Saints Mary and Martha, Orthodox Monastery, Wagener, SC

We’ve lived through another Nativity season and are in the season of Theophany – well on our way to another Great Lent. How are we doing?

It seems we spend a great deal of our energy in analyzing ourselves and questioning God. Yet our Lord Jesus Christ asks have I been with you so long and you do not know Me? God is with us – Do we understand? Do we submit ourselves? Jesus came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Being given His life – that of the Trinity – are we truly living it? How I live it may be very different from how you do for our good God does not like sameness. He has created each of us individually with gifts as He chose, and He wants us to use them for His glory – not our own.

In every situation we find ourselves, He is there – We need to proclaim Him and His love not necessarily by words but by deeds – by how we greet Him in the other, in each circumstance.

We need to proclaim His gospel, and we have been told we do it by love. May we recognize and accept His gifts, use them to the fullest, and share with each person we meet the Triune God.

On October 31^st, Mother Thecla flew to Dallas, Texas for the Consecration of Abbot Jonah to the rank of Bishop on November 1^st. This was a joyous occasion for the Diocese of the South. It was really great to see so many people from this vast diocese make the trip for this auspicious occasion. Having to make this a really quick trip, she flew back to South Carolina on the 2^nd of November.

A week later, Mother Helena and Sister Lyubov headed for Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the All American Council of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA). As many of you know, the newly consecrated Bishop Jonah was elected Metropolitan of the OCA. We wish we had a picture of Mother Helena and Sister Lyubov with the newly elected Metropolitan Jonah, but, alas, there isn’t one.

A Knitters’ Saturday was scheduled for November 15^th. The picture to the left is of Melangell Harwell looking at Holly Rouffy’s lace knitting. One of the knitters brought a double-sided afghan which had the same winter scene in white and green on each side, but the reverse side was a negative of the other. Others were working with some of the many varieties of yarn that are made and sold today. While there are some truly talented knitters in this group, there is room for the neophyte, and any one in between. Having time together to share and enjoy each other’s company is so important for them as well as the rest of us. We are looking forward to the Knitter’s Retreat that we will host in February.

After Thanksgiving, we noticed a large growth on Laufey’s right side (our female collie dog). When we took her to our veterinarian, she found another growth on her left side. A few days after seeing the vet the first time, she underwent surgery to remove the growths. Just as we had expected, the pathology report came back stating that it was plant matter. With two large, shaved patches and long incisions with dissolvable stitches, one of the monastery’s visitors dubbed her “Frankendog”. That aside, we do have some plants with fearsome seeds that drill right into the flesh. So, the future will find us diligently pulling up the plants that we think caused this problem and carefully checking the animals more closely than in the past.

Friday, December 5^th, found us packing all the things needed for our booth at the Saint Nicholas Festival at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church in West Columbia on Saturday, December 6^th. It was good to begin the day with Liturgy before tending to everything that needed to be done to get our booth ready. Although cold, it was a wonderful day in which double the number of people showed. Everyone enjoyed themselves and did well.

Even with the cold, the Hermitage was used by several people. As always, starting a fire is not as easy as one thinks, but necessity will cause anyone to persevere. Most important, it is good for us to know that someone is there to focus on God and His will for them.

Back in October, we attended the wedding of James and Lena Holley. Then in November we had the burial of two unborn (miscarried) children, Micah Matthews and Hannah McKinley. At the end of December, we were present at John and Pamela Eubank’s wedding. We pray that God will grant James and Lena and John and Pam many years and that He will comfort the parents and siblings of those who died.

On the Eve of Nativity, we attended Vesperal Liturgy at Holy Resurrection Orthodox Mission in Aiken. Then on the Feast of Nativity, we traveled to West Columbia and attended Liturgy at Holy Apostles Orthodox Church. This way we were able to celebrate the Nativity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, with those in attendance, as we love all of them as part of our church family.

This past quarter has been one of repairs and upgrades. Bret Barnard constructed some more shelves in the Barne Shoppes. This was necessitated by the freezer overheating in August, partly because of all the futons stacked on top of it. Now we have sturdy, wide shelves up high to store futons, cushions, and other items that we need two or three times a year, and the freezer doesn’t overheat anymore.

Michael Shepherd, with help from Aaron John Brown, George Moore, and Seraphim Hickman built a new ramp. It was truly yeoman’s work, took longer than expected (so what’s new), and is truly a durable and handsome ramp. We are most grateful to Michael and those who helped him.

As most of you know, keeping up with general household repairs is needful. Get behind, and you’re forever playing “catch up”. January has been plumbing repairs’ month for us. We didn’t have anything freeze, thank God; however, we had three problems that, no matter what we did, it didn’t work. So we called in “the pros”, and, now, all three problems are fixed.

