The Skete at Crosswood Centre

Riasaphor Monastic (Cassock-bearing Monk)

The first to hear and answer the call to monastic life were not attracted by clothing, reputation, or rule, or by an established traditional mode of life; rather, they found themselves irresistibly drawn by the love of God to prayer, devotional practices, scripture study, and acts of charity. The names of these ascetic pioneers are lost to us, but it was they who had entered into and created the monastic way of life, and it was they who welcomed the great monastic pioneers Paul of Thebes, Antony, Pachomius the Great and his sister Mary. These earliest monastics found their inspiration in the great commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself." As we have acknowledged through the ages, it is these two great commandments that are at the root of all the law and the prophets.

In the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, there are still those who hear and respond to the call as did the first monastics, and within this jurisdiction that call is honored and acknowledged by formal admittance to the monastic state of Riasaphor, that is, one who wears the Riassa and endeavors to live as a monastic.

Not a step to be taken lightly or capriciously, the aspirant is expected to have been a member of Orthodox-Catholic Church of America for a suitable period of time, to have studied well the Holy Scriptures, to have become acquainted with a number of monastic rules and other ascetical writings, to have developed a deep love for psalmody, to have self-discipline, and to have developed a personal rule of prayer and Christian life under the guidance of a spiritual director designated by the Metropolitan Archbishop.

Ours is a culture very different, in so many ways, from those preceding it. The world is shrinking rapidly as the obstacles of distance and language diminish and we find it simpler and easier to have communication and social interaction with one another. We have a multiplicity of spiritualities, an enormously diverse work force, information overload, and an increasing velocity of technological change that could not have been anticipated even thirty years ago. Unlike the earliest monks and nuns, who gathered physically with one another for strength, courage, nourishment, and encouragement, we see a society in which physical, social, emotional and spiritual isolation is increasingly common, and in which more and more people reach out to connect with one another, with varying degrees of success, by means of technology. On the other hand, just as in preceding centuries, the temptation of materialism, fame, wealth, lust for power, and pointless amusement continue to occupy many among us, including those in positions of public trust. Senseless cruelty, crushing poverty, starvation, disease, natural disasters, environmental crises, and war continue to plague our people and the nations of the world.

It is within this milieu that some of us hear and heed the call to withdraw for a while to be with the Lord in prayer and intimacy, to seek the Lord in the beauty of holiness, to dwell in the house of the Lord, to seek the Lord in the Temple, and to seek to behold the fair beauty of the Lord. Indeed, God's love is limitless and relentless, calling us to exercise our free will and to respond to that love with our whole being. For monastics who seek to abide within that love, the obligation to respond in direct ways to the needs of God's people is undiminished: we are all always called as Christians, as presented so clearly in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew's Gospel, to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit those in prison or in hospital, and so on. Monasticism is not, truly, a withdrawal from the world and its needs, but rather allowing oneself to be poured as a healing balm into the wounds of a broken, blind, and mourning world.

Increasingly, contemporary monastic writers acknowledge that monasticism itself appears to be changing, in that more and more individuals are called to a form of idiorrhythmic asceticism beyond the walls of the monastery that includes and accommodates family, community, and career. Within the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, it is recognized that God's call includes not only those called to the common life in a monastery or skete, but also those with significant non-monastic responsibilities, those who are in families, in committed relationships, and those who are divorced. It is neither fair nor proper to exclude otherwise qualified and gifted individuals from monastic life when it appears that God has truly called them to this vocation. God's love for us is such that it includes all aspects of our lives, to include our relationships and families. Those who live apart have their own great challenges, analogous to the challenges faced by the ancients who entered the eremitical life, and so communication and frequent contact with other monastics is critically important for their spiritual health.

Thus it is that suitable candidates, after a period of discernment, may apply to the Metropolitan Archbishop for his blessing to enter into the monastic state as Riasaphor monks and nuns. Upon acceptance, the aspirant will enter into covenant with God and will be enrolled among the monastics of this jurisdiction.

As is well known, the ancient Studite Rule has no provision for 'ranks' of monasticism, viewing such stratification as contradictory to the life in Christ, and sometimes even an impediment to monastic growth: one either is, or is not, a monastic. For some monastics, however, down through the centuries, it is spiritually beneficial, after a suitable period of time, to come again and ask for a blessing to make their monastic profession in the form of a permanent and irrevocable decision, as a perpetual covenant with God. While later monastic rules have provision, therefore, for individuals to move from Riasaphor to Stavrophor, this is by no means expected, required, or normative. The Riasaphor is fully monastic, and is expected to engage daily in the central monastic work of conversatio morum, of the conversion of life: that is to say, to enter more and more into the mystery of monastic life.

Monastic Habit of a Riasaphor

The monastic may choose either Greek or Slavic style garments and the color will always be black.

The garments required are:
 1. klobuk or skufia, or apostolnik (no cross to be embroidered on the head covering)
 2. inner/undercassock
 3. outer cassock
 4. leather belt worn on the inner/undercassock
 5. prayer rope on the left wrist
 6. Crosses to be worn:
      Clergy Monastics:
          -- Deacons - wood
          -- Priests - silver metal
          -- Bishops - panaghia
      Non Clergy Monastics -- no cross