Our Story
who we are
We serve Orthodox Christians of all ethnic backgrounds and all cultural traditions. Many Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian, Moldovan, Serbian and Greek Orthodox Christians (among others) regularly attend services at the Monastery. Orthodox faithful of all backgrounds come here for weddings, baptisms, and other sacramental blessings. Elegant dining space and a covered portico are available for receptions. Spiritual retreats have been held here by Orthodox Christians of all jurisdictions.
The Fathers do their utmost to make every visitor feel that their monastic dwelling is a spiritual home to anyone who comes to them for spiritual nourishment. Holy Cross Monastery has many friends and supporters who are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and from other non-Christian backgrounds. A variety of groups have held seminars and conferences here. Everyone is welcome in this haven of God’s grace and embrace.
Holy Cross Monastery exists as a haven of spiritual tranquility, tolerance and kindness, not only for the local owls, wild turkeys, deer, foxes, and raccoons, but for all who come to partake of the Monastery's peace and befriend the Fathers. The beauty and harmony of the Monastery and its environs speak for themselves—and speak to the soul and heart of anyone who loves God, humankind, and nature.
Our Lord said: "Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). In this tumultuous and tempestuous world, the Lord has few places in which to lay His holy head. Monasteries provide the Lord with sanctuaries of calm and quietude, where He can rest His holy head and where those who seek Him and love Him can embrace Him. God resides and dwells among us here at Holy Cross Monastery, where the monks strive and struggle in their imperfect way
The clergy of our monastery serve in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) under the omophorion of the bishop of the Bulgarian Diocese of Toledo, Ohio. Services are usually celebrated in the languages best understood by those worshipping with the Fathers, who can celebrate services in Romanian, Church Slavonic (“Old Bulgarian”), Greek, or English.
The Fathers do their utmost to make every visitor feel that their monastic dwelling is a spiritual home to anyone who comes to them for spiritual nourishment. Holy Cross Monastery has many friends and supporters who are Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and from other non-Christian backgrounds. A variety of groups have held seminars and conferences here. Everyone is welcome in this haven of God’s grace and embrace.
Holy Cross Monastery exists as a haven of spiritual tranquility, tolerance and kindness, not only for the local owls, wild turkeys, deer, foxes, and raccoons, but for all who come to partake of the Monastery's peace and befriend the Fathers. The beauty and harmony of the Monastery and its environs speak for themselves—and speak to the soul and heart of anyone who loves God, humankind, and nature.
Our Lord said: "Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Matthew 8:20). In this tumultuous and tempestuous world, the Lord has few places in which to lay His holy head. Monasteries provide the Lord with sanctuaries of calm and quietude, where He can rest His holy head and where those who seek Him and love Him can embrace Him. God resides and dwells among us here at Holy Cross Monastery, where the monks strive and struggle in their imperfect way
The clergy of our monastery serve in the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) under the omophorion of the bishop of the Bulgarian Diocese of Toledo, Ohio. Services are usually celebrated in the languages best understood by those worshipping with the Fathers, who can celebrate services in Romanian, Church Slavonic (“Old Bulgarian”), Greek, or English.
Early Beginnings
Holy Cross Monastery began with our Abbot, Archimandrite Theodor. He always dreamed of founding a monastery one day for the greater glory of God. In 1965, while still very young and ordained as a priest for just one year, his devout mother suddenly and unexpectedly fell asleep in the Lord. He was her only son, so his mother left her inheritance to him; knowing his holy intention to build a monastery one day.
This legacy from his mother was the seed from which Holy Cross Monastery would one day take root, but it was not enough to acquire property suitable for a monastery. So he labored in the Lord's vineyard as a parish priest until he met his first disciple (now known as Father Stephen) in 1970.
After this young man shared with him his zeal to pursue the monastic life, he asked Father Theodor if there were any monasteries located in the San Francisco Bay Area; because he wished to live in one while pursuing his education at a university.
Archimandrite Theodor explained that there were very few Orthodox monasteries in North America at that time. Moreover in 1970, all the traditionally Orthodox nations of the world except Greece were languishing under either communist or Islamic rule.
“The days when emperors, tsars, or kings will build monasteries for us are past,” he said. “If we want a monastery, we shall have to build one ourselves.”
So he asked the future Father Stephen, if he would be interested in helping him build a monastery. It was then, in 1970, that they first made their holy vow that one day, by the grace of God, they would build a monastery together dedicated to the Holy Cross.
This legacy from his mother was the seed from which Holy Cross Monastery would one day take root, but it was not enough to acquire property suitable for a monastery. So he labored in the Lord's vineyard as a parish priest until he met his first disciple (now known as Father Stephen) in 1970.
After this young man shared with him his zeal to pursue the monastic life, he asked Father Theodor if there were any monasteries located in the San Francisco Bay Area; because he wished to live in one while pursuing his education at a university.
Archimandrite Theodor explained that there were very few Orthodox monasteries in North America at that time. Moreover in 1970, all the traditionally Orthodox nations of the world except Greece were languishing under either communist or Islamic rule.
“The days when emperors, tsars, or kings will build monasteries for us are past,” he said. “If we want a monastery, we shall have to build one ourselves.”
So he asked the future Father Stephen, if he would be interested in helping him build a monastery. It was then, in 1970, that they first made their holy vow that one day, by the grace of God, they would build a monastery together dedicated to the Holy Cross.
