Sisterhood of Monastery Saint John the Baptist
STJENIK, mountain Jelica, Serbia
PUBLIC NOTICE
Regarding our lawless eviction from the monastery
SHORT HISTORY OF THE MONASTERY
Monastery Stjenik is the legacy of the Mrnjavcevic family (XIV century).
From the beginning, martyrdom and confession pervade the history of its
inhabitants. One historian claims that the foundation of the monastery alone
(dedicated to the birth of Saint John the Baptist) is marked by the martyric
blood of monk - confessors. Because of their Orthodox confession, Jovan
Stjenik as well as a great many Serbian monks, perished on this holy ground.
They were tortured most dreadfully, burnt alive and beheaded by the
unbelieving Turks. It was from this monastery that the Saints Deacon
Habbakuk and Abbot Pajsije started confessing the faith of Christ,
singing: "There is no better faith than the Christian, the Serb belongs to
Christ, he goes to death with joy". In this holy monastery there began the
famous rebellion of Hadzi-Prodan, which was suppressed in blood. During this
time, a thick dark cloud of sacrilegious Turks overshadowed Serbia. The
Turks were conducting a "holy" war, or Dzihad, against the Orthodox
Christians, inspired by their father Satan.
The monastery was torn down to the ground several times. Before World War I,
hieromartyr Nikolaj Zicki, reconstructed it and settled in it nun Julijana.
He made her a nun and was also her spiritual father. Due to the fact that,
during the war the monastery served as a hideout for the chetniks of general
Draza Mihajlovic, the monastery was once again torn down, first on behalf of
the German Nazis, and afterwards by the Serbian communists. It was Holy
Bishop Nikolaj who preserved Orthodoxy religion with nun Julijana, as well
as adopting an uncompromising attitude towards the heathens. He also taught
her how to maintain the holy tradition, which she sincerely passed on to our
sisterhood.
Until recently monastery Sjenik was completely derelict. Mother Julijana
lived totally forgotten in the deep deserted forest on Jelica mountain until
the first novice came. Very often she did not have bread. The first novice
in the monastery was today's abbess, Mother Efrosinija. Ever since we came
to this holy place, we have tried to live as our holy fathers have taught,
never seeking any worldly pleasure, which we have seen in other places. In
time we came to realize the situation of our other dioceses of the official
Serbian church. The spiritual fathers and clergy had damaged us spiritually,
more than they had enabled us spiritual purification and transformation.
Baptisms as well as other holy sacraments were inconsiderately distorted and
corrupted. In such surroundings and under such spiritual guidance, we could
not anymore see ourselves as nuns. Along with this the terrible apostasy and
fall of our church into the heresy of ecumenism slowly revealed itself
before our eyes. When we could not see any other way out, we refused
obedience to Archimandrite Benjamin, avoiding all the other priests of the
official Serbian church. At that moment we were proclaimed improper,
dangerous and delusional. Many believers were told during sermons not to
come to our monastery of Sjenik. We cried out prayers to the Lord, along
with regular fasting, begging him to help us come out of the darkness of
apostasy and lead us to his unspotted bride - The One and Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church, which has nothing in common with the new apostates: the
ecumenists, newcalendarists, newpaschalists and other enemies of God,
together with the God - fighting Jews and masons in charge. Following in the
steps of the holy martyr bishop Nikolaj (who stopped communicating with the
Belgrade patriarchate during the rule of the communist patriarch German), we
decided to leave the apostate jurisdiction of the Serbian church, even
though ecumenism had not yet gained ground. We started searching for a way
out, together with fasting and ardent prayers.
We sought affiliation but with those who do not participate in treason
against Christ's truth - Holy Orthodoxy. We sought those who are not
creating a new religion with the Antichrist as its pontiff, the religion
which is now arising trough the monstrous heretical organization of the
World Council of Churches.
In our search there was the option of joining the Russian Orthodox Church
Abroad, but as soon as we got familiar with its pitiful condition and its
ecumenical course of aggiornamento with the official apostates from
Orthodoxy, we turned to the Russian Catacombniks and Greek Old Calendarists.
But since there are great intrigues for power in Russia and it is almost
impossible to contact the canonical followers of the Russian Catacombniks,
we decided to seek help from the Greek followers of the tradition. Soon we
heard about the metohion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, and also
that Serbia has a true orthodox jurisdiction, which has a canonical
apostolic succession from the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, from its
famous confessing period, precisely from the newly glorified confessor Saint
Philaret (Voznesenky).
