“Those Beautiful Candles”

One afternoon in March Father Sergiy, an Orthodox priest from Gagauzia, was introducing Father Cosmas of the Monastery of St John to Abbess Ermogena of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin Monastery in Aleksandrovka, Ukraine.

— “He’s an Orthodox monk from America,” explained Father Sergiy. Mother Ermogena’s eyes widened. “There are Orthodox Christians in America?” she asked. “And monks?”

— “Yes,” replied Fr Sergiy. “He doesn’t speak Russian, though. But he does speak Gagauz.” This surprised Mother Ermogena even more. “An American Orthodox monk who speaks Gagauz?” she said.

— “That’s right,” said Father Cosmas in Gagauz, “and in fact I wrote a letter to you two years ago in your language, in Gagauz.” Mother Ermogena’s eyes widened even more. “And along with the letter I sent a package of gifts from our monastery, the Monastery of St. John, to your monastery. There was a CD of our monastery’s choir, some honey that our bees produced, and some candles we made…”

— “Oh!” she exclaimed. “You are the one who sent those beautiful candles!” She went on to say that her monastery made candles, too, but that they weren’t as beautiful as the candles from the Monastery of St. John. Would Father Cosmas be willing to visit their candle factory along with the nun who was in charge of it, and make some suggestions?

And so later that evening they did just that, and afterwards Father Cosmas wrote a little list of suggestions in her language about improvements they could make. And when he returned to the United States, with the blessing of Father Innocent, a photographer went out to the candle factory and documented the parts of the process that could help their sisters in Christ at the Monastery of the Nativity of the Holy Virgin in Aleksandrovka, Ukraine.