For the first time in the U.S., Western and Eastern Catholic monks will dwell side-by-side in two separate communities in one monastery starting this spring.

Beginning May 1, St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey in the high desert community of Valyermo will host five Byzantine Catholic monks for the next three years. The Benedictines have extended this invitation to the Byzantines as they research their options for a home in the Southern California region, including a possible permanent settlement on land adjacent to St. Andrew's Abbey.

Preparations for the Byzantine monks' move from their small monastery in the Mojave Desert near Barstow began in 2007, when the community decided that their five-fold mission --- including opening their liturgical services to as wide a community as possible and exposing more Roman Catholics to authentic Eastern Catholic tradition --- would be better served in a less remote location.

The Byzantine monks within the jurisdiction of the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St. George in Canton, Ohio --- led by Egyptian-born, Australian-reared, ethnically-Greek Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis --- originally thought they would move to a new home in the Midwest or East Coast in order to be closer to larger groups of Eastern Catholic parishes.

However, a groundswell of local support to keep the monks of Holy Resurrection Monastery in Southern California changed their plans. After receiving an invitation to share space with the monks at Valyermo, the Byzantine monks decided that their community's charism of "spiritual ecumenism" --- a work which they call "The Anastasis Dialogue" --- could thrive at the Benedictine monastery in the interim while seeking a permanent home.

This Western-Eastern monastic partnership is something quite new, as Saint Andrew's Abbey and Holy Resurrection Monastery will remain two separate monasteries with their own separate superiors. St. Andrew's Benedictine Abbey is governed by Western Canon Law; Holy Resurrection Monastery is not Benedictine and is governed by Eastern Canon Law.

This is different from Belgium's famous Chevetogne monastery founded in 1929, a Benedictine Abbey of Benedictine Monks --- some of whom follow the Western Liturgical Tradition and some the Eastern-Byzantine Liturgical Tradition --- governed by Western Canon Law with an Abbot in the Western sense of Benedictine Monasticism. Globally, there are a few other Catholic Monasteries in different parts of the world that are also experimenting along the lines of Chevetogne.

Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical letter on the Church's Commitment to Ecumenism, "Ut Unum Sint" published on May 25, 1995 (the year Holy Resurrection Monastery was founded), said that, in striving for the unity among all Christians for which Jesus prayed at the Last Supper, the Eastern Catholic Churches will "play a constructive role in the dialogue of love and in the theological dialogue at both the local and international levels, and thus contribute to mutual understanding and the continuing pursuit of full unity."

'Two lungs'
Benedictine Father Damien Toilolo, prior at St. Andrew's Abbey, told The Tidings during an interview from his monastery's exhibit booth at the Religious Education Congress in Anaheim March 1 that he is looking forward to the Byzantine monks' stay at Valyermo.

"Two very rich monastic traditions happening in the same place --- only God knows what that could do for the archdiocese and the church," commented Father Toilolo. He pointed out Pope John Paul declared, in Ut Unum Sint, that the Church must breathe with her two lungs: East and West. The Byzantine monks' move to Valyermo, Father Toilolo said with a smile, will mean "more and better breathing" at the Benedictine monastery.

According to Benedictine Brother Cassian DiRocco, 33, who has visited several Eastern monasteries, including Mt. Tabor in Redwood Valley and Holy Resurrection in Newberry Springs, the Benedictine/Byzantine partnership will be mutually enriching.

"The Church of the East and the Church of the West have a mutuality and a complementarity to give to one another that's most exemplified through our liturgical and our spiritual traditions," said Brother DiRocco. "To be able to have these two fully thriving traditions existing in one geographical location can be a wonderful kind of cross-breeding for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and for many people who just might want to experience the fullness of the two monastic traditions."

He characterized the Byzantine liturgical tradition as "very, very rich --- [reflected in] beautiful litanies, beautiful prayers and a tremendous emphasis on the mystical life." Brother DiRocco noted the Eastern Catholic emphasis on ascetical traditions of Christian monasticism [and] a little bit longer liturgy "kind of builds up a liturgical stamina to stand in the presence of God on behalf of many people.

"It's not radically different from the West. It just emphasizes particular parts of the spiritual life in a different way than the Western Church does."

"It is essential for the good of the whole church that Western Christian monasticism and Eastern Christian monasticism interact," said Abbot Zachariadis at a Feb. 21 gathering at Holy Cross Melkite-Greek Church in Placentia where plans for the move were announced to parishioners and supporters, including Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego Salvatore Cordileone and Norbertine Father Hugh Barbour, prior at St. Michael's Abbey in Orange.

"The reality is most Catholics don't know what it means to be a Catholic, so they are seriously impaired to defend themselves against the secular culture presenting itself against the church," said Abbot Zachariadis. Polarizations in the present-day Western church, he said, can be helped by broadening the horizons of what it means to be Catholic "in an authentic sense, not in a novel, innovative sense."

Susan Collis, a Holy Cross Melkite-Greek Catholic Church parishioner and seventh grade catechist who attended the Abbot's talk, is enthusiastic about the monks' impending move and prospects for educational seminars and ecumenical/inter-ritual dialogues.

Future plans include workshops on icons and an introduction to the history and spirituality of the Byzantine Churches. The monks are also in discussion with His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley about co-sponsoring an encounter between Catholic and Orthodox monastics this fall at St. Andrew's

"The move is important for the monks to raise their visibility as Eastern Catholic monastics in order to introduce the East to the West," said Collis. "Many of the non-Eastern lay Catholics are tragically unaware that we exist. Eastern Catholics have a great deal of history and mutual love to share with non-Eastern Catholic Christians," said Collis.

According to Ron Selgrath, a member of Holy Resurrection Monastery's Interim Capital Finance Committee and parishioner of St. Andrew's Russian-Greek Catholic Church in El Segundo, if the monks had moved to the East Coast as first planned, it would have created a kind of local spiritual vacuum since "there wouldn't be an Eastern Catholic monastery and, particularly, there wouldn't be an Eastern monastery that has an outreach to the Southern California community and to the Roman Church."

For updates on Holy Resurrection Monastery's move to St. Andrew's Abbey and information on how to contribute to the monastery's capital campaign, log on to www.hrmonline.org. E-mails to the monks can be sent through their website. Mail can be sent until April 30 to the Monastery at P.O. Box 130, Newberry Springs, CA 92365; telephone (760) 257-4008. After May 1, the monks can be contacted c/o St. Andrew's Abbey, P.O. Box 40, Valyermo, CA 93563.