Nun of Christ the Bridegroom

Nun of Christ the Bridegroom  –  Mother Anastasia of the Weeping Mother of Jesus                                          “The other lung of the Catholic Church” –  St. John Paul II                                          The only Ruthenian Byzantine-Catholic traditional monastic Community of women in the U.S.          †  A monastic Community formed in response to St. John Paul II’s apostolic letter,                 Orientale Lumen, calling for a renewal of monastic life among Eastern Catholic Churches  †                “Hail, oh bride and ever pure.  Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come.”

Foundress:  Mother (Abbess) Theodora Strohmeyer  ( a former Sister of St. Basil the Great      and a testament to the human spirit and the embodiment of Eastern Christian spirituality)  Co-Foundress:  Mother Cecilia Hritz

Place:  Burton, Ohio

Year:  2009 A.D.

Her Charism:  This Byzantine-Catholic nun lives in hope and draws others into a spousal love of Christ through a vigilant life of silence, prayer, fasting, and hospitality according to the traditions of the Christian East.  In fact, she represents what St. John Paul II referred to as the Orientale Lumen – the “Light of the East.”  Laying down her life in imitation of the Bridegroom, Jesus, she joyfully embraces the monastic virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience and participates in the dynamic love of the Trinity.  By meditating on Scripture, especially the Song of Songs, she immerses herself in a life of personal and liturgical prayer, and is called to rediscover the spousal language from the falsifications of our culture, displaying faithfully not only that monastic consecration refers to mankind’s union with God in Heaven, but also the longing of human hearts for the Beloved.  These are meant to be fulfilled in the intimate union with Christ and participation in the life of the Holy Trinity.  As she looks to Mary, Our Mother and Theotokos (“God- bearer”) as her model, she opens herself to the divine life of the Holy Spirit and bears forth fruit for the Church and the world.  Her monastery provides a spiritual garden and bridal chamber in which she invites others into the same life-giving relationship with Christ the Bridegroom.  Understanding the wisdom and moral teachings of the Catholic Church, this humble nun is an active witness to the sanctity of human life, and a prophetic witness of authentic joy and love that come from radically loving Christ as her Spouse.  Her work includes gardening, iconography, youth ministry, cooking, canning, welcoming guests who just like to stop in to pray and also offering poustinias (small retreat houses) for guests to make short retreats.  *Poustinias is a Slavic term meaning “desert.”  In this case, it can be a fertile desert of silence, solitude, and prayer that gives birth to a plentiful harvest of compassion, mercy, and saintly grace which benefits our rather impersonal  and hurting world desperately in need of radiant Jesus.                                                                Prayers:  “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”  (the “Jesus Prayer”)         “Beauty, one of the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of the church, in the sounds, in the colors, in the lights, and in the scents.”