St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery

[Music] It was the spring of 1995 when Yund ARR and a few of his spiritual children first drove down a dusty dirt road in the Sonora Desert of Arizona to inspect a potential site for St. Anthony's Monastery. As they were approaching the property, they each heard Athonite-style church bells ringing, and Yunda was spiritually informed that this was the place where they should raise the cross for the foundation of the monastery. The first monks arrived in July 1995 from the Holy Athonite Monastery of Phil. After clearing the northeast corner of the property in the blazing summer heat, they placed two trailers there, which were the first buildings of the monastery. One of the trailers housed the chapel for their daily services, the refectory for their meals, and the monks' living quarters. The other trailer became the first guest house. By the autumn of 1995, more monks arrived and were soon followed by many young monastic aspirants from various parts of the United States and Canada who wanted to join the brotherhood and assist in the construction of the monastery. The monastery grounds began to take their present shape with two more trailers on the opposite side forming the monastery's courtyard. By the end of October, they were ready to start building the monastery's main church, dedicated to St. Anthony the Great and the Holy Wonderworker St. Nario of A. Soon after, the refectory was built next to the church, following the custom of Athonite monasteries. Then, on January 17th, 1996, the monastery celebrated the Feast of St. Anthony the Great for the first time in a service presided over by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of San Francisco. Priest Monk Pus was enthroned as the first abbot of the monastery, and new monks were tonsured. Once the basic structures of the monastery had been built, the landscaping progressed, and with great labor, the desert was converted into an earthly paradise using the abundant water granted by God. The monks installed extensive irrigation systems supporting groves of fruit trees providing oranges, lemons, tangerines, grapefruits, dates, and figs. Over 1,000 olive trees provided a rich harvest of olives from which the monks extract the highest quality olive oil. Flowering bushes with annual and perennial flowers were planted, inviting a multitude of butterflies, honeybees, and hummingbirds, while a variety of songbirds gathered, mingling their voices with the monks' continuous vocal prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on [Music] me." Since the monastery was built, a lot of families moved here around here, and they all, around the monastery, they have their homes. They build homes or some rent, some build, and then there are two small towns nearby: Florence and Colge. There's a lot of them that come and live there, permanently or part-time. A lot of Canadians come for six months so that they can come and stay here. They come for six months in the winter and stay in. They bought the houses and they come and stay in their homes so they can be here and stay at the monastery for six months. We have probably close to 50 monks. I'm not sure how many, but there's a lot of young monks, and most of them are American-born. They were not Orthodox to start with. Some are Orthodox, and some came from Greece, but a lot of them were American-born, different denominations or non-religious, and converted, heard about the place, read about Y, and converted into Orthodoxy and became monks. On top of that, we have some monks who have double PhDs. I mean, they're really educated. There were doctors, there were computer PhDs, all kinds of things. Of course, they never talk about it because they're humble, but they're really educated and smart people, and they came and gave obedience to Y, who was a person that went to sixth grade of school. You know, this shows how God guides people to be really humble because that's what Jesus keeps saying to us: to be humble. And that's the hardest thing to do, to be humble, especially when you know you're smart, you're educated. It's hard to be humble, and yet these people gave up everything even though they were not born into Orthodoxy. My name is Father Takis. I was born in central California. My parents were converts to Orthodoxy, and they started coming here about two years before I was born in 1998, and they were greatly helped by Y Pisos, and they made him their spiritual father. When I was about 16, I got the desire to become a monk here and join and help this work of Y. Y just gave me the job of working in the garage with the older father, Father Haron, who taught me mechanics basically. I'm here in order to support the work of Y A, which he started in the United States, to even to a small degree, even if I can't do much, but at least by being a monk here, I support his work, which has helped thousands of people and continues to help many, many [Music] people. My name is Father Joseph. I was born in Scotia, Arizona. My family and I, whenever we had time, we'd come and visit the monastery for service, to talk with YM, to do confessions, to ask for his prayers. In college, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. Nothing really appeased me. Then the thought of monasticism came up, and so I went and asked YR about it, and he suggested I visit Mount AOS. As I was driving back home from the visit, you know, this overabundance of joy started coming to me whenever I thought of Anasis, and so every time I thought of becoming monastic, I just felt this immense joy that would come. So when I finished college a little bit later, I came down here, and I've been here now for several years. I've known Elder from since I was a baby. He baptized me. I remember his voice during the services and how he would chant. He was always so kind. He was so humble. You know, he was so loving. I'm Father Tamio. Our family moved here when we were just two years old from California, you know, to be next to the monastery. So I basically just grew up here with all my siblings. There were nine of us total. You know, I was about in the middle. So we were very lucky. Just, you know, our parents moved us here, and we, you know, just growing up, of course, we had school, and we did other, you know, we did sports and things like that, but we would come here for services and for, you know, during the weekends and for confession with the Abbot and stuff. And then we also got to know a lot of the fathers, and we would help out in the kitchen, help out outside with, you know, with the different, you know, picking oranges, those things. We got to know a lot of fathers. We would hang out with them, and this was almost our main place to, you know, this was like our main place away from home to hang out and to, you know, pass the time and things was a monastery. So actually, growing up, I wasn't 100% sure. You know, I would say like, "Oh, I want to be a monk," but, you know, I wasn't sure. And then when we, you know, as we got older, you know, we went to community college and stuff, and there was, as we were getting educated there, there were a lot of, you know, options of profession, you know, different things. And then what I was interested most was cooking, you know, like culinary. When I was 18, I just came here, and actually, just like most of the monks, we didn't come with a job in mind. We just came to be monks. And of course, we had the background, you know, of culinary or someone has a doctor medical background or whatever, but we just came here to be monks. And actually, after about a year, the old cook, who was Father Yonus, who was cook for like 20 years, he was old and he had to leave for his health. So after just about...