Our prayers were answered, and words can not express our happiness when we
finally came in touch with the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Serbia, in
particular hieromonk Akakije. He especially helped us in making the first
steps towards true Orthodoxy: helping us in ending contacts with the Serbian
Church and joining a true Orthodox bishop. The first time we met our present
spiritual leader, hieromonk Akakije, by Gods mercy we received a truly
Orthodox spiritual guide, and from that moment on we were able to receive
the holy sacraments, without which salvation is impossible. We started with
the foundation of salvation - Baptism, since we had all been baptized in a
unorthodox and anti-canonical manner: by pouring or sprinkling. After the
baptism, the sisters who were nuns received The Great Angelic "Obraz" - The
Schema. Before all this we confessed truthfully for the first time, and
after the baptism we took the holy sacraments almost every day. Strengthened
or even better revived by the mercy of God, we decided to confess our
cessation of communion with the ecumenists by a public notice in which we
explained the reasons which led us to this decision. We sent the document to
our ex-ruling bishop Chrysostom of Banat and Zicha, archimandrite Venjamin,
and the clergy of Cacak.
Bishop Chrysostom was informed about what was happening in the monastery
before the document was handed to him, so his reaction was unexpectedly fast
and incredibly brutal.
The contents of the document follows:
"The sisterhood of the monastery of Saint John the Baptist - Stjenik.
We are informing the bishops, the clergy and monastics in the jurisdiction
of the Serbian Orthodox Church that our monastery Stjenik (all of the
sisterhood) is putting an end to all communion of prayer with you.
We have not come to this decision hastily or thoughtlessly. Bearing taken in
mind the present situation of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as well as
other local churches, our Orthodox consciousness does not permit us further
contact with you. The reasons for this decision are as follows:
- The anticanonical rule of "patriarch" German, on behalf of the communist
Tito government. - The Serbian Orthodox Church remaining as an organic member in the
antichristian heretical organization, the World Council of Churches, and
participating in the heresy of ecumenism (praying together with the
heretics) for several years. - Full eucharistic communion with the apostates from Holy Orthodoxy: the
sergianists (the Moscow patriarchate), the new calendarists, the new
paschalists, and also with the heretical Monophysites anathematised by four
Ecumenical Councils. - The lifting of the anathema of 1054 against the papist heresy, even
though the Roman pope remained without repentance for all his innovations.
Also, the forming of a union between all the Orthodox churches and the
Catholic church. Complete acknowledgement of the Catholic church as a sister
church, as well as acknowledgement of its sacraments. - Charging money for conducting Holy Sacraments (simony).
- Mutilation of the holy sacraments with the Latin practice of pouring or
sprinkling.
After a long search for a way out of your jurisdiction, which has completely
fallen into the heresy of ecumenism, having lost all hope that it will get
out of it, we have decided to join the only canonical and Orthodox
jurisdiction in Serbia - the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of
Serbia under the omophorion of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece,
whose first-hierarch is his Beatitude Archbishop Chrysostom II of Athens.
Since the Serbian monasteries were obviously not built for ecumenists -
those who withdraw from Saint Savva's way and Orthodoxy, but also having in
mind that monks and nuns are supposed to protect the sacraments, and never
put them into the hands of the enemies of God, we shall continue to live in
our monastery and will leave it only if some one forces us out of it.
We do not acknowledge the church court and we shall not answer to its
summons, nor will any verdicts of this court be valid for us.
With the help of God we are ready to die for our firm determination to
continue the confession of the holy Orthodoxy.
This notice is unanimously signed, without any duress or personal motives,
but with solid faith in the Lord, the Mother of God, our patron Saint John
the Baptist, Saint Sava, the holy martyred Deacon Habbakuk, and the rest of
the confessing martyrs of Stjenik.
(Below are the signatures of all eight sisters and the monastery stamp)
In the Holy Monastery of Stjenik, Year 2003.
