Merciful Archpastors, Honored Presbyters, Deacons in Christ, Venerable Monastics, and All Believing Children of the True Orthodox Church in America,
Christ is Among Us! He Is and Shall Be!
With great love and respect we wish to greet you and to thank you for the support, understanding, and help you have given us, both spiritual as well as material. Upon our arrival for our visit we did not expect such heartfelt understanding and empathy for the difficult situation of the Serbian True Orthodox Church, as well as for our monastery, Novi Stjenik.
Through frequent meetings (during a month’s time throughout different parishes), with priests and believers, and especially with Metropolitan Pavlos and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Attica, as well as Bishop Stefan of Trenton of our sister True Orthodox Church of Russia, we spoke and witnessed about the conditions of church life and the current state of the Serbian True Orthodox Church. The most recurrent questions were: how were we founded, what sufferings have we been going through, what slander and pressure we have borne from the ecumenistic Serbian Patriarchate, and what problems our church life is meeting with while testifying to the Truth under difficult conditions. We did, however, speak most about our monastery, Novi Stjenik, which in 2003 refused all communion with the ecumenistic Serbian Patriarchate and joined the Serbian TOC, which is now under the Archiepiscopal omophorion of the GOC. Because of our action, we have suffered many temptations, including psychological mistreatment from the ecumenical Serbian Patriarchate and complete poverty. The story of our monastery attracted the most interest among believers and clergy, often provoking the listeners to tears.
The parish priests who hosted us, as good pastors, (for whom we are grateful) called upon believers to help the material progress of the monastery. Thanks to them, there was an unexpectedly great response to the appeal for help. Every believer gave as much as he could, which is very much considering the fact that America is suffering such an economic crisis. The parishes which we visited, separately from the individual donations of the faithful, even organized help for our monastery from their church treasuries. Our overall impression and picture of True Orthodoxy in America is: a good confession of the Orthodox Faith, warm-heartedness and great Christian love in the parishes, and easy communication with the bishops, who are accessible to all. We know that, from your perspective, you may often feel that your Metropolis has many problems. But from our objective perspective as visitors, we can tell you confidently that you have the priceless gift of a true Church life, and that your Metropolis has many gifted and dedicated people.
After many meetings with the True Orthodox Christians of America, we felt spiritually stronger and determined in our efforts and zeal on the path of confession for the True Orthodox Faith. This pilgrimage through the United States gave us a totally new experience (which we may have imagined before but never felt), which we would formulate in a few words: there are no borders between brothers and sisters in Christ. Truly, we are one body, one organism, whose head on earth is our shared Holy Episcopate. Oceans are too small and huge distances are not able to separate the faithful who are going the same evangelical Narrow Way.
With a great prostration we thank Fr Maximus Marretta (superior of Holy Ascension Monastery, Woodstock, NY), who gave us a most precious and unexpected gift: the holy relics of St John the Baptist, which is certainly a confirmation of how much the pilgrimage in the US was blessed and essential for us, in the name of the spread of Truth, the existence of the Serbian TOC, and our monastery Novi Stjenik. With love in Christ we also greatly give thanks to every single brother and sister in the church, and every wonderful priest who gave his fatherly blessing. We thank Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Attica for his warm pastoral conversation, the beautiful Gerondissa Synklitiki and her sisterhood, and all of our hosts in New York. Above all we thank His Most Reverend Grace Metropolitan Pavlos, an icon of Abrahamic hospitality, an extraordinary host in his eparchy, and a true Pastor, who showed to us, as he does to many others, true mercy, showering us with many spiritual comforts.
Our sensation of spiritual isolation and loneliness, which we feel very often in our Serbian fatherland, (due to the very strong influence of the ecumenistic Serbian Patriachate, who despite their apostasy have a great hold over the Serbian people), now has disappeared and transformed into a feeling of courage because we are a part of the Victorious Church of Christ, against whose doors the terrible apostasy of the modern age will never prevail.
Christ is Risen!
Glory to God for all things!
The Unworthy of God’s Mercy
Servant of God
Nun Efrosyne, Superior, and all the Sisterhood in Christ of Novi Stjenik Monasery
Kučaj Mountains, Serbia
April 2010
