Antiochian convent formed in Pennsylvania

Quite a good move for a jurisdiction woefully lacking a monastic presence in America. As Metropolitan Philip said just last year: "To my knowledge, the only monk that we have in our Archdiocese is His Grace Bishop Basil." As St. John Chrysostom explained, the Church is like an eagle with two wings - one wing is the parish and the other the monastery. You need them both.

(Antiochian) - It is with great joy that His Eminence Metropolitan PHILIP announces the establishment of the Convent of St. Thekla at the Antiochian Village. The Acting Superior of the convent will be Mother Alexandra (Magan), and we welcome her with joy to the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America.

Mother Alexandra will take up residency at the Antiochian Village during the first week of July, and will live in temporary housing until such time as the residence building is constructed on the proposed site for the convent, which is on the main property at the Antiochian Village. This will allow her to experience a good part of the camping season, and to interact with our children.

She also has plans to attend the Archdiocese Convention in late July, and to have a presence at the St. Thekla Pilgrimage which will be held at the Antiochian Village in September.

There will soon be a website established for the convent, where all important news and information will be posted.

A brief biography of Mother Alexandra follows below.

Biography of Mother Alexandra

Mother Alexandra was born on October 11, 1965 in New Bedford, MA and is oldest of two surviving children. She was baptized in Saint James Roman Catholic Church and confirmed at the age of 13 at Our Lady of Fatima Parish. She attended public schools in her home town, graduating from New Bedford High School in 1983. After a short attendance at the University of Massachusetts in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, she left the world and entered a Cistercian or Trappistine Convent where her introduction to Orthodoxy occurred. In 1990, she left primarily to pursue her education, working at several jobs to finance her education and attending Orthodox parishes. In 1994, she was granted a Bachelor of Arts equivalency from Saint Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado. When that school closed, she moved and restarted her theological education at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. In 1997, she was awarded Masters of Arts Degrees in Systematic Theology and Church History. While in graduate school, she served as the Assistant Director at the Episcopal House of Prayer in Collegeville. After graduating, she accepted a position at Montini Catholic High School in Lombard, Illinois, where she served as Campus Minister, retreat director, instructor of Theology and Chairperson of the Theology Department for eight of her nine years at the school. After her move to Illinois, she attended Holy Transfiguration Antiochian Church in Wheaton, Illinois where she was formally received into the Orthodox faith and chrismated on Theophany 1998. When the parish moved, she attended Saint Joseph Church in Wheaton, Illinois. Having paid her school loans, she resigned her position at the high school in 2006 to return to a normative monastic life at Holy Myrrhbearers Monastery in Otego, New York. In May of 2008 Bishop Tikhon of the Diocese of Eastern Pennsylvania received Mother Alexandra as a schemanun.

Mother Alexandra is named after Alexander, one of the Holy 40 Martyrs of Sebaste and her name’s day is March 9.

She can also be reached by email at motheralexandra at gmail.com.