From the evening of January 16th till the afternoon of the 18th, we hosted a Young Adult Retreat. Ten attended – four from Columbia, one from Charleston, and five from Gainesville, Florida. Fr. John Parker from Holy Ascension Orthodox Church in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina spoke on the topic, “The Freedom of Slavery: How to Live a Holy Life Everyday”. They spent serious time in prayer and study, but they also had time to take walks, enjoy jumping into piles of leaves, and simply visiting.

In the midst of writing this newsletter, we are also doing tax letters. If you do not receive one and need one, please contact us.

As you live each day, take time to remember how good God is and meditate on His great love and mercy.

Occasionally, in Christian history, there is a family which has so many saints and righteous men and women who labored long in our Lord’s vineyard and brought forth much fruit working out their own salvation, leading a multitude of people to the Christian faith, supporting holy men and women in their missionary efforts, and building numerous churches and monasteries.

In 635 King Anna* of the Uffings, the royal race of East Anglia, succeeded King Ecgric and the saintly King Sigebert, who was noted as the first English king to have been baptized and received a Christian education before coming to the throne. King Anna married Saewara, a princess of Northumbria whose sisters were St. Hereswitha, wife of King Ecgric, and St. Hilda, Abbess of Streaneshalch, now known as the Abbey of Whitby. All three of these women were the grand nieces of Edwin, the first Christian King of Northumbria. When Saewara married King Anna, she brought with her a daughter, Sethrilda by name. King Anna and Saewara had four daughters, Sexburga, Etheldreda, Ethelburga, and Withburga, and a son named Jurmin. All five daughters have been canonized as saints. Jurmin, being of warrior age by 653, died alongside his Father at the Battle of Bulcamp near Blythburgh in Suffolk in the year 654.

Since there were few monasteries built in the country of the Angles, the eldest and half-sister, Sethrilda (Saethryth) was sent to Faremoutiers-en-Brie (formerly Briga) in Gaul, to study under St. Fara (Burgundofara), the foundress and abbess. There Sethrilda took the veil, lived a holy life, and succeeded St. Fara as abbess, c. 655. Sethrilda reposed on January 10^th in or around the year 660.

Sexburga, the second sister, married Ercombert (Eorcenberht), King of Kent (a kingdom which neighbored East Anglia) who ruled from 640-664. St. Sexburga was the sister-in-law of St. Eanswith and an aunt by marriage of St. Domneva. History records that King Ercombert and Sexburga were happily married for twenty-four years and had two sons and two daughters. Their sons, Egbert (Ecgberht I) and Lotharie (Hlothhere), reigned as Kings of Kent successively after their father. Their daughters, Ermengilda and Ermengota were crowned with sainthood, the latter being an incorruptible.

During King Ercombert’s reign, Sexburga worked diligently with him to root out all idolatry from his realm. Being a zealous Christian, Sexburga urged her husband to command his subjects to strictly observe the Lenten Fast, and, if they did not, they would be severely punished. While she worked tirelessly for the salvation of her subjects, Sexburga labored even more assiduously to provide her children with a virtuous education so that they would learn to reverently fear, love and serve God.

In 664, King Ercombert died of the “yellow plague”. Since Egbert was not of age to ascend the throne, Sexburga became regent for the next four years. Resigning her regency in 668, she took the veil from the hands of Theodore (St. Theodore of Tarsus), the seventh Archbishop of Canterbury. From there she traveled to the Monastery on the Isle of Sheppey (Le Minster in Sheppey) which she and her husband had built at the mouth of the Thames on the coast of Kent. There she became the first abbess and ruled a community that grew to over seventy nuns. Upon hearing of her sister Etheldreda’s escape from her husband, King Egfrid of Northumbria, to the islet of Ely in East Anglia, and of her forming a community of women who were resolute in their service to God in solitude and virginity, Sexburga resigned her position as abbess, left her daughter Ermengilda as Abbess at Sheppey and joined her sister at Ely. Being enthusiastically received by Etheldreda and her community, the two queens, who were of like spirit, embraced each other and wept with joy. Afterwards, Sexburga became a simple nun under her sister’s crosier. While living in Christian unity, Sexburga and Etheldreda continued to grow in their faith, love, and humility with ever fervent ardor in service to God. When Etheldreda was taken to our Lord in 679, Sexburga succeeded her as abbess and ruled this great monastery of East Anglia for the next twenty years. Upon her saintly death in 699, she was buried next to her sister’s tomb. (to be continued)

*Anna is a truncated name; however, no record exists of his full name.