Founded in 1995 in the Mojave Desert in California, Holy Resurrection Monastery is a sui iuris monastery in the spirit of the renewal of traditional monastic life in the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio. The monastery relocated to St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, in 2009 and since the move the community of four has recently blossomed with four monks making their life vows as Stavraphoremonks after several years of monastic formation.
The first of the recent tonsures was Fr. Isaac. The former hip-hop artist’s journey to Byzantine Catholic monasticism was one of unique pilgrimage, which led him to St. Athanasius the Great Parish in Indianapolis and eventually to the monastery in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. Father Isaac first entered the monastery as a novice, or rasophore monk, in 2014. After three years of monastic life, study, direction and discernment, the abbot, Father Nicholas Zachariadis, invited him to receive the lesser schema and become a permanent member which he did in October 2017. Though unordained, as part of the lesser schema, he receives the title “Father.”
In February 2019, Fr. Paiisi, whose birth name is Patrick Firman, was also tonsured a Stavraphoremonk. Fr. Paiisi was born and baptized a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. In honor of this, Bishop Benedict Aleksiychuk, Eparch of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy in Chicago, joined Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis to celebrate Divine Liturgy during the Tonsure.
In May of 2019 Bishop John Michael Botean joined the Abbot and the community of Holy Resurrection Monastery in the Tonsure of Father Seoirse as a Stavraphore monk becoming the third to make a life commitment recently.
Father Seoirse in a native of Belfast, Ireland. Prior to coming to the monastery Fr. Seoirse was involved with the Alliance Catholic worker community in Ohio and it was during his student days in the peace movement that he first came across Bishop John Michael’s Pastoral letter of 2003 and learned of the Romanian Greek Catholic Church. The service of monastic tonsure took place during Hierarchial Divine Liturgy, during which Fr. Seoirse was tonsured and was catechised by the Bishop as he received each garment and item proper to a fully professed monk, explaining the significance of each thing in relation to the life of the one who wants to be saved “in the angelic rank” by penance, prayer and fasting. Abbot Nicholas preached on the monastic life as a “reference point for the Baptised” quoting Saint Pope John Paul’s encyclical letter ‘Orientale Lumen’ (1995). In his concluding remarks Bishop John Michael spoke to Fr. Seoirse quoting the famous monk Thomas Merton “I have one task left, to pray, meditate, to enter into truth, to sit before the abyss, to be educated in the Word of Christ, and thus to make my contribution to world peace. There is not much left to be said.” and Bishop John Michael added ” Fr. Seoirse there is no comfortable place before the abyss and it is not only I but all of us who look to you for inspiration from the promises of your renewal in Jesus Christ… as a monk our eyes are upon you.”
To complete the doubling of the monastery’s number of solemnly professed monks from the original four to now eight, Brother Anthony will be tonsured into the little schema on September 8th 2019. Brother Anthony’s tonsure will be significant as he is not only the youngest member of the community but the first “home grown” vocation coming to the monastery from the nearest big city of Milwaukee.
At this significant milestone for the monastery and for our diocese in the renewal of monasticism in North America, please continue to pray for vocations to the monastic way of life.