Men’s Purity Weekend
First Annual Men’s Purity Weekend
July 15-17, 2022
A few Men gathered from
all over the U.S. to spend
time together sharing
strategies for living as
men of purity in a culture
of spiritual darkness.
We listened to readings of St. Paisios the Athonite on “Work and the Spiritual Life” and “On Our Times” Both can be found on youtube. The notes to go with them are below: On Our Times-St.Paisios
***Please keep in mind that this message was shared by St. Paisios in the 1980’s or before. How much further have we come since then? So, listen with keen ears to the Saint’s words, and know that what he says is even more true today.
Important Quotes
· The spirit of lukewarmness Reigns.
· There is no manliness at all.
· We have been spoiled for good.
· How does God still tolerate us.
· There are no warriors.
· The great majority are fit for only parades and feasts.
· Godlessness and blasphemy are allowed to appear on the television [and the computer/internet] and the Church is silent and does not excommunicate the Blasphemers. And they need to be excommunicated.
· We have to witnesses our Faith Boldness…to resist evil.
· A lukewarm Clergy lull people to sleep.
· … in their false kindness they say, “We mustn’t expose heretics in their delusions, so as to show our love for them.
· Today’s people are water soluble.
· Spiritual Meekness is one thing. Softness and indifference are quite another.
· Our goal is to live an Orthodox life.
· Not just to speak or write Orthodox.
Question: Do you speak Orthodox, orthodox theology?
How do you live?
I mean how do you live when no one else is around you?
· To think like an Orthodox is easy!
But to live an Orthodox life takes effort.
· God expects patience, prayer, and struggle from us.
· If you want to help the Church try to mend your ways and not others.
· Today’s people attend to everything under the sun; only not to themselves. Because it is easy to teach others while mending one’s own ways requires effort.
· We must always ask ourselves, “Why do I want to say what I’m about to say. What is motivating me? Do I really care about my neighbor? Or do I just want to show him how wonderful I am? To show off a bit.
· He who throws words around carelessly, even true words, does evil.
· Wakefulness and sobriety are needed.
· Difficult years are ahead of us.
· Apostasy is upon us.
· The most we can suffer is martyrdom.
· Some modern priests diaper their congregation to keep them from getting upset.
· Cultivate self-sacrifice.
· You must be ready for death.
· There is no spiritual life without sacrifice.
· A kind man prefers to be killed, than to kill.
· In order to succeed in anything, one needs a wild streak, in the positive sense. He who lacks this wild streak can become neither a hero or a Saint. The heart must become uncalculating.
· Water, not blood, flows through people’s veins.
· …they are used to an easy life.
· If a person refuses to strive to become courageous, if he doesn’t strive for real love, then when a difficult situation comes he will become a laughing stock.
· The warrior takes joy in the fact that he is dying so that others don’t have to.
· Courage is born from much love, kindness, and self-sacrifice.
We listened to the lectures “On Love’s Thief and The Black Death” by Fr. Josiah Trenham. The lectures can be found at Patristicnectar.org under Theological lectures.
First Annual Men’s Purity Retreat: Review 7-26-22
From Steven R. Mitchell, II
Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church’s first Annual Men’s Purity Retreat can be summarized as an absolute success. The event was held on Mr. Larry Eden’s property that is right next to the Mitchell farm. The camp site is situated in a picturesque location right next to the large spring feed creek called Center Creek. The camp site was in a treed area that had been cleaned up; all the grass and brush had been trimmed. There were three fire rings built which held camp fires each night. There were also oil torches used to illuminate the evenings.
The event started at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, July 15, and ran through Sunday afternoon, July 17. There were several reader services. Friday evening there was a Vespers service in the Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church chapel; followed by supper. Then a Small Compline Service. This was followed by a testimony by Paisios Sundin around the campfire, who shared his journey towards a consistent life of purity. Saturday morning started out with community morning prayers, then 40 minutes of quiet Bible reading and meditation. Then a large pancake, scrambled egg, fried potato, and coffee breakfast was cooked and served at the campsite. The men did the cleanup most of the meals, though there was some help by the ladies of the church after a few of the meals. Saturday night, all the men attended the Vespers/Matins readers service in the Chapel of the Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church. This was followed by a very hearty Lasagna and salad supper with homemade ice-cream for dessert. Then Alexei Carson from Pittsburg, PA shared his testimony and some thoughts regarding purity, pornography, and masturbation. The night ended very late for some who stayed up visiting well past 2 a.m. Sunday morning, 6:15 A.M. wake up call. Then we all went to the 7:30 AM Typica reader service at the Chapel followed by a community breakfast including both the attendees of the retreat and the congregation of the Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church. If was a very nice time of fellowship. Several of the men had to leave early so we moved up our last meeting so all could be a part. Some said goodbyes then. Those who could stay longer took a couple hours of rest and then went to play in the creek. After that, we had a barbeque of hotdogs and brats. Then everyone helped with camp teardown and clean up.
The lessons included an audio message from Fr. Josiah Trenham from Patristic Nectar Publications called Love’s Thief, and The Black Death of our times. The next session was an audio recording from a writing by St. Paisios the Athonite, titled “On Our Times”. This can be found on Youtube. The following meeting was part one of going though many scriptures in the New Testament related to our life in Christ, and relating to pornography and masturbation. This was followed up by the second session of Scriptures doing the same thing. Then the last session was an open session where the men were encouraged to share what they can do to practice purity and what practical steps they need to take to get there.
