At present, we import most of our incense from the Holy Monastery of Saint Nektarios in Trikorfo, Greece. This convent of nuns befriended our monastery because of their great devotion to our patron, Saint John of San Francisco. The sisters translated all of the services to St. John into Greek so that his memory can be kept in the Greek Church as well. Their convent is also much like ours in that it was only founded about 15 years ago, and continues to grow and flourish. Their incense is top-quality Athonite-style incense that burns beautifully, without too much smoke.
We are also working at importing directly from the Middle East various raw resins, including various kinds of frankincense and myrrh. We import these directly from Oman and Somaliland. Omani frankincense has been considered the best in the world since ancient times, and it is very rare even today. We are only able to offer it through a contact with a family in Oman that has been dealing in frankincense for generations. Somaliland is a very poor country on the Horn of Africa, and your purchase of myrrh from Somaliland helps to support economic activity in that impoverished region.
