Posts
We are pleased to present the location, the first buildings and future plans for the completion of the first Orthodox Christian Monastery in New Zealand.
One can ask, what is the reason for the existence of a monastery?
We Orthodox Christians can very easily answer that such a monastery is necessary, for one is the Holy and Catholic Church which supports, provides spiritual shelter and is the center for every feeble soul. In this idyllic environment Levin, an estate of 104 acres, will serve God first, as THE FIRST holy male monastery of the Holy Metropolis of New Zealand, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and in the name of the Synaxis of the Archangels (9x5) and the adjacent church of St. Basil (6x2.5) will cost about 60,000 euros, or $130,000 N.Z.
We kindly ask you if you can donate whatever you can in this account:
Bank Westpac: Branch, 2 Devon St. East, New Plymouth, New Zealand
Name: Amfilochios Tsoukos
Full account number: 03-1566-0068447-00
Swift code: WPACNZ2W
Thank you for your support. May the Archangels be of help to you and your families and may you have the blessings of Saint Basil, the organizer of Orthodox Monasticism.
Source
THE FIRST holy monastery for men in New Zealand was established by the Serbian Orthodoxy Church in the late 1970s.
ReplyDeleteAthair, I know of three Serbian monasteries in Australia but couldn't find any in New Zealand. Does this monastery still exist?
ReplyDeleteIt existed (Holy Dormition monastery) from the late 1970s to 1991. The monks were asked by the bishops take on the care of the Serbian and Russian (Church Abroad) parishes and were basically spending their lives on the road between parishes. They had a rural property at a place called Kiwitea about one hour from the new Greek Monastery with a church, guesthouse and house for the monks.
ReplyDeleteThe same work of being "on the road" is currently that of the only monk at the new Greek monastery who also has to spend each weekend driving to the far flung Greek parishes. Interesting that he is in fact a young Serb from Belgrade.
See pages 292 and 293 in "The Russian Orthodox Presence in Australia"
ReplyDeletehttp://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/digitaltheses/public/adt-acuvp87.09042006/02whole.pdf
I guess then it would be more accurate to say that the Greek monastery is the "only" Orthodox monastery rather than the first. Thanks for the information.
ReplyDelete