We are happy to share our monastic life with you. You may come for a day visit or book an overnight stay at our Guest House. You must first Request a Visit. Once we have confirmed your visit, please read this entire Visitor’s Guide as you prepare to make your pilgrimage. We look forward to seeing you. Safe travels!

Limited Accommodations

Our accommodations for guests are very limited. We have only a few rooms at our Guest House, and our small church and trapeza (dining hall) are often overcrowded. We want your visit to be as peaceful and grace-filled as possible, so we closely regulate how many guests visit the monastery at one time. This allows us to show you more personal hospitality.

Plan Ahead

Please use our Request a Visit form to schedule a day visit or an overnight stay.

For day visits, please contact us at least 24 hours in advance.

Overnight stays at our Guest House are usually booked many months in advance.

Dress Code

Please follow the Dress Code in all public areas of the monastery, including the common area of the Guest House and surrounding grounds.

• Clergy & Monastics
  • Ryassa or cassock
  • Subdeacons & Readers need to wear their cassocks only in church and at formal meals
  • Bring vestments for serving or to receive Holy Communion (see details below)
• Men
  • Long pants
  • Long-sleeved shirt
  • A short-sleeved shirt is allowed for outdoor work
  • No clothing with large words, logos, or worldly designs
  • Socks must be worn with all footwear including sandals or open-toed shoes
• Women
  • Loose-fitting, long dress
  • Long-sleeved blouse that closes to the neck
  • Head scarf
  • No makeup or perfume
  • No clothing with large words, logos, or worldly designs
  • Socks must be worn with all footwear including sandals or open-toed shoes

Work Clothes

Please bring clothes and shoes suitable for work. Your work clothes should still fulfill the Dress Code requirements above.

Daily Visiting Hours

On day visits, you may walk the grounds or take a pre-scheduled guided tour of the monastery; you may also visit the church, Gift Shop and cemeteries. In addition, day visitors may attend the evening services and have supper with the monks. Hours for day visits are as follows:

Monday	No visitors
Tuesday - Friday	2:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Saturday	10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Sunday & Feast Days	8:30 am - 1:00 pm

Monastery Gift Shop

Visitors to the Gift Shop should follow the Dress Code above. The Gift Shop is open to visitors at the following times:

Monday	No visitors
Tuesday - Friday	2:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Saturday	10:00 am - 11:30 am
Sunday	30 minutes after lunch

Guided Tours

You may take a guided tour at the times listed below; tours require an advance appointment. Please contact us 24 hours in advance. Use the Request a Visit form.

Wednesday	2:00 pm
Saturday	10:00 am

 

Overnight Stays

You may request a visit of 3 days/2 nights, from

• Tuesday to Thursday
• Friday to Sunday

Overnight guests participate in the full monastic schedule, including all services and meals—and may be asked to help the monks with their work.

Staying off Campus

You can also participate in the monastic schedule while spending nights off the monastery campus. You should still plan and request your visit in advance, with the expectation of staying for 3 days/2 nights, from

• Tuesday to Thursday
• Friday to Sunday

Local B&B

For off-campus stays, we highly recommend Gloria Adkins’ country apartment rental, which is about 10 minutes from the monastery. She prefers that you give her a call rather than booking through Airbnb.

Gloria Adkins’ B&B

304-360-1521

Monastery Check-in & Check-out

Check-in	2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Check-out	by 10:00 am

Check in at the Guestmaster’s Office right next to the belltower of our new church. Look for the green door on the left.

If this is your first time visiting the monastery, try to arrive between 2:00 and 4:00 pm so that we have time to help you understand where to go and what to do. If you have visited us before and know where your room is ahead of time, you may arrive later. The monastery gates close at 9:00 pm.

When you check out of your room, all you need to do is remove your belongings. We’ll take care of the rest.

Cost

There is no charge, but we suggest that you make donations of

• $50 per person per night
• $100 per family per night

We sincerely appreciate your help in covering the cost of your meals, utilities, and other expenses involved in your stay at the monastery.

Donations may be made in cash or by check and deposited in the donation box at the Guest House. You may also donate by credit card online or at our Gift Shop.

Clergy

Thank you for serving us and the Church! We want to serve you in return and to respect your specific needs and time constraints. We understand that you may need to reach out to us on behalf of others to facilitate visits for them for pastoral reasons. Please don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss your personal or pastoral needs related to making a retreat at our monastery—even if you have heard that our rooms are booked. We will do everything we can to help.

