Florence, Arizona, March 6, 2025
Photo: Facebook
A beautiful new chapel has opened at St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery in Florence, Arizona.
St. Anthony’s was founded in the summer of 1995 by Elder Ephraim, a spiritual child of St. Joseph the Hesychast and former abbot of the Athonite Philotheou Monastery. When inspecting the property of the future monastery, Elder Ephraim and those with him all heard church bells ringing out of nowhere, thus he understood that the monastery was to be built there.
Over the years, the monastery has grown into a spiritual oasis in the Sonora Desert and the heart of a network of 17 monasteries throughout America and Canada, all founded by Elder Ephraim.
Photo: Facebook The main church is dedicated to St. Anthony the Great and St. Nektarios of Aegina. There are also several chapels, dedicated to Sts. Seraphim of Sarov, Demetrios of Thessalonica, John the Baptist, George the Great Martyr, Nicholas the Wonderworker, Panteleimon the Healer, Elias the Prophet, Menas the Martyr.
And the newest chapel is dedicated to St. Eleftherios the Martyr, according to a frequent visitor to the monastery.
It was to St. Eleftherios that Elder Ephraim prayed as a young man to help free him from the world in order to become a monk on Mt. Athos.
The chapel is filled with stunning Byzantine iconography, including frescoes of some of the 20th century’s greatest elders: Elder Ephraim’s spiritual father The Story Behind “My Elder Joseph the Hesychast”I found the stories about St. Joseph to be so inspiring that I wanted to share this treasure with other people.
“>St. Joseph the Hesychast, his spiritual brother St. Ephraim of Katounakia, as well as Elder Porphyrios ( Bairaktaris), a Short BiographyOn November 23, 2013, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the resolution to canonize Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia. His commemoration date is December 2, on which OrthoChristian.com will post more on the elder’s teachings.On November 23, 2013, the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople accepted the resolution to canonize Elder Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) of Kafsokalivia.”>Sts. Porphyrios of Kavsokalyvia, Elder Iakovos (Tsalikis), Part 1But for Elder Iakovos, God was a Person Whom he trusted, Whom he prayed to; he turned all his problems and those of others into prayer to God.”>Iakovos of Evia, and New saint: Elder Eumenios, confessor of the leprous, canonized by Constantinople (+VIDEO)Elder Eumenios can truly be said to have served the Lord “in the least of his brethren,” as he dedicated more than 40 years of his life to serving those suffering from the terrible disease of leprosy, having suffered from it himself in his youth.”>Eumenios, Confessor of the Lepers:
Sts. Joseph, Porphyrios, and Ephraim of Katounakia on the bottom left. Photo: Facebook
Sts. Jacob and Eumenios are on the arch. Photo: Facebook
There is also a fresco of Elder Ephraim himself:
Photo: Facebook
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Source: Orthodox Christianity
