The last Monday in May—Memorial Day in the United States—has become a day where volunteers gather to help clean up the cemetery and beautify the convent grounds at the Novo-Diveevo Convent. Rain had been falling for days, continuing into the morning of the event. Despite this, 60 volunteers—including parishioners, pilgrims, and members of neighboring parishes—gathered for this good cause.
Following the Divine Liturgy— (celebrated daily at Novo-Diveevo, a significant practice rarely found elsewhere in America)—a prater service before the start of good deed was held. Each participant venerated the convent’s icon: the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, which had belonged to the last Elders of Optina. The glass case encasing the icon was opened for the occasion, and the priest anointed everyone with holy myrrh from the Hawaiian Iveron Icon of the Mother of God.
Breakfast was served in the refectory, and the weather began to improve; the rain gradually stopped, and the sun broke through.
More than 60 volunteers separated into three groups. One group took down dead trees and branches and cleared away the accumulated winter debris around the cemetery. A second group cleaned and landscaped the area around the church, trimming shrubbery and planting flowers along the church grounds’ perimeter. A third group repaired and painted wooden crosses on graves in one of the oldest sections of the cemetery, where burials date back to the 1960s. A large area of the cemetery was cleared, and 84 grave crosses were repaired and painted.
After the work was done, everyone was invited to the monastery settlement, where a group of additional volunteers had already set the tables and prepared a magnificent spread—featuring all kinds of salads, soup and barbecue.
A varied dessert table was also laid out for the children, who had also taken an active part in the volunteer day. Following a communal prayer, the gathering turned into friendly conversations over the meal. By the evening, the people—united by a good cause and having found like-minded companions—reluctantly said their goodbyes until the fall, looking forward to the next volunteer day at our convent.
