THE SACRED MONASTERY
OF THE EXALTATION OF THE
HOLY CROSS

Orthodox Monasticism

It has been pointed out many times that in Orthodox Monasticism there are no "orders" (e.g. Benedictine, Cistercian, Franciscan etc.), and there is no hard and fast distinction between the "active" and "contemplative" life. While this is largely true, it is also misleading in so far as it gives the impression that there is one kind of monastic life that is uniformly followed in all monasteries. It is this impression which is untrue. On one hand there can be a great deal of variation from one house to another -- so that one prominant saying among monastics is "You do not bring your rule into another man's monastery." Yet, despite the variations the overall rule is pretty much the same. The distinction between "active" and "contemplative" monasticism is more difficult to explain. For the Orthodox the distinction is not unlike looking at a piece of wood from the end where the grain looks like so many discreet dots, and looking at it from the side where the grain is seen in its "self" relationship -- it's the same piece of wood seen from two angles. Likewise the "contemplative" and "active" are seen to be two different ways of looking at the same life.

The; Monasteries listed below are those which maintain their own home pages. A very complete listing of monasteries of all North American jurisdictions can be found below under the link  "Orthodox Monasteries in North America".

• Mount Athos Welcome Page: An over view of the center of Orthodox Monasticism. Much useful information in addition as well as many pictures of the monasteries and their life.
• An Introduction to Mount Athos: Maintained by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, this page has sections on the geography, history, administration and monastic life, and art of the Holy Mountain, as well as much useful information for pilgrims and scholars
• Friends of Mount Athos: The Chairman of this group is Bishop Kallistos (Ware) and the president is Steven Runciman. Contains links and information about visiting a making a pilgrimage, as well as a newsletter and other information pertinant to the Holy Mountain
• Mount Athos: Maintained by the Demokritos University of Thrakes, consists of a sensitive map showing the location of each monastery. Click on the name of a monastery and you are linked to a page with a picture or two and a brief description of the house and its foundation.
• Monastery of the Glorious Ascension, Resaca, Georgia
• Bulgarian Monasteries: An overview with special attention to Rila Monastery
• Danilov Monastery Moscow: the headquarters of the Moscow Patriarchate
• Visoki Decani Monastery: This is the link to the Monasteries section of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren and also contains links to the Monasteries of Gracanica, Sopocani, Pecka Patrijarsija, Crna Reka, Deviic, Sv. vraci, Sv. Arhangeli, Sv. Trojica, Sokolica and Draganac.
• Golia Monastery, Iassy, Romania under the Metropolitan of Moldavia and Bucovina
• Holy Transfiguration Monastery, Brookline, Massachusetts
• Holy Transfiguration (Metamorphoseos) Monastery, Korea Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of New Zealand
• Holy Trinity Monastery, Sergiev Posad (Radonezh)
• Holy Trinity -- St. Nicholas Monastery, Vladivostok
• Friends of the Holy Cross: The Sponsors of these pages. The 'Friends' support Holy Cross Monastery, Thebes, Boeotia, and Evangelismos Monastery, Ano Pedina (Ioannina), Greece, and others.
• Monastery of the Kiev CavesA mostly Archeological and historical tour
• Limonos Monastery
• Monasteries of Meteora: An architectural and historical tour of Meteora
• Thessalia: Meteora,
• Monastery of St. Michael the Archangel on the Island of Lesbos
• Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos, Pelagias, Levadias Greece
• Nativity of the Theotokos Convent, Saxonburg, Pennsylvania
• New Skete Monasteries, Cambridge, New York
• Orthodox Monasteries in North America: A listing of Monastic houses in North America by State and by jurisdiction along with information for visiting and/or vocations wherever available.
• Monastery of Preveli, Crete
• Patmos: A basic tour of the island and Monastery of St. John the Theologian
• Prodromos Monastery; In Greek (needs Greek fonts)
• Putna Monastery, Moldava, Romania
• Monastery of St. Andrew the First Called: Manchester, England
• St. Catherine's Monastery, Egypt: Built on the site of the burning bush at the base of Mount Sinai.
• St. Gregory Palamas Monastery: Hayesville, Ohio, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese
• St. Gregory of Sinai Monastery: Richmond, California (OCA-Bulgarian Diocese)
• St. Ipaty Monastery; Kostroma
• St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco Monastery, Point Reyes Station, California
• Monastery of St. John the Theologian; Patmos
• St. John Theristi: Orthodox Monastery in Callabria, Italy
• St. John Bigorski Monastery: Another tourist sight. Interesting pictures of Macedonian Landmarks and some interesting interior pictures of some of the monasteries. The text does not say whether or not the monasteries are functioning
• St. Nicetas Monastery; Pereslavl
• St. Nektarios Monastery, Brimfield, Massachusetts
• St. Seraphim of Sarov Monastery San Felice, Italy (in Italian) Serbian Patriarchate.
• Serbian Orthodox Monasteries
• Theodore the Studite: Reformed Rules: Rules of the Stoudios Monastery in Constantinople
• Valamo Monastery, Finland: New Valamo founded by survivors who fled from Old Valamo on Lake Ladoga during the World War II. Now to be distinguished from Old Valamo which has been only recently reopened. Other pages dealing with the Finnish Valamo can be accessed here and here.

EXALTATION OF THE HOLY CROSS MONASTERY
322 00 THEBES BOEOTIA, GREECE.
email: ypsosis@fhc.org
Telephone: 30.226.2062265
Fax: 30.226.2062004
To send e-mail to the monastery, click the mailbox below:

These pages are created and maintained by The Friends of the Holy Cross
215 Kalorama Street, Staunton, VA, 24401, USA.
Telephone: +1-541-886-4031
FAX: +1-541-886-9707
To e-mail the Friends click here.
© Copyright by: The Friends of the Holy Cross, all rights reserved.
No part of these pages may be reproduced without permission of The Friends of the Holy Cross.