The Creed

«Lord, grant me only humility and silence. I ask nothing else from You. Humility births love for all Your creations. I know that I am the greatest sinner, and no one else in the universe has embittered You as much as I, the despicable one, have. Help me to live with this every day. Do not let the devil fool me into thinking I am something when I am nothing. Grant me only to feel how sinner I am and help me to follow Your commandments to find mercy from Your countless love. Do not let me despair because of my sins but let me rejoice every day because You have mercy on me and will save me because You are compassionate. Do not let me have evil thoughts or judge my fellow human beings. I am to blame for them, and since I am the cause of their sin, I must only judge myself. Lord, Lord, do not deprive me of the river of Your divine mercy. Amen!».

According to tradition, the founder of the Monastery of Dochiariou is considered to be the student and co-practitioner of Saint Athanasios the Athonite, Euthymios. The monk Euthymios had previously been a storekeeper at the Holy Monastery of Megistis Lavra. Initially, Euthymios founded, in the 10th century, a monastery in Dafni, dedicated to Saint Nikolaos. However, at the beginning of the 11th century, the Monastery was destroyed and moved to its current location.

Archimandrite Sophrony was born in 1896, to Orthodox parents in Tsarist Russia. Since he was a child, he showed a rare capacity for prayer and as a young boy would participate in theological debate. Prayer entails the idea of eternity with God. In prayer, the reality of the living God is yoked with the concrete reality of earthly life. This craving, like a flame in the heart, irradiated his student days at the State School of Fine Arts in Moscow. This was the period, when a parallel speculative interest in Buddhism and the whole arena of Indian culture changed the clef of his inner life.