Clerical Vestments

If you plan to partake of Holy Communion during your stay, please bring your own vestments. Priests wear Phelonion, Epitrachilion, and Cuffs. Deacons wear their full vestments. Subdeacons and Readers do not need to bring vestments unless they require special sizes or are coming to assist with hierarchal services.

Concelebrating Clergy

If you are a clergyman and would like to serve with us, please request a blessing from your bishop first and forward his blessing to us via email. We will subsequently ask a blessing from our Bishop, Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America & New York. Please bring your own vestments, especially your own white sticharion. Please ask ahead of time what color vestments to bring.

Church Services

We expect all guests to attend all church services with the monks.

A monk will strike the wooden talanton 15 minutes before each service. The church bell is tolled slowly for 5 minutes before each service. Please arrive before the beginning of the service.

Standing during Services

Please stand reverently in the church. It is customary to sit only during the reading of the Psalter. But you may sit reverently if you need to regain strength for standing.

Where to Stand in the Church

No one may enter the Altar (Sanctuary) except Eastern Orthodox men to whom we give an explicit blessing for this purpose.

• Front section—monastic choir and Readers.
• Middle section—monks and clergy.
• Rear section—laymen (men on the right, women on the left)

Prior to the beginning of a church service, you may enter the middle section of the church from the rear in order to venerate the feast day icon if it is set in the middle of the church. Otherwise, please venerate only the icons in the lay section of the church. Outside of services times, you may venerate the icons in any part of the church except the Altar (Sanctuary).

Veneration of Icons

After the end of evening services, monks and clergy venerate the icons in the middle section of the church and then go to the Abbot or serving priest to receive a blessing. Laypeople venerate the icons in the rear section of the church and follow the monks to receive a blessing from the Abbot.

The order may be confusing at first—just get in line, be attentive, and keep up with the person in front of you. Don’t try to make bows or prostrations before every icon; just cross yourself until you learn the precise order.

If you aren’t Orthodox or don’t understand this practice and want to stay in your place, you are welcome to do so.

No Phones

Please leave your phone in your car or room during church services and meals. If you forget, we will remind you.

Children

Parents must supervise their children at all times on the monastery grounds and especially in the church. If they become noisy or unruly in their movements during church services, meals, or any common event, or at the Guest House when others are present, please take them outside or away from the activity until they are behaving properly. During church services, you may take your child to the trapeza (dining hall) for a break. There is a monitor on which you may watch the services.

Holy Communion

We serve the Divine Liturgy daily.

Only Eastern Orthodox Christians who have been to Confession within a week prior to prior to the Divine Liturgy at the monastery may partake of Holy Communion.

You should also prepare yourself for the Holy Mysteries in this manner:

• Attend the Vespers & Matins prior to the Liturgy.
• Fast from all food and drink from midnight the night before.
• Say prayers of the Rule of Preparation for Holy Communion.

How to Properly Receive Communion

Stand in line behind the monks. Come to the Chalice with your arms crossed over your chest. Open your mouth wide; close your lips on the spoon after the priest has placed the Holy Gifts in your mouth. The deacon will wipe your lips with the cloth. Then, kiss the side of the Chalice (not the priest’s hand) and step away from the Chalice. You may cross yourself before you approach the Chalice or after you step away. But do not cross yourself or try to hold the cloth once you have approached the Chalice.

Confession

If you need to make a confession, a monastery priest can hear your confession during the church services. Before your arrival or as soon as possible after your arrival, please tell the guestmaster if you need to confess. Confessions are heard in the narthex of the church.

Orthodox children younger than 7 years old do not need to confess.

Spiritual Direction

If you would like to have a personal conversation with a priest, please tell the guestmaster either before your arrival or as soon as possible after your arrival.

Monastic Candidates

If you are interested in becoming a monk, please contact our vocations director before you visit by using our Contact Form.

Privacy of the Monks

Do not enter any private buildings, rooms, or workshops.

Do not take photos of the monks without asking.

If you come to meet any of us in our offices or workshops, please knock first and say the prayer, “Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God have mercy on us.” Enter only if you hear the reply, “Amen!”

You may enter the following buildings freely during normal operating hours.

• Church (except for the Altar/Sanctuary)
• Guest House
• Gift Shop
• Library

Restrooms

You may use the restrooms in the library and next to the soap workshop. During services, you may use the restroom in the trapeza (dining hall).

