From the Boulevard: Monastery Man

As I sit down to write this column, several topics top my list to write about. For stimulation, coffee companions me to determine which one to select. As I tour the topics, my mind and heart tugs me home to Castro Valley and to a man who once graced our town with his life. Although he was not prominent, he was purposeful. His recent passing as he neared the century mark monumented him within my mind. As I reflect upon him, a song comes to mind. It is Neil Diamond’s classic composition of “Solitary Man.” The song hums to me as I view my friend as a “Monastery Man.” These two words – solitary and monastery reside in propinquity to each other in meaning. My friend in reference was in possession of both words, yet he was not a man isolated from the world or life. He was well-integrated in all domains, including the one for which he lived his life. His was a life of spirituality.

At the end of his life his home was in a monastery in a small town in Eastern Pennsylvania. It resided within the domain of the Greek Orthodox Church. It was within this religion that had served for many years as priest. After his wife died, he graduated to a higher level within the world of spirituality. He became a monk and lived out his remaining years in a monastery. In the preceding years we had many visits and conversations. When in the monastery our visits continued forward on the phone as appropriate within th3e proprieties required of a monk. Upon becoming ordained as a monk his name changed. He became Father Leonty.

Father Leonty had earned three graduate degrees earlier in his life. One was in architecture. He was also an accomplished artist, specializing in religious icons. He had lived abroad for several years as a younger man. He also possessed a sense of humor. He enjoyed life and valued people. His voice was operatic, akin to that of James Earl Jones. When we celebrated the life of my late girlfriend, he led us in prayer and gratitude from the vantage point of the monastery in which he resided. When his message and voice danced together, we arose to a higher level of appreciation and spirituality. He filled our hearts with goodness and value.

With all this goodness expressed, he was also a man of reality. As a young soldier he experienced heavy combat in WWII. This included deadly hand-to-hand combat. To survive he had to do the unthinkable. When discussed in private, tears of difficulty revealed the turmoil felt then and throughout his life. Yet, he continued forward with his faith and purpose.

As he approached the end of his life, he spoke with me of his optimism for life and the world. Although grounded in realism, he maintained his view of the higher purpose that resides in life. If we surrender, we fail. If we have high sights and hopes and never give up on them, good will prevail.

As I conclude with these thoughts, Father Leonty continues to talk to me, as he perhaps does to others. Never surrender to the dark tides of life. The high road of life is always the right road for traveling through life. I can hear the advice he once provided: “When in doubt, take the high road. It always leads you to the right place.”  Perhaps this is why our lives first intersected in a place like Castro Valley.

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