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The Chapel of Saint John the Theologian

The Chapel of Saint John the Theologian in the first sunlight of a new day.

Nativity of the Virgin Mary

The chapel at Bostane is dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary. A card on the wall, for the benefit of the chanter, gives the dismissal hymn for the feast in beautiful calligraphy. A spot of beeswax keeps the nail from pulling out of the plaster wall.

Thy Nativity, O Theotokos, hath proclaimed […]

Leaven

Three tablespoons of starter are stirred into water, and flour is added to make a paste. Overnight, the starter develops and turns the whole into leaven, ready for making prosphora the next morning.

Ἄλλην παραβολὴν ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς· Ὁμοία ἐστὶν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ζύμῃ ἣν λαβοῦσα γυνὴ ἐνέκρυψεν εἰς ἀλεύρου σάτα τρία ἕως οὗ […]

Prosphora

With the monastery temporarily closed to visitors, we no longer have pilgrims bringing us durum flour (ἀλεύρι κίτρινο) from Greece. I now make natural yeast (sourdough) prosphora with white flour and twenty-six percent whole wheat flour that we mill ourselves, using a small table top stone ground mill.

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Behind the Kitchen

The morning sun on ancient beams in the area behind the kitchen.