FAQ

A: A prayer rope (komboschini, brojanica, chotki), is a cord with many knots which is used in prayer to help the nous concentrate. At each knot, one prayer (usually the Jesus Prayer) is said.

Q: Are all of the prayer ropes on the St. Paisius Monastery Bookstore website made by the nuns?

A. Yes. All of the prayer ropes shown on this web site are individually handcrafted by the sisters. You can read more here: About our Prayer Ropes.

Q: Do you take custom orders?

A: Yes. We honor special requests for custom prayer ropes. Depending upon the order, there is a 10% additional cost for custom requests. Please allow a longer time for delivery.

Q: May I send you yarn that I spun, for you to make me a prayer rope?

A: Yes, you may send us your own yarn. Due to the custom aspect of the prayer rope, we are not able to offer a discount for providing the yarn.

Q: Are beaded prayer ropes really Orthodox?

A: Yes. There is a tradition on the Holy Mountain that the Panagia appeared to a pious Orthodox monk and gave him seed beads with which to make a prayer rope, since he did not know how to make the knotted prayer ropes. For more information, see Panagia’s Tears. The beaded prayer ropes are an alternative for those allergic to wool, or for those who work in a professional setting.

Q: Who is the “Panagia”?

A: “Panagia” is a Greek title of the Virgin Mary which means, “The All-Holy One.”

Q: Are the icons and prayer ropes you sell blessed?

A: No. We have no blessing service for the icons or prayer ropes we sell. Many maintain, as do we, that an icon is sanctified already by virtue of the holy image portrayed; and of course, blessings are never sold.

Q: If my beaded prayer bracelet happens to come apart, may I send it in to be re-strung?

A: Yes. We offer free life-time re-stringing of all beaded prayer bracelets. If you lose some of the beads from your prayer rope, we can add them in at no charge to you, if we are still carrying them.

Q: Are there 33 beads on the beaded prayer rope bracelets?

A: No. Traditionally the knotted prayer rope bracelets come with 33 knots, but the bead sizes vary greatly. In order to make the beaded bracelets fit a standard wrist size we have had to vary the number of beads. With most of the bead options, 33 beads on a bracelet would make it way too big.

Q: May I send you my wool prayer rope to be repaired? I have a treasured prayer rope that has become very worn.

A: Yes. You many send us your wool prayer rope to be repaired, as best we can. There will be no charge for this, though we do ask that you send $3 to cover the return postage.

WHOLESALE ACCOUNTS

Q: Does St. Paisius Monastery offer wholesale discounts?

A: Yes. St. Paisius Monastery offers wholesale discounts to approved bookstores, churches and schools. Please see this page for more information.

OTHER BOOK TITLES

Q: I am looking for a title that I thought you carried in your monastery bookstore, but I don’t see it online?

A: Our website carries only the books published by St. Paisius Monastery Press, along with our prayer ropes, rings and CDs, with only a small selection of icons and gifts. We invite you to visit our monastery bookstore in person to browse over a thousand Orthodox book titles of (new releases and long-time favorites), a well-rounded selection of high-quality Orthodox crosses, exquisitely crafted reliquary crosses and pendants, icons in a variety of types and sizes, engraved birch boxes, women’s head-scarves, hand woven purses and bookmarks made by our students, as well as many specialty and seasonal items from around the Orthodox world.

If you are coming to the Monastery just to visit the bookstore, please call in advance to make sure it is open: (928) 348-4900, or email us.

PLACING AN ORDER

Q: I am having problems with products in my cart and/or the web site remembering my personal information. What should I do?

A: The problem you may be experiencing is due to your "cookie" settings. Cookies essentially store information inside your browser allowing websites to recognize you again and recall the information you entered into web forms. Some browsers have difficulty storing cookies and can sometimes "dump" the cookies after each page view. This seems to be the problem, and one solution may be deleting these files. Sometimes a cookie cache can be overloaded, slowing down your computer and preventing new cookies from being stored after a limit has been reached.

Deleting the cookies set by your browser is quick, easy and safe. Simply go into the browser, if you are using Internet Explorer, click on Tools then Internet Options and then click “Delete Cookies.” A question confirming the deletion will appear, click yes. You also need to delete the second box as well, that says “Delete Files?” To help speed up your computer, you may also delete your offline files as well. This will help speed up performance.

If you are still having problems with your shopping cart or placing an order, please contact us.

Q: Can I order by phone?

