​Our Community

​​The Community’s Patronal Icon of The Holy Transfiguration (by the hand of Photios Kontoglou)

​The Holy Transfiguration Monastery began in Haverhill, Massachusetts, in the winter of 1960. In 1961 the community acquired a modest three-storey house in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts that was then quite adequate for the few founding fathers. As the number of monks grew, however, it became necessary to look for new quarters, and in 1970 the community found and acquired our present house, a three-storey mansion built in 1881, after a plan inspired by a 17th Century Scottish manor. Adjoining the main house is a coach house, which is now used for living quarters. The entire property comprises 19 acres, most of it wooded. Our monastery is under the jurisdiction of the Holy Orthodox Church in North America (HOCNA), following the traditional ecclesiastical calendar of the Orthodox Church (commonly known as the Old or Julian calendar). Our bishop is His Eminence, Metropolitan Gregory of Boston. There are expressions of both Greek and Russian Orthodox piety and rule in our community. Our services use more English than Greek, with a little Church Slavonic; the brotherhood itself is composed of approximately one third members of Greek Orthodox descent, the other two thirds being of various backgrounds. The community numbers 19 and includes two bishops and two archimandrites. Several priestmonks and hierodeacons from among the brethren help to maintain the daily services.