Nonna and I went there for three nights with some other people from the Orthodox church here in Albuquerque, a religious pilgrimage for them but more of an adventure for me. Three years ago in Scotland I took a course in monastic life, which covered the medieval period, but I was very curious about the life of a modern monk, so I jumped at the opportunity to go to a real monastery.
We left Albuquerque about 8:00 AM Friday morning and arrived at the monastery about 3:30PM, just in time to go to Vespers, the evening prayer service. After the service we ate dinner and then went back to church for another service. We finished up about 5:30PM and had some free time to walk around the grounds, but at 7:00PM we were supposed to go to bed.
There were five of us - all men - sleeping in an eighteen bed dormitory room - “like the shelter” said one of the Russian men from our church. I finally got to sleep around 11:00PM that night and at 12:30AM one of the young monks turned on the lights and announced “time for church!”
Church started at 1:00AM and ended about 4:00AM. The church was dark, lit only by small red oil lamps above each icon; the service was entirely in Greek, and the music was chanted by unseen monks, giving an overall mystical surreal impression, heightened by sleep deprivation.
Our meals were served in the large dining room with four tables running the length of the room, the monks sitting at one table, men at another, and the women at their own table. At one end the elders sat at a short table set at right angles to the long tables, while at the other end a monk sat in an elevated seat and read while we ate in silence. He read in Greek, but maybe it was the psalms. The food was mostly vegetarian and simple, but surprisingly good - we had bread, olives, shredded cabbage, and fruit with each meal, and the main entrees were bean soup, pasta with tomato sauce, and my favorite - roasted potatoes with tuna fish and olive oil.
In the little free time we had I would meet Nonnie and we would explore the grounds and the several chapels, all of it beautiful. The stonework and woodwork are exceptional, the gardens are lush, and outside the walls the olive orchards look successful.
Overall it was a great experience, one of those things that are difficult at the time but when it is over you are very glad you did it. And yes, I would do it again.
Inside the main chapel
