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*1980 January: Fr [[Anastasy (Newcombe)|John Newcombe]] was assigned to be acting rector of the closest OCA parish to campus (St Nicholas Church in Saratoga). He welcomed the students warmly to his parish, and was a decisive influence on Gordon and his future decision to embrace monasticism. Fr John guided Gordon's catechism.
*1980: Gordon met Bp [[Mark (Schaviakin) of Ladoga]] in early 1980 at St Nicholas Cathedral (Moscow Patriarchate) - the same who had tonsured James Paffhausen a reader for Our Lady of Kazan Church, San Diego. He also was very welcoming, giving a way to enter the Church and teaching about the Church and monasticism (particularly his experience at Valaam monastery). On April 7, Gordon was received into the Church.
*1980 Summer: Fr John invited Gordon and James to stay at [[Holy Assumption Monastery (Calistoga, California)|Holy Assumption Monastery]] for two months. They helped with cleaning & restoring the convent, with the outlook of founding a monastery for Americans - this became Gordon's dream over the summer. They also took trips to Kazan Icon Skete in Santa Rosa, where he met Archim. [[Dimitri (Egoroff)]].
*1980 Jul 6: Gordon and James visited [[St. Herman of Alaska Monastery (Platina, California)|St Herman of Alaska Monastery]]. Gordon and James were able to speak to Hieromonk [[Seraphim (Rose)]] about monasticism and their plans for the monastic life, and to Abbot [[Herman (Podmoshensky)]] about activities, prayers and talks on campus.
*1980 Sep: Gordon began studying the Russian language, wanting to understand services and sermons and to communicate with older parishioners who had a lifetime of experience in Orthodoxy.
*1981 May 15: Hmk Seraphim (Rose) was invited to address a World Religions class. This proved to be a pivotal talk for a number of people, including Gordon, James, [[Seraphim Cardoza|Marion Cardoza]], [[Daniel Ogan]], [[Damascene (Christensen)|John Christensen]] and [[James Corraza]]. The talk was widely distributed, and was made into a book in 1988 (as 'God's Revelation to the Human Heart').
*1981 July: With Fr John (now Hmk Anastasy) having moved to Oregon, a disdain towards the direction that Latin American Studies was going in, and his pull towards the monastic life, Gordon chose to move to Oregon. He drove Archim. Dimitri (Egoroff) from Santa Barbara to Santa Rosa.
*1981 July 28: Gordon reached St Herman of Alaska Monastery, intending to continue on to establish monastic life under Hmk Anastasy's guidance after helping to prepare the 1981 summer pilgrimage. He stayed there for quite some time, as Hmk Anastasy had not made arrangements for him in Portland. After more time passed, he asked Hmk Anastasy's blessing to stay at Platina - which he gave reluctantly.
*1981 Nov: Gordon petitioned to be accepted as a novice.
*1981 Dec 25: Gordon was clothed as a novice. His obediences included cooking, cleaning, cutting firewood, helping in construction projects and making elementary repairs.
*1982 Spring: Br Gordon began building a new set of cells. He also began to assist with research for monastery publications and work on monastery publications.
*1982 Sep 2: Hmk Seraphim (Rose) reposed in hospital, an event that devastated Br Gordon. They returned to the monastery on September 3 with Fr Seraphim's body. Abbot Herman planned for Br Gordon to be tonsured a reader, but Br Gordon asked to be tonsured a monk - which he was, named for St Gerasimus of the Jordan (and in honour of Archim. [[Gerasim (Schmaltz)]]).
*Fr Gerasim began to detect
