What a wonderful Thomas Sunday this has turned out to be. The day began with Archbishop Lazar and Fr Moses, serving Obednitsa in the big church. It went very well and a young lady came in toward the end of the service to light a candle and pray. She came with Natasha and several other people to work on the monastery grounds where it was possible to retain the usual social distancing that is required.
One negative incident occurred when Archbishop Lazar attempted to record a Zoom session with a video for posting. I call this negative because the little memory card was not properly installed into the camera and so none of the session was recorded. It appears to have been a lively session but with that mistake behind us, we shall have to try again and more carefully check the camera and all aspects of the filming process in the future.
Further along during the day, we had a group of visitors who barbecued fish and other foods over an outdoor fire near the gatehouse fire pit. They invited Archbishop Lazar and a number of us to join them, but we managed to remain careful about how we were socializing. Even with these precautions, we had an enjoyable meal with excellent conversation and sharing the experience with 9 and 5 who were curious to see what was going on. After a brief period of time, we excused ourselves, thanked them for the chat, and returned to our individual activities of the day.
There are several name days today so we do want to wish everyone a blessed and meaningful name day on this celebration of “Saint Thomas” the sanctified doubter. Along with him and with those who readily believed we say, “Christ is Risen”.
