Order of Saint Basil the Great

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with OSB, the Benedictine Order.
For other Basilian orders, see Basilian (disambiguation).
Order of Saint Basil the Great
Superior General
Genesio Viomar, OSBM
Parent organization
Greek Catholic Church

The Order of Saint Basil the Great (

Latin: Ordo Sancti Basilii Magni, abbreviated OSBM),[1] also known as the Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat, is a Greek Catholic monastic order of pontifical right that works actively among Ukrainian Catholics and other Greek-Catholic churches in central and Eastern Europe. The order received approbation on August 20, 1631, and is based at the Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Vilnius
.

History

Revival

In the 16th century, with the efforts of

fall of the Soviet Union, it was reestablished again in modern Ukraine as part of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
.

Besides the Order of Saint Basil the Great, there is a smaller order of Studite Monks that was revived at the end of 19th century by Metropolitan of Galicia Andrey Sheptytsky and is based in the Univ Lavra.

Sts. Anthony and Theodosius

The order is based upon the ascetic writings of

Joseph Benjamin Rutsky
(1574-1637).

Monastic life began to develop in Ukraine in the time of

Benedict XIV
.

The Order of Saint Basil the Great spread and flourished across modern day Belarus and Ukraine and played a key role in the education both of laity and clergy, and helped to preserve the distinctiveness of the Ruthenian culture in the predominantly Polish and Roman Catholic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth until the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century. In 1772 the Order had over 200 monasteries and over 1000 monks, six seminaries, twenty schools and colleges, and four printing houses.

In the last years of the 18th century most of the

Society of Jesus starting with the Dobromyl monastery, by which it became less sedentary and more missionary, among other things allowing the monks to work with the Ukrainian diaspora overseas. The Basilians reached Brazil (1897), Canada (1902), United States (1907), and Argentina (1934). New provinces were established covering Transcarpathia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia and Romania. By 1939 the number of monks rose to over 650. In 1944 the order purchased the John E. Aldred Estate at Lattingtown, New York, now known as St. Josaphat's Monastery.[2]

Following the

Soviets entered further into Europe and forced the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church underground. In all of the Soviet-controlled territories only a single Basilian monastery was left open, in the Polish capital of Warsaw
. Nonetheless, the Order survived among the Ukrainian diaspora in the free world (and in communist Yugoslavia where the regime was relatively benign) and in Ukraine itself where the monks secretly prayed and catechized.

After the

collapse of the Soviet Union, the Order was reestablished in independent Ukraine and other Central and Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Portugal
. Some old monasteries have been restored and new ones established. In 2001 there were over 600 monks, 300 of them in Ukraine.

List of monasteries

Current

Former

Notable Basilians

See also

References

  1. ^ "Basilian Order of Saint Josaphat (O.S.B.M.)". GCatholic. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  2. ^ Terry Winters and Austin N. O'Brien (May 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: John E. Aldred Estate". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2010.

External links

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