I wish that there was an in between of Monastic and Layperson in The Church

[Jude1:3]

Kind of like where you could be married, but still live in an Orthodox Community / Commune type situation and could attend liturgy during the week days with Monks and Nuns.

Or even a gated Orthodox Community where everyone is an Orthodox Christian.

It has been very trying in that last 3-4 years having to be around the world and it would be nice to have some peace and only be around True Orthodox Christians exclusively.

Do any of you ever feel like this ?

Maybe the only real option for this is to attend an Orthodox Seminary / College.

 

[Arachne]

Monastics are laypeople.

Maybe the only real option for this is to attend an Orthodox Seminary / College.

And after graduation, then what?

You can move to a majority Orthodox country. Just prepare yourself for a lot of disappointment.

 

[hecma925]

The parish is supposed to be a community. If it isn't, blame someone else.

 

[brlon]

Or even a gated Orthodox Community where everyone is an Orthodox Christian.

That sounds rather like a ghetto!

 

[Asteriktos]

Do any of you ever feel like this ?

Yeah, it's not necessarily uncommon. If you search the dark corners of this forum long enough you'll find a thread from like 2002-2003 with people like me talking along these lines. I've also seen others discussing it over the years. And after all time time... I wouldn't even want to hazard a guess as to how or even if someone would try.

 

[Alpo2]

What or who is a True Orthodox Christian? Assuming that the OP didn't refer to Old Calendarists.

 

[hecma925]

Dreher wrote about the Benedict option, so there you go.

 

[LizaSymonenko]

It would be easier to live surrounded my likeminded Orthodox Christians. It would be a great way to raise children, strengthen our own faith, etc. However, that's not all we are called to do.

We are supposed to be out there, among the Heterodox... and sew seeds of Orthodoxy amongst them.

Christ did not only come to the Jews, but, to the Gentiles...
The Apostles did not only preach to those who already accepted Christ and were baptized... no... they traveled the Earth in search of those who had not yet heard the good news... and they took it to them.

We should have this same mentality. It's not about us, and our own comfort... it is about us going out there... and making it different.

(...and to be honest... not all Orthodox Christians are as good as you think...)

 

[Ainnir]

I think a balance is good, but presumably nothing is stopping you from turning your home or room into a hermitage.

 

[Jude1:3]

And after graduation, then what?

Become a janitor at an Orthodox Seminary so I can go to liturgy everyday LOL.

 

[noahzarc1]

Kind of like where you could be married, but still live in an Orthodox Community / Commune type situation and could attend liturgy during the week days with Monks and Nuns.

St. Anthony's monastery in between Tucson and Phoenix. You could experience the monastery daily, attend liturgy and still live your normal life. It's a beautiful place.

Or even a gated Orthodox Community where everyone is an Orthodox Christian.

It has been very trying in that last 3-4 years having to be around the world and it would be nice to have some peace and only be around True Orthodox Christians exclusively.

I suppose Orthodox Christians are Orthodox Christians because they did not hang out in gated communities. They're Orthodox Christians because they lived their faith through those most difficult and trying times of the world around them. It is the reason you still have an Orthodox Christian faith to celebrate, share and experience today.

Maybe the only real option for this is to attend an Orthodox Seminary / College.

Seminaries can also be one of the worst places to go to experience your faith. Especially given the desires you have a seminary may be a let down. On the flip side, a great seminary and great seminary life at some point must come to an end. Reality really sets in for most seminary graduates when the rubber meets the road between their seminary training and the struggles of real life you just mentioned.

I would personally say your struggle you have is evidence of your growth and the pull you have is God talking to you and leading you to continue to pursue him, be faithful and be an example to the world around you.

God be with you.

 

[Jude1:3]

I would personally say your struggle you have is evidence of your growth and the pull you have is God talking to you and leading you to continue to pursue him, be faithful and be an example to the world around you.

I feel like I have failed miserably at being an Orthodox Christian.

I've already experienced soul crushing disappointment in some of the people that I've gone to church with at my parish. There has also been some great people there though.

 

[Ainnir]

Do not worry about them. They are their own concern, and you are yours, and I am mine. Orthodoxy has an incredibly rich external life, but it is all supposed to point to the inner life, and that is where Orthodoxy truly lives and grows. Worry about that, not whether your environs are spiritually ideal; they never will be.

Or here:

"A man can be harmed by another only through the causes of the passions which lie within himself. It is for this reason that God, the creator of all and the doctor of men's souls, who alone has accurate knowledge of the soul's wounds, does not tell us to forsake the company of men; He tells us to root out the causes of evil within us and to recognize that the souls' health is achieved not by a man's separating himself from his fellows, but by his living the ascetic life in the company of holy men. When we abandon our brothers for some apparently good reason, we do not eradicate the motives for dejection but merely exchange them, since the sickness which lies hidden within us will show itself again in other circumstances."
--St. John Cassian

 

[biro]

Can you find any Orthodox friends, and then move to whatever town they live in?

 

[noahzarc1]

I feel like I have failed miserably at being an Orthodox Christian.

I've already experienced soul crushing disappointment in some of the people that I've gone to church with at my parish. There has also been some great people there though.

Your expectations might be too high of yourself. Your expectations might be too high of others. It's easy to look at the saints and think "I'm nothing like them," and it is easy to feel we've failed. We should remember, they too had struggles. Similarly with the disappointments of others, someone told me once, we tend to look up the ladder and see the ills of those up above us. However, we forget to look down that ladder at those coming up behind us? What do they see in me? As I'm sure you've heard already, it is not the falling down that matters, it's the getting back up!

