What do you do?

We pray. This is primary. Our first and central work is the liturgical prayer of the Church, surrounded by and linked with our personal prayer and ascetic effort.

The brotherhood also takes time each week to pray for the deceased whose names have been given to us by our friends and benefactors. We inscribe the names of thousands of people each year, both those who have passed away and those who need our prayer in this life, in our memorial books called "Diptychs."

Next to prayer comes our adherence to the traditional discipline of fasting. We maintain the fasts of the Byzantine tradition as they fall on the calendar and abstain from fish and dairy products, as well as meat, on Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year. In asceticism we try to follow a middle way: perfection is our goal, but we always fall far short, relying on the Lord for mercy.

After prayer and fasting we count our next labor as the common life. In striving for a life of charity and self-sacrifice for the brothers we witness to Christ's kenosis, his self-empyting love (see Philippians 2:7). We try to extend this common life in hospitality towards guests.

Finally, we have to look after the physical goods entrusted to our stewardship by the Lord. We have to maintain our garden and buildings in the harsh desert environment. There is food to cook, much to clean, an extensive correspondence to maintain and so on.

As an extension of our ministries of stewardship and hospitality we also try to respond to the many requestes we receive each week from the local needy. We maintain a small food pantry for the poor, the resources of which are frequently over taxed in this depressed High Desert environment.