Help us repair the Tomb of St Joseph the Hesychast

Hi my name is Ioachim Shim, an Orthodox Christian living in Texas, United States.

With the blessing of the Geronda (Elder) of New Skete (Mt. Athos) and my church, Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Monastery, I am raising funds to assist the repair work of the New Skete.

New Skete is one of the monastic communities of Mount Athos, and this holy place is where a great ascetic and lover of God and prayers known as Saint Joseph the Hesychast spent his last years of his holy life. His final cell has been converted into a chapel, as he is buried there after his blessed repose in 1959.

Since then, a number of building work have been done, but as time has passed, many parts of the buildings have sustained various deterioration and damage over the years.

The New Skete has many urgent repair works needed, such as roof work, replacing rotten wood floors, etc. Some of the pictures are shown below:

One of the damages include the cover of Tafos (tomb) of our beloved Spiritual Grandfather, Saint Joseph the Hesychast, which has developed two cracks and is completely broken into 2 pieces. The cover was sealed to the wall and the tomb, but the bottom part can now be lifted up and the inside of the tomb is visible. From the second crack that developed recently, it is obvious that in near future, the cover will be broken into another piece.

Above are some of the isychastirions.

Once enough funds for repair work are raised, New Skete will start negotiating with skilled repairmen in Thessaloniki.

Other ways to help/donate:

Christ icon, 90x120 12,000 Euros

Virgin Mary icon, 90x120 15,000 Euros

St. George icon, 90x120 15,000 Euros

St. Joseph the Hesychast icon (smaller) 200 Euros

Other beautiful, hand written icons are also available at prices between 200 and 15,000 Euros.

Please help us repair the tomb and the beautiful monastic skete of St. Joseph. May his blessing and prayers be with you. Thank you.

[4/10/24 update]

Just to clarify, the New Skete is a whole, small village of Monastic community under the jurisdiction of St. Paul’s Monastery.

St. Joseph’s brotherhood (synodia in Greek) had moved from the Little St. Anna’s Skete to the New Skete, where St. Joseph reposed. The whole story is narrated in detail in the book, ‘My Elder Joseph the Hesychast.’ They had some buildings, such as cells and isychastirions, and a garden in the New Skete, but they were not occupying the whole New Skete. The rest of the New Skete was (and is) not a part of their synodia, although they were living harmoniously as neighbors and members of the village of the New Skete. In one of St. Joseph’s later letters (please refer to the Letter 60 in ‘Monastic Wisdom’), he mentions that in the year he was writing the letter, his disciple Fr. Joseph the Cypriot, the later Abbot of Vatopedi and Spiritual Father of Geronda Nikodemos, was the yearly “Superior” of the New Skete.

Because his brotherhood was in the New Skete, I called it New Skete above, but this fundraiser is to repair the buildings (including the Tomb) of St. Joseph’s brotherhood, of which Geronda Nikodemos, being the Saint’s Spiritual Grandchild, is now in charge; not the entire village of the blessed New Skete.

I know people here donated to help St. Joseph’s blessed memory, but I am posting this update to prevent any confusion.

Please forgive me and thank you.