Upon the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross
THE BEGINNING OF THE PERSECUTION
The events in chronological order
Monday, October 6th 2003. Conception of Saint John the Forerunner
Brother Stefan, who had been baptized together with his family and had
joined the True Orthodoxy, went to the eparchy to hand over the notice of
the Stjenik nuns to bishop Chrysostom. On his way he passed a delegation
from the eparchy, which had been urgently sent to Stjenik by Chrysostom
himself. The delegation consisted of the following members: eparchy
secretary priest Toma, archimandrite Venjamin, abbot of the Preobrazenje
monastery, scorer priest Ljubisa from Mataruska Banja and abbess Jelena from
Zica. The delegation arrived at Stjenik almost at the same time as brother
Stefan handed the notice from the sisters to the bishop. After a brief talk,
all four members of the delegation decided that we should immediately be
evited, even with the help of the police if neccessary. They threatened,
telling us that they would beat us with sticks if we didn't repent and kiss
the bishop's, as they said, »holy« right hand (although we would be given a
certain epitimia).
All of the nuns and novices were present at this conversation with the
delegation. We are unanimously decided that we will consistently follow the
Tradition of the Holy Fathers, and none of us have any dilemma wit regard to
whether we should repent before any bishop of the ecumenist Serbian Orthodox
Church. Having taken such a firm position, we were faced with insults,
blackmail, together with the common ecumenist phrase: "You can not be
reconciled since you are not obedient".
During this conversation, if it can be called a conversation at all, a
record was taken in which everything we believe in was stated: from the part
that we do not acknowledge the church authorities of the official Serbian
church nor her blessing, up to the part that we have been properly baptised
(not again!)
Each and every one of us signed that document gladly, and soon the
delegation angrily left the monastery, threatening us that we wouldn`t see
the morning. Being afraid that they would defile the altar, which had
already been consecrated and which contained the Holy Body and Blood of the
Lord, we didn't unlock the church for them, which got them extremely upset.
Honestly, we have never seen such hatred and scorn, and especially not from
people who were until recently our shepherds.
Meanwhile, in the heart of the diocese of Zicha in Kraljevo, brother Stefan,
as we have already said, was giving our notice to bishop Chrysostom. By the
command of Vladika the notice was read out to some preists who were there at
that moment by the abbot of Studenica. As he read on, his voice changed, and
he could hardly finish reading. Together with the notice was a photocopy
from Vladika's latest book, with which he presented himself to the diocese
of Zicha, and where he also recommends the papist calendar, whilst making
fun of the Holy Father's calendar. We had sent our notice to other eparchies
as well, and at the end of the day there came many phone calls
from »soul-caring« priests and other religious people from the eparchy,
trying to convince us to change our minds and repent.
Tuesday, October 7th 2003. First martyr Thecla - the last peaceful morning
in our monastery.
We started the day with Liturgy, which was celebrated by father Akakije, and
finished at dawn. The Liturgy was very soul-stirring for all. We had the
presentiment that we would not stay in our beloved monastery for much
longer. It was as if we were already parting with the relics of the Stjenik
martyrs, which were kept in the monastery church. It was as if we were
parting from our spiritual teacher, mother Julijana, her grave and from all
the holy things of Stjenik. And no longer did anything earthly tie us to the
ground, we were all facing the heavens. The Epistle and Gospel of this day
implied awesome events which took place a few hours later.
While we were enjoying our last moments after the Liturgy, the peace of
mountain Jelica was disturbed by the sounds of Cacak police cars, carrying
officers, but without their uniforms. They insisted the abbess come with
them to the Chief of police. Mother Efrosinija and one more nun took our car
and returned from this interview after about three hours. The confused but
friendly Chief tried to convince Mother Efrosinija to persuade the
sisterhood to change their attitude about parting from the official church.
Since the Chief did not understand the problems and reasons for the decision
of the sisters, who are even ready to be evicted from the monastery, after a
long conversation they went together to see the mayor Mr. Velja Ilic. He
also said that this was no time for changes or reactions to the policies of
the SOC. He begged mother Efrosinija to apologise to the bishop, and
convinced her that he would try to brighten up the bishop. Of course mother
Efrosinija did not accept this offer even after several hours of convincing.
She turned back to the monstery. When she stopped at the gas station,
unexpectedly she was surrounded by four cars, full of priests, yelling out
loud and expressing their dissatisfaction.
It seemed that the diocesan Deacon Rados, who was among them, had the
leading role and he was the one everyone was listening to. This will come to
light later on during the brutal eviction of the sisters.