How we Flourished
It took the monks nine additional years to save enough money to buy property for a monastery; and then, with the blessing of their diocesan bishop in 1979, they purchased property that would eventually be consecrated as Holy Cross Monastery. The monks have performed most of the labor that has transfigured this rustic rural property into a frontier of Paradise.
They have stacked every stone in their retaining walls and planted the trees in the cloister precincts. The majestic Redwood trees that tower behind cross shrine were planted by the Fathers themselves from one-gallon cans in 1980—during the first summer following their arrival here.
In 2000, God sent a young subdeacon and seminary graduate, now known as Father Peter, to join them and help them. Since that time the three of them have affectionately become known to friends of the monastery as "The Three Monksketeers."
They have stacked every stone in their retaining walls and planted the trees in the cloister precincts. The majestic Redwood trees that tower behind cross shrine were planted by the Fathers themselves from one-gallon cans in 1980—during the first summer following their arrival here.
In 2000, God sent a young subdeacon and seminary graduate, now known as Father Peter, to join them and help them. Since that time the three of them have affectionately become known to friends of the monastery as "The Three Monksketeers."
For current and recent photos of Holy Cross Monastery and other photos of interest, please see our photo albums on our official Facebook Page.
These photos and everything else on our official "Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery" Facebook page are visible to everyone, even if you are not a member of Facebook.
For those of you who are, please click the "Like" button on our official page to show your support for the monastery!
These photos and everything else on our official "Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery" Facebook page are visible to everyone, even if you are not a member of Facebook.
For those of you who are, please click the "Like" button on our official page to show your support for the monastery!
Monks Have Supported Themselves in the Past
Holy Cross Monastery exists by the grace of God, the hard work of its monastic brotherhood, and the kind generosity of its friends and supporters. From the time of its initial formation in 1970 until 2012, the founding fathers of the monastery strove to be self-supporting. In addition to donating the entire legacy he received from his deceased mother, the founding abbot of the monastery, Archimandrite Theodor, served as a parish priest for many years and donated the stipend he earned to support the monastery for decades. From 1998 until 2013, his disciple and successor as the monastery's superior, Father Stephen, worked at a major Silicon Valley law firm and also donated his salary to support the monastery. This professional income that was donated enabled the monastery to acquire additional properties, expand, and develop the monastery in ways and to an extent that only God could have made possible.
But in 2013, Father Stephen's position was unexpectedly eliminated by his employer as a cost-saving measure. So having reached retirement age, Fr. Stephen resumed his cloistered monastic life at the monastery. This was actually God's hand at work, however, because just a month after his resumption of the monastic life full-time, our founding abbot was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Fr. Stephen, Fr. Peter and the monastery's brotherhood became Father Theodor's caregivers over the next year and more until Archimandrite Theodor eventually fell asleep in the Lord on June 17, 2014 and, thanks to special legislation sponsored by California's Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, he was interred here at the monastery on June 21, 2014.
But in 2013, Father Stephen's position was unexpectedly eliminated by his employer as a cost-saving measure. So having reached retirement age, Fr. Stephen resumed his cloistered monastic life at the monastery. This was actually God's hand at work, however, because just a month after his resumption of the monastic life full-time, our founding abbot was diagnosed with incurable cancer. Fr. Stephen, Fr. Peter and the monastery's brotherhood became Father Theodor's caregivers over the next year and more until Archimandrite Theodor eventually fell asleep in the Lord on June 17, 2014 and, thanks to special legislation sponsored by California's Senate Majority Leader Ellen Corbett, he was interred here at the monastery on June 21, 2014.
Our Monastery Now Needs Your Support
So although friends and supporters have contributed generously in the past to help support the Fathers' holy work, our monastery always strove over the first 42 years of its history to be primarily self-supporting, so as not to pose a burden on others. The monks rarely sent out appeals for donations and never even passed a collection plate in their monastery chapel. Whatever friends, supporters, and visitors ever donated of their own free will to help the monastery was gratefully and humbly accepted by its monks and used for the glory of God.
Since 2012, however, our monastery has entered a new phase, when your support is not only important but crucial. The monks of our monastery no longer venture out into the world to earn a livelihood, but now focus their efforts entirely on the monastery itself, where they lead contemplative and cloistered monastic lives, devoting themselves to the prayer, work, and study that monks have traditionally practiced for centuries. Today, the monastery's primary sources of support are Fr. Stephen's social security check and the kind generosity of its friends and supporters. So if you love Holy Cross Monastery, please help the monks continue their holy work here. Your kind generosity to those striving to lead the angelic life offers you an opportunity to share in the life of angels and receive their reward (cf. Matt. 10:41).
Since 2012, however, our monastery has entered a new phase, when your support is not only important but crucial. The monks of our monastery no longer venture out into the world to earn a livelihood, but now focus their efforts entirely on the monastery itself, where they lead contemplative and cloistered monastic lives, devoting themselves to the prayer, work, and study that monks have traditionally practiced for centuries. Today, the monastery's primary sources of support are Fr. Stephen's social security check and the kind generosity of its friends and supporters. So if you love Holy Cross Monastery, please help the monks continue their holy work here. Your kind generosity to those striving to lead the angelic life offers you an opportunity to share in the life of angels and receive their reward (cf. Matt. 10:41).