Meals

We eat our meals in the trapeza (dining hall) in common and in silence, while one of the monks reads from the Lives of the Saints. Overnight visitors are welcome and expected to join us for lunch and supper, while day visitors are welcome to join us for supper only.

Supper for Day Visitors

Day visitors who join us for the evening services may also join us for supper. Please consider making a donation for the meal. There is a donation box inside the front door of the dining hall.

Breakfast

Overnight guests may eat on their own in the Guest House, at breakfast time and at other times. We do our best to keep a full stock of food and snacks at the Guest House; please feel free to help yourself to the food and beverages you find there. You may also bring your own food.

No Meat & Alcohol

Meat and alcohol are not served in the monastery and are not allowed in the Guest House.

Short Mealtimes

Because we do not speak during the meals, the meals are brief: about 20-25 minutes. If you can’t finish that quickly or need more food, don’t worry. We’ll let you finish after the monks have said the Thanksgiving Prayers.

Allergies

Although we cannot provide food tailored to special dietary needs, please let us know if you have any serious allergies to foods or other allergens. Feel free to ask if particular meals contain the allergens that affect you.

Medications

Be sure to bring your Epi-pen and other medications. Bring extra medication in case your departure is delayed.

Donations

Church Building Fund

Please consider contributing to our New Church Building Fund. We have made a lot of exciting progress on our much-needed new church and dining facility, which will allow us to host more guests. But we need your help to finish.

General Donations

Visit our Donation Page online or stop in at our Gift Shop to make a general donation. You may make donations in cash or by check, credit card, or PayPal.

Food Donations

Because our storage space is very limited and our menu is difficult to manage for a fluctuating number of guests, please consider donating to our general fund instead of bringing bulk food items. It’s better if we can purchase and store the food that we need to cook in a given week.

Olive Oil Donations

Please consider donating to our general fund instead. However, if you bring olive oil, please bring Walmart Classic Olive Oil. We use this oil in our lamps in church. Thank you!

Donations of Time & Skills

If you have certain skills or have mastered a trade that you would like to use to contribute to the monastery, please tell the guestmaster. We have only been able to continue our monastic life here thanks to the self-sacrificing generosity of many skilled people. God bless you!

Donations to Individual Monks

We are extremely grateful for all your love and support, but please do not offer donations to individual monks. We do not keep money or other goods for ourselves. We share everything in common and when we need something, we ask for it from the Superior.

Silence

We observe general silence in the monastery from 9:00 pm to 9:00 am.

In his Ascetical Homilies, St. Isaac of Syria said, “Silence is a mystery of the age to come, but words are instruments of this world.” When we keep silence, we avoid frivolous words and thoughts, and our minds are less easily distracted by external things. The silence of our mouths gives stillness to our minds and thus peace to our hearts. We begin to know ourselves and behold the image of God in our souls. We see that God has given us the obedience of cultivating the garden of the heart in order to produce His likeness in ourselves. We then understand how distracting words turn us away from this work of cultivation and lead us to passion and sin. Silence provides us with a path to the peace of Christ.

In general, it is best for guests to maintain a quiet demeanor and to speak to the monks only when they speak first. However, if you need help with something practical, feel free to ask a monk for help. 

At 9:00 pm, Sunday through Friday, a bell is tolled nine times. This marks the beginning of the nighttime silence in the monastery and at the Guest House. This nighttime silence is maintained more diligently than the general quietness of the workday because the nighttime is devoted to spiritual work. This silence is maintained until daytime work begins the next morning at 9:00 am. However, if you need something after 9:00 pm, you may quietly ask for help. 

Internet

Wireless internet is available in or near the Library between 9:00am-9:00pm. Ask the guestmaster or porter for the password to the Holy Cross Guest network.

General Restrictions

• No pets
• No smoking
• No alcohol
• No secular music (church music is allowed with headphones).
• Do not enter a monk’s cell or any rooms into which you have not been invited.
• Women are not allowed into monastic buildings after the evening services.
• Taking photographs is not allowed in the church unless we give you an explicit blessing for this purpose.

Who May Visit

The monastery is private property. The monks live here as a family. This is our home.

We welcome all visitors who come in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, visitors may be asked to leave if they come at a time when we are not receiving guests or if they do not follow the rules outlined in this Visitor’s Guide.

Directions

Map & Directions

Contact Us

For more information regarding visits, or for answers to business-related questions, please feel free to contact the monastery.