St Herman’s Youth Conference West

imageAbout 50 young people, along with seven priests and three deacons converged on Vashon Island for the 1st Annual St. Herman’s West Youth Conference.  image

The main part of the conference was held at Camp Burton on Vashon Island about 8 miles from the monastery.  The entire group boarded a bus and took a ferry ride to Seattle for services at St. Nicholas Cathedral on Sunday followed by a meal. 

imageEveryone gathered at the monastery for the Vigil service and the celebration of the Divine Liturgy for the Feast of St Herman of Alaska.  The conference was a grand success, and will take place again this next year.



12/27 at 01:55 PM

Icon of St Nicholas Given To The Monastery

imageAlexey Palladin, of the Seattle area, recently gifted the Monastery with this beautiful icon of St. Nicholas, painted by his cousin, Dmitry Palladin, of Moscow, Russia. The icon arrived in time for St. Nicholas Day! Dmitry completed the icon in the summer of 2007

Dmitry began his work as an iconogrpaher shortly after being baptized into the Russian Orthodox faith in 2003. He began as an apprentice, then co-author of a number of icons and currently works both individually and in partnership with other masters of the art. Dmitry considers iconography the highest form of prayer; and works in strict adherence to the traditional methods of Russian icon creation, using only the materials that have withstood the test of time.

Dmitry’s work has been commended by leading experts, including Mr. Adolf Ovchinnikov (renowned icon restoration expert from the Academy n/a Grabar’wink. One of the icons that Dmitry worked on received the high appraisal as a “distinguished example of modern professional iconography” from the Andrey Rublev Museum of Ancient Russian Culture and Art (considered the world’s leading authorities on Russian icon art). More information about Dmitry and his work can also be found on http://www.palladindv.blogspot.com/


12/27 at 01:52 PM

Early Fall News

imageThe monastery was happy to host a group from the Tacoma Community College on the 11th of October. Thirty-two people arrived on a large chartered bus for a tour of the monastery, as well as a lecture on the Orthodox Church and monasticism, given by Father Tryphon.

The monastery’s garden was in full bloom for our guests. The “cutting garden” was spectacular this summer, providing an abundance of flowers for our temple. Meanwhile, with the aid of volunteers, progress continues towards the completion of the Trapiza and three new monastic cells. The onion dome (to be dark blue with golden eight pointed stars) is about half finished. We can hardly wait to have the onion dome cap the top of our church!

A group of young college students are coming to the monastery in early November for a guided three day retreat. Meanwhile, we have three potential new members of the community who have inquired about trying their monastic vocations. The completion of the above buildings will give us the much needed space to house these three gentlemen.

Once again our superior, Father Tryphon, journeyed to our brother monastery, Holy Cross Hermitage in West Virginia, for their annual Monastery Pilgrimage. Although we have not had a pilgrimage here on the grounds of the Vashon Island monastery for the past number of years due to the open trenches and the ongoing construction, we do plan, God willing, to host such a gathering in August 2008.

We very much appreciate the continued support, both prayerful and financial, of our friends. May the Lord God bless all of you for your kindnesses and your generosity towards His monks.


10/16 at 10:31 AM
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