Despina: First of all, I want to thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with the readers of the St. Nina Quarterly. The question which always comes to mind is how did you choose the monastic life?

Come to me, all you that labor and are burdened; I will give you rest. . . . Learn from me: I am gentle and humble of heart; . . . my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Mt. 10:28–30).

Thus, the Lord Christ calls us to come to Him and find rest from the daily pressures of our times. We have, nevertheless, to accept the fact of the yoke—the cross that we must pick up to follow Him. The burden need not be beyond our strength, for He is gentle and, in His humbleness of heart, He asks us no more than we can bear, but what we give must be given whole heartedly, with nothing held back.

There is no mistaking real holiness; it is what Jesus was talking about when He said that those who drink of the living water shall never thirst again. Once you have met a holy person, it takes only a minute to restore a sense of peace into your day by remembering them. 

My dear family,

I am writing with some very good news to share—next month I will be tonsured to the little schema. The abbess and the elders have decided it is the time for me to take my vows and become a full nun. This is very exciting for me, as it is something I have long hoped for. It is in truth a wedding, and as with any wedding, it is both the culmination of years spent in developing a relationship as well as the beginning of a new life.