Mar Coorilose explains (6) - revival of Monastic life

The hope and the plan:

For the community, we have grand plans. We already have the land. We need people with vision and love for God and His Church to work out many things to do using the land and the region:

In olden days a family used to have 5 or even 10 children. Nowadays we have smaller families. Hence offering a child for monastic life, and inspiring the younger generation about the virtues of being a monk etc. is not usual. But monasteries are powerhouses of spiritual life. They are the backbones of faith and faith education. I am hoping the Gregorian Community can become a model monastery, over time, but one which caters to not only celibate men and women who desire to seek God, but one that also has space for families to come away from the pressures of every day life and spend time in calm and peace.

Monastery

Tatev Monastery in Armenia

We do not have a well-established Orthodox monastery outside Kerala. This place could be ideal for this especially once the water issue on the hill is resolved; it could give the required remoteness as well as peace. We have both men and women in our plans, perhaps the womenfolk could settle separately away in the valley, but away from the rest of the community.




Meditation Huts

There could be hutments of simple living created on the hill and people could come and spend a couple days, a week or month in a hut, spending time in solitude, one with nature, in prayer and meditation, coming out only for a minimal time. Such an experience which is rare in modern life, could be life changing.

This could also be worked out in a family setting, in the sense that, if say the wife wants to have this experience, the family could arrive together, then the husband and the children could stay in the regular accommodations with others in the community and participate in the life of the community with prayers and other activities, while the wife could go to the hill and the meditation hut for a time.

- Geevarghese Mar Coorilose Metropolitan

[This series is a presentation of the thoughts, the vision, the hope - regarding the Gregorian Community -  in the words of His Grace Geevarghese Mar Coorilose - Metropolitan of the Diocese of Mumbai]