property they each heard athonite style church bells ringing and yunda was spiritually informed that this was the place where they should raise the cross for the foundation of the monastery the first monks arrived in July 1995 from the holy athonite Monastery of

Phil after clearing the northeast corner of the property in the Blazing summer heat they placed two trailers there which were the first buildings of the monastery one of the trailers housed the chapel for their daily Services the refectory for their me meals and the

Monk's living quarters the other trailer became the first guest house by the Autumn of 1995 more monks arrived and were soon followed by many young monastic aspirants from various parts of the United States and Canada who wanted to join the Brotherhood and assist in

the construction of the monastery the monastery grounds began to take their present shape with two more trailers on the opposite side forming the monastery's courtyard by the end of October they were ready to start building the monastery's main Church

dedicated to St Anthony the Great and The Holy wonder worker St nario of a soon after the refectory was built next to the church following the custom of Athan monasteries then on January 17th 1996 the monastery celebrated the Feast

of St Anthony the great for the first time in a service presided over by his Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of San Francisco priest monk pus was enthroned as the first Abbot of the monastery and new monks were taured once the basic structures of the

monastery had been built the landscaping progressed and with great Labor the desert was converted into an Earthly Paradise using the Abundant water granted by God the monks installed extensive irrigation systems supporting Groves of fruit trees providing oranges lemons tangerines grapefruits dates and

figs over 1,000 olive trees provided a Rich Harvest of Olives from which the monks extract the highest quality Olive wine flowering bushes with annual and perennial flowers were planted inviting a multitude of butterflies honeybees and hummingbirds while a variety of song

birds gathered mingling their voices with the Monk's continuous vocal prayer Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on [Music] me since the monastery was built a lot of families moved here around here and they all around the monastery they have

her homes they build homes or some rent some build and then there are two small towns nearby s Florence and uh colge and there's a lot of them that come and live there uh permanently or part-time a lot

of Canadians come for 6 months that they can come and stay here and they come for 6 months in the winter and stay in they bought the houses and they come and stay in their homes so they can be here and

stay the monastery for 6 months we have probably close to 50 monks I'm not sure how many but there's a lot of young monks and most of them are American born they were not Orthodox to start with some are Orthodox and some came from

Greece but a lot of them were American Born different denominations or non religion and converted heard about the place read about Y and converted into Orthodoxy and became monks on top of that we have some monks who are they

have double phds I mean they're real educated uh there were doctors there were uh computer phds all kinds of things of course they never talk about it because they're humble but they're real educated and smart people and they

came and gave obedience to Y who was a person that went to sixth grade of school you know this is this shows how God guides people to be really humble because that's what Jesus keep saying to us to be humble and that's the hardest

thing to do to be humble especially when you know you're you're smart you're educated it's hard to be humble and yet these people gave up everything even though they were not born into Orthodoxy my name is Father Takis I was

born in central California my parents were converts to Orthodoxy and they started coming here about 2 years before I was born in 1998 and they they were greatly helped by Y pisos and they made him their spiritual father when I was about 16 I I

got the desire to become a monk here and and join and help this uh work of y y just gave me the job of uh working in the garage with the older father father Haron and who taught me mechanics

basically I'm here in order to support the the work of Y A which he started in the United States to to a even to a small degree even if I can't do much but at least by being a monk here I support

his his work which help has helped thousands of people and continues to help many many [Music] people my name is Father Joseph I was born in scota Arizona my my family and I whenever we had time whenever we had time we'd come

and visit the monastery for service to talk with ym to do confessions to ask for his prayers in college I I didn't know what I want to do with my life nothing really appeased me then the thought of

