze," none of us can claim that inner vision so full of contrition and repentance, unless and until we first love ourselves. Self-condemnation and self-love are not opposites. They are, in Christ, the same thing.

May the Holy Spirit pour out on all of us that threefold grace of faith, hope and love in which there is all salvation. May we complete the course of the Fast in peace and enter with fervor into the solemn mysteries of Great and Holy Week crowned by the Feast of feasts, Holy Pascha.

I ask again your prayers for me and my brothers. With my prayers and blessing,

* A record number of people joined the monks for their Christmas services. The focal point was the Vesperal Liturgy of St. Basil on Christmas Eve, followed by the traditional Holy Supper. In addition to the usual Slavic dishes served at this meal, several visitors added their own ethnic foods. This multi-cultural mood was also reflected in the various Christmas carols that we all sang between courses.

* In late January Brother Moses' mother, Carol Wright visited the monastery together with Brother's Godmother, Gail, his grandfather Frank, his great-aunt Helen, his cousin Linda and her son Chris.

* All the monks were privileged to attend the pontifical liturgy served by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria, at St. Antony's Coptic Orthodox Monastery in Yermo, CA. At this Liturgy our good friend Father Anthony was ordained a priest: Axios!

* In Cheesefare Week Brother Maximos travelled to Eastern Pennsylvania to give a series of pre-lenten talks to the Byzantine Catholic communities of St. Michael's in Mont Clare and St. Mary's in Coatesville.  

A Super-Adobe Monastery?

Super-Adobe buildings can meet all code requirements. Cal-Earth is working closely with the City of Hesperia and other agencies to develop official building standards.

Already the Monastery has received several offers from benefactors to fund parts of the building program. Once plans are well advanced, and County approvals obtained, we will be launching our official fund raising campaign. Visitors to the Monastery know how urgently we need more space, especially accommodation for monks and their guests! Meanwhile, we invite all our friends to pray for this undertaking in its planning stage. If you are interested in more information on the Super-Adobe method, contact the Monastery, or visit Cal-Earth's web site: http://www.calearth.org/

So many things help to make a home a domestic church:

• Icons

• incense burners

• prayer ropes (chotkis)

• oil lamps

We have a good selection of these items available, as well as lives of saints and prayer books for the home. Our icons include plain prints, mounted prints and imported hand painted icons.

Feel free to call at any time with your orders. Or you can e-mail Brother Basil at: monkbasil@mscomm.com.

A few years ago we began an appeal for funds to dig a new well. Thanks to good management, we have been able to eke out what we pray will be another two years use of our existing well.

When the present 150 feet well was dug, about 30 years ago, the water table was about 50 feet higher. Over that period water use in Newberry Springs has outstripped replenishment of ground water. The Mojave Water Agency has taken steps to reverse this over the long term (by piping in water underground from the California Aqueduct into an adjoining water table). But we can expect the next decade to see a further gradual drop.

In a nutshell, we need a new well shaft dug to 300 feet. We have cost estimates ranging from $12, 500 to $19,000. We plan to apply for grant assistance to cover much of the cost, but we will need donor help to raise the whole amount. Please consider this cause when planning your group’s fundraising goals in 2,000.

Brother Moses’ Kitchen

Lenten Pilaf 

A taste of Byzantium!

Visiting the Monastery

When visiting the Monastery, be sure to book ahead to ensure we have room. We welcome parish groups, though for the time being, some may prefer to stay overnight at one of the clean, convenient and inexpensive hotels in Barstow (a 25 minute drive from us). We can give you recommendations when you call. For bookings, please call us. We are easy to reach by car from either Los Angeles or Las Vegas. The most convenient airport is Las Vegas, which means our visitors can also make use of the inexpensive airfares often available to that destination. The drive from Las Vegas takes about 2 1/2 hours, and from Los Angeles, about 3 hours. We can also arrange to collect visitors who arrive by Greyhound Bus at Barstow.