On Friday, March 27, the feast of Venerable Benedict of Nursia, the father of Western monasticism, Rassophore Monks David and Aaron made their life vows and were tonsured into the Lesser Schema by Abbot Gabriel (Hooten) in Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV.
The tonsure of a new monk is a second baptism and a renewed beginning of life in Christ for the one being tonsured. For the other members of the brotherhood, it is a call to renew their first zeal for Christ, while for the junior members in particular, it is a vivid illustration of the taking upon oneself of the good and light yoke of our Savior, to which they are also invited.
The tonsure service began on Friday evening after Matins with the Akathist to the Theotokos, with the brotherhood processing from the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross to the Church of St. Panteleimon. The candidates for tonsure, clothed in white baptismal robes, were then brought in by their monastic brethren. After making several prostrations, they stood before Fr. Gabriel, who proceeded to question and instruct them regarding the vows. With the cruciform cutting of their hair, they were given new names and then clothed in the full monastic habit. Fr. David became Monk George, in honor of the Holy Great Martyr & Trophy-Bearer George. Fr. Aaron became Monk Ambrose, in honor of Venerable Ambrose of Optina (as well as Br. Jose Muñoz-Cortés, who was given the name of Ambrose in his own monastic tonsure).
In the customary exhortation given by the abbot during the tonsure service, Fr. Gabriel spoke about the providential aspect of that day’s divine services for the tonsures. At Vespers, the Old Testament reading had recounted the call of God to Abraham to offer his only son Isaac as a sacrifice (Genesis 22). The festal service to the Mother of God later that evening was a reminder that she had not only been likewise called to offer up her Son like Abraham, but that she also did so in actual fact (cf. Luke 2:34-35) – and that this sacrifice ultimately became, for her and for us all, a cause of the most supreme joy imaginable in the Resurrection of her Son. In the same way, each and every sacrifice made by a monk to God becomes the seeds of an eternal and unspeakable joy which the world cannot possibly comprehend.
Fr. Gabriel therefore urged the newly tonsured fathers henceforth to offer their own lives as a whole-burnt offering to Christ, to help fill up the angelic ranks that had once been abandoned by the fallen angels. By doing so, they will truly be able to sing, "Rejoice, thou who revealest the life of the angels" (Akathist to the Theotokos, Ecos 7).
Please pray for Frs. George and Ambrose, that they might fulfill this high calling to the glory of God and the salvation of their souls.
