Author of …
Sunrise from our home in Platina, CA
Our Upcoming Relocation to our Property Adjacent to St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in Platina, CA
The sun is rising on the next spiritual adventure for my husband and me in our journey with Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Nine years ago we purchased raw land next to St. Herman of Alaska Serbian Orthodox Monastery in the foothills of the Trinity Alps.
Since the early days of our conversion, we both felt the call to participate in a monastic lifestyle, but family obligations and illness kept our call on the back burner.
I refer to myself as a pillow ascetic, literally, due to my lifelong struggle with fibromyalgia. I am the princess who can feel the pea no matter how comfortable anything I lie or sit on may be. I personally had not thought it possible for me to ever live on our land, especially when in addition to chronic back problems and fibromyalgia, I contracted Lyme’s Disease in 2004. I had just started writing my book, The Pearl of Great Price, and my husband had just purchased our little piece of wilderness heaven. We bought an RV to get me up there, camping on our land as my husband started developing it.
Writing my book was one of the few things I could do with the little energy I had while battling Lyme. I wrote and my husband started building what we thought would be a small cabin. God had other plans though for both of us. After three years, I was able to heal from Lyme (Praise God!), and Greg’s small cabin became a small three bedroom two-story home! Now six years later, thanks to the infinite mercy of our God, the generosity of our family, friends and the monks at St. Herman’s Monastery, our home is nearly finished and we will soon be moving in to it. Glory to God who hears our prayers and answers them!
This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of stories and eventually podcast interviews (to air on the Orthodox Christian Network sometime this fall) about our Orthodox spiritual adventure, both the struggles and joys, of being in our new wilderness home.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode!
Yours in Christ,
Veronica
This is the labyrinth I wrote about in my book, in the Catholic Cathedral in Chartres, France.
Question: About Labyrinths…
Veronica,
After a long journey I find myself at the doors of Orthodoxy. I will soon be a catechumen. The Labyrinth has long held a place in my heart and helped me through my spiritual journey. We had planned on constructing one in our back yard. My question does this in any way conflict with Orthodox practices?
Veronica’s Response:
Hi Kyle,
Labyrinths are not part of Orthodox worship, prayer, or contemplation as in some Catholic/protestant/ or New Age traditions.
I used the labyrinth in my book for I found its meaning quite connected to my wanderings prior to Orthodoxy. I was in a maze of false spirituality and a labyrinth best explained where I had been. The only time I walked one was at Chartres Cathedral in France. At the time I was really into energy vortexes, etc.
I do not think a labyrinth in your garden is a problem unless you want to use it as part of a ritual, prayer practice or something you used to do spiritually – then I would suggest talking with your priest about it or even better – waiting a while before acting on this thought.
I found that a lot of things that spiritually feed me in the past naturally faded from use or were replaced by traditions in Orthodoxy as I matured into my faith. So perhaps waiting for a while after you are received into the Church would be a way to see if you feel the same way about putting a labyrinth in your garden? It takes time to see who you are becoming in Christ in Orthodoxy and what will best serve you.
God bless,
Veronica
More interaction:
Veronica,
Thank you so much for your quick response and your sound advice. The labyrinth played a large part in leading us to Orthodoxy and I myself have many time asked myself if I am hanging onto something from my past or if it something I need to grow beyond, so I have taken your advice and contacted my priest to help guide me in this.
Kyle Boyd-Robertson
Hi Kyle,
You are welcome! I think that running most things like this by your priest at this stage of your journey is the best. I am in the process of writing my second book about the struggles and challenges of converts after being received into the Church. Integrating an Orthodox world view and truly becoming Orthodox takes time and patience. Even if we have ‘put off the old man’, the process of illumination and purification is ongoing. Christian conversion is something that continues until we die.
God bless you,
Veronica
I have read several of the books written by Kyriacos Markides. What I love the most about his books are his conversations with Fr. Maximos, an Athonite monk, now a bishop. Fr. Maximos is able to summarize matters of faith with the wisdom of an Athonite elder in a manner modern seekers can hear. He incorporates the wisdom of the Holy Elders and Fathers of the Orthodox Church with compassion and humor completely compelling and disarming the listener at the same time. One can easily relate to the spiritual adventures and struggles of the author, Kyriacos, as well.
