St. Simeon Skete, Taylorsville Kentucky USA

With St. Simeon, the God receiver, as our patron, the skete seeks to practice the ideals found in our Rule, The Thousand Day Nazareth. In simplicity and poverty, the skete embraces the struggle of inner life through the practice of the Prayer Rope.

See our website at www.nazarethhouseap.org

Donations should be addressed to: Nazareth House Apostolate, 185 Captains Cove Drive, Taylorsville, Kentucky 40071.

Important Notice: All writings, posts, graphics & photographs in this blog are the copyrighted property of (unless otherwise indicated) Nazareth House Media, a division of Nazareth House Apostolate and cannot be copied, printed or used without written permission from NHA Media, Taylorsville, KY.

Monday, August 10, 2015

The Treasures of NHA, The Treasures of the Church

Today is St. Laurence Day.

The story of St. Laurence, the deacon,  begins after the death of Sixtus, the prefect of Rome 

demanded that Laurence turn over the riches of the Church. 

Ambrose is the earliest source for the tale that Laurence asked for three days to gather together the wealth.  

Laurence worked swiftly to distribute as much Church property to the poor as possible, so as to prevent its being seized by the prefect. On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, he presented the poor, the crippled, the blind and the suffering, and said that these were the true treasures of the Church. 


One account records him declaring to the prefect, "The Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor." This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom.

 Tradition holds that Laurence was burned or "grilled" to death, hence his association with the gridiron. 


Tradition also holds that Laurence joked about their cooking him while he was burning on the gridiron, hence his patronage of cooks and chefs, stating something along the lines of, "turn me over ... I'm done on this side".

St. Laurence was the natural pick to be the patron over our Mission Work in Sierra Leone.  For there, we too, have found the jewels of the church -

the poor

the crippled



the blind

and the suffering

truly they are the treasures of the church 

treasures that we have the responsibility to love, care for and come to their assistance.   

Please, consider making a donation to the work of Nazareth House Apostolate today.  

Remember it is YOUR work,  Your prayers, Your love 

being carried out in the lives of those in need.  

Donations can be made using a credit card through the Donation Link on our website:



or mailed to 

NHA - St. Simeon Skete
Sierra Leone Mission
185 Captains Cove Dr. 
Taylorsville, KY 40071 

Be sure to check back on this blog regularly to see your gift in action.