"Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
The common life is repeatedly called ‘evangelical and apostolic’ by the Church fathers: the Gospels together with the Apostol (the Slavic name for the book of the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles) are the fundamental rule of the life of all Christians, but especially of monks. The Gospels describe the life led in common by the Twelve with their Master, and the Acts and the Epistles give further examples and directives. Monastic life imitates the life of the Apostles, both during the time when they had Jesus with them and afterwards, when they were forming the first Christian communities. Monasticism, then, is nothing less then a radical call to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ. (Adapted from Manjava Skete by Sophia Senyk, page 45.)