Brother Stavros
Monk
New Skete Monastery
New York, NY USA
“The biggest pitfall is to let society decide what your happiness is. To be really happy, you have to be countercultural, and have the bravery to do it.”
Videos
By Roadtrip NationBrother Stavros
Milestones
My road in life has been direct.
Came from an "ordinary" middle-class family in Washington D.C., wasn't particularly religious, but comfortable with religion, politics.
Introduced to Eastern religion in college; decided he wanted to become a monk.
His mother tried to stop him, said he was wasting his education; he had to just shut her down, knew what he was meant to do.
Everyone has at least one moment of "crisis," where you're on the edge and have to make a choice.
Says commitment often comes across as, "If I have x, I can't have y," and that scares us, dissuades us from pursuing things.
Can't let society define happiness for you, because society has an agenda, wants to "sell" you happiness.
Considers his life a happy life; says that doesn't mean it's "full of giggles," means he's content and at ease.
Says first step towards happiness is education; expose yourself to everything, find opportunities everywhere.
Keep following my journey
Education
High School
Career
Monk
I'm devoted to our monastic life and community where we pray, work with our hands, and train and raise dogs.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Non-Profit Organizations
Philosophy & Religion
Learning / Being Challenged
Interviewed By
A Life Jumpstart
A new team of Roadtrippers is brought together by their desires to search for something bigger in life. Brooklyn, who left an unfulfilling job in New York City to move back in with her parents, hopes this Roadtrip will "jumpstart" her life. Elliott, a former high school teacher, gets out of the classroom to figure out his next step. Nekeed escaped a rough childhood in N.Y., where he lost a brother to gang violence. Now, as the first male in his family to graduate college, he wants to define his next steps in life. At the New Skete monastery in New York, they interview Brother Stavros, co-founder of the monastery who also works with its famous German Shepherd breeding program.