In his latest book, Inner River, Fr. Maximos walks us through the fruits of the Holy Spirit, “Starting with self-control and climbing the ladder all the way up to love.” My words fall short of the sweet flowing manner in which Fr. Maximos relates these virtues to our everyday life. It was said by St. Seraphim of Sarov that the acquisition of the Holy Spirit is the goal of Chrisitian life. Well, Fr. Maximos takes us through those fruitful steps essential to the acquiring of the Spirit and the grace-filled transformation of the soul experiences in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
A book well worth reading, though I confess, I skipped many of the personal sharings by Kyriacos at the advice of my husband. “The heart of the book lies in the words of Fr. Maximos for those who are already Orthodox.” For those folks not yet Orthodox, the personal aspect of Inner River shared by Kyraicos on his pilgrimages in this book may be of interest, as he himself is actively engaged in the process of discovering the hidden treasures of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and brings a few friends with him along the way.
Veronica Hughes
Inner River by Kyriacos C. Markides, Image Books, New York
I am currently hard at would on my second book, The Pearl of Great Price, Volume II, I am a New Creation.
Part of my spiritual journey after converting to Eastern Orthodox Christianity involved the integration of an Orthodox worldview into every aspect of my being and life. Why was this so important and so challenging for me and perhaps other converts to Orthodoxy?
Taken from my new book:
“The more I studied and prayed, the more I realized how little I understood what an Orthodox worldview was. I was raised in the West as a Western Catholic. How I approached Orthodoxy was from of a combination of my Western, Western Catholic, post-Renaissance, humanistic, and secular views mixed in with all kinds of New Age, non-Christian ideologies and Eastern religions. I called this my minestrone soup worldview! I realized more frequently after my conversion that my instincts, my whole way of viewing life, was Western and innately flawed, but how? Where had my/our thinking gone astray? Why? How was my spiritual life at the mercy of my minestrone soup worldview?”
St. Paisius Missionary School was an essential part of my re-formation – part of my becoming a new creation in Christ in Orthodoxy. Please check out their website and contact them if you are interested in bringing a deeper experience of Orthodoxy to your parish or might be interested for yourself and family. Fr. Michael Oyer and Fr. Phillip Tolbert offer at least one or more retreats a year. Here is their website:
http://stpaisius.org/about-us/
Check out this wonderful video review of Veronica’s book by David Withun released 12/28/11
A moving biography about the process of Christian conversion that takes you into not just the story, but a part of Veronica’s soul and its journey to Christ and the Eastern Orthodox Church.
This book tells the story of one woman’s movement from the traditional Roman Catholicism of her youth, through various New Age and Eastern spiritual and religious movements, and finally to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Throughout the course of the narrative, the reader is not only told the events that occurred but also let into the emotional, mental, and spiritual world of the author, getting a glimpse of the movements of heart and spirit that eventually lead to embrace Christ and his Church.
Her story is one that many, including myself, who have converted to Orthodoxy in America over the last several decades will be able to identify with, as many of us found ourselves disillusioned with the spiritual barrenness and harshness of Western religion, as embodied in Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity, and so headed East to religions and philosophies like Buddhism, Hinduism, and Taoism, only to turn again to Christianity as it is embodied in the Orthodox Faith, its fullest and truest expression.
I recommend this book both for those who have come or are coming to Orthodoxy from such a background in Eastern and New Age religions, as well as for those who have close friends and family interested or involved in such movements. I think this book can act as an excellent bridge book and a gateway for those who have fled from the typical Western understandings of Christ to return to Christ, the real Christ.
Christian Conversion – Orthodox Women’s Ministry
My husband said to me last night as I was struggling with myself about how to reach others regarding my book, “The majority of folks that buy your book are women. Women like to read stories written by women. Orthodox women especially love your book! Your conversion to Christianity will touch the hearts of many who have been or are into New Age and Eastern religions and those who have strong issues with Christianity. Your book inspires women, reaffirms their faith and can help them to help their family members and friends who are not Orthodox understand what Orthodoxy is all about.
At your book events men and women, but especially Orthodox women are so thrilled that they can pass a book on to their friends and family who are not practicing Christians – a book that can open their hearts newly to Christ and the peace you/they have found in Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
That is why you wrote your book. Your book can help introduce Eastern Orthodoxy to those who are on a spiritual journey and are not aware of the mystical treasures available in Orthodoxy. Your Pearl can aid women in Orthodox Christian ministry to make a bridge or plant a seed for Christ and Orthodoxy in the hearts of their family and friends.” Greg was right. I got all fire up after his pep talk!
If you are an Orthodox woman with an active desire to open the hearts of others to our faith – my book can help you!
I also have created a space on my website for Orthodox women in Christian ministries to network. Please email me, thepearlofgreatprice@yahoo.com, if you would like me to post a link on my website for other Orthodox women in ministry to use as a resource.
Your comments on my blog are greatly appreciated as well!
God bless you! I look forward to connecting and spreading The Word!
Veronica
WestbowPress.com