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The territorial abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata (in Latin: abbatia territorialis B. Mariae Cryptaeferratae), also known as the Greek Abbey of San Nilo, is one of the three ecclesiastical circumscriptions of the Catholic Byzantine Church in Italy. Located in the municipality of the same name near Rome, it belongs to the Lazio ecclesiastical region. In 2013 it had 12 baptized out of 12 inhabitants. The seat is vacant. The monks of the Exarchist Monastery, forming the Congregation of Italy of the Basilian Monks (O.S.B.I.), are mostly from the Italian-Albanian communities and practice liturgy and tradition according to the Byzantine rite. Currently the Abbey of Grottaferrata is the last of the numerous Byzantine monasteries which in the Middle Ages were widespread throughout southern Italy and in the same Roman capital. It is also unique in that, founded fifty years before the schism that led to the separation of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople, it has always been in communion with the Bishop of Rome, while preserving the Byzantine-Greek rite and the Eastern monastic tradition of the origins. Since 1931 it has housed the Laboratory of Restoration of the Ancient Book, the first scientific laboratory for the preservation of bibliographic heritage in Italy. Already a National Monument, it is protected by the MIBACT, which manages the historical and artistic heritage with the Lazio Museum Complex.

The abbey was founded in 1004 by Nilus of Rossano, a monk of Greek descent from Calabria, and has remained in continuous operation since then. It is the only one of the Italo-Greek monasteries that has survived. Most gradually monasteries fell into decadence and they were taken by the Kingdom of Italy when it secularized religious orders in 1866. Only the Grottaferrata monastery, considered a national monument, was allowed to continue with the monks as its guardians. In the course of time, the civil authorities have allowed them increasing independence. In 1880 the Holy See ordered the liturgy of the monastery to be purged of the Latin elements that had been introduced over the centuries. Vocations were no longer sought from the general Italian population, instead chiefly among Italo-Albanians, and the monks set up new monasteries in Sicily and Calabria. On 1 November 1571, the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata was established. On 26 September 1937, the abbey was made a territorial abbey.

This Byzantine Monastery, with its continuing prayers, maintained for more than a thousand years, witnesses the unity of the Church in its several traditions of spirituality and culture. With many Orthodox Churches and monasteries, the Basilian Monks – spiritual sons of St. Nilus – have fraternal and friendly relationships and reciprocal esteem. The community is deeply conscious of the ecumenical dialogue. The Basilian monks cultivate it with multiple personal and community encounters, with generous and open hospitality to the orthodox brethren that visit the abbey and participate to the activities, often staying as guests for some time, and above all with prayer, humility, insistent trust in the maternal hands of the Blessed Mother of God that guides the Christians (Theotòkos Hodigitria), whose ancient icon has for centuries been the symbolic heart and life-blood of the monastery.

The Abbey of Grottaferrata is the last of the numerous Byzantine monasteries which in the Middle Ages were widespread throughout southern Italy and in the same Roman capital. It is also unique in that, founded fifty years before the schism that led to the separation of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople, it has always been in communion with the Bishop of Rome, while preserving the Byzantine-Greek rite and the Eastern monastic tradition of the origins. This monastery is a place of meeting and dialogue between the Latin West and the Orthodox East, open to anyone who desires to live in, to think about and to go deep into the spirituality of Byzantium

Proposals of class activities:

Using the section of website
http://www.abbaziagreca.it/editoria.asp

Using this resource students can reflect about labour in the abbey and compare this modern activity with the historical period of “Monasticism”