A message from Hieromonk Joshua, Abbot of the Hermitage
Hello! Christ is amongst us!
I am Hieromonk Joshua, the superior of this sacred hermitage.
The brotherhood of the Hermitage of Saint Cornelius has as its singular focus a life of continuous prayer in accord with what Saint Paul says:
pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
We are a hermitage of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR). The liturgical services of the Holy Orthodox Church are the primary focus of this community, as an offering of continuous prayer, especially the Divine Liturgy. Because we are small, we do not have a full monastic choir with a conductor, neither an array of fine bronze imported bells, nor a bevy of hierodeacons, nor a troop of altar servers. Our hermitage, to be sure, is very humble and simple. Through prayer in our chapel and solitude in nature, it is a place of restoration for the soul.
Every day, we monks work prayerfully at our obediences, the tasks through which we sacrifice ourselves in labor and prayer with humility:
- in the ongoing work necessary for the physical establishment and self-sufficiency of our hermitage;
- in our heartfelt work and professional outreach and hospitality toward our homeless, hungry, and addicted brethren on the streets;
- in our work with military veterans suffering from PTSD;
- in our work with active-duty military men, women, and their families in need of Orthodox Christian catechetics, spiritual guidance, and prayer;
- in our work with the lonely, the forgotten, the neglected and the discarded;
- in our work on behalf of children in danger of abortion, and with ongoing pro-life and pro-family initiatives.
In the final analysis, the goal of our community is to obtain the mercy of God, the building-up and dynamic spreading of the Lord Jesus’ earthly Kingdom—the Holy Orthodox Church, and (please, God), the eternal gift of hearing Christ the Lord say:
Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you! (Matthew 25:34).
May Christ, the Infant Saviour of Bethlehem, prosper and bless you! +