Dear Friends of the Monastery,
This year’s Feast of St. Catherine—without any visitors...
As we approach the blessed Nativity of Christ, we hope that you and your loved ones have all been safe and able to weather the Covid pandemic. St. Catherine's Monastery closed in March, and while they are now partially opened, the border with Israel remains closed, curtailing pilgrimage from Jerusalem which provided essential support to St. Catherine’s Monastery in the past.
As many of you know, the Monastery's beloved Elder Pavlos fell asleep in the Lord after a long illness (unrelated to the pandemic) on March 1st. While we mourn his loss, his spiritual children are comforted by his continued intercession for all.
Your generous donations this year have been critical in helping the Monastery meet needs and fund projects it might otherwise have had to forego due to the crisis, as outlined further below. We also include a message from His Eminence Damianos, the Archbishop of Sinai and Abbot of St. Catherine's, on their situation, sent for the recent Giving Tuesday.
St. Catherine intercede for us! The koliva of the Feast is a symbol of resurrection after death.
Hopefully, by the mercy of God and prayers of the monks in the desert, joined with all of yours, the advent of vaccines will speed the end of the pandemic. However, it needs to be mentioned that the Monastery, already financially strained even before the pandemic, continues to need help due to other factors impeding pilgrimage from Orthodox countries.
As of December 12, FMSM had received $73,237 in donations for the calendar year. We have transferred $97,000 (including a balance from last year) to the bank account of St. Catherine's Monastery. Your full donations are sent to the Monastery, since FMSM's staff is volunteer and all expenses are paid for by board members.
The funds were sent for the following purposes:
- $10, 000 for food.
- $15,000 for building a warehouse near the entrance of the Monastery.
- $10,000 for a contractor to continue an ongoing, long-overdue project of painting the main Church and related work.
- $34,000 to complete the urgent renovation project at the Monastery's Athens dependency, or "metochion," which was started last year. Fortunately, much of this work was completed before the full seriousness of the pandemic became apparent. As we noted before, for those not familiar with what a metochion is, large monasteries have historically maintained these "ecclesiastical embassies" in major cities. Major Athonite houses also have metochions in Athens, and the reasons are practical: they facilitate monastery interaction with the outside world and provide housing for monks attending to monastery business. St. Catherine’s Athens metochion also provides administrative support for the protection, study, and appreciation of the Sinai monuments. Also on a pragmatic note, it is often through the city dependencies, most of which have churches, that future Monks are drawn to serve remote monasteries, ensuring their continued life. Many are the Sinai Monks who were once simple communicants at the Athens metochion. Please see last year's report for more details on what the renovation project entailed (http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/news-blog/fmsm-fifth-year-report).
- $12,000 for repair of the Athens metochion roof.
- $16,000 for needs at the Zakynthos metochion, which is located 20 kilometers from the central town of that island. A small portion was for repair of the agricultural truck, and the remainder was for repairs of the Church, a historic building dating to 1602. An archeological renovation of the church is being conducted under the oversight of the archeological ministry of Zakynthos. The funds were for the current phase of the project of replacing the windows, which requires a special kind of wood. The central Monastery of Sinai would normally pay this cost, but did not have funds due to the pandemic.
Donations to the Monastery can be made through FMSM's support page (http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/support), through your online shopping when you use Amazon Smile or iGive (please see the support page link for instructions), or by mailing checks made out to Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery, PO Box 231953, Encinitas, CA, 92023-1953. All donations will go in full to the Monastery.Donations to the Monastery can be made through FMSM's support page (http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/support) or by mailing checks made out to Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery, PO Box 231953, Encinitas, CA, 92023-1953. All donations will go in full to the Monastery.
Another way to help is to forward this to let your friends know!
With Best Wishes for the blessed Nativity Feast and the coming 2021st New Year of Hope! Please also see the links at the bottom of this report, which you may find interesting.
Icon on the Archbishop’s throne.
GREETING FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF SINAI DAMIANOS FOR THE DAY OF GIVING
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matt. 5.7), said the Lord, stressing in another passage, “that your charity may be done in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly (Matt. 6.4)." This is how we will hear the Voice of the Lord also at the Second Coming, speaking to the humble and quiet people who offered toil, time, and material blessings to whichever of their neighbors were in need; and who, because of this, will be in a position to enjoy the blessings of His Heavenly Kingdom.
And because your small and blessed foundation offers help to the Monastery of St. Catherine in the desert of the God-trodden Mountain of Sinai and to the surrounding Bedouin who serve it, you will have this rich blessing of God and the double health of soul and body during these days that are difficult, indeed, of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The needs of the Monastery and of its basic Dependencies (Metochia), caused by lack of income stemming from non-existent pilgrimage during the known pandemic, include medical and pharmaceutical health care; repairs of damage to Monastery structures caused by age and rains; upgrades to communication systems; procurement of agricultural tools, and improvement of horticultural cultivation.
We, the Fathers of the Monastery who reside within and without its walls, pray and call on all the Friends of Mount Sinai Monastery to pray with us, that the Lord and Saint Catherine may speedily deliver the world from the ongoing pandemic and from every other physical illness. May our Lord simultaneously bestow His enlightenment and His Grace upon those who love Him and confess His Glory, saying “Lord have mercy on us and glory to Your compassion.”
† The Archbishop of Sinai Damianos
-His Eminence's thoughts on the pandemic: http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/news-blog/archbishop-message-pandemic-stjohnklimakos
-FMSM's Facebook page, which lets you see the many facets of the Sinai Monastery’ fascinating history, daily life and events: https://www.facebook.com/ForStCatherinesMonastery/
-A new article in the FMSM News Blog for the recent Feast of Saint Catherine: http://www.mountsinaimonastery.org/news-blog/standing-sentry-over-love
