Every Good Deed

The Orthodox nuns of Saint Maria Skobtsova's monastery have been providing end of life care for Bishop John. Now, that he has reposed in the Lord, their duty is to see that he has a Christian burial. But burying a bishop is by no means a simple thing, under the best of circumstances. Between the dynamics of dealing with the Bishops who have come to bury their brother bishop, the vast number of people expected for the funeral, the normal level of drama coming from the nuns' medical work in their clinics on the grounds of the monastery, the resignation and replacement of their chaplain, and taking in three new novice nuns, this has proven to be one very long week in which the nuns have to keep reminding themselves that, as Saint Seraphim of Sarov taught, every good deed done for Christ's sake is a means by which they can acquire the Holy Spirit.