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GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AMERICA
COMMUNIQUÉ
5th Monastic Synaxis Honors Legacy of Gerondissa Taxiarchia
Kendalia, Texas — The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America rejoices in the successful completion of the 5th Monastic Synaxis, held at the Holy Archangels Monastery in Kendalia, Texas. At the invitation of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, who presided over the Synaxis and all the liturgical services, this significant gathering of monastics from across our Holy Archdiocese focused on the life and enduring spiritual legacy of the ever-memorable Gerondissa Taxiarchia, the first Abbess of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania.
In his introductory address, His Eminence focused firstly on the recent apostolic visit of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to the United States, thanking all the monastics who participated in New York and the elevation of Abbot Paisios of St. Anthony monastery in Arizona, to the rank of an Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne. Then His Eminence stressed the importance of obedience in monastic life and how Gerondissa Taxiarchia applied this virtue in her life.
Sister Ephraimia, a disciple of Gerondissa Taxiarchia, unfolded the short but holy life of Gerondissa Taxiarchia, her sayings, and her many miracles.
A Pioneer of Orthodox Monasticism in America
Gerondissa Taxiarchia arrived in America from the Monastery Panagia Odigitria in Portaria, Volos, Greece, bringing with her the rich monastic tradition of our Mother Church. On July 20th, 1991, she was enthroned as Abbess, beginning her sacred mission with just one sister in a humble farmhouse. Through her strong faith, spiritual insight, and steady commitment to Christ, she laid the groundwork for what would become the first of twenty monasteries established by the blessed Elder Ephraim in America.
Her pioneering work marks an worship, ofimportant part of the growth of Orthodox monasticism in the New World. It offers a guiding light of traditional spiritual life for generations of believers who seek a deeper connection with God.
A Life Adorned with Spiritual Gifts
Those blessed to know Gerondissa Taxiarchia bore witness to her extraordinary spiritual gifts: the grace of ceaseless prayer, clairvoyance, healing, and an all-consuming love of Christ. Her eldership showed her passionate faith, deephumility, and sincere care for everyone who came to her for help and prayers.
Though she departed to the Lord in 1994, the fragrance of her holiness continues to inspire the faithful. Each year on August 3rd, the Church commemorates this remarkable eldress whose life exemplified complete surrender to God’s will and sacrificial love for His people.
Gratitude and Continued Mission
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America expresses profound gratitude to the Holy Archangels Monastery for hosting this year’s Monastic Synaxis and for their continued dedication to preserving and promoting authentic Orthodox monastic life. Such gatherings strengthen the bonds between our monasteries and the Archbishop and provide invaluable spiritual edification for monastics and pilgrims alike.
We encourage all the faithful of our Sacred Archdiocese to draw inspiration from the example of Gerondissa Taxiarchia: her unwavering obedience, her life of prayer, and her complete dedication to Christ. May her holy prayers continue to intercede for our Church, our monasteries, and all who seek the path of salvation.
Monastic Life in Our Archdiocese
The flourishing of Orthodox monasticism in America shows God’s care and the dedication of spiritual leaders like Gerondissa Taxiarchia. Our monasteries continue to serve as places of worship, prayer, spiritual renewal, and theological formation. They provide refuge and guidance to countless faithful seeking a deeper relationship with Christ.
May the Lord bless and protect our monastic communities, and may the prayers of Gerondissa Taxiarchia be with us all.
At the conclusion of the Synaxis, it was resolved that the next Monastic Synaxis will be held in conjunction with the 48th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress in Cleveland, Ohio, from June 30th to July 2nd, 2026.
Address
By His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
October 4, 2025
Your Grace, beloved brothers,
Reverend Abbot Father Dositheos,
Reverend Abbots and Abbesses,
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I welcome you all and thank you sincerely for making the effort to come from every corner of our Holy Archdiocese to attend this Fifth Monastic Synaxis, which is being held here at the Holy Archangels Monastery.
Just a few days ago, we bid farewell to our Spiritual Father, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, whose recent visit to this country was without doubt a profound blessing for all the faithful of the Church of Christ, clergy, monastics, and laity alike. Some of you were present at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, where you heard his fatherly words and rejoiced in his presence. It was a truly blessed moment of spiritual joy when our Patriarch conferred the Offikion of Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne upon the Abbot of Saint Anthony’s Monastery, Geronda Paisios. Axios! In honoring our beloved Father Paisios, His All-Holiness desired to honor all Orthodox monasticism in America.
In just a few days, our Ecumenical Patriarch will complete thirty-four years as the helmsman of the First Throne of Orthodoxy, and our prayers will ever accompany and strengthen him. Let us therefore intensify our supplications on his behalf, as he continues to lead the Mother Church of Constantinople “from glory to glory,” even amid seemingly insurmountable challenges, which he faces with courage, faith, humility, and steadfastness. Many years to him!
I also express my joy at being here at the Holy Archangels Monastery, where I had the opportunity to visit His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah of Lystra and to witness once again the love and care he receives from the blessed brotherhood of this monastery. Fathers, I thank you for your loving care toward this venerable hierarch. May the Lord richly reward your love and service to His Eminence.
