In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit One God . Amen
Land and Building Proposal
Green and Self Efficient to Stand for a Thousand Years
“" O my Son, my beloved One, my Lord and my Redeemer, my Hope, and my Refuge, in Whom is my trust, in Thee have I my strength, and in Thy asylum do Thou protect me ; Thou art He Whom I remember always. And now, hearken Thou unto my prayer and unto my entreaty, and incline Thine ear unto the words of my mouth. I who speak unto Thee am Thy Mother Mary, and I am Thine handmaiden. Whosoever shall celebrate the festival of my commemoration, or shall build a church in my name, or shall clothe the naked, or shall visit the sick, or shall feed the hungry, or shall give drink to him that is athirst, or shall comfort him that is sorrowful, or shall make to rejoice him that is broken in spirit, or shall write a book of my praises, or shall meditate upon the hymns [sung] to me on the day of my festival, reward Thou him, O Lord, with a good reward from Thyself, the which eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard, nor mind of man hath conceived.”
-----The Covenant of Mercy of our Lady The Virgin Mariyam
Proposal Introduction
This proposal is to construct an Hermitage / Monastery in the traditional Ethiopic styled tradition which will be placed on 16 acres of undeveloped land in the Catskill Mountains, located in the New York State U.S.A. This Hermitage and Monastery will be a GREEN and EARTHERN NATURAL building erected using the Cob, Straw Bale and other natural building technique operated on solar energy and other natural and green technology.
This project will include but not limited to the following:
1. Buying undeveloped land ( By God's Mercy 16 acres have been purchased!)
2. Three individual hermitages to start.
3. Two Churches: The main church dedicated to our Lordess the Blessed Holy Virgin Mariyam, The Mother of God, The Mother of Mercy and a smaller church dedicated to Saint Kristos Semra, The Evangelist of the Devil, Mother of Peace. Both will be in the traditional Ethiopian Orthodox architectural design.
4. Three small houses to host visiting Hierarchs
5. Guest House which will include 16 individual rooms that can house at least two to three people. Eight for men and eight for women pilgrims to start.
6. One Multipurpose Facility for workshops, lectures, religious schooling, production of religious goods, conferences and recreation.
7. Refectory ( Cafeteria)
8. One large Storage Facility
9. Cemetery
10. Backery
11. Basic Care Facility
This Hermitage / Monastery is designed to create a place for retreats, pilgrimages , Oriental Orthodox Church Joint Liturgy and Prayer services and a place for spiritual rest for individuals and groups to be able to work out their own salvation in God.
Need
In the United States of America, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has been established for over 50 years however, our founding fathers and mothers did not establish a monastery. Today the faithful and pious laity, who desire to live the more hidden life of the church, are bound to either visit a non oriental orthodox monastery in America, ( because of the scarcity or location of oriental orthodox monasteries in the country) or travel to Ethiopia or Jerusalem. Toppled with economical challenges and the need for daily living, the laity desire a closer walk with God, but in many cases are not able to offord the travel expenses.
The problem of visiting a monastery in the Holy Lands today are all too complicated, as the world is filled with unrest in those areas. Orthodox Christians are finding themselves faced with religious turmoil, while being caught in the middle of political and social upheaval. Many are fleeing from their homelands, the very scared grounds in which Christ Jesus Himself has walked. With over 40 Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Churches in America, the hermitage / monastery will provide all who desires the traditional Ethiopic style spirituality of living life with prayer, work and contemplation. A place to sojourner that will be easily accessible.
Scope
Section1: This proposal will show an example pictures with floor plan of proposed hermitage. See Pictuers below.
Section 2: This proposal will show an example pictures of the church. See Pictuers below.
Section3: This proposal will show an example pictures of the small house for Hierarchs. See Pictuers below.
Section4: This proposal will show an example pictures of the multipurpose facility and Guest House and Refectory. See Pictuers below.
Section5: This proposal will explain the different green earthen and natural building types that may be used.
Section6: This proposal will show land opportunities in New York State Catskill Mountains that are being viewed to house the hermitage / monastery.
Section 5: This proposal will show the different green earthen and natural building types that may be used.
Natural building involves a range of building systems and materials that place major emphasis on sustainability. Ways of achieving sustainability through natural building focus on durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those that, while recycled or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users.”The basis of natural building is the need to lessen the environmental impact of buildings and other supporting systems, without sacrificing comfort, health or aesthetics. To be more sustainable, natural building uses primarily abundantly available, renewable, reused or recycled materials.
The use of rapidly renewable materials is increasingly a focus. In addition to relying on natural building materials, the emphasis on the architectural design is heightened. The orientation of a building, the utilization of local climate and site conditions, the emphasis on natural ventilation through design, fundamentally lessen operational costs and positively impact the environmental. Building compactly and minimizing the ecological footprint is common, as are on-site handling of energy acquisition, on-site water capture, alternate sewage treatment and water reuse.