monasticism came up and so I I went and asked yr about it and he suggested I visit Mount AOS and as as I was driving back home from from the visit you know this this this overabundance of Joy

started coming to me whenever I think of anasis and so every time I thought of becoming monastic I just feel this you know this immense joy that would come and so when when I finished College a little little

bit little time later I came down here and I've been here now for several years I've known I've known Elder from since I was since I was a baby he baptized me I remember his voice when he when during the services and how he

would chant he was always so kind he was so humble you know he was so loving I'm father tamio um we uh our family moved here when we were just uh when we were 2 years old from California you

know to to be next to the monastery so we so I basically uh I basically just grew up here with all my you know with with all my siblings there was nine of us told you know I was about in the

middle so we were very lucky just you know our parents moved us here and um and uh and we you know just growing up of course we had school and we did and we did other you know we did Sports and

things like that but but we would come here for services and for you know during the weekend on the weekends and for and for confession with h with the with the Abbot and stuff and um and and then we also got to know a lot of the

fathers and we would help out in the we would help out in the kitchen help out outside with uh you know with the different uh you know picking oranges those things uh we got to know a lot of

fathers we would we would hang out with them and this is almost our main place to you know this like our main place to away from home to hang out and to uh you know pass the time and things was a

monastery so um so so actually growing up I wasn't I wasn't sure I wasn't 100% sure you know I would say like oh I want to be monk but you know I wasn't sure and then when we uh you know as we got

older you know we went to Community College and stuff and there was as we were getting educated there there was a lot of you know options of profession you know different things and and then and then what I was interested most was

was was uh was cooking you know like a culinary when I was 18 I just came here um and uh and actually and actually just like most the monks we didn't come with a with like a job in mind we just came

to be to be Mon and of course we had the background and you know or coolinary or someone has a doctor medical background or whatever but we just came here to be mugs and then um and actually after

about a year the the old cook who was uh who was cooked father yonus was cooked for like 20 years um he had he he was he was old and he had to leave for his health so after just about a year

spending here I was talking to uh to AB P to us one day about um just about Monastery jobs and helping out in the kitchen and things and then and he said well you know father on this is going to leave and you're going to

you know we're thinking we'll have you take us take his place so you know I said okay you know until then I was I was actually mostly outside uh picking olives and helping with the grounds and trees and things and help in the kitchen

too and then and so when he said that it was you know was like okay and I had the background to do that not completely but I at least had some education to do that and so and then and then I and so that's

when I took over was the year after being here so that was when I was 19 my name is Father epos I've been here almost 7 years I was born in Kenton Ohio but when I was about 9 years old I moved

to Gilbert Arizona about an hour away from the monastery and that's where I grew up so I I grew up coming to the monastery every weekend for services Saturday evening we would come to the Vesper service and Sunday morning we

would come to The Divine Liturgy growing up near the monastery made a significant difference in my life along with my brothers and sisters I learned about the church and how to integrate God into my life in a very

practical sort of way we learned about the importance of Holy Communion and confession we learned to keep a daily prayer rule we learned about the Feast of the church to keep the fast of the church but we learned a lot about monks

and and who they are they are in inumerable misconceptions about monasticism monks are not misogynists they're not misogamist they're not social rejects they're not people who are too demed to succeed in the world they're not phical self-righteous men judging

others from their high and mighty Throne they're not losers that nobody wanted to marry or victims of unrequitted love that's just that's just not how it is we saw that for normal guys much like ourselves who simply decided to live a

life of repentance in search of God another common misconception about monasticism is that since it's such a difficult and Elite life you have to be worthy in some special way to choose monasticism as your way of life but

that's also not not how it is because we know that monasticism is a life of repentance so really whoever wants to live a life of repentance in search of God can become a monk or on because there's no such thing as unworthiness

for monasticism really actually the more sinful you are the more worthy you are to become a monk my name is Father ARR I'm a deacon here at St Anthony's Monastery I was uh born on the east coast of the United

States around the same time that the monastery here started and my parents uh they met they met yet on the friend they came here for the first time in 1997 I was just 2 years old and from then

they they started coming with you know all of my brothers and sisters you know a few times a year to visit and it was a lot different back then there were a lot less people and the monastery was

smaller but they found something here that they had never never experienced before and I think from the first times that they came they were thinking that it would be an incredible place to have their children grow up close

to [Music] and in the year 2000 I was 5 years old we moved close here to the monastery and there really weren't other Orthodox people living around the monastery at that time now there are a lot but back

then uh there really was one only one older [Music] lady from that time we were we were coming to the monastery almost every day and I was I was homeschooled but you know when I would finish my school you know every day I would finish

as quickly as I could and I would come here to work with the monks and uh it was my my favorite thing and the biggest thing that influenced my life and that ultimately brought me here to become a

