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On Pentecost Sunday, June 12th, 2022, twelve young men and women from across the nation and representing multiple Orthodox jurisdictions gathered at the Monastery of St John Maximovitch near Manton, California for a week-long retreat to form them, challenge them, and ultimately call them to serve their fellow man in very tangible ways.
This was the fourth annual Orthodox LIFE School (OLS), since its establishment in 2017 (with a two-year interruption due to the COVID pandemic). Conceived by Fr Andreas Blom, a native-born Swedish OCA priest serving in Oregon, Fr Theodor Svane, a Norwegian priest serving the Archdiocese of Western Europe in Bergen, Norway, and the abbot of the hosting monastery, Igumen Innocent, they took the most positive aspects of their experiences with organizations such as Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and baptized them to create a completely Orthodox program for young adults.
The typical day for a “LIFE Schooler” begins with a knock on the door of their cell followed by the words “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,” to which the student replies “Amen” and begins thirty minutes of personal prayer. This is followed by a common prayer service in the monastery church, usually Matins or Divine Liturgy. Once they are fed spiritually, they then proceed to the trapeza (monastery dining hall) to feed their bodies in silence while a spiritual book is read aloud. This is then followed by a lecture by a special guest (a bishop, abbess, priest, theologian, etc.) on topics which are especially beneficial to the life of a person in early adulthood. After a casual lunch wherein socializing is encouraged, the LIFE Schooler then engages in physical labor for the benefit of the monastery but also for the soul and body of the student. As the daylight draws to a close, everyone gathers again in the church for Vespers. A silent meal with spiritual reading follows, and then another lecture and reflection. Finally, time is set aside for socializing and personal prayer to end the night.
The point of all this is to get the LIFE Schooler to take a deep dive within, to nurture true prayer in the heart, to learn how to love and to see Christ in one’s neighbor, and then to reach out and serve him as if He were Christ. In the process, walls are broken down, bridges are built, and real bonding takes place amongst the LIFE Schoolers and the staff. There hasn’t been a year when there weren’t tears on the last night before departure. And it is telling that LIFE Schoolers return to experience the week again.
What is it they come back for?
Return LIFE Schooler, Chantel Cressy, says:
This time living in the fellowship of people who really strive to follow the commandments of Christ to love God and people provides the opportunity to be open about our struggles and to be encouraged in the love of Christ.
In the words of first-time LIFE Schooler, Joshua Moore:
I went into the Orthodox Life School yearning for a sense of community. I wanted Orthodox peers […] Over just this one week, the group of students, priests, and others in attendance became a family to me. As we prayed together, worked together, sang together, ate together, the brotherly and sisterly bond created between us was unlike any friendship I have experienced outside the Orthodox Church.
Alexios Hanna, the youngest of the students, says:
For me, Orthodox LIFE School was one of the most helpful things that I didn’t know I needed [….] LIFE School really was a breath of fresh air, and instrumental in re-centering and refocusing my life towards Christ and His Church; and I am counting the days until I can attend again.
In the article for his parish bulletin, first-timer Jeremiah Mastenbrook writes:
If I only take one vacation this year, I am glad it was to Orthodox LIFE School […] Getting to spend an entire week totally free from all of the worry and weight of all the chaos in our modern world was like getting a breath of fresh air I didn’t know I needed [….] I know I will be benefiting from it for the rest of my days.
The worldwide pandemic put a two-year halt on Orthodox LIFE School on halt for two years. But rather than being met with indifference from hearts grown cold and insensitive to the Church, the call for participants (which was actually publicized much later this year than years prior) was met with enthusiasm from souls longing for contact, fellowship, and communion after two years of desert.
With God’s help, the Orthodox LIFE School can return again next year and every year to come, to bring together young men and women starving for spiritual fruit and Orthodox community. It is the hope of the OLS staff that the alumni of the program will continue their journey of inner spiritual growth and outward service to the Lord wherever God leads them in life. Perhaps some of them will even return to serve as staff members of OLS.
For more information about the Orthodox LIFE School, please contact Fr Andreas Blom: info@gabriel.church
The Diocese of the West is the geographical district of the Orthodox Church in America consisting of the Western United States. The diocese has active parishes in Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii. San Francisco is home to the diocese’s cathedral, Holy Trinity, as well as the Chancery offices. The diocese is led by His Grace Vasily, Bishop of San Francisco and the West.