Materials
The materials common to many types of natural building are clay and sand. When mixed with water and, usually, straw or another fiber, the mixture may form cob or adobe (clay blocks). Other materials commonly used in natural building are: earth (as rammed earth or earth bag), wood (cordwood or timber frame/post-and-beam), straw, rice-hulls, bambooand rock. A wide variety of reused or recycled materials are common in natural building, including urbanite (salvaged chunks of used concrete), tires, tire bales, discarded bottles and other recycled glass. Several other materials are increasingly avoided by many practitioners of this building approach, due to their major negative environmental or health impacts. These include unsustainably harvested wood, toxic wood-preservatives, portland cement-based mixes, paints and other coatings that off-gas volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and some plastics, particularly polyvinyl chloride (PVC or "vinyl") and those containing harmful plasticizers or hormone-mimicking formulations.
Section 6: This proposal will show our current land site in New York State Catskill Mountains
16 acres of undeveloped land in the Catskill Mountains of New York
Cost
Cob and Earth is one of the cheapest building materials imaginable. Often the soil removed during site work is enough to build the walls. The owner-builder can supply the labor, inviting friends and family( in this case the faithful peoples) to join in the hand sculpting and actually building the monastery. With inventiveness and forethought, the costs of other components (doors, windows, roof, floors, etc.) can be extensively reduced.
Mostly they will be either bought new or good quality used or salvaged from construction sites and yards. The leading green and natural building companies, The Cob Cottage Company in Oregon, works primarily with recycled materials and handwork lumber. Using local materials such as poles, bamboo, stone, and cedar shakes, a cottage( a one room studio with all needed living amenities) was built by them and completed for $500.00 U.S dollars. Ianto Evans , a leading Cob and Natural Builder an engineer, has been quoted with the best answer to this question that, “Your cob house can cost as much or as little as you have to spend on it.
The basic materials, clay, sand and straw are very cheap and you may even be able to get most of them on your own land. Huge amounts of excellent, often brand new, building materials are thrown into dumpsters every day. You can find porcelain sinks, entire boxes of marble tile, endless amounts of high quality lumber, and every other material you can imagine for free”. Because cob is so malleable, it is very easy to use salvaged windows, doors, and wood. So if you take the time to seek out, you may not have to buy much at all. Some green and earthen homes have been built for as little as $500 and some for as little as $5,000.
Estimated Cost of Hermitage/Monastery to start
Land…………………………………………………$23,900( $8,300 Remaining Balance)
Church(2)………………………………………………$5,000 to $7,000(+-)
Hermitage (3)………………………………………$9,000( $3,000 each +-)
Guest House……………………………………………..$7,000 to $9,000(+-)
Multipurpose Facility…………………………………$5,000 to $7,000(+-)
Refectory………………………………………………..$3,000 to $7,000(+-)
Large Storage Facility…………………………………..$2,000 to $5,000(+-)
Solar Energy Paneling System………………………$4,000 to $10,000(+-)
Estimated Cost………………………………………$50,000 to $74,000(+-)
Capability to Meet Need
This all Green and Natural hermitage / monastery is being built to stand a thousand years. It will give spiritual refreshment in a rural and cloistered like setting giving the faithful a quiet place for contemplations. Also the building material will be inexpensive seeing that most of the material will come from the land itself and purchased material will be low. Doors, window frames, beams and roofing will be used or reused, recycled and donated materials, lowering the cost of buying new items. Because the land will be undeveloped, this too will make spending just a fraction of the price of developed land. All together, the building capacity is 120 people or more at one given time.
Facility Requirements
It is not illegal to build with green and natural building materials anywhere in the US, but neither is it specified in the building code. In order to get a permit to build with cob, many people have first been required to employ an engineer to help with their building plans. In nearly all cases a building department will approve plans once they are stamped by a “licensed design professional.” In addition, the building code does include specifications for adobe construction and many building officials have simply looked upon cob as a form of adobe and approved construction according to that code even without the help of an engineer.In some cases you may not even need a permit. For example, there are permit exemptions in most places for buildings under a certain size, agricultural buildings, and in some rural areas no building permits are required at all.
In terms of the usage of the solar energy paneling system, only the Guest House, Multipurpose facility and small homes of the Hierarchs will be paneled for solar use. All built structures will be designed to house a small cob or other efficient natural heating device using either wood or saw dust. The refectory will be equipped with sawdust rocket heaters, cob ovens and or wood stove for cooking and heating. Additional cost may be incurred. In additional, there will need to be erected the bakery, basic care faility, cells for the monk priest and women monastic as the monastery... God willing... grows.
Conclusion
Green, Earthen and Natural buildings can last between 500 to 800 years with little to no maintenance. Many of the faithful throughout Oriental orthodoxy will see the spiritual awards of this hermitage / monastery as it will be obtainable and reachable for those living in the North Eastern States of America. In the Holy Lands monasteries are usually built from the same materials the poor people use to build them homes. Carving out caves from rock, digging wholes in the ground, and living in trees have been a way of life not only in Ethiopian monasticism, but throughout Christendom as the holy people of God search for a solitude place from this fleeting world.
As Paul the Light of the Church says, “…..and others had trial of cruel mocking and scourging, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” ---------Hebrews 11:36-38