This is a reminder that we are in the middle of our six virtual visits to monasteries around the world, taking place on Zoom each Thursday evening at 19:00 (7pm UK time).
To get the login details if you have not done so already, please register on our dedicated page. You will also find links to recordings of the sessions there (some have been edited).
We still have some great places to visit:
13 August: Putna Monastery, Romania
20 August: Optina Monastery, Russia
27 August: Transfiguration Monastery, Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, USA
3 September: Kaftoun and Hamatoura Monasteries, Lebanon
Last week the Fellowship’s summer series of virtual visits to monasteries began with a session on Holy Dormition St Nicholas-St Basil Monastery in Nikolskoe, Donetsk Region in Ukraine.
This week on Thursday 6 August, join professional storyteller Anna Conomos for a visit to Annunciation Monastery, Ormylia, Greece. Discover for yourself why this place is so special by attending: register for Zoom details on our dedicated page.
If you cannot join us on the day, we hope to post a recording shortly after the session. Come and see!
Since we have not been able to hold our usual summer conference, the Fellowship committee have planned a six week series of presentations about different monasteries around the world. We are so excited to share the history, spiritual life and the work of these wonderful, holy places!
These will be held on Thursday evenings at 19:00 BST (London time), 30 July-3 September on Zoom, and if you can’t make the date for any reason, we hope to eventually make recordings available on the website.
If you would like to attend these sessions, please register on our dedicated page. Come and see!
And don’t forget that we also have a page with other resources, including spiritual talks and live streamed services.
Fellowship activities have been affected like everyone else in this time of uncertainty. We have compiled a list of resources for your use: live streamed services, talks and sermons, other information and even events. Please take a look and we hope this will be helpful. It is not an exhaustive list so you can make suggestions for additions by emailing us.
We have limited stock remaining of our 2020 Calendar and Lectionary, now reduced to £4 per copy including postage. While you are at home, this might be a useful resource to keep up with daily readings, if you do not have other means. You can ask for a copy via the contact form on our calendar page.
We are also thinking about future Fellowship events. There will be no summer conference this year, and how we hold events over the next months and years may need to be different. For example, our popular annual Youth Festival was due to be the usual residential event at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex, the place where St Cedd built a monastery. The youth committee was able to change the format to an online conference, with more people able to participate than ever: UK, France, Germany, Spain, Cyprus, Greece, Australia, USA, Georgia, Romania, Russia and more. It may be that the Festival and other events continue to incorporate an online element, even when we can meet in person again.
God bless you and keep you in these testing times.
God permits tribulations and adversities to befall people – even the saintly – so that they may persist in humility. But if we harden our hearts against adversities and tribulations, he also hardens these tribulations against us. On the other hand, if we accept them in humility and with a contrite heart, God will mingle tribulation with mercy.
St Isaac the Syrian
Fresco of St John the Baptist, Optina Monastery, Russia
Welcome to the Orthodox Fellowship of St John the Baptist 