Today our brotherhood celebrates the Patronal Feast of our monastery.

Thirty-seven years ago the beloved and ever-memorable Archimandrite Dimitri (Egoroff) of Santa Rosa, CA tonsured Father Paul and me as Orthodox monks (we'd both converted as monks from Eastern Rite Catholicism). Guided and inspired by Father Dimitri's kind and prayerful spirit, and the wisdom and holiness gained through his many years of monastic struggle, our brotherhood was planted on the firm ground of the Russian monastic tradition.

Thirty-seven years ago we chose to place ourselves under the banner of the All-Merciful Saviour, and the Protection of the Holy Virgin. We chose Saint John the Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco, as our patron, seeing in him the sanctity, simplicity, and holiness that we'd found in our blessed Father Dimitri.

It was thirty-five years ago, after a six-month search, that we moved the monastery from a working-class neighborhood in Richmond, CA., to Vashon Island, with the blessing of our bishop.

It has been a journey filled with poverty, suffering, and persecution, yet because of these experiences, the monastery has risen like a phoenix. Planted like a garden in the midst of a beautiful forest, on an island, in the Salish Sea of the Puget Sound region of the State of Washington, we look in wonder at all God has given us.

For all this we offer our heartfelt thanks,"to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible God. To He Who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen (I Timothy 1:17)."

Abbot Tryphon