Mother Efrosinija sat in the car and tried to get away from them, but she
couldn't because they followed her all the way to the monastery: with two
cars in front and two behind. When they arrived at the monastery the pursuit
began. Those of us who stayed in the monastery begged father Akakije to move
deeper into the forest, fearing his stay in the monastery could be very
dangerous. After a short urging, father Akakije and monk David, a brother
from the metochion of the Athonite monastery of Esphigmenou, hid in the
forest Jelica. Very soon a large number of vehicles filled the not so small
parking area in front of the monastery. In the begining there were about 50
priests in the courtyard of the monastery together with a hundred incensed
laypeople. As time went by the number increased to 200 bystanders. They
insisted in coming inside the church at once, which we allowed them to do
immediately. They had all come to frighten the eight nuns and make them
change their minds, or to throw them out of the monastery. 200 men vs 8
nuns! Almost all of them were convinced that they were doing a good thing by
evicting the nuns. From the start they provoked and were aggresive to the
small and unprotected sisterhood. They said that the church had been
desecrated by schismatics and had to be reconsecrated. This was never done
after joint prayers with the heretics or after papists and Anglicans entered
their altars. In the western world it is common to using the altar and holy
table with various heretics, without reconsecrating the desecrated table.
Finally when they came out of the church having finished the ceremony, and
when the provocation became vulgar, the nuns unanimously sang the beginning
of David's Psalter: »Blessed is the man..«
Hearing the nuns sing, the priests went into the church to serve the
All-night vigil which lasted for half an hour. Afterwards they came out to
the courtyard, lit their cigarettes and started a new attack aimed at the
nuns.
It seems they were actually just preparing everything for the arrival of the
bishop. Even though there was only a few truly believing orthodox people
with the nuns, strengthening them, the Vladika was afraid to come, so the
priests were informing him what was going on in the monastery on cellular
telephones. Their fear was so great that they encouraged one police officer
to ask the nuns if it was true that they were armed?!!
Among the civilians who came with the clergy, there were some suspicious
characters. As soon as thay found out that father Akakije was hiding they
turned towards the forest above the monastery. They were armed with chains
with a big lock hanging at the ends. A miracle of God miracle saved him.
They searched the nearby forest several times, searching for the two monks.
Their readiness to take a life was obvious at first sight, and it seemed
they had permission for this. The aggressive followers of the bishop pushed
the nuns down the stairs whenever they came upon them, and even shoved the
severely ill nun Anisia. A couple of hours later Vladika Chrysostom came. As
he was getting out of his car, surrounded by bodyguards, priests welcomed
him in a bolshevik manner, with a song and church bells. Having come out of
the church, standing with a sceptre in his hand, he asked for the abbess,
insisting that no one else come near. The priests roughly drew her away from
the sisters and took her to the bishop, making a human wall, so that no one
could approach her. Mother Efrosinija was standing alone, like a sheep
brought to a wolf to be slaughtered. This obviously upset the bishop, who
asked mother Efrosinija whether she recognised the Serbian Orthodox Church,
and to the surprise of all present she said yes. She also answered the
second question whether she would be obedient affirmatively. However, at
that moment she was continuing to confess her recognition of, and complete
obedience to, the True Serbian Church, but not to their ecumenist Serbian
Church. She said she would not obey them, stating that the Genuine Orthodox
Christians of Serbia are the Genuine Serbian Orthodox Church and that she
would obey only the true Archbishop Chrysostom of the Old Calendar Greeks.
Then Vladika, full of fury, started yelling: »Seize the monastery!« In ten
minutes the monastery quarters were invaded by Vladika's followers - laymen
and the clergy. From that moment on their living quarters together with
their personal things could not be approached by the nuns. They started
singing »God have mercy«, happily and with inspiration making the sign of
the Holy Cross.
A deacon from Zica approached mother and the nuns and told them to leave the
monastery. Mother said that they would not do such a thing unless they were
shown some kind of a legal document. Instead of the expected legal document,
they received several hours of torment, mental harassment, insults...
Meanwhile, the personal belongings of the nuns were wrapped into sheets and
thrown out of the monastery courtyard. The sisters begged the pursuers to
allow them to take some of the belongings from the cells, like a pump for
asthmatics, which one of the sisters needs badly. Insulting them, they let
them take their things, controlling what they took. The sisters found their
cells in chaos, things taken out of the drawers, cupboards opened and
everything thown all over the place. By then the locals living near the
monastery arrived. They cried as thye watched 200 maddened people taking out
their anger on eight poor confessors.
All the sisters were on the field in front of the monastery, surrounded and
without any possibility of taking shelter. Continuously they answered to the
provocations of the mad aggressors, defending the Orthodox religion.
