New Church

Nativity of our Lord Monastery seeks your financial support for the construction of  Byzantine style church on its property in Kemp, Texas. This Church will serve both the monastic community and the Orthodox faithful throughout the North Texas area and its neighboring states by providing a worship space large enough to accommodate the congregations that visit the monastery for festal liturgies and retreats and for the funerals of those to be buried at St. Xenia cemetery on the monastery grounds. The present chapel in the monastic residence has been serving these needs to date, but many must stand outside in order to participate. A separate church building is needed.

The late Archbishop Dmitri founded Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Monastery for women monastics on November 15, 2000. Originally the monastery was located in rented apartment in the city. This arrangement proved unsuitable for monastic life and the community become inactive in 2002. In 2009 the current property was located in Kaufman county, Texas, and the monastic community was reactivated by Archbishop Dmitri and the then Metropolitan of OCA, Jonah. The site had been the home of a Mennonite family and consisted of 12.45 acres of land, a large farmhouse and a pole barn. IN the first year orthodox faithful from the North Texas area donated their time and treasure to convert the farmhouse into an appropriate monastic residence with a chapel, workrooms and a refectory on the first floor and monastic cells on the second. IN the subsequent years a cemetery for the faithful and their families has been established o three acres of the grounds and the pole barn has been converted into a retreat center with a hall that can accommodate up to 150 adults comfortably for a presentation and meal. The first floor also houses a large kitchen, a room for teh production of beeswax candles, an office, bathrooms and a guest bedroom. Upstairs there are two additional bedrooms and a bathroom for women who wish to make a personal retreat. 

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Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Monastery in the brief time it has been located in kemp Texas has become a vital resource for the orthodox parishes of all jurisdictions in the surrounding vicinity., This is especially true for the women and woman's organizations within those parishes. The sisters of community have hosted a number of women's retreats, retreats with visiting speakers for the orthodox community in general, as well as board retreats for parishes. 

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We invite you to participate in the invaluable work of the monastery by your financial support of our next major project, the construction of the church. Please see below the renderings of the future church, estimated to cost approximately $900,000 to build and another $248,000 for the iconography and furnishings. We look forward to your response to this invitation. 

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Mother Barbara,

Abbess of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ Monastery

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