In this 1,700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, that sacred assembly which laid the foundation of the Church, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone, we gather in thanksgiving and honor to reflect upon the life and legacy of the ever-memorable Gerondissa Taxiarchia, co-founder with the sanctified Elder Ephraim of the women’s monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania. By God’s ineffable Providence, she became the mother of monasticism in the New World. This past June, I had the great blessing to venerate her grace-filled relics and to hear from Gerondissa Theophano and the sisters the many wondrous works and miracles that occur there daily.
As a flower transplanted from her monastery of repentance to this blessed land of America, guided by divine Grace and the spiritual discernment of Elder Ephraim, Gerondissa Taxiarchia became an example for all monks and nuns who followed her, showing how to live in obedience, in voluntary exile, in genuine love for one’s neighbor, in monastic simplicity, and in complete dedication to the work of Divine Providence.
With this spiritual mother, not only as a living example but as the starting point of a spiritual renewal of Orthodox monasticism in America, Elder Ephraim established monasteries throughout the country, of which you are the heirs and the living continuation.
Just as the ancient Fathers of the desert trained themselves in the communion of love, so we, too, are called today to rekindle the spirit of unity, obedience, and humble service. Saint Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia and a heavenly light among the Fathers, teaches that a monk is not self-sufficient but needs his brother, for in the fellowship of brethren dwells Christ Himself. Furthermore, both monks and nuns are vital and inseparable members of the Church. Through the Church and the Holy Mysteries that she, as the Body of Christ, offers — above all through sincere humility and blessed obedience — the monk is saved and sanctified.
Obedience is not a dry or forced rule but a source of spiritual joy. The monk obeys not because he has no voice, but because he longs to be freed from the tyranny of his own self. When a person renounces his own will, he discovers the will of God, which is always a path of life, peace, and true enlightenment. Obedience to one’s spiritual father, Geron, or Gerondissa, is the true way to overcome egoism and to establish authentic love. At every stage of his earthly journey, the monk experiences obedience as both cross and resurrection. Monastic life is a path of death to self but also of full rebirth in Christ.
The world often believes that freedom means doing whatever one wants. Yet the monk, through his pure life, shows that true freedom belongs to the one who is freed from the tyranny of the self and lives according to the holy will of God. This is why the monk stands as a beacon for the faithful, showing the path of joy that flows from humble obedience.
Obedience, therefore, is not confined to the walls of a monastery but can guide every believer who, in daily life, submits to the law of the Gospel, which is the law of love, and to the will of God and His Church, the Body of Christ. The path of obedience is the path of true freedom in Christ. The lived example of monastic obedience constitutes, together with ceaseless prayer and spiritual illumination, the most important witness of the monastery to the world. Lay people learn from the monk how to taste the fruits of this virtue. They learn to let go of pride and to trust in God. Obedience in prayer, in the life of the Church, and in the Gospel becomes a way of healing, for it leads a person to live not for oneself but for Christ and His Church.
Gerondissa Taxiarchia, Abbess of the Holy Monastery of the Nativity of the Theotokos in Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, stands as a living testimony to the Orthodox monastic tradition in America. Her coming to America seemed, at first, for reasons of health, but by God’s ineffable Providence, it became the beginning of the establishment of monasticism in this land. Indeed, monasticism was absent from America. Many parishes and communities had been founded, but monasticism, “the salt that preserves” the life of the Church, was missing from the first and largest Eparchy of the Ecumenical Throne.
Then came Gerondissa Taxiarchia, and with simplicity and genuine spiritual strength, she showed everyone that the monastic life is a continual “yes” to the will of God and of the Church through obedience to one’s Elder. In her brief yet holy life, obedience held a central place. It was not merely an external duty but a deep inner conviction that the monk becomes free when surrendering his will to the will of God. The blessed Gerondissa taught through her example that true obedience does not destroy personality but rather opens the soul to boundless joy and peace that only Christ can give. With her quiet demeanor and radiant smile, she bore witness that obedience is authentic, lived Orthodoxy. Through prayer, stillness, and spiritual guidance, she became a pillar and a light for the people of God who sought refuge in the monastery.
Her journey in America was not an easy one. As the abbess of a monastery in a foreign land, she had to preserve the Orthodox tradition alive and unaltered. Obedience helped her remain unshaken in the holiness of her monastic calling. Through silence, ceaseless prayer, and love, she planted in the hearts of her spiritual children the conviction that God alone suffices.
Beloved brothers and sisters,
I pray that the time we spend together will prove fruitful in exploring the beauty of piety, the depth of monastic devotion, and the spiritual treasures of Gerondissa Taxiarchia. May we take lessons from here as enrichment for the Athonite offshoots planted throughout our Holy Archdiocese, knowing that we are all branches of the True Vine, members of the precious Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Holy Church, our Mother Church, our Ecumenical Patriarchate.
May the Lord, through the intercessions of the Archangels and all the Heavenly Bodiless Powers, grant us strength to strive continually to become “angels in the flesh” and “chosen vessels” of His Grace, as the blessed Gerondissa Taxiarchia taught us by her life.
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