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Admin,
I have two requirements at the present time that I need to find in a prospective spiritual father.

1) that he understands eastern catholicism to some degree
2) that he is faithful to the Church and all its teachings

At this point, in my mind, #2 precludes someone of one of the Orthodox Churches as well as most of the RC's in the Diocese of Rochester, NY.

#1 removes most of that is left of the RC's.

Anyways, the RC's that are orthodox in mindset are so swampped that they are two busy and can not spare any time.

David

David,

I think that your expectations are set way too high. With all due respect, I think it is highly unlikely that you will ever find a spiritual father or mother who meets your requirements. If your expectations are non-negotiable then you must pick up and move somewhere where they can be met.

I did not finish putting together the text for the simple Morning Prayer last night but will do so over the weekend.

Admin

Admin,
Thats why I am here, so that I can be corrected by those that I respect!

Now that I look at my requirements.... I do see what you are saying.

I do not see how I can get by number 1 though.

As for number 2, I guess this is the negotiable one. Though if one is Catholic I would expect them to support the Churches teachings, I guess I could be more flexible with someone from an Orthodox church, but seeing that I have no contacts there I highly doubt I will find anyone there.

As for your suggestion on moving..... I am fighting the temptation to be uncharitable here . I can only go where I can work. Its not easy finding a job out there.

That being said, I am attempting to move to someplace but I am waiting on others who have to make some decisions, enough said on this issue.

David

I must second the administrator in his comments regarding the rule of prayer. It really does need to be simple and one which can be fulfilled constantly. I think it was St Ignatios the God-Bearer who says that the tree transplanted too often makes no real progress, but is damaged! We mustn't chop and change.

As Alex points out, the book 'The Son of the Church' gives a simple rule. The calendar published by the Belayakrinitsa hierarchy in Russia prints the simple prayers which also include petitions to the saints. This is more or less the same as the rule printed in the Old Rite prayerbook, published by the Erie community. They add prayers from the Ustav Domiashny - the domestic rule. This is in fact an excellent book and is sometimes available from Istok enterprises (www.istok.net [istok.net]).

Above all, I think we should all try to cultivate the attitude of prayer. Ultimately, prayer is a state of being beyond words. Those enlightened by prayer live in a state of closeness to God and like a plant turning towards the light, they are ever inclined towards God. All of those theological Greek verbs beginning with pros- (to/towards) remind us of this. We must struggle to always incline towards God.

We must cultivate an awareness of the presence of God and turn our minds to him constantly. The elder Zecharia of Moscow asked the Lord and the Mother-of-God to bless each hour. The prayers of St John Chrysostom for each hour of the day remind us of the practice of consecrating each hour to God with a short prayer. As the ascetic fathers remind us, by their very shortness, these prayers deny the devil a chance to enter between the words and distract us. It would do us good to emulate this.

I think that travel is a good chance for silent prayer. I forget which priest it was who liked to say the Jesus prayer going around on the London Underground - a soul crying out to God, not only in the urban hustle and bustle , but deep below the life of the city. It really brings a new meaning to 'De profundis...'

Long services and extended periods of prayer are sometimes difficult even for clerics and monastics - especially those of us having to go out into the world to teach and we have to take every little chance we can get.

Spasi Khristos -
Mark, monk and sinner.

David,

Thank you for your post.

Might I suggest that what you are really seeking here is someone who can teach you how to pray? You seem to be almost suggesting that a Byzantine has nothing to learn from a Latin who knows how to pray.

Yes, I do understand that is difficult to wait upon others to provide the next steps for one�s vocation and I am praying for you daily. But this waiting doesn�t necessarily have anything to do with finding a good spiritual father or mother.

Admin

Admin,
I think I see where we are having a disconnect here...

I see a spiritual father as more than just someone to teach me how to pray.

Now don't get me wrong, I am warning you right here that this is all my personal opinion.

And yes, I do believe that while a Latin could have some insight for me, in the long run I would want a byzantine. The Latins I have turned to direct me to the Rosary, Novena, and other Latin devotions..... Like Frist Saturday and Adoration, while these are good they are not byzantine and seem to 1) direct my focus away from byzantine traditions and 2) are not that effective for me.

I am not suggesting that a Byzantine can not learn anything from a Latin but I am saying that a Byzantine can not learn anything Byzantine from a Latin.

As I said, I see a spiritual father as more than just someone to teach me how to pray, I see them as someone to help me grow within my spiritual life, which is byzantine. I do not see how someone that is not byzantine, or someone that does not understand what byzantine is, can help me there.

