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In a recent discussion with our illustrious global moderator (Irish Melkite), a question about Eastern/Oriental Catholic monastic communities came up.

While most of us are already familiar with Holy Resurrection, Holy Theophany, and several other communities in North America, we wondered if other such communities existed in Europe, the Middle East, and beyond. That is to say, do "purely" (and I use this term loosely) Eastern or Oriental Catholic monastic houses (which are not part of Western orders) exist?

So far, Irish Melkite and I discussed the Monastic Community of the Holy Trinity in Giroc, Romania (found here [preasfantatreime.ro]). As well, we discussed the Mekhitarist Fathers of the Armenian Catholic Church. Though, there was some dispute as to whether they follow their own indigenous monastic tradition or were better classified as a Western/hybrid order.

In any case, are members of ByzCath familiar with any other Eastern or Oriental Catholic monastic houses or communities? What about historical communities?

I think the most famous one would be the venerable Exarchic Greek Abbey of St. Mary of Grottaferrata, which was founded before the great schism.
http://www.abbaziagreca.it/en/

Also, the Monastery of Chevetogne, while not founded as a purely Byzantine community, it does represent the Russian Tradition of monastic life within the Catholic Church.

http://www.monasteredechevetogne.com/

There is also the Ukrainian Catholic Studite Order, which does follow the traditional monastic life of the Eastern Church.

I think the Basilian Salvatorian Order and the Basilian Chouerite Order are both considered Byzantine Catholic orders, as they were founded before the conversion of +Patriarch Cyril and the split between the Melkite Catholic and Antiochian Orthodox churches. The Basilian Aleppian Order may also be considered such.

Slightly more than half of the Melkite clergy remembered in the Eparchy of Newton are from one of these orders, with 42 of 122 being BSO, 21 being BCO, and 5 being BAO. I recall a Melkite priest telling me that when he came up in seminary, there was a strong push to join a monastic order, even to be a parish priest.

Thanks for sharing this. I didn't know about the Melkite orders (beyond the Salvatorians).

Do these orders still exist in the old countries? How active are they now in the States?

As well, do you know the reason why the eparchy would want parish priests to join orders in addition to their affiliation with the eparchy?

I'm afraid I do not know much more than what I have already shared. There is a site that seems to have some statistics on the orders. You can find the links at the bottom of http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/rite-GM.htm

Thanks, N Mosley!

Messdiener,

Yes, the three Basilian Orders exist in both the Old Country and the diaspora. The Salvatorians are represented in the States. I'm not thinking that there are any BAO or BCO clergy at the moment, but I may be forgetting someone.

As to N Mosley's remark about a push to join a monastic order, it's likely that this comment came from a priest who did his seminary training at St Basil's - the Salvatorian seminary. It was the sole Melkite seminary in the US for about 2 and a half decades, until the Eparchy opened St Gregory's. (In its early years, St Basil's seminarian population frequently included men from other EC Churches, as well as Maronites, until such time as the other Churches erected their own seminaries. In fact, your Eparch did a portion of his seminary training at St Basil's.)

Unlike the Ruthenian and Ukrainian Churches, the Melkites had few conflicts with Latin hierarchs regarding married clergy in their early years here. Many, probably most, of the early Melkite clergy in the US were monastics and generally from monasteries near the same villages as those whom they served here. In the day, many of our parishes were typically referred to as 'Salvatorian' parishes or 'Chouerite' parishes, reflecting that the roster of priests who had served them over the years were of that particular order.

At least in the States, however, EC monastics are rarely found in traditional monastic community settings and are much more 'order' type foundations than anything else. Grottaferrata, as Nelson said, is probably the best example to be found in the western world of an EC monastic community as those traditionally existed.

Many years,

Neil

Neil, can you comment further on the differences between the Salvatorian and Chouerite orders? My very limited research thus far indicates that the Chouerites have been considered more contemplative. I also recall reading that the early years of the Melkite Catholic patriarchy involved some back and forth between the two orders.

Neil can expound more on this, but yes the Salvatorinas were founded with the intention of pastoral ministry in parishes while the Chouerites were founded by monks who left Balamand seeking a more quiet monastic existence. The Salvatorinas were in the beginning introducers of Latinization while the Chouerites maintained authentic Byzantine practice.

Thank you, Father Deacon.

I am running the risk of going off-topic, but I've been reading "Sayings of the Desert Fathers" and listening to a podcast series on St. John Cassian's conferences. Do any Byzantine monastic communities, including those just discussed, have eremetical traditions within them?

While reading another thread on Russian Catholic Old Ritualists, I ran across the Univ Holy Dormition Lavra [en.wikipedia.org] of the Studite Order [1] and another Ukrainian Catholic order, the Order of St Basil the Great [en.wikipedia.org], also known as the Basilian Order of St Josaphat. [2]

[1] Univ Lavra's Official Website (in Ukrainian) [studyty.org.ua]
[2] Ukrainian Basilian FAQ [stnicholaschurch.ca]

N Mosely, thanks for the updates!

I recently heard that the Ukrainian Basilians also exist in the "New World" but that they primarily function as parish priests rather than as monastics in community. Is this also the case in Ukraine? Any ideas?

Messdiener,

Once again, I am at the limits of my knowledge, but I did rub across this old thread last night, which includes many links to EC monastic orders in the US, including the Order of St Basil.

https://www.byzcath.org/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/314967/Monasticism_in_the_United_Stat