Hi, everyone. I’m Mother Melania, an Orthodox Christian abbess from Calistoga, CA, USA. I did my PhD in Patristics at the University of Durham in 2010. I haven’t done much since then and have pretty much lost what Greek I did have. In the meantime, I’ve been looking into classical and Byzantine education. So, I’m starting to do research again and working on my Greek at the same time. That’s why I’m here. Thank you and looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can!
Hello Mother Melania!
What style of Greek are you interested in? Attic, Homeric? There are a variety of great Textbooks out there to choose from! Is your convent ( if that is the correct term for an Orthodox nunnery) also in California? I haven’t heard of many Orthodox convents in the US so am interested to hear about this! 
Cheers and welcome.
Hi, Villanelle.
Thanks for writing. I’m interested in Attic Greek - well, really Patristic Greek, but Attic for now.
Yes, my monastery is in Calistoga, California, about 90 miles north of San Francisco. (We usually say monastery, but if people say convent, that’s fine. I’ve been told that the Catholics have conventual and monastic orders and that, technically speaking, convents are the abodes of conventual orders whether men’s or women’s and monasteries the abodes of monastic orders whether men’s or women’s, but that there are more men’s monastic orders and more women’s conventual orders. So, that’s why, in English, women’s Catholic religious houses are called convents and men’s are called monasteries. But I don’t know if that’s true.) I know of at least 5 Orthodox women’s monasteries in California.
What is your background? Thanks again for reaching out
Hi Mother Melania,
I live in Australia in Sydney and am of Protestant Christian background faith wise, but not particularly rigid with it. My first love is Latin and I read a lot of religious texts in it such as the Vulgate and some works of the Apocrypha as well. It adds variety to reading Classical and helps in my understanding of Medieval Latin.
What do you like to or hope to read with the Greek? I only picked up Greek during lockdown so am still very much a beginner with it but I like the challenge of it as I find it much harder than Latin.
As the Abbess of your monastery is it a similar position to a Mother Superior in a Catholic convent? Are the vows undertaken by novitiates of a similar style? I would love to learn more about the structure
Cheers.
Hi Mother Melania,
Very nice to meet you! If you are interested in having a partner for learning Greek (for example, having reading sessions), I would be happy to study together. I’m a philosophy student and although I have been learning Attic Greek only for a year, I’m absolutely in love with this language. I also wish to learn more about Patristics and Orthodox tradition, both for my studies and for personal interest.