www.byzcath.org Forums News & Events Church News Holy Resurrection Monastery Pilgrimage 10/8-10/10!

It's that time of year again to honour the Mother of God, Searcher for the Lost at Holy Resurrection Monastery [hrmonline.org] in Newberry Springs, CA.

If you are able to make it, please do! It's a wonderful monastery and a wonderful pilgrimage!

Columbus Day weekend 10/8-10/10!

So how was it and who presided?

It starts next week. :-)

Thanks for that. So who is presiding? Will Bishop William be there this year?

Pavel,

I would assume Bishop William will be there as he has been in the past.

Even if Bishop William is not there, I will still go since a pilgrimage should not be based upon who presides the services but for the spiritual reasons, the salvation of one's soul.

Steve

Besides, I like to support our local monastery.

From the Phoenix, AZ area there is a bus leaving Friday for the pilgrimage. It leaves St. Thomas Church in Gilbert at 6:00 a.m., then stops by St. Stephen's in Phoenix before travelling to Barstow, CA, where each person arranges his/her room at the Motel 6. Passage to and from Phoenix is free to pilgrims, which is very generous considering the drive takes about 6 hours with a stop for lunch. The bus will return to Phoenix Saturday evening so that all may attend Sunday services in their churches locally, however. The pilgrimage itself begins Friday evening with Vespers, and continues through Sunday afternoon for those who can stay.

What a wonderful gift of evangelization to your people by the churches. awesome!

Bishop William will not be there this year.

Some folks from my parish Annunciation in Anaheim, CA will be there as will a few from St. Nicholas in Fontana, CA.

I can hardly wait!!!

Any of the pilgrims wish to report on the pilgrimage?

Glad you asked, Father Deacon John.

The bus of pilgrims from St. Thomas Church in Gilbert AZ. made better time than expected, arriving Friday afternoon about one o'clock. We attended Great Vespers that evening, for which there was a nice sized choir, directed by Fr. Maximos. Vespers concluded with a beautiful candelight procession around the courtyard and back, followed by some refreshments. Saturday, the Melkites' Matins service was held, which was followed by Divine Liturgy, by the Ruthenians. Fr. Nicholas, Hegumen of the monastery, gave an enlightening sermon on the role of monasticism in the Church, the strength that can come to it from the implementation of Pope John Paul II's encyclical "Orientale Lumen", and growth at Holy Resurrection Monastery in particular. (There are now 4 brothers, 2 postulants, and a novice if I remember correctly. Not bad, considering the Pilgrimage is only nine years old.) Liturgy also concluded with a Procession followed by the Blessing of religious articles, and Anointing. The weather was warm, but not as warm as we are used to in the Phoenix area.

For all the services there appeared to be service booklets for eveyone who wanted one. I personally met pilgrims from the Van Nuys Cathedral, San Diego, Fontana, San Bernardino (Melkites), and Anaheim churches, but there were also parishioners from St. Stephens in Phoenix and elsewhere in attendance, as well as many clergy from all over the Eparchy. Lunch Saturday was well attended, and gave me the impression that about as many pilgrims were in attendance as 2 years ago when I last attended the Pilgrimage.

Overall, I'd say great things are happening at Holy Resurrection Monastery.

Our bus left during Saturday afternoon in order for us to attend services at St. Thomas Sunday morning, but there were to be more services, with the Pilgrimage concluding Sunday. We even arrived back in Gilbert at a reasonable hour, 8:30 pm. Remarkable timing, but we took a different route- through Quartzite and Parker to Needles, instead of through Wickenburg, Kingman, etc.

Jim,

What a great "review" you shared! It sounds like you enjoyed yourself! Did I even get a chance to meet you? (My pic is on my profile though I sometimes had black headcovering rather than a flower wreath) I meet so many folks at each HRM pilgrimage that I usually don't remember all of the names.

Hegumen Nicholas' Saturday sermon was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it. There is indeed a beautiful joy that I feel and see there.

Since there was a significant amount of time between the lunch break and Vespers, a few of us including Susie.Freckle.Face, Steve Petach, and I made a visit to St. Antony Coptic Orthodox Monastery [stantonymonastery.org] in nearby Yermo. These Coptic monks and our Byzantine monks have a very good relationship and make visits to each other's monasteries.

St. Antony's is a beautiful monastery and definitely has a special feel to it. There were some interesting things that happened while there that makes me believe that they are doing something great there. I also reverently visited the crypt of their deceased Bishop Karas (d. 17 January 2002) which is there at St. Antony's.

Sunday at Holy Resurrection was wonderful (though VERY chilly during Matins and Divine Liturgy) but warmed up soon afterwards and then the weather was beautiful. Since there were not very many people left, it was a lot easier to get time to visit with our dear monks and for us to get our photo ops with them. As soon as I find my camera's cable, I will upload them for all to see.

In Christ, a very happy Reznut (Michelle)

No, Michelle, I'm afraid we didn't meet, but maybe next time. For me, it is well worth the effort to get there, even for a private retreat.

Sounds great I wish I had been there. Who presided over the Liturgy this year?

There were several priests at the altar Saturday, but Fr. Nicholas was the official celebrant. Bishop William was not present Saturday. I don't know about Sunday.

No, Bishop William did not attend the pilgrimage at all.