St. Barbara Monastery (Santa Paula, California)

St. Barbara Monastery is a monastic community for women in the Diocese of the West in the Orthodox Church in America. The monastery is located in Santa Barbara, California. The community was founded in 1992 under the auspices of His Grace Bishop Tikhon of San Francisco and the West in downtown Santa Barbara, and then, in 1999, moved 10 miles north.

The community consists of women living the monastic tradition of a Christ-centered prayer life for the monastic members. To support the community the nuns produce icon magnets, notecards, greeting cards, as well as through writing, teaching, and operating a small bookstore.

Mother Melania (previously Sister Elayne), who was recently tonsured a little schema (Gr. stavrophor) nun, is one of the more active members of there community. She has participated as a guest speaker at various retreats, authored poetry and books and acted as guest presenter of podcasts and lectures for Ancient Faith Radio. Her books are published by Conciliar Press and include: "The Twelve Great Feasts for Children" (ISBN-10: 1888212411), "The 3-Day Pascha Series" and "The Passions: How we get into this mess and how we get out".

Some of her more prominent presentations include:

• January 26, 2008 - "Monastic Spirituality in Everyday Life", St. Matthew Antiochian Orthodox Church.
• August 8, 2007 - Project Mexico "Orthodox Basic Training Week"
• April, 2005 - The 29th Annual Southern Californian Diocesan Antiochian Women's Spring Retreat.

Daily Life

St. Barbara Monastery
Jurisdiction	West, OCA
Type	Female Monastery
Founded	1993
Superior	Abbess Victoria
Approx. size	7 nuns
Location	Santa Barbara, California
Liturgical language(s)	English
Music used	Russian Chant
Calendar	Revised Julian
Feastdays celebrated	4 Dec
Official website	none

• Daily: 7:30am - Matins

12:15pm - Sixth Hour (except when there is a Divine Liturgy)

6:00pm - Vespers

8:00pm - Compline

• Saturday: 6:00pm - Vigil
• Sunday: 8:40am Hours

9:00am Divine Liturgy

• Second Monday of the month: 7:00pm - Vespers, then gathering of the Friends of St. Barbara Monastery.

Lenten Schedule

• Daily: 7:30am - Matins

12:15pm - Sixth Hour

• Mon, Tue, Thu: 4:00pm - Vespers

6:00pm - Compline

• Wed, Fri: 4:00pm - Presanctified Liturgy

7:00pm - Compline

• Sat: 6:00pm - Vigil
• Sun: 8:40am - Hours

9:00am Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great

External links

• OCA Listing of Monastery
• Orthodox Monasteries of North America directory listing
• Photos of 2005 feastday celebrations.