Tracing our Monastic Lineage

We would like to share with you, the history of our Monastery through a glimpse of the lives of those holy monastics who have shaped our monastic way of life. We can trace the origins of how we pray and how we strive to live to Mount Athos, the Holy Mountain, located on Halkidiki, a mountainous peninsula in northeastern Greece and a spiritual center of Eastern Orthodox monasticism for over 1,000 years. It is governed as an autonomous state within the Greek Republic. Mount Athos is home to 20 monasteries, many sketes and hermitages. It is there, amidst the rugged, beautiful landscape, embraced by our Most Holy Theotokos as Her Garden, that our journey begins. Our journey will also take you to the Monastery Panagia Odigitria in the picturesque village of Portaria, in Volos, Greece.

Through the biographies that follow, you will read about some of the spiritual giants of our time whose names when they are called upon with faith, manifest miracles. They are from the world but not of the world. Their ascetical struggles, living and breathing the Jesus Prayer (also known as the Prayer of the Heart, “Lord Jesus Christ have Mercy on Me”), doing thousands of prostrations, countless all-night vigils, and self-imposed fasting, brought sanctity and grace from God. We hope to leave you with an appreciation and an understanding for those who dedicated their entire life and sacrificed everything for the love of God. - Gerontissa Theophano

Macaristi Gerontissa Taxiarchia (+1994)