Soon a document for their eviction was typed out, without a stamp only with
the signature of Vladika Chrysostom. With this so called document, the
inspector of the police came to the abbess and insisted the sisterhood leave
the monastery. Neither the police nor the town authorities could stop the
lawless and aggressive eviction of the nuns. Helpless in providing them with
any legal protection, stunned by the aggressiveness of the church leader and
his servitors, the lawyer said he had never seen such law-breaking and that
he was not able to offer them legal protection. It was as if it had been
ordered from some more powerful force. Those who wanted to help the nuns had
their hands tied. The mayor himself was called upon by the Vladika to help
him evict the nuns. During all this the police officers were protecting the
nuns from being lynched, and if it wasn't for them who knows how this story
would end!
The sisters moved to a neutral area, across the creek, belonging to a public
company Srbija Sume, from where their pursuers could not chase them away.
Evening had already come, the sisters stayed on the field, while most of the
people left with Vladika. In the occupied monastery there remained only a
few of the bodyguards and priests who soon filled the gate of the monastery
with cigarette filters. They never stopped watching over the nuns, but
mostly they nervously walked through the gate, in and out of the monastery.
The nuns spent the night reading the Psalter and singing spiritual songs by
a fire they lit so they wouldn't freeze. The temperature was about zero.
After midnight a group of 15 true Orthodox Christians joined them led by
priest Atanasije from Smederevo. The occupiers of the monastery were stunned
by this unexpected night visit, so they called the police, who came at once.
The police asked for the documents of the newcomers, writing down the serial
numbers of their cars. But the visitors hadn't come to make chaos or take
over the monastery, they had come to support the nuns.
As the night grew colder, the sisters worried about the fathers hidden in
the deep mountain forest. Praise the Lord, who hid the fathers form their
pursuers in the forest dark. At dawn, while dark was still covering mountain
Jelica, father Akakije showed up, trying not to be spotted by the police and
pursuers. We begged him to leave the mountain while it was still dark, and
one of the brothers took him to the city by car, leaving him at a safe
place. As for monk David, we didn't know where he was. We found out later
that he hid in the forest caves for 48 hours. He was without food or water,
dressed in thin clothes in the cold mountain night.
Wednesday, October 8th 2003. Feast of Saint Ephrosinia
At dawn the group of truly Orthodox Christians left the nuns with the
blessing of father Akakije. The sisters had not slept, singing the troparion
to the saint Efrosinija. They congratulated their abbess on her name's day,
thanking God for such a beautiful vigil under the stars. They split the
feast cake themselves and shared it among each other. It was the first meal
they had had in 24 hours. They had never had a better and more blessed
feast. Never had there been so many wanted and unwanted guests. All the
sisters were filled with happiness and peace. It is that kind of peace which
Orthodoxy gives - peace given only to those who follow the signs of the
Tradition of the Holy Fathers.
On this day, the name's day of our mother Efrosinija, in our monastery, the
Liturgy was being served by those who had sold their faith for dinner and
not by the truly Orthodox. A song could be heard coming form the
church: »..Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake..«
We sat under a clear sky and listened to the cynical Liturgy of the orthodox
ecumenists. We were only a dozen meters away and a small bridge was between
us. The truly Orthodox and the truly nonorthodox. On one side the truly
Orthodox without food, drink and shelter, praising their Lord Jesus Christ,
and on the other food, drink, cigarettes, Liturgy and the warm monastery
quarters. And it started to rain.
Suddenly we noticed father David coming out of the forest walking towards
the monastery, not knowing anything about our eviction. The pursuers
immediately went for him, but he managed to escape and come to us. We
created a human wall between him and the pursuers. The above-mentioned
Deacon Rados openly swore in front of everyone, and addressing Saint Simeon
the myrrh-gusher said he would strangle father David with his bare hands. We
pulled out our icons and turned them towards Deacon Rados and his company.
At that moment he turned to father David and said that he was lucky this
time, having the sisters to save him, but that he would not get away the
next time.
After this we moved to a bush near the monastery, seeking shelter from the
rain.