We had a total of seventeen men: one from Pennsylvania, one from Indiana, one from Kansas, one from Oklahoma, and two from Portland, Oregon. The rest were from Missouri. We all had a great time. The lessons this year came from recordings of great teachers: Fr. Josiah Trenham, St. Paisios, and a recording of the Didache; plus a review of a large list of New Testament scriptures. There were many spontaneous conversations around the campfire, driven by deep questions from younger men to older men on how to live a seriously pure, traditional, Orthodox life in a world of Woke, weak, effeminate masculinity. Indeed, these men were challenged and strengthen. They began some lifelong friendships. Strong men were forged in the fire of the Word of God, sharpened by their brethren, spurred on by the messages... may the Holy Trinity continue the work in the lives of all who participated in this year’s Purity Weekend. May He allow for this work to continue long into the future.
We Need Your Feedback!
For all who came this year, we need your feedback. We were so thankful for each of the men who were able to came and make this weekend a success! We want to hear from you to see where we might be able to make improvements. After you read this letter, please take some time to compose an email back and share your thoughts with Steven and the rest of the staff who helped put this men’s event on. Please tell us what you liked about the weekend and what you would like to see changed.
I would like to share some changes that we hope to make for next year. #1. Our cooking staff is going to be an all-male team from those attending the conference. This will require a core of men to volunteer several months in advance in order to coordinate with Steven and the Staff of Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church. Also, it seems that it might be helpful if prior to the event we have participants sign up for being on the cleanup crews for specific meals. This will make it much more stream-lined, and should prevent the scenario where the same three or four guys are always doing the cleanup. We want to spread the responsibilities.
We are planning on doing the event later in the year. This year was blazing hot! So, we were considering a time of the year when it is cooler at night so that bonfires and coffee, cocoa, and hot apple cider can be enjoyed more. We are thinking of Mid-October. But, after visiting with some of the brothers, the idea of doing two events a year, one in the early spring, like Mid-March (though this would be a complete fast period being in lent) and one in mid-October. This is a good idea, but I would like to hear your ideas on the subject. When would you like the purity weekend to be held?
This event is intended to be a ‘roughing it’ kind of event. We do not want to be learning how to fight the passions, striving and contending for purity while in a Five Star resort. It is supposed to be a bit uncomfortable. But sometime in the future we would like to build a large bunk house that could sleep 12 to 24 men. Of course, tents work for now but we are thinking into the future. Would you like a bunk house or do you prefer tents. Please share your ideas on this. If this is something that gives you a strong interest let us know. We might set up a couple of special volunteer weeks or weekends where our building brother Paisios could cut out of his schedule and take a crew of volunteers and begin to build a cabin down on the edge of the property, close to the creek. Give me your feedback.
One other change we are thinking about is making the event maybe a day or a day and a half longer. This would allow more time for visiting, and more time for the manhood activities live the basics in woodworking, etc. Let us know your thoughts on this.
Some Needs:
We believe this weekend was a smashing success and we believe that next year we will have double or triple the numbers we had this year. So, we will need several things to help accommodate the expected growth.
-Six 8’ tables (these currently cost $90.00 per table at Sam’s).
-Forks, Spoons, and knives for meal times. If we had enough for 75 men, that would be fabulous.
-Cafeteria style plates (plastic or metal ones that you would see at schools). 75 of them.
-A large Rubbermaid style tool chest that we could store all the cooking and dining utensils. It needs to be very large like the ones that might go into the back of a pickup.
-Wash Basins- to wash large numbers of dishes following the meals.
-Five-gallon fresh water coolers -10.
-Dawn Dish soap.
-Ink pens.
-Notebooks.
-Computer printer paper.
-Folding Chairs for the tables-75.
-Wash rags.
-Drying Towels.
-Clothing Drying racks to hang the rags and towels up after use.
As you can see there are many needs to pull off a large men’s camping event. If you would like to contribute to this, you can purchase any of these items and send them to the address below. Or you could send a check, and designate what you would like the funds to be used towards. Ascension of Christ Orthodox Church is a 501c3 tax exempt religious organization and if you need a receipt for tax purposes, let us know and we will provide it to you.
Thank you!
To the men who came to the meeting I just want you to know that I (Steven) am praying for you. And I am so glad you were able to come. I know that if you press hard into the Orthodox Faith, do your prayers consistently, attend services faithfully, have brothers who will keep you accountable, turn off the trash on the phones and screens, and guard your eyes, you will become a holy man of God, and you will be part of those who will be responsible for once more turning the world upside down For Christ and His Kingdom- the Orthodox Church- just like in the first few centuries of the Church. Brothers! Stand strong! You can do it! The battle rages hotly all around us. Be the warrior for Christ that you were made to be!
In the Peace and Love of Christ,
Your Brother and friend,
Steven R. Mitchell, II
margoandsteve@gmail.com
P.S. Brethren,
Can you think of men who would benefit from attending such a Purity Weekend as this? How many can you think of? Two, five, ten? Well, start telling them about it, share the information that is on the Church’s website: ascensionofchristorthodoxchurchswmo.com, and get them to start planning on attending next year. You should start planning on bringing a large group of men from you church and your area. I plan on having a couple of dear Priest friends attend this upcoming year who will both be able to speak, and teach, but also counsel those who have needs. We will announce these when plans are finalized.