An Orthodox friend shared this link with me 6 years ago. I've had it saved in my bookmark since and I read it often. I always find it comforting. Not sure if it will do the same for you, but I share it here: https://www.pravmir.com/no-impossible-deed-should-be-undertaken/

 

[Jude1:3]

Thanks Everyone for the replies.

 

[Jude1:3]

Monastics are laypeople.

But monks can also have the Title of "Priest Monk" though right ?

 

[Arachne]

But monks can also have the Title of "Priest Monk" though right ?

Some can. Most don't. No nuns do. Monastic vows are not ordination.

 

[Jude1:3]

Some can. Most don't. No nuns do. Monastic vows are not ordination.

Got it.

Thanks.

 

[Tannhouser]

Some can. Most don't. No nuns do. Monastic vows are not ordination.

TIL

 

[Stinky]

That sounds rather like a ghetto!

Or the Hood....brother Hood.

 

[Stephen Philips]

I feel the same way. Sometimes you find yourself in a chapter of life where the situation seems less than ideal for spiritual growth. But, truly, that is never the case. God shelters us from all temptation beyond what we can handle, as long as we cling to Him. You mentioned good people in your parish, give them a try. I was alone, the only practicing Orthodox in my High School, until God put someone else there to join me. When I hit a time of severe lack of motivation, God put two friends from my parish who reached out to me to pray the Canonical Hours with me every day. God has a way of giving each person what they need. Just make sure that, in your life decisions, you continue to seek Him.
Pray for me!

 

[boggyman]

I often dream about moving to Bozeman, MT to be a part of the parish of St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church ( Parish History | St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church (orthodoxbozeman.org) It seems to be a tight-knit community with a monastery being built. But this is just a dream. The reality is that I attend a very small mission parish that struggles to have ten people at most services. It's difficult, but it's also an opportunity to bring Orthodoxy into the lives of those around us.

 

[RaphaCam]

Kind of like where you could be married, but still live in an Orthodox Community / Commune type situation and could attend liturgy during the week days with Monks and Nuns.

Or even a gated Orthodox Community where everyone is an Orthodox Christian.

I recall hearing that there's more than one Orthodox monastery in America that had a couple of Orthodox families moving to its surroundings to be near monastic life and near other Orthodox Christians. Otherwise, there are a lot of villages functioning around monasteries around the world. Dominika has been to one that has a tight connection to my archdiocese (Grabarka, Poland), multiple times, maybe she can tell something about life there.

If you mean something else, I fail to see the difference.

 

[Dominika]

Yes, true, actually all monasteries in Poland (not only Grabarka), except one skete, are in villages, and some of them (all?) function at the same time as village parishes, so the local communities have possibility to attend services with monks/nuns on daily manner.

Also in Lebanon there are such monasteries, e.g. Balamand in which there is also Orthodox seminary - I had privilege to lvie tehre for almost two years

Some seminaries have open services on daily manner, meanwhile some just festal, Sudnays and Lent, and seminaries are often located in big cities.

Also some parishes have daily services - for almsot 3 yeras mine too. There are a lot of possibilties, just it depends on your location or will and posisilibyt to move somewhere.

 

[Menas17]

You could live near/next to a monastery and use the monastery as your parish. I'm thinking of Holy Archangels in Texas, Holy Cross in West Virginia, etc., that is something that I have been considering

 

[hecma925]

You could live near/next to a monastery and use the monastery as your parish. I'm thinking of Holy Archangels in Texas, Holy Cross in West Virginia, etc., that is something that I have been considering

What's stopping you?

 

[Deacon Lance]

New Skete had just such a community but they have all passed away or needed nursing home level care.

 

[hecma925]

New Skete had just such a community but they have all passed away or needed nursing home level care.

The 60s experiment didn't pan out.

 

[Asteriktos]

The 60s experiment didn't pan out.

Elder Joasaphaph at the time told them it wouldn't work out. Monks are cat people. It is known.

 

[Stinky]

The 60s experiment didn't pan out.

The 60s experiment didn't pan out.

The Village

 

[Stinky]

Ooops, stuttering

 

[biro]

Menas, that's a good idea.

 

[Deacon Lance]

Well the Companions started in the 80s and still exist in an associative form.

 

[hecma925]

Well the Companions started in the 80s and still exist in an associative form.

Kind of like Oblates?

 

[Deacon Lance]

Similar

Home | companionsofnewskete

www.companionsofnewskete.org

 

[Menas17]

What's stopping you?

I'm working towards it but haven't quite gotten there yet. I would like to get in better place financially before I do anything. Also, need to decide which monastery I would like to live near as there are so many

 

[hecma925]

I'm working towards it but haven't quite gotten there yet. I would like to get in better place financially before I do anything. Also, need to decide which monastery I would like to live near as there are so many

Good luck!

 

[Menas17]

Good luck!

Thankya. I would say the new Georgian monastery would be a good contender since they use English in the liturgy. Unfortunately Holy Archangels in Texas (which I love) only uses Greek

 

[LukeDM]

Thankya. I would say the new Georgian monastery would be a good contender since they use English in the liturgy. Unfortunately Holy Archangels in Texas (which I love) only uses Greek

The one just founded in Oklahoma?