Byzantine Rite monks, part of Ukrainian Catholic Church in U.S., ready to dedicate monastery (08/17/03)

Byzantine Rite monks, part of Ukrainian Catholic Church in U.S., ready to dedicate monastery

by John Fedynsky

EAGLE HARBOR, Mich. - Among the 2,300 or so denizens of Michigan's northernmost and least populated county are five Catholic monks of the Byzantine Rite, part of the Eparchy of Chicago and belonging to America's Ukrainian Metropoly. They are the Society of St. John the Theologian. Two of them, Fathers Nicholas and Basil, came in 1983 looking to build a monastery in Keweenaw County on Keweenaw Peninsula, which juts out from Michigan's Upper Peninsula into Lake Superior. On August 24, their nearly complete monastery and chapel will be officially dedicated.

The Keweenaw is about as beautiful and rugged as any territory within the eparchy, which stretches westward across America from Detroit to Hawaii. It has long winters (locals joke that there are eight months of winter and four months of cold weather) and rocky shores, and is far from the distractions of civilization. Monasteries traditionally have looked for places with conditions like these - swamps, deserts, mountain crags, lonely islands, etc. According to the society's website, a local priest once asked the monks if they came to the Keweenaw for penitential reasons. The website admits the validity of the question and opines, "The monk seeks the hard life for the discipline it imposes on mind and body, for the ascetic opportunities it offers."

During their first winter, Fathers Nicholas and Basil had no shortage of struggle. They lived in two small rooms totaling 640 square feet that they kept warm by stoking the flames of an old stove. Midway through the winter, their wood supply, which they acquired at the last minute, ran out. Every day meant gathering more wood to survive the cold. When they did not work, they prayed and otherwise lived the monastic life.

Father Nicholas recalled the winter with a hint of nostalgia as an instructive experience that he would rather not repeat. Father Basil recounted the story of an old woman driving by as he and Father Nicholas were moving in and exploring the property for a winter water source. She demanded to know their business, and when she heard it, she bluntly told them, "you can live without running water, but you'll die without wood. Get the wood!" She then promptly drove off.

Since then, the society has grown in number, wealth and facilities, carving out an existence for itself in Eagle Harbor, Mich., slowly becoming a landmark on the shore of Lake Superior. Its living, working and worship space has grown tenfold. Donations and the work of the monks have paid for the construction.

In addition to the monastery, the monks operate the Jampot, a bakery and preserves shop frequented in the warmer months by locals and tourists, and even year-round by mail-order customers. Their quality baked goods and preserves keep for months and years, and are the favorite of loyal customers, many of whom sign up for the society's newsletter, Magnificat. Father Basil said that each issue, which is sent to about 27,000 addresses, costs upwards of $10,000. "Every time we think of cutting down the list, the Lord sends us contrary signals," said Father Nicholas. "We will have people who have not contacted us in 10 or 15 years send a donation or a nice letter thanking us for keeping in touch."

Father Nicholas attributed the society's affiliation with the Byzantine Rite and the Ukrainian Catholic Church to God's will. "The essence of the miracle story of how we came to be Byzantine is that this is what the Lord wanted," he said. Initially, it was the Roman Catholic bishop in nearby Marquette, Mich., who was guiding the society in the process of establishing a monastery. But political problems emerged and a visiting priest familiar with both the Roman and Byzantine Rites told the society that there was more than one bishop with jurisdiction in their area. That knowledge led to a visit with Bishop Michael Wiwchar in Chicago, where Fathers Nicholas and Basil first heard the Byzantine Liturgy. "It has been nothing but growth and blessings since going eastern," said Father Basil. The new local Roman bishop is now supportive and even makes financial contributions to the Society of St. John the Theologian.

The Byzantine liturgy struck a deep chord with Father Nicholas. "Finally, I was really worshipping," said Father Nicholas, who grew up in a black Protestant community before his affiliation with Roman Catholicism. Citing kindred histories of suffering, Father Nicholas said, "the black voice and the Ukrainian voice are very similar - dark, meaty and heavy." He knows about voices, having graduated from the University of Michigan's School of Music. He toured the world singing with the University Glee Club and helped organize community choirs and a semi-professional orchestra in Detroit. Father Basil, who grew up outside of Marquette, expressed similar sentiments about the Byzantine Liturgy and the inevitability of their search for a Church.

Father Nicholas is the hegumen, or the superior, of the society. (The parallel Roman term is prior or abbot.) In addition to a wonderful voice, he has a face that can tame a wild beast. He recounted a story about an encounter one winter with a pack of wolves, a rare sight in the Keweenaw. Father Basil theorized that the pack may have crossed the frozen ice of Lake Superior from Isle Royale National Park about 55 miles away. There were three with black fur and one with a blonde coat ambling along in the snow-covered highway. Father Nicholas was a passenger in a slow-moving car, and the blonde wolf came to the side of the car and looked through the window, making sustained eye contact with Father Nicholas. It drooped its ears like a docile, domesticated dog. Indeed, Father Nicholas has a sympathetic, warm and inviting face that puts one at ease.

An excited Bishop Wiwchar put the Society of St. John the Theologian in touch with the eparchy's existing monastery. It is the Holy Transfiguration Monastery, located in the mountains of Redwood Valley in California about three hours north of San Francisco. It is called Mount Tabor for short. A close relationship developed and in 1995 during their twelfth winter in the Keweenaw, members of the society traveled to Mount Tabor for an extended stay. At the end of their visit, they were invested as monks and chose their monastic names. Now their home in the Keweenaw had a new identity as part of Mount Tabor: the Holy Transfiguration Skete.

