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CHICAGO — Holy Resurrection Monastery welcomed its first permanent member since its founding 22 years ago, when Father Isaac Hughey was tonsured a stavrophore monk Oct. 7.
The 36-year-old former hip-hop artist’s journey to Byzantine Catholic monasticism was one of unique pilgrimage, which led him to St. Athanasius the Great Parish in Indianapolis and eventually to the monastery in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin.
Father Isaac first entered the monastery as a novice, or rasophore monk, in 2014. After three years of monastic life, study, direction and discernment, the abbot, Father Nicholas Zachariadis, invited him to receive the lesser schema and become a permanent member. Though unordained, as part of the lesser schema, he receives the title “Father.”
The rite of tonsure occurred during a Divine Liturgy, celebrated by Abbot Nicholas, at the nearby St. Gregory Roman Catholic church, since the monastery chapel was too small to accommodate the crowd of more than 100 people.
Born in Detroit, Father Isaac spent much of his youth in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Connecticut. He attended Catholic grade school, but “once I was done with grade school, I was done with the church,” he said in an interview with Horizons.
In high school, he grew interested in hip-hop and music production. He described how the poverty associated with his artist’s life forced him to ask serious questions about the faith.
“When you’re hungry and sleeping on the floor of your practice space, you begin to question what life is about,” he said.
Taking steps toward putting his life back together, Father Isaac moved to Indianapolis and began college. It was in the classroom that he encountered the Christian East.
“I had an eastern philosophy class and the professor was Orthodox. He saw that I was reading St. John Climacus and he started up a conversation,” he said.
After some study, Father Isaac decided he needed to experience Eastern Christianity. He went to St. Athanasius Byzantine Catholic church, along with his parents. There, in the small, welcoming parish, he found the right place to nurture his newfound faith.
“St. Athanasius was so important to me. The small place feels like family. Everyone cares about you there. It’s become a great support for me and my family,” he said.
After some time in the Byzantine Catholic Church, Father Isaac felt the call to monastic life. He described the process of entering as relatively easy. He emailed the monastery and asked some questions. He eventually visited and was invited to consider entering.
Father Isaac said his vocation makes him “grateful to realize every day what a mess I am” and how the daily monastic struggle allows God to slowly heal him.
Abbot Nicholas regards Father Isaac’s life profession as a sign of hope for the future of the monastery.
“It’s a very important sign for us of growth from the four original founders. This is the first life profession since our original foundation,” he said. “Hopefully we’ve got three following not too far in the future. It’s a milestone, a new generation of monks, and we are thrilled. We need more prayers and more vocations.”
Abbot Nicholas said prayers are needed for the renewal of traditional monastic life in the United States and Canada, and support is vital for the renewal of monasticism’s “prophetic role in the church.”
“We need moral support from the church — both the laity and the clergy,” he said. “We need financial support. We don’t have kings or queens to establish monasteries these days. Third, we need vocations, people open to the will of God.”
Founded in 1995 in the Mojave Desert in California, Holy Resurrection Monastery is a sui iuris monastery in the spirit of the renewal of traditional monastic life in the Byzantine Catholic Church. The monastery relocated to St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, in 2009. Though initially received by the Byzantine Catholic bishop of the Eparchy of Van Nuys (present-day Eparchy of Phoenix), the monastery was received, in 2005, under the jurisdiction of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio.
For more information on the monastery: https://hrmonline.org.
Caption 1: Father Isaac Hughey holds a beeswax candle that he was given during his tonsure ceremony Oct. 7. As a stavrophore monk, he is a permanent member of the monastery and takes the title "Father" though unordained. He is also the first life profession for the monastery since its founding in 1995. (Photos courtesy of Holy Resurrection Monastery)
As published in Horizons, Oct. 22, 2017.
