The first stage of establishing Mono Monastery, the only Romanian Orthodox monastic settlement in Canada, has recently been completed, with the monastery’s land fully paid off. The next major phase will focus on building the church.
“Just as the right-believing King Solomon once built the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, so we too, with our limited strength but wholehearted devotion, strive to raise a house of prayer, that it may be an unceasing altar of sacrifice and a fountain of grace for our people,” announced Hieromonk Policarp Athenagoras, the monastery’s abbot, on Facebook.
To this end, the abbot is calling on all lovers of Christ to contribute their gifts as bricks in the foundation of the holy church. A recommended minimum donation of $100 would help advance construction while ensuring that benefactors are commemorated perpetually at the Divine Liturgy.
“For it is not the walls that save, but the faith and sacrifice with which they are built,” Abbot Policarp emphasised.
“There is a great and real need to edify this church, and afterwards the monastic residence with a refectory, so that we may host agape meals and spiritual gatherings throughout the year,” he told Basilica.ro.
“We entrust ourselves to the protection of the Mother of God and pray that she may shelter us under her holy Protection and bless all benefactors and supporters of this work.”
The monastery, dedicated to the Holy Cross and Saint Ephraim the New, is located at 308328 Hockley Rd., Mono, Orangeville, Ontario L9W 6N4.
Online donations can be made through the monastery’s official website.
Photo: Mono Monastery