The process of becoming a monk takes several years. First, a young man visits on a retreat for about a week or so. Candidates return for a month-long stay. If signs of a vocation are mutually discernible, the candidate is admitted as a postulant for a year of discernment. Monastic life begins with investiture as a novice. At this point the novice is not yet vowed for life, but the time for questioning has passed. He chooses a name and is called "Brother." After a three-year commitment to pursue the monastic calling with all vigor, he takes the vow for life and undergoes monastic consecration. At this point, the monk is addressed as "Father" even though he may not be a priest. Holy orders for the two founding members of the Skete came later, and outside of the normal course of monastic formation.

Returning from the extended visit at Mount Tabor with Fathers Nicholas and Basil was Father Ambrose, who initially came to the Keweenaw from Ohio to study at Michigan Technological University in nearby Houghton. In search of a steady paying job, he ended up at the Jampot through a placement by the Michigan Unemployment Commission. Father Basil joked, noting that Father Ambrose now runs the day-to-day operation of the Jampot, "He decided to join management."

The fourth consecrated monk at the Skete is Father Anthony, who transferred from the monastic community at Mount Tabor. Originally from outside of Winnipeg in Manitoba, he is the only member of the Society of St. John who is of Ukrainian ancestry. As with all of the other members of the monastery, English is his primary language. Partly for that reason, all worship and business of the Skete is conducted in English.

Brother Sergius learned of the Skete from his home in the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan while watching a promotional video airing on a religious television station. He became a novice at the Skete in February 2002.

Rounding out the community in May was Michael, a candidate who learned of the Skete in a small advertisement in a Catholic magazine.

Though "virtually independent," according to Father Nicholas, the Skete is still technically part of Mount Tabor. Full independence comes with more vocations. Father Basil said that seven monks is the "magic number." The society continually seeks and waits for more vocations, particularly from within the Eparchy.

The society has also sought to create a center of worship. Currently the monks pray in a modest chapel. By August they will move worship into the Monastic Church of St. John the Theologian, an impressive wooden structure conceived in the Byzantine architectural tradition. Gold domes will prominently crown the building, which will rival nearby Eagle Harbor Lighthouse as the area's most recognizable landmark on the shore of Lake Superior.

The cost of this phase of construction is approximately $1.5 million, of which the society so far has only been able to pay off interest. Paintings, an iconostas and other important items will have to be funded separately. According to Father Nicholas, many of the construction workers have donated their skill and labor to create higher quality interior finishing because they sense a personal stake in making the church as beautiful as possible.

Ample library space and an initiative to collect and compile English translations of Byzantine texts promise to make the church a center of research as well. The society also hopes to maintain a center for musical recitals that incorporate elements of worship and monasticism. A restored Mason & Hamlin piano from 1910 attracted a pianist from Interlochen, a noted music school in northern Lower Michigan, for a recital and CD recording. The bell tower under construction as part of the present expansion will eventually, as funds permit, house a carillon of 26 bells, giving the monastery another vehicle for musical expression.

The complex will also house the Chapel of the Holy Cross of Sorrow and Suffering, a center for prayer and meditation. A donor is funding the construction by two local artisans of a ten-foot cross inlaid with silver. Three silver crowns of thorns will accompany the cross, representing the suffering of Jesus, the Virgin Mary and mankind. Father Nicholas described the wood and silver cross as sometimes appearing as wavy water and other times as flames of fire. He also said that the donor claimed that a vision of Christ instructed her to donate the money and told her the specifications of the cross.

Though not its central function, the society does serve a small congregation that comes regularly on Sundays. At least one couple based its decision to move to the area in part on the proximity of the Skete. From time to time, men who come for retreats stay in nearby cabins that the previous owner used to rent. Apart from recitals and research, the Society hopes to attract greater numbers of visitors in years to come. Though this phase of construction is nearing its end, there are more plans in the works. The society hopes to build, over the years, a very large monastery. "We have a 300-year plan," said Father Nicholas. Local leaders aware of the plan take it seriously, as evidenced by the fact that a nearby red sandstone quarry was left alone for the time being despite some interest in flooding it or otherwise making it inaccessible. The first step in that stage will be acquiring a few square miles of property up on the ridge of the Keweenaw. "We hope to be a center of pilgrimage one day," said Father Nicholas.

That day may come as early as the dedication on Sunday, August 24, which also happens to be Ukraine's Independence Day. Byzantine and Roman Catholic bishops are expected to attend. Readers from areas within a one- or two-day drive - Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, Winnipeg and Toronto, to name a few - should consider a trek to the Skete for the dedication.

In early May, I had a short retreat with the society, which I first encountered as a high school student at an eparchial conference in Detroit and had wanted to visit ever since. I learned of the society's sincere devotion to serving God and tasted a bit of it when I woke up for prayer beginning at 5 a.m. before the sun had risen. In a typical day the monks pray four to five hours and even more during Lent.

More than anything, I learned that the Byzantine Rite, though special, need not be exclusive. It should be open to believers of all walks of life. On an aesthetic level, I am a snob in that I like to hear my liturgy sung in Ukrainian by a choir that I do not see behind me. At the Skete, I saw a different way of worship: everyone singing together in English. I liked the interaction and pleasantly learned that the English version of the divine liturgy can be beautiful too. It took total immersion into monastic life for me to realize that English incursions into the Byzantine Rite are not a threat, but an opportunity to invigorate what I sometimes sense to be a way of life that fades away with the aging of each generation. See for yourself and ask if you feel any differently. If we share our rite with the rest of the world, so many people like the monks of the Society of St. John the Theologian can finally "really worship."

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