To all of you who have helped me throughout this past year: this post is my small way to acknowledge your support and say THANK YOU.
Whether you’ve helped Kilninian financially, or through your advice, professional skill or your kindness, please except my deepest gratitude and my love in Christ. You are all in my prayer, and you shall remain in my prayer as my friends and the friends of this monastery.
Kilninian (or the more formal ‘Orthodox Monastery of Sts Ninian and Cuthbert’) is now closer to reality than ever: we now own the church building, we have signed the contract to buy the plot of land surrounding the church, we have an wonderful architectural project for the future monastic buildings, we’ve raised the money to cover the council taxes to apply for the building permission, we’ve started the process of founding and registering the monastery charity, we’ve created the monastery websites and we’ve managed to raise a small part of the money we need to pay for the land.
Most importantly, this is the first year we’ve had (as far as I physically could) regular services at Kilninian.
2014 will be an extremely difficult year, both for Kilninian and for me, personally. God willing, this will be the year marking the real birth of the monastery, with all the pain, suffering and temptations this will imply: we are not building a house, we are founding a monastery.
I shall continue to rely on your help and generosity as I’ll face the three priorities of this coming year:
1. to raise the funds to buy the land surrounding the monastery; we need this land in order to build the septic tank for the toilets, to draw running water to the church and, in the longer run, to build the monastic cells;
2. to obtain the building permission for the monastic cells; the immediate result of this will be that we can build toilets and have running water at the monastery;
3. to complete the process of founding and registering the monastery charity.
I shall need your help each step of the way. Kilninian needs you each step of the way.
I have the madness to dedicate by whole being to this project: my mind, my time, my strength, everything I have I dedicate to founding this monastery. But I also need you, your help and your generosity: we can only found this monastery together.
Please keep in mind that we are doing this for God and for our salvation – with this thought in our hearts, we can move mountains!
May God bless all of us, and the work of our hands.
Yours in Christ,
fr serafim
HAPPY NEW YEAR!