Who are we?
St.
Theodore House is a small monastic community, in Ohio, for men in the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America, under the authority of His Eminence, Metropolitan
Maximos, of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. definitons...
The
monks of St. Theodore were originally part of St. Gregory Palamas
Monastery near Hayesville in Ashland County. In February 1999, with the
blessing of Metropolitan Maximos, it was decided that a portion of the
community would relocate. This allowed for the monks in the new
community to be a bit more accessible in their outreach and retreat
work. While Eastern Orthodox monasticism is basically the same
everywhere, there are many variations and it is simply not possible to
implement all possible monastic options in one place.
The Community of St. Theodore is organized as a House (Oikos) or Skete rather than a Monastery
per se. This is a smaller monastic residence that does not have the
extensive cycle of services a larger community would have. It also
allows for a certain flexibility needed in the pastoral missionary work
of the community. But as in all Orthodox monastic situations, the heart
of any community is prayer, both public and private, which leads to
union with God (theosis). Any external work, however worthy, is
incidental to this ultimate goal.
The
"pattern of life" for St. Theodore House is found in a variety of
monastic communities in Greece, particularly the "missionary monastics"
of the Holy Community of St. Michael at Tharri on the island of Rhodes,
and in the life of our Holy Father, St. Theodore the Studite. St.
Theodore was a great ascetic, defender of the Orthodox Faith, and a
major organizer of monastic life. He was abbot if the great urban
monastery of St. John in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) in the
8th century.
