Te Newsletter of the Hermitage of the Holy Cross February 2013 Te Hermitage o the Holy Cross is a Russian Orthodox Men’s Monastery under the omophorion o His Eminence Metrop olitan Hilarion o Eastern America an d New Y ork and His Grace Bishop George o Mayeld, Abbo t o the monas tery. Mailing Address: 505 Holy Cross Road Wayne, WV 25570 Administr ative Oce s: 304.849.2072 Business Oc e / Gif Shop: 304.849.4726 www.holy cross-hermitage. com he brotherhood o the Hermitage o the Holy Cross greet you all as we prepare ourselves to enter into the season o Great Lent. We pray that the Lord grant you a ruitul spiritual struggle through this upcoming time o repentance and inner cleansing. Trough our prayers, asting, and ascetical struggle, we seek to scrub our souls clean o the dark grime o sin that we have let accumulate through our orgetulness o God so that our true nature - the holy image o God within us - may again shine with all the brilliance o the golden icons that adorn the inside o our churches. Our spiritual striving while we are in this lie has consequences in Eternity. As St. Isaac the Syrian has said: “Our lie is given to us or repentance. Do not waste it in vain pursuits.” Our time in this lie is a gi rom God, and we must use it wisely in order to draw closer to Him, or time is the only thing that we can not regain once it is lost. During Lent, it is also very important or us to remember those who have already passed on and now await the General Resurrection and Last Judgement. Once we repose, we can no longer oer repentance to the Lord, and we must rely o the prayers o the Churc h and o our loved ones to lead us along towards Paradise. Te Lord, who is infnite in mercy, hears our prayers and is quick to respond to our loving and heartelt petitions, and the Church over the ages witnesses to the e- ectiveness o our prayers or those departed who fnd mercy in com ort in them. For this reason, the Lenten period is a time not only o personal prayer and repentance, but a season in which we oer our praye rs on behal o the dep arted. Beginnin g Ma rch 9, the frst “Saturday o the Dead” or 2013, special prayers or the dead are added to the Saturday liturgical services. In monasteries, the names o the reposed are read during the special Mat- ins service on Lenten Saturdays and Universal Pannykhidas (memorial services or the re- posed “o all ages”) are served ollowing the Divine Liturgy on these our Saturdays. We now invite you to submit or prayerul com- memoration the names o reposed Orthodox Christians. For the duration o the Great Fast, all o these names will be prayerully read at ev- ery Matins service or the departed, at every Uni- ver sal Pa nny khi da, and at eve ry Di vine Litu rgy . Enclosed you will fnd a commemoration slip and a return envelope. Please write the names o reposed Orthodox Christians* and send the slip back to us, together with what- ever oering o alms you are able to make on behal o your loved ones. Te Holy Church bears witness that both prayer and almsgiving are benefcial on behal o the departed, who can no longer pray or perorm works o v irtue or themselves. Let us all pray this Lent that our merciul and compassionate Lord grant rest to the souls o His departed servants, and to lead them to a place o green pasture and the waters o rest, where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing, but lie everlasting. + George, Bishop o Mayeld * Only formal Christian names, please. Abo ve pho to: Te Her mita ge bro ther hoo d s erves a pannykhida for the reposed during Radonisa. A Message from His Grace Bishop Geo rge and the Brotherhoo d concerning Lenten Prayers for the Departed at Holy Cross Monastery