St. Barbara Orthodox Monastery
LATEST NEWS & POSTS
February 2026
EXCEPT FOR SERVICES IN CHURCH,
THE MONASTERY WILL BE CLOSED TO VISITORS
FOR CLEAN WEAK,
THE 1st WEEK OF GREAT AND HOLY LENT
FROM MON., FEB. 23, TO SAT., FEB. 28.
SISTERS WILL BE UNAVAILABLE DURING THIS TIME.
THE MONASTERY WILL REOPEN TO PILGRIMS
ON MONDAY, MARCH 2nd.
Feb 26
Change in Schedule
*Sunday, March 1:
Sunday Divine Liturgy is cancelled. The sisters will be at St. Herman Church in Oxnard for a hierarchical Divine Liturgy with His Grace, Bishop Vasily, serving.
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*6 pm Sunday of Orthodoxy Vespers at St. Nicholas Antiochian Church in Los Angeles. No Vespers at the monastery.
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Feb 20 Please note: There will be no Divine Liturgy at the monastery this Sunday, the Sunday of the Expulsion of Adam from Paradise.
Please feel free to join the sisters for a 9:30 am Hierarchical Liturgy at Holy Virgin Mary Cathedral celebrating their parish feast day this Sunday.
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There will be 5:30 pm Forgiveness Vespers at the monastery later on that day. This service signals the beginning of Great and Holy Lent.
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We wish you a blessed Fast!
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Feb 19 Read this month's newsletter here.
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ST. BARBARA ORTHODOX MONASTERY
LIFE OF PRAYER
St. Barbara Orthodox Monastery is a women's monastic community of the Diocese of the West of the Orthodox Church in America, under His Grace, Bishop VASILY, bishop of San Francisco and the West.
The Monastery was founded in 1992 and has been located in Santa Paula, California, since late 2005.
The Sisters maintain a regular cycle of daily liturgical services and partly earn their living growing lavender and producing lavender products, selling solid wood caskets, and operating a small bookstore and online gift shop.
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In our daily pursuits, we at St. Barbara Orthodox Monastery strive to embody the teachings of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through prayerful devotion to the Holy Trinity, living in community, hospitality, and diligent labor, we seek to deepen our love for God and neighbor, endeavoring to make our monastery a prayerful and peaceful haven for all who visit.
THE LIFE OF ST. BARBARA
St. Barbara, a 4th-century martyr, embraced Christianity while sequestered in a tower by her wealthy pagan father, Dioscorus.
While gazing out of her tower and pondering what she saw, Barbara marveled at the inspiring beauty of nature she beheld, and reasoned rightly that there must be a loving Creator who was responsible for the beauty that thrilled her soul.
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She learned about the Christian faith (possibly from her faithful attendants). The more she drank in the truths of the Faith, not only was her heart captivated by God's marvelous creation, but also by Christ's wondrous love and work of salvation on the Cross in our behalf.
She was secretly baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity in her father's absence by a traveling priest disguised as a peddler.
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So strong was her love for Christ, that this young maiden was willing to suffer greatly and give up her own life for the truth of her new found faith.
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LIFE AT THE MONASTERY
SCHEDULE OF SERVICES
​LENTEN SCHEDULE
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Clean Monday, Feb. 23
8 am Matins
12 pm 6th Hour
4 pm Vespers
6 pm Great Compline with Canon of St. Andrew of Crete
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Clean Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Feb. 24, 26, 27
7 am Matins
​All else same as above
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Clean Wednesday, Feb. 25
7 am Matins
12 pm 6th Hours
5:30 pm Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts
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Clean Saturday, Feb. 28
7 am Matins
1​2 pm 6th Hour
6 pm Vigil
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Sunday of Orthodoxy, March 1:
​No Divine Liturgy at the monastery.
9:30 am Join us at St. Herman Church in Oxnard for the hierarchical Divine Liturgy with His Grace, Bishop Vasily.
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No Vespers at the monastery.
6 pm Join us at St. Nicholas Antiochian Cathedral in Los Angeles for Pan-Orthodox Vespers for the Sunday of Orthodoxy. (His Grace, Bishop Vasily will give the homily.)
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PLAN A VISIT
If you would like to visit the monastery, please contact us ahead of time via email or phone. Everyone is welcome to attend the liturgical services in our chapel and to share in our common meals together.
There is no fixed fee for overnight accommodations, although free-will donations are gratefully accepted.
We ask that you dress modestly.
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