A: We are no longer taking orders by phone. Our online ordering is safe and secure — we encourage you to place your order through the website. You are also welcome to send us your order by fax or email, using the COntact US page. Our fax number is (928) 348-4902. If you would like to mail us your order, and pay by check, you may place your order on our website, print out the contents of your cart, and send this with your check.

If you are having difficulty placing an order online with a particular credit card, you may call us at (928) 348-4900, and we will be happy to take the credit card information for your order over the telephone. Please be sure you have gone through the entire ordering process (i.e. placing products in the shopping cart and trying to use your credit card online), before calling us. This will insure that we (and you) have all your ordering information (name, address, email address, telephone, products, shipping method and cost and the total) for your order. If you have done this, all we will need from you is the payment information when you call.

Q: Can I order by email?

A: Yes. However it will be a quicker process to order online, since the shipping amount will be calculated automatically and your credit card can be processed immediately. To order by email will take an extra day or two longer to process.

Q: I sent an order by email, or left a message by phone, and I haven’t received a response yet. Does this mean you did not receive my order?

A: Since we are nuns in a monastic community, our first work is prayer and the Church Services, then hospitality to the guests who visit the monastery. Due to such a full schedule we may not be able to acknowledge your order for at least 48 business hours. Your order is valued, and we appreciate your support. We ask your patience and will contact you as soon as possible.

Q: I need this order by a certain date. Can you get it to me in time?

A: All orders are subject to product availability. We make all of the prayer ropes ourselves. If your order is needed by a certain date, please add that information into the comments section during the check-out process. If we will not be able to get the item(s) to you by that date we will promptly notify you.

Q: What are my payment choices?

A: We accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express online. You will receive a confirmation email for your payment after your order is processed. If you do not wish to use a credit card you may contact us and request to pay by check or money order. In this case your order will not be shipped until we receive your payment.

Q: How will I know you actually received my order?

A: After placing your order through our online checkout system, you will receive an email confirming that your order was placed. In this email you will receive an order number as well as your order details. You will also receive a shipment confirmation email confirming your order has shipped.

Q: I received an email stating that the item I ordered now has a different price than what was originally listed on the website; why is that?

A: Prices are subject to change without notice. In the event that an item is mispriced, we may, at our discretion, either contact you for instructions or cancel your order and notify you of such cancellation.

Q: Has my order shipped yet?

A: All in-stock orders placed on our website ship within 3 business days after order placement. As soon as your order has been packaged and processed you will receive an email confirming that it has left our monastery and is safely on its way to you. You may also review the order status through the Order Status link on our home page, or on your account page.

Q: My order never arrived. What should I do?

A: It is very rare that a problem occurs with the delivery of a package. If for some reason you do not receive your order within the shipping window given to you on the day of purchase please notify us and we will resolve the problem.

Q: An item is missing from my shipment.

A: If you are missing an item from your order, please contact us either by phone or email and we will re-ship you the missing item as soon as possible, free of charge.

Q: I was shipped the wrong item.

A: If you were sent the wrong product please see the information below about returning orders.

PRIVACY POLICY

Q. What is your privacy policy?

A: We respect the privacy of your personal and financial information and work to maintain their safety and integrity.

We may collect information (including name, address, telephone number, email address, transaction information, and credit card information) when you:

Make a purchase
Create an account
Return an item or make an exchange
Inquire about our services
Receive a gift package

We maintain the data that you provide us, along with a record of your purchases, in a secure database. This information will allow us to:

Process and track your order
Provide the services you request
Contact you about the status of an order
Send you email updates
Customize our communications to you
Improve our customer service

We contract with other companies to provide shipping and payment processing; Intuit Merchant Services, FedEx, UPS. We provide these companies only with the information they need to perform their services; each of these companies is well-known and takes care to protect customer information. These companies are prohibited by contract from using this information for their own marketing purposes or from sharing this information with anyone other than St Paisius Monastery.

This site may contain links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other web sites.

A cookie is a small data file that is stored by your Web browser on your computer. Cookies enable you to place an order on our Web site. They also allow us to enhance and personalize your online shopping experience, so that the information you receive is more relevant to you.

For example, we use cookies to:

Remember what items are in your Shopping Bag
Recognize you when you return to our Web site
Enable you to use check out more quickly if you have created an account.

When you provide us your email address, we will email you as necessary to process your order, respond to a request or provide customer service. For example, after you place an order you will receive an email confirmation and, in most cases, an email with package tracking information.

