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10 February 2003
Monastery of the Metamorphosis (Transfiguration)
A few of the men in our group were privileged to visit a monastery located about 10 minutes from campus. It is home to approximately 35 monks now and was built in 1934. At one point there were 150 monks in the monastery. To prepare for our trip, we spent about an hour discussing what monks do and what reasons they have for taking their vows. The lifestyle is admittedly not for everyone, but they feel it is for some who receive a calling to it and desire to dedicate their life to prayer for the church, celibacy, and poverty. What they do takes amazing dedication.
Our visit was only to learn about them. Not to have a theological discussion about the things they do. A lay brother, Dimitrius, who showed us around and described the daily routines of the monks, greeted us. He speaks English and has been at the monastery for 3 years now, but has never taken his vows. Just recently, 2 of the older monks (one 98 and the other 92) have fallen and broken their hips. One died and the other is recovering. Because of this, we were not able to visit with any of the monks. It was also a fasting day. But Dimitrius was a kind host and offered us Turkish Delight and wild mountain tea. These were very good.
The church was fantastically decorated but incredibly cold. Because they have no heating and the building has high ceilings, they do not meet in that building during the winter. Dimitrius invited our group to come again on another day when they would not be fasting and we could perhaps observe the vesper prayers. I would really enjoy hearing their chants. If I have not mentioned it already, these are Greek Orthodox monks. They are of the church of the east, so their music is nothing at all like what we are used to. The scales they use are totally different. These monks also use a different calendar and time system. It is somehow based on the time of sunset, but Dimitrius was unable to explain to us how to convert.
Sorry there are no pictures but we were not able to take pictures on this visit.
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