monk was was yet on friend there was there's no question about that he changed so many people's lives and my own and he he did that because he had the love of Christ and people felt that and I felt

that and he changed so many people's lives and everything that he did here uh in the monastery was because he had the grace of God and people felt that and they felt the love of Christ that he had and from the time I

was you know younger than 5 years old from the time I was 3 4 years old I felt that and I think we all felt that but it made an impression on me in a way that I couldn't put into words that I couldn't

describe and all my years growing up and coming here to the monastery the number one thing that I saw was how was how yonda touch people's Souls with his love because he had the love of Christ and even though at that age I I

don't think I really understood what it was um I remember I would think to myself from the time I was young that seeing how he would touch people's lives and how he would touch their souls when they were in pain and when they

were suffering and now he would bring them um something that they had never experienced before I thought to myself from that time that if there's anything I would like to do in my life it would be that and of

course yo was you know once in a millennium saint but that's what gave me the love for this Monastery and at that age I I you know I didn't I hadn't made a decision about what I wanted to do in my life but as I went

through high school and was thinking seriously about what I want to do in my life I couldn't escape the fact that everything I had been given and everything that I wanted to imitate was from yond and I I went to the Holy

Mountain uh to visit and I loved it there and I spent two summers there but for me y was everything in my spiritual life and uh I wanted to be close to him and I wanted to be close to his

Monastery because he put everything he had into building these monasteries and he did it for us he did it he said I'm doing it not for me because I'm going to die in a few years but I'm doing it for the next

Generation because they don't have anything here in America there's no deep deeper spirituality and he said I'm doing it for them he said I'm doing it for you my my greatest desire in my life is to honor yet on the and everything that

he did for all of us and for me personally some things happened in my life with y's prayers that made it very clear to me um what my calling was and I came here after after one year of of uh

College um because it was 100% that this was where God was calling me um to give my life and that was in 2016 that I came here to stay and um since then you know I've I feel like each day more and

more uh I'm I'm more and more indebted to yonda for putting me in this position to have this around me to live with the monks that um I live with to have a monastery like this to have everything that we

need spiritually in order to find our salvation and uh there's no excuse for me or for anyone else and my my greatest prayer to Y is that he helped me to honor his work and what he did here

because for me this Monastery is like is is like is like one with yond because from my youngest years I was here and yonda was here yonda was always here he was always walking around he we would see him on the paths he would come

and he would bless us and he would hug us and he would and he would you know encourage us and you know and the years later when I started going to see him in confession he he was everything

that a spiritual father should be he was just one of a kind I'll never have anyone in my life that affected me the way y Ona did and everything that I may ever do in my life comes back to Y that

was that's the number one thing and I've I've never regretted coming here I've only been sometimes thinking back that how I wonder how I ever thought of doing anything else and obviously there are difficult times and we have a lot of

Temptations and we have struggles but deep down I never have had any doubt that this was where I was called to be and I hope that with yet on this prayers and the prayers of all of of the Saints and of Elder Joseph and

St Joseph the Hest and St Anthony that I find the patience to stay here until until I die because that's I wanted I wanted to give everything I had to serve Christ in the monastery that yunda started because

yunda was he was a father he was he was our father and he still is and I still feel his presence and I think I think we all do because he's still here here and um nothing changed since he died except

that we don't we don't see him walking around on the paths but even after he died you know I had that feeling when I would walk that he might come around the corner because his presence is is so

vivid here because this is where he spent the last you know 25 years of his life and this is where he put so much emphasis and where he where he built you know for me the best Monastery in the

world and and he did it for us and he did it out of his love for Christ and because he wanted us to have something after he died and he he gave us everything we could have ever want and I'll never be be able to I'll

always be Unworthy of what he did for us and I'll always be indebted but I will always try to honor his memory and and follow Christ because that's ultimately all he wanted he he used to tell us I'm

going to leave tomorrow I'm useless I'm nothing but you're going to do it for the love of Christ and the love of Christ is what brought all of us here seeing yo was like seeing Christ because he was an

idol of Christ he had the love of Christ and he had the humility of Christ and uh and that's what from the time I was young I wanted to be like I wanted to be like y I still wanted to imitate him in

any way that I could and and I tried as much as possible to the same things that he gave me to try to give them to someone else because that's what he used to tell me and that's what he

that's what he wanted you know he helped us and he wanted us to help the next people that would come when he wasn't here anymore and and that was y's greatest offering to the church and to us [Music]

individually [Music] for [Music] St Anthony's has become the largest Orthodox Monastery in the Western Hemisphere the harsh summer conditions of the Sonora Desert deter neither prospective monks nor the many pilgrims who come from all over the world to

receive spiritual guidance and participate in the life of the monastery [Music]