Welcome!
The Holy Assumption Monastery has been a living testament to the legacy and spirit of the Orthodox Christian faith for over 65 years. From its home on the banks of the Napa River in Calistoga, CA, the monastery welcomes faithful pilgrims and visitors of all backgrounds. It stands as the heart of a strong, multi-cultural community in northern California, upholding the vision of Orthodox Christianity in America and reflecting the rich fullness of Christian life in the daily worship of God. ( read more)
About the Name "Holy Assumption Monastery"
A few people have asked why this Orthodox Christian Monastery carries a name that might be more familiar to Roman Catholics and their veneration of the Mother of God. At some point we will be adding an in depth history of the monastery to this web site but in the meantime we offer this short explanation.
St. John Maximovitch blessed nuns to found a monastery in Calistoga in 1941. They were Orthodox Christian monastics through and through. However, they were not native American English speakers. Some came from Russia and others from China. They named the monastery for the Dormition of the Theotokos, Kimisis Tis Theotokou or Uspenski Obetel. The local people who were unfamiliar with the Orthodox Christian faith, and the languages of the nuns, saw the icon of the Dormition of the Mother of God and proclaimed that now they understood! It was like the Roman Catholic Holy Assumption of the Virgin Mary. In effect, the locals named the monastery. Orthodox Christians believe in Tradition as well as traditions, so the name stays to this day.
About Orthodox Monasticism
The innermost spiritual sense of Orthodox Monasticism is revealed in joyful mourning (gr. harmolipi). This paradoxical phrase denotes a spiritual state in which a monk in his prayer grieves for the sins of the world at the same time experiences the regenerating spiritual joy of Christ's forgiveness and resurrection. A monk dies in order to live, he forgets himself in order to find his real self in God, he becomes ignorant of worldly knowledge in order to attain real spiritual wisdom, which is given only to the humble ones. ( read more)
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