The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist

It was a joy to visit The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist today together with my friend Tim Harrold. We were grateful to Fr Andrew for his hospitality and information as we were shown around.

The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, (also known as Community of Saint John the Baptist) is a monastic community which was founded in 1959 by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1896-1993). On 27 November 2019, Archimandrite Sophrony was added to the list of Saints by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. His Feast Day is on the day of his repose, the 11 of July. The Monastery is situated in Tolleshunt Knights near Tiptree, in the United Kingdom. It belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, and is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.

During the first decades after the community had moved to England, the building and decorating of the churches of the monastery required much of his prayer and attention. After having abandoned painting for many years, he began to paint icons and frescos for the new places of worship. He strove to express the Face of Christ which had been revealed to him in the Light. However, he was never satisfied with his work and often adjusted and repainted the icons of Christ he had created.

Art has the ability to touch that inner part of man and convey directly a creative experience and response difficult to express in words. It was the life long vocation of Saint Sophrony to offer this living experience through art. His artistic training had its roots in both Imperial and Soviet Russia where as a young student, he was influenced by the writings of Kandinsky on the spiritual in art. It was the spiritual life that called him ever more strongly and after working as a portrait and landscape artist in Paris, Father Sophrony abandoned his painting to become a monk on Mount Athos.

Sister Gabriela joined the Community of Saint John the Baptist in 1983 after studying iconography in Paris on Saint Sophrony’s insistence. She was part of the team which was painting the murals of Saint Silouan’s Chapel and worked closely with the saint. After the mural work, Saint Sophrony continued to teach her the art of icon painting, and she assisted him in some larger works. Her work includes a series of large icons created for Chelmsford Cathedral.

On the 3rd of December 1985, while Sister Gabriela and Father Sophrony were working on the murals in the chapel of St Silouan, Father Sophrony told her: “Later, you have to write a book about our experiences; which colours were used, the mistakes you made and so on.” Thirty three years later she set herself to the task and dealt with the time of her apprenticeship as a story, copied out from her notes and adding a few explanatory notes. Failures & Discoveries: Notes from an icon workshop is the book she wrote.

Since Saint Sophrony’s repose, to the extent that she has been able to understand them, Sister Gabriela has tried to further his vision and ideas in various artistic projects. This includes painting the icons and murals for the round chapel which was completed earlier this year. 

As Saint Sophrony’s mind was always very creative, he had many ideas about how to create a space for the celebration of the Liturgy. In 1992, he made a plan to build a round chapel and supervised the construction of a model which specified all the various dimensions as well as the exact location. Whilst at the time it was not possible to fulfil the project, its realisation came thirty years later. Initially, Saint Sophrony had wanted to dedicate the chapel to the Holy Trinity; but when he himself was numbered amongst the saints, it was decided to change the plan and name the chapel after our founding Father. 

The Monastery has not written a history, but the books written by Saint Sophrony and members of his Community provide an insight into the spiritual basis of its life. These books are on sale at the Monastery’s bookshop in Tolleshunt Knights, as well as online.

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John Tavener - Ikon Of Light.