On Sunday the 18th and Monday the 19th of August, the brethren of Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV celebrated the great feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.

Following All-Night Vigil on Sunday evening, monastery abbot Archimandrite Seraphim (Voepel) administered the monastic vows to Rassaphore-Monk Theophan (Matthews) and tonsured him into the Lesser Schema, giving him as his first monastic obedience the new name of Ignatius, in honor of the Holy Hierarch Ignatius (Brianchaninov) of the Caucasus.

The abbot offered words of inspiration to the new monk, wishing him God’s aid in the bearing of his monastic cross.