Photo: Vladimir Grygorenko

Over the last few weeks I have had the pleasure of overhauling Vladimir Grygorenko’s Iconography website. Vladimir is an accomplished world class Orthodox Iconographer who came to the United States to paint St. Seraphim’s Cathedral in Dallas, Tx. Since his time in the US he has painted many icons and churches including my own church Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church in Bixby, Ok.

Vladimir is a joy to work with and his work (murals here) is simply stunning. Not only is encountering his work inspirational it is a deeply spiritual and prayerful experience. It has been a joy to worship in a church filled with Vladimir’s work and now it has been a joy to design his new website.

Please check out the before and after screenshots below and visit his new website at www.orthodox-icon.com.

As many of you know (and have been praying for me; thanks!), last week I embarked on my first trip to an Orthodox monastery. Many of the OCA priests in the Diocese of the South love and are loved by the monks at Holy Archangels Greek Orthodox Monastery in Kendalia Texas, and thus many recommended that this monastery be the first one that I should travel to.

The monastery is located in the beautiful heart of Texas hill country about 70 miles southwest of Austin. They have ~140 acres of land and are currently constructing a new monastery complex which can only be described as “epic” and “breathtaking.”

One of the first things I noticed when I arrived was the deafening silence. It was so quiet that my ears hurt for the first few days because they were not use to the lack of sound pressure on them. This atmosphere along with amazingly docile wildlife (dear would come right up to you), and incredibly beautiful night skies created a majestic scene which fostered great peace and great prayer. Coupled along with warm and friendly monks, beautiful and intimate early morning liturgies, long prayerful walks, and good hard manual labor, I for the first time found myself in a place where I could put away all the thoughts and worries of modern life and just pray. It was quite amazing and refreshing!

In fact, I believe it was the first vacation I have ever taken where I felt completely rested. Usually when I arrive home from a trip I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. But this trip proved to be just the opposite. As an example: I walked around the grounds for 2 hours after I said my goodbyes to the monks merely because I really did not want to leave such a wonderful place. Even more, for the first 30 minutes after leaving the monastery I had to wage an internal ware on whether or not I would turn the car around. If it was not for prior engagements in Dallas that day I’m not sure if I would have had the willpower to leave.

Nevertheless I truly enjoyed my stay and I look forward to my next visit. Please enjoy some pictures from the monastery.

Note: I took pictures right before leaving and could not gain access to any of the chapels during that time, so pictures from the most breathtaking parts of the monastery were not included below. Sorry. ;)

Today Negnet Solutions launched a redesign website for Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church in Tulsa, Ok. This site has been completely re-worked both in its graphic design as well as its content. It offers full web 2.0 features including RSS feeds and animated picture galleries.

Holy Apostles Orthodox is a wonderful growing church in the Tulsa community. It is affiliated with the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) under the Diocese of the South and Archbishop DMITRI.

Please check out the site at holyapostlesorthodox.org: