July 18, 2020
With the absence of the typical flow of pilgrims through the monastery, it is in many respects a quieter place than usual. But that doesn’t mean we’ve found ourselves with any fewer tasks to fulfill in our daily obediences. The marked increase in website traffic that resulted from livestreaming our church services also brought about a tremendous demand for our Paschal Kulich. Even though we baked more than ever before, we sold out of everything early, and our bakers had to scramble to make extra batches of kulich to accommodate all of the orders.
While our online store was receiving more visitors than ever, our monastery gift shop was languishing from the total absence of in-store customers. When it was finally cleared of inventory and covered in dust, the time seemed ripe for renovation. During the physical store’s hiatus, we’ve managed to clear out almost all of the old furniture, put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, assemble and install new shelving units, and reorganize the layout of the store. Work is still in progress, but we’re looking forward to finishing and opening up the store again to visitors, whenever God allows.
Outdoors, the garden crew has been hard at work beautifying the monastery grounds. As we approach the peak of summer, their hard work is paying off, and the walkways of the monastery are lined with beautiful blossoms of all shapes and sizes. Meanwhile, the much-toiling maintenance monks have been laboring diligently on a new wooden walkway that will connect St. Seraphim’s building with St. Herman’s at the bottom of the hill.
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February 21, 2021 2 Comments
December 18, 2020
November 09, 2020
Due to the severe ice storms of February 11th & 15th, the monastery has been without power, phones and internet for a prolonged period of time. This will likely continue for the indefinite future due to the severe damage from the storm throughout the entire region.
We are working to fulfill orders placed via our online store as quickly as we are able, however the process is very slow since we need to drive hours to town to download the orders, return to the monastery to print them off and package them, and then drive back into town to ship them since no mail or shipping services are able to reach us. We appreciate everyone's patience as we are doing our best to run our business during these circumstances.
Please pray for us!