As I also said above, those few Latins in this area I would like do not have time and have, in the little bit I have met with them, directed me towards Latin Devotions.

David

Greetings All,

Might I add some comments here? As a seminarian, a byzantine seminarian, living in a latin seminary,I have this to say. I have never had a byzantine spiritual father, my confessor is byzantine, but my seminary spiritual father is latin. We have learned together about the byzatine life, and I too am considering a retunr to a more formalized monastic life. We have read things, and we go from there. Spiritual direction is spiritual direction. Latin, Byzatine, Orthodox, God does not care, prayer is prayer.

I have been discerning a call to this life fsince I was in the 6th grade, that was a very long time ago. One day a priest friend of mine said just do it. I had all the excuses, no money, debt up to my ears, I'm to stupid, that one might not be too far off, and all of those. He told me to hold my nose and jump in the deep end. I did just that. Yes its difficult. I have to work to pay some bills, but God is taking care of the rest. It sounds to me like David needs to jump. Test, and see what happens. If the vocation is genuine, it will be okay.

I understand how scarry it is, believe me. I had a good teaching job that I loved, but I had to try. So here I am, Byzantine, living with the latins, and going to classes with the Greeks. It can't get much better then that.

God Bless
Peter

The simple �Morning Rule of Prayer� as discussed in this thread is now available at:

https://www.byzcath.org/faith/worship/Morning-Rule-of-Prayer.pdf

The Adobe Reader [adobe.com] is required to view and print the document. The document is designed to be printed on two sides of a single sheet and then can be folded in half. Please keep this in mind since when you view it in Adobe you will see the page order as 2, 3, 4 and 1.

Please post if you have trouble viewing or printing the document.

As previously discussed, this brief Morning Rule of Prayer is from our Byzantine prayer tradition and is simple enough to keep over an entire lifetime. To pray it each morning will take no more than 10-15 minutes. Always keep in mind that all rules of prayer should be undertaken with the blessing of one�s spiritual father or mother.

I will begin another thread for discussions of rules of prayer since that is not the topic of this thread.

PS: There is much wisdom in Peter�s post.

Brother Peter,

Thank you for sharing your experience, and your advice.

Elias

And, for those of us in the Midwest or East Coast, there is the Monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos, in Orangeville, Ontario (about an hour north of Toronto). It is a truly Eastern monastery of the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church, with Studite monks. I have spent the month of July there for the past three summers as a student in the Met. Anrdey Sheptytsky Institute summer intensive program, hosted by the monastery. And I hope to continue to attend the summer intensives there as long as the body and mind hold out. Having had that awesome prolonged monastic experience, I long for and pray for an Eastern monastery closer to home. The Eparchy of Parma owns the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch in Burton, Ohio (maybe 45 minutes from Cleveland). It would be a wonderful site for such a monastery. Perhaps others could join me in prayer for that to materialize!

A grateful servant,
Lory

Dear Lory, amen to Orangeville. We have been travelling up there from Kansas ever since the monks came there back in 1999.

Orangeville is a holy and peaceful place, to be shure. When they say All-night vigil they mean it...we are hoping to make our annual family pilgrimage up there this spring.

The Sheptytsky Institute summer program has been an incredible asset to the Eastern Churches for education. Just spending a month with the monks and experiencing that life is great grace. God bless Father Andriy Chirovsky for having the vision to start that program.

Yes, Father Andriy Chirovsky is a remarkable man; may God bless him for his dedication to the church. Please keep the viability of the monastery in prayer now, as some of the monks have returned to Ukraine.

Lory

Dear Lory,

You are not related to Joe, are you?

Actually, I spoke with Fr. Taras of the Studites and MOST of the monks and nuns have returned to Ukraine, leaving only two, him and another, remaining.

Unless they get some monks soon, that whole monastic enterprise will collapse!

The Studites already had a monastery in Woodstock, Ontario, with a beautiful Church et al.

Many here are asking why they needed to buy a new property - only to have the Ukrainian monastics up and leave.

A sad situation all around.

Alex

Yes, I too heard from Father Terry about the current situation. I just didn't want to paint such a bleak picture. Is the other monastery still functioning?

Lory

Lory!!
Do you know Father John Kovach at the Our Lady of Mariapoch Shrine in Burton??
He was my Spiritual Father when he was at Holy Angels Byzantine Catholic in San Diego before he was assigned to the Shrine. If you EVER get see him, PLease say hello to him from Brian!