The Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial
Monastery of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou was founded in 1972 by
His Excellency Metropolitan Paisios of Tyana.
The monastery is located in the heart of
Astoria and named in honor of Irene of Capadocia, wonderworking abbess of a 9th
century AD monastery called Chrysovalantou. During this holy mother's reign, the
fame of Chrysovalantou reached the corners of the earth, as Irene, a woman of
unparallel physical and spiritual beauty, relentlessly guided her spiritual
daughters to Paradise.
In its original form, the monastery
consisted of roughly forty square feet of space in a basement of a house located
where the holy shrine of St. Irene sits today. At present day, with our holy
mother's blessing, the monastery itself is located in a 3-floor monastic complex on Ditmars Blvd, the shrine of St. Irene on 23rd avenue soars over
forty feet high and the monastery's main offices are located across the street
from the shrine. In addition, the monastery has over nine thousand annual
members, eleven
dependencies, two publications, a day care center, kindergarten, Sunday school
and Greek school.
The name "Sacred Patriarchal and
Stavropegial Monastery" was not chosen by chance and has a very important
meaning. It's "Sacred" because, above and beyond everything else, the
monastery's main purpose is to serve as a place of veneration. The monastery is
"Patriarchal" because it is under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople. The word "Stavropegial" is derived from the
Greek compound words "Stavros", meaning Cross and "Pigi", meaning Source
or Foundation. Therefore, in more ways than one, the monastery has the Cross,
the single most important symbol of Christianity, at its foundation.
Why in more ways than one?
Firstly, the Cross, symbolizes the self-sacrifice of
Christ our savior, for through our Lord’s crucifixion we were granted eternal
life. Therefore, The Cross is the one symbol that represents not only Christ’s
triumph over death but, through Him as our creator and giver of life, ours as
well. For this reason, The Cross is the single most important symbol of
Christianity. It's the symbol upon which every liturgy, every prayer and every
one of our Church's Holy Sacraments begins and ends. Therefore, in this sense, the monastery of
Saint Irene is Stavropegial because indeed the Cross is the source upon which
the monastery operates.
Secondly, the Cross is
located at the source (foundation) of the monastery literally. Just as the Cross
is located at the root or foundation of our lives as Christians, and so it is
that a portion of our Lord Jesus Christ's Holy Cross was planted at the
foundation of the monastery when it was being built.