If you have set up an account on our website your customer information (name, address, telephone number and email address) can be updated when you log in. A record of all orders purchased online will also be available to you. To protect your privacy, a password is required to login to your account and validate your identity before you update or review your information.

Security

It is our intent to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of information that we have collected from you. We only share customer information with shipping and credit card processing companies, and only to the limit they require to carry out their responsibilities. It is our practice to use encryption whenever we receive or transmit sensitive data. When you make a purchase, request a catalog or create an account on our Web site, your transactional information is transmitted in a safe, encrypted format.

We do not sell any customer data to anyone.

RETURNING ORDERS

Q: What do I do if I received the wrong product?

A: If you were sent the wrong product, sign in to your account on our website, go to the “View Completed Orders” page and chose “Return.” Follow the steps indicated. See also the answer below about return items.

Q: How do I return a product?

A: Login to the account you created on our website. Go to the “View Completed Orders” page and chose the “Return” option. Follow the steps indicated, letting us know why you wish to return an item, and what kind of credit you would like. We will receive your request, review it and respond with a Return Merchandise Authorization. Your RMA will be emailed to you. Please carefully repack the items you are returning, with adequate packing material. Items that are damaged in the return shipment will not receive a full refund. Mail the package via the United States Postal Service to:

St. Paisius Orthodox Monastery 
Attn: Gift Shop
P.O. Box 1075
Safford, AZ 85548

If the value of the items you are returning is more than $100, we ask that you insure the package. Once we receive the package we will inspect the items and proceed to issue your refund.

Q: What is your Return Policy?

A: St. Paisius Monastery Press offers item replacements, store credit or cash refunds on returned merchandise. Every item we sell is carefully inspected before it is shipped. If you are not satisfied with the goods and inform us within seven days of receiving the goods, we will arrange to give you a full refund. We are not able to accept returns or exchanges on custom prayer rope orders. Credits are issued on all returns that comply with the terms listed below:

Damaged Returns –-any books received from St. Paisius Monastery Press which arrive scuffed, torn or damaged from shipping. These items must be returned within 15 days.
Defective Returns—any books received which are discovered to have missing, out-of-sequence, or blurred pages.
Wrong Item(s)—We will refund return shipping costs if the return is due to our error.

Return Shipment Instructions

Log-in to your account and go to the Completed Orders page. Follow the instructions to Return an item. Once you have received your RMA, please send the item(s) back to us with the RMA number clearly written on the outside of the box.
Please wrap your return items carefully using ample packaging materials.
Return items that are damaged from inadequate packaging will incur a fee or be unacceptable and returned to the purchaser.
If your order was shipped by UPS and the package arrives damaged, please keep the packaging and contact us immediately so that a claim can be initiated.
We are unable to give refunds for custom prayer ropes, used prayer ropes or stretched prayer ropes.
We offer free life-time re-stringing of beaded stretch prayer bracelets.

SHIPPING OPTIONS

Q: What are your shipping options within the USA?

A: We offer USPS First Class, and Priority mail (depending on weight), which generally takes 2 - 6 business days to arrive. We also offer UPS Ground (4-7 business days). Please note that since we make the prayer ropes ourselves, it takes at least 7 business days to make the knotted prayer ropes, before we are able to ship.

Q: What are the shipping options to International Destinations?

A: For international shipments, the standard shipping method is International First Class or Priority Mail, which takes 8-10 days.

Q: What are the shipping options to an APO or FPO Address?

A: For shipping to an APO or FPO address only our Priority service (3 to 6 days) is available.

GIFT CERTIFICATES

Q: Do you offer Gift Certificates?

A: Yes. St. Paisius Monastery Gift Shop offers electronic Gift Certificates. When you purchase one of our gift certificates online, a special email is automatically sent to the recipient with a code that can be redeemed for the purchase any item on our website (other than another Gift Certificate).

Q: How do I purchase a Gift Certificate?

A: To purchase a gift certificate, simply follow the "Gift Certificates" link on our home page and fill in the necessary information. The gift certificate will be emailed to the recipient's email address when your order is processed. If you would like to give the gift certificate in person, enter your own e-mail address and you can print the gift certificate yourself.

Q. I ordered a Gift Certificate, and the email confirmation never arrived. What should I do?

A: If for some reason a gift certificate does not arrive at the requested recipient's email address, please call us at (928)-348-4900 or email.

Q: How do I redeem a Gift Certificate?

A: If you have received a gift certificate and wish to apply it to your purchase, simply enter the Certificate Code (received in the email with the Gift Certificate) in the appropriate box during the check-out process.

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FAQ