Welcome to our first contribution to this blog. We are Orthodox Benedictine Oblates with the Holy Monasteries of Our Lady and St. Laurence, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America, Western Rite Vicariate, in Canon City, Colorado. We are men and women; we are married and single; we are young and seasoned, living in our own homes. We live in the United States from Alaska to Florida and from California to Massachusetts. We live in Brazil, Spain and Russia. Our home parishes include the Greek Orthodox Church, Orthodox Church in America, Antiochian Orthodox Church, and the Russian Orthodox Church. Some of us Oblates have always been Orthodox and others are converts to the Faith. We worship in our home parishes using either the Eastern Rite or the Western Rite.
Our visible traditional practices are diverse, yet we are united in our common beliefs of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church known as the Orthodox Church founded by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. There will be more written in future blogs about how we, as Oblates, apply the Rule of Saint Benedict to our own lives, living in the world, but striving to be of the Kingdom of God and not of this world, as all Christian are called to do.
Our Monastery, www.ladyminster.com, to which we Oblates make promises annually and subscribe to certain duties and enjoy certain privileges, was founded on Holy Cross Day, 2013, striving to model its life on the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia (d. 547 A.D.), modified by its own Constitutions, under the guidance of its elected Prior (superior), Fr. Theodore. After a period of nearly three years of being a community in formation, the monastery was granted canonical status on July 16, 2015, by His Eminence, Metropolitan JOSEPH. The Monastery is actually called by the plural, “The Monasteries…”, because both monks and nuns are among the residents along with their beloved cat, dog and the wild creation native to the area. The Rule of Saint Benedict dates from around 542 A.D. This beloved saint embraced the life of a hermit before going on to found cenobitic monasteries. His life was made known through the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great.
Saint Benedict uses Holy Scripture throughout his Rule and in this writer’s viewpoint, the Holy Scriptures come alive in the Rule of Saint Benedict and our Orthodox Way of Life is enriched by the Rule. An unnecessary point to make, but I do so anyway, is that Eastern Orthodoxy is quite ancient. And, perhaps a necessary point to make is that Western Orthodoxy is also ancient. More will be written about St. Benedict and his Rule as well as these Holy Monasteries. Stay tuned to this blog, The Rule.
By your ascetic labors, God-bearing Benedict,
You were proven to be true to your name.
For you were the son of benediction,
And became a rule and model for all who emulate your life and cry:
“Glory to Him who gave you strength!”