What is Poustinia?
Every Wednesday, the monastery essentially shuts down. Only one service is held all day, the Divine Liturgy at 6:30 AM. The phone is not answered, emails can wait. All but the most necessary chores are put aside.
So what are the monks doing all day?
"Poustinia" simply means "desert". Once a week, the monks take extra care to fast, pray, and study the word of God in silence, solitude, and singleness of mind. In short, the monks enter the "desert". All the prayers that would have been don publicly that day are instead done in their cells.
Visitors to the guest house on Wednesdays will notice an extra emphasis on silence in the monastery. Conversations become an emergency-only event. It becomes easier to recollect the thoughts. Even the food is minimized. Bread, fruit, and nuts are available in the refectory to meet your needs, but we won't share a full meal again until the next morning.
The monks refrain from scheduling big deliveries or meetings on Wednesday, and we ask that you respect our plans to keep Wednesdays as a desert within the week where we can meet God.