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"Entering" Our New Cells on the Feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple

After an early morning Divine Liturgy on the Great Feast of the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, the longed-for moment arrived when we were able to move in to our new monastic cells, the final details of which had been completed just the previous afternoon.

It has been several months since we last wrote an update, so let's back up a little bit and fill in some details. (You can view more photos from each stage of the work in our photo gallery.)


Our faithful construction crew finished work on the exterior of the house and put up the interior walls exactly on schedule, just in time for the autumn visit of our spiritual Father, Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili, who was extremely pleased with what he saw.

Metropolitan Cyprian inspecting the exterior of the house.
His Eminence with visitors from Greece and some of our faithful in Sweden crowding into one of the new cells.

It was then our turn, as we spent the next two months finishing the drywall. If you will excuse the expression, the ceilings in particular were a literal pain in the neck!

The electrician then returned to install the interior and exterior lamps and electrical outlets.

We were extremely grateful for the invaluable help from two volunteers, who laid the laminate flooring for us in just under a week. With that in place, our builders returned to install the doors.


The building inspectors then came for one final review to ensure that everything was in accordance with strict Swedish building regulations. Happily, everything was deemed in order, and we were given official permission to move in, even though some minor details remained to be done.


Thus it was that, on November 17/30, after a Divine Liturgy and Memorial Service for the seventh anniversary of the repose of the founder of our little Convent, the ever-memorable Mother Philothei (whose intercessions we certainly have to thank for the successful outcome of this project), Fr. Anders celebrated the Blessing of the Waters and blessed the monastic cells.



Samir, our trusty "Bosnian Viking," the member of the construction crew who has been with us steadily from the beginning, then spent a couple of days working on the final details, after which we wished him a final farewell and thanked him for a job well done!


The next day, as we said at the beginning of this post, we were able to move in to our new cells, giving thanks to God and the Patron Saint of our Convent, St. Philothei. We would also once again like to take this opportunity to thank, from the bottom of our hearts, all of our generous benefactors for making what seemed like an unfeasible dream just a year ago come true, and allowing monastic life in Sweden to grow!


All that remains now is to fill the remaining cells with furniture (the easy part!) and then with the prayers of potential new sisters. But be forewarned! As you can read in a gift from the Fathers of the St. Gregory Palamas Monastery in Etna for our new cells, monastic life is not easy!



Glory to God for all things!


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