New Skete Monastery - Monks

Pray with the monks and nuns in the Orthodox tradition. The simplicity of the church and chapel along with beautiful chanting are a spiritual experience. Covid requires masks. A stop at the nuns retail shop down the road offers an opportunity to purchase their famous cheese cakes.

Accompanied gf here while she did a week of training with our dog. Beautiful location. Very peaceful and heard great things about the training. Both came home tired but excited.

A beautiful place to visit for a meditative and quiet period of reflection. Located in upstate New York, this retreat is accessible, yet remote. The brothers are friendly and welcoming and provide visitors a space to participate in daily meals, prayer and quiet meditation.

The dog breeding work is fascinating, as is the training they do. And the surrounding woods are perfect for hiking and make a peaceful retreat.

The are daily services that visitors are encouraged to join. Both the smaller chapel at the center of the driveway leading to the main building and the larger church are spectacular, filled with unique icons and beautiful architecture set against an intense backdrop of white birch and pine trees. The music of New Skete is also hauntingly beautiful - when the nuns from across the valley join for Vespers and Sunday Liturgy, the mixed choir produces a lovely and reverent sound that heightens the experience.

I was surprised to learn that many visitors we have encountered are not Orthodox (as we are). The brothers are very open and welcoming to all people. Some visitors come for the retreat, others for the famous German Shepherds they breed (and end up staying for the retreat).

A small monastery near White Creek, New York. There are several structures on the facility, the art work in the two main public buildings are very well done, it may remind you of art in European churches. The facility supports both nuns and priests of New Skete. Many prior members are buried on the grounds.

The nuns make fantastic, world-class cheesecakes, but they are sold at a different facility. The priests train German shepherds on this facility, but you can only see them by appointment.

Two excellent monastic communities (Monks of New Skete and the Nuns of New Skete) in the Orthodox Church in America located near Cambridge NY.