Once again the day has proved to be a combination of warm and sunny, then changing to overcast and rather gloomy.
Although the monastery still continues to practice social distancing, that doesn’t mean that we are inactive. An excellent example of that fact is the activity of today which began with a memorial for a young man and his father. At 11, we met in the big church with a man and woman who had requested this memorial service, and who are related to those for whom the memorial was served.
A beautiful kolach was brought as part of the service, as were the traditional koliva, a bottle of wine and other foods. Archbishop Lazar served, Fr Moses was the chanter and the service went well, without any complications or difficulties.
Following the service, there was a memorial meal with the cutting of the kolach. For those who have an interest in the art of cooking (such as myself) the kolach was beautifully decorated and baked with a filling of Saskatoon berries. The koliva was also fairly traditional, being made of rice and sweetener but also had smarties and candy confetti so was super sweet, in fact, sickeningly so for those of us who are on a sugar restricted diet. Thankfully, there was also more traditional food, such as delicious pirozhki made with mushrooms, rice salad with vegetables, blini and the excellent Canadian wine, which none of us are able to drink. Andy joined us for the memorial meal and had a lively chat with Archbishop Lazar.
Following the end of the meal, there was time to once again take my little camera out to explore and document interesting and beautiful sites which are often overlooked by visitors to the monastery. People might wonder how it is possible to continually find subjects to photograph; that seems never to be a problem for me because with the changing seasons, constantly fluctuating temperatures, sights are always different and worth capturing with the camera.
Here ends this days diary, so to counteract the overcast and gloomy aspect of the day, let us recall the bright and sunny promise that is ours because, “Christ is Risen!”
