St. Mary & St. Moses’ Monastery, Texas, USA

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Location:

St. Mary and St. Moses’ Monastery is affiliated to Dioceses of the Southern United States, under the patronage of H.G. Bishop Youssef, the Bishop of the Diocese and Abbott of the monastery.

History of Establishment:

The residence of the current monastery was established by the Roman Catholic Church in 1927, to be the residence of the Theological College. Then it became a monastery by Pope Youhanna the twenty third, who called it Corpus Christi Abbey and Benedictine Retreat Centre. This was where the teaching of monasticism took place. For four decades, this monastery was a retreat place to its monks, congregation and to all the people of the surrounding areas.

By the second millennium, the number of monks in the monastery decreased, with no one seeking monasticism because of the impossibility of monastic life in the monastery. This left the monastery with only 3 monks living in it. They suffered to support the monastery and to look after the various responsibilities for many years.

As a result of this, the Roman Catholic Church had to sell the monastery and they monks started to look for a suitable purchaser. They only wished that the monastery stays as it is.

Establishment of St. Mary and St. Moses’ Monastery

In early 2005, during searching for a suitable place to be a retreat place for the diocese, H.G. Bishop Youssef along with Fr Bishoy George and Fr Athanasius Kaldas visited the monastery for the first time. The first impression of H.G. was that he loved the place and said to the fathers who were with him: this place is not suitable to be a retreat centre due to its location, the only use to this place is to stay as a monastery as it is.

Until that moment, that was just an idea, but by the will of God, this idea became a reality. In April 2005, the diocese had purchased the monastery and its name changed to be St. Mary and St. Moses’ monastery, this is in honour of the Mother of God St. Mary and St. Moses because of the depth of repentance in the life of this saint.

Fathers who lived in the monastery

Shortly after the purchase of the monastery, H.G. Bishop Youssef have five monks from El Surian monastery, Wadi Al Natroun, to serve in the monastery. t

The monks that served in the monastery are:

1. Fr. Zakaria El Suriany (currently H.G. Bishop Domadious)
2. Fr. Yehnes El Suriany
3. Fr. Abraam El Suriany
4. Fr. Ephrayem El Suriany
5. Fr. Bebnouda El Suriany

Few months after their arrival to the monastery, the Holy Synod recognised the monastery and it became the second Coptic Orthodox monastery in North America.

Renovation of the Monastery

H.G. Bishop Youssef have asked Fr Antonious Gerges to supervise the renovation of the buildings of the monastery, because the fact that the church that Fr Antonious serves in is the closest to the monastery. Fr Antonious supervised the restoration of most of the buildings of the monastery, some of which were ruined due to that they were not looked after for many years. Fr Antonious made huge efforts for several months to restore the buildings, both from inside and outside to be a suitable residence for the monks and brothers.

He also restored the retreats building to be suitable to accommodate families and youth that come to the monastery for retreats.

Saints of the monastery:

St. Virgin Mary and St. Moses

Churches of the monastery:

Mary’s Church
Anthony’s Church
Moses’ Church
Yehnes Kama’s Church

The Building and Consecration of St. Mary’s Church

After a lot of efforts done by Fr Antonious Gerges, a church on the name of St. Mary was built. The altar of the church was consecrated on the 20^th of August, 2005 by H.H. Pope Shenouda III who visited the monastery and had also laid the foundation stone of the monastery.

The Historical Visit of H.H. Pope Tawadros II

The monastery was blessed by the visit of our Pope, H.H. Pope Tawadros II on the 12^th of October, 2015.

Relics of St. Moses

God granted the monastery the blessing of having the relics of St. Moses in his church, which we commemorate his martyrdom on the 24^th of Baona (beginning of July).

The Monks’ and Brothers’ Activities in the Monastery

There are plenty of responsibilities and work done by the monks and brothers in the monastery, some of them include:

Retreat building for the families that come to receive the blessings of the monastery, this building can accommodate up to 72 people
Retreat building for the youth that come to receive the blessings of the monastery, which can accommodate up to 64 people, in addition to 6 rooms for the priests that come to receive the blessings of the monastery or who spend the 40 days after their ordination.
The monastery’s table which serves all visitors and is attached to a guest reception that accommodates about 120 people.
A bookstore that sells gifts and has various products that are produced in Egypt and also some handmade products.
An equipped carpentry workshop that has two machines, one is for drilling and the other is for laser drilling, which are used to produce products and are sold in the bookstore.
The “Ecclesiastical” , which is looking after sanctities of the church, and he is responsible for looking after the churches of the monastery on daily basis.
A private monks’ library which has books in both Arabic and English languages.
General servicing of the buildings of the monastery, which also includes servicing the air conditioning throughout the monastery
Gardening, which includes cultivating the plants and mowing the grass around the monastery
Cleaning both inside and outside of the monastery
Glass engraving, which is done by air blowing of the sand on the surface of glass which creates religious drawings.
Computer centre and telecommunication room.

With the grace of God, the monks and the brothers look after these various services on their own.

The School of Theological Studies

Theological teaching began in 2013 in a boarding school which is named after St. Athanasius. Monks and young men reside in the monastery throughout the academic program which is for 2 years. They then obtain a master degree in Theological studies.

At the moment, it has been relocated to be a Theological School for the priests and is now at St. Stephen’s Services Centre in Florida.