The calm before the storm...
During Metropolitan Cyprian of Oropos and Fili's visit to Sweden in early June, we were blessed to have a Divine Liturgy with him here at our convent, followed by a Trisagion at Mother Philothei's grave (located next to the chapel) and the Blessing of the Waters, with special prayers for the foundation of the new wing of monastic cells.
As we wrote in our last post, we received our building permit just after Pascha, but all that meant was that the municipality approved our idea. Before being given permission to actually get started, we had to show just how we plan to go about it by providing a long list of technical documents, some of which needed to be written up by specialists.
St. Philothei once again came to our aid by sending us kind-hearted people to help us through the difficult process. Our contractor did an excellent job of providing all the papers (we will spare you the Homeric epic of the Fire Safety Documentation!) and the man from the municipality that was assigned to our case, a Coptic Christian, was surprisingly accommodating.
Last Wednesday, we endured the final formalities of a technical consultation with the municipality, after which we received official permission to break ground. God willing, we should begin in about a week! We will keep you informed. Please just keep us in your prayers!