• Chapel is a consecrated Orthodox monastery church: altar, iconostasis, left and right chant stands
• Byzantine icons of Jesus, the Theotokos, the saints, the feasts
• Daily Cycle of Services (Matins, Hours, Vespers) from the Orthodox Horologion
• Large outdoor bells rung for services
• Church calendar of holidays and saints days (Gregorian “new” calendar)
• Eastern Orthodox monastic ranks (postulant, novice, ryassafor nun, schema nun) and clothing style (apostlenik head scarf, podryassnik habit, ryassa cloak, mantia cape, klobuk cap and veil)
• Common meals with sung prayers before and after and spiritual reading

• Old by US standards (50 years); second oldest U.S. Orthodox women’s monastery worshipping in English
• No need to move abroad or learn a foreign language to become a nun! [Many of the Orthodox monasteries popular online are overseas. Many Orthodox monasteries in US worship in Greek, Slavonic or other foreign languages]
• Stavropegial: directly accountable to the Metropolitan (governing hierarch) and Holy Synod [council of all bishops] of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), not part of any OCA diocese or under a single bishop
• Drawn from all Orthodox jurisdictions: sister, supporters and clergy serving in our chapel come also from other Church jurisdictions besides OCA; using music from many Orthodox traditions found in the US (Russian, Greek, Carpatho-Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Alaskan, etc.)

To become a nun, a woman typically begins by contacting a monastery and spending time with the community before entering as a postulant. From there, she may progress through several stages of monastic life, including becoming a novice and eventually taking formal vows as a nun.