Our things were still lying all over the field. When the rain stopped, we
moved inside a van one of our brothers in Christ left parked in front of the
monastery. At that moment it started snowing. This was unbelievable, snow in
October! Meanwhile, one of the brothers of the official church came to visit
us with his wife and children. We begged him to take father David to Cacak,
so he could escape another attack of the beastly pursuers. He accepted, and
as soon as they started for Cacak, two eparchy bodyguards hurried after
them. Brother Stefan, who was with us all the time, frozen and sleepy, got
in his YUGO and managed to get in between the car in which father David was
and the pursuers. Intentionally slowing down he didn't let them reach father
David, and when father David's car was well out of reach, brother Stefan
tried to get away himself, but the slippery roads and lack of rest and sleep
stopped him - the car overturned and brother Stefan stayed unconscious. The
woman and child came got out the car frightened, and begged the pursuers to
help brother Stefan. They did so, giving him mouth-to-mouth first aid, and
afterwards taking him to the hospital. While brother Stefan was lying
unconscious and suffocating with a brain concussion, a car with
archimandrite Benjamin passed him. He saw the very tragic situation but didn
't stop to see if the man was alive, but waited until the people moved him
from the road and continued coldly full of contempt.
With him in the car were nuns from the monastery of the Holy Meeting of the
Lord, and as we found out later, they were carrying food and beer for the
new inhabitants of our monastery, who were smoking and drinking in the
monastery dining room. We heard in the van about brother Stefan's accident.
Fear and uncertainty overcame us, since we did not know how serious his
injury was. Two sisters wanted to go with the monastery car to the hospital,
but the eparchy servitors wouldn't let them. We begged them to let the
sisters visit brother Stefan and at last they let them. We stayed in the
van. We shook from fever and fear for brother Stefan's life. There is no
heating in the van and it is very cold. All of a sudden we lost confidence.
We were not sure what had happened to father Akakije and David. Our souls
shook with uncertainty. This Wednesday was spiritually the hardest day in a
series of unpleasant events. The hours passed. We waited. At last the
sisters come with good news. Brother Stefan was alive and well, in hospital.
The fathers were safe and sound too. Again we were filled with inexplicable
happiness. The sisters brought food from the town, festal consolation. Later
on we tried to fall asleep, but we couldn't since it was so cold. Our teeth
chattered. We could see new cars coming and going from the monastery. The
archimandrite Benjamin and Timotej from Studenica and of course the bishop's
assistant, Deacon Rados, were in charge of the new inhabitants. Monks from
Studenica have taken our monastery. Antonije from Studenica, Pajsije from
Uvce and German also from Studenica came to the monastery. Antonije was to
be abbot. This was the new brotherhood of the monastery. They all eat meat
and drink, while the abbot even smokes.
Late at night one brother in Christ travelled a few miles to come and take
us to a temporary hide out. One car with priests followed us, but they
stopped near the hospital, where we visited brother Stefan, the true
Orthodox Serb who condescended to give his life for the truly holy
Orthodoxy, protecting the Orthodox monk from his pursuers. On our way we
noticed one more eparchy loyalist following us closely.
Having come to our temporary hide out, we finally rested from our small
confessors' accomplishment and suffering for Christ's Truth. We thank God,
our Lord Jesus Christ, Saint John the Baptist, monk-martyr John from Stjenik
and all the other martyrs from Stjenik for enabling us to confess our faith,
our beloved Orthodoxy. And also to expose the ones who ran away from the
Tradition of Holy Fathers.
We hope with all our hearts that the Lord will strength us, so that our
lives don't bring shame on Him, our Savior. Because Thine is the kingdom and
the power and glory of the Father, of the Son, and the Holy Spirit for ever.
Amen.
"We shall never give up on you, our beloved Orthodoxy!
We shall never be unfaithful to our fathers' piety!
We shall never leave you, our mothers' piety!
We were born in you; in you we live, and in you we shall die.
If the time demands it we shall die a thousand times for you!"
Composed in the name of sisters evicted from Stjenik monastery,
by schema-nun Nina.
ADDITION
The Golgotha of the sisters continues
Saturday, October 11th St. Chariton the Confessor.
The nuns have gained shelter in a family house. Even though it allows them
to rest for two days, and restore the monastic way of life and circle of
daily services, their temptations continue with constant threats. The
greatest occurred on Saturday night (October 11th 2003), when two priests
tried to persuade the pursuers in a nearby inn to approach the house where
the nuns were hidden and try to set it on fire. After a few hours they went
away, while a car was parked next to the house, watching over it all night.
Today, Sunday October 12th, the nuns are fearfully awaiting the carrying out
of this threat. This is the last information we have from them.