Holy Transfiguration Monastery (Bombala, New South Wales)

Holy Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration
Jurisdiction	ROCOR ANZ
Type	Male Monastery
Founded	1982
Superior	Hieromonk Sergius
Approx. size	~6 monks
Location	Bombala, New South Wales, Australia
Liturgical language(s)	English, Slavonic
Music used	Russian Chant
Calendar	Julian
Feastdays celebrated	6/19 August
Official website	Holy Transfiguration

Monastery Service, August 2005

The Holy Transfiguration Monastery is a monastic community for men under the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Originally established as a skete under the omophorion of His Eminence Archbishop Paul of Sydney, it has since been made a monastery, all the while under the abbacy of Archimandrite Alexis. In August 2010, Archimandrite Alexis retired as abbot; he was succeeded by Hieromonk Sergius (Shatrov), with Fr Alexis as spiritual father[1]. There are currently 6 monastics in residence.

The Monastery

The monastery is currently situated in Bombala, which is near the Snowy Mountains and 2 hours from Canberra, with over 100 acres of land. There are currently three priest-monks (Archimandrite Alexis, Hieromonk Makary and Hieromonk Sergius) in residence, along with a small number of novices.

During feastdays of the monastery, approximately 80-180 people (depending on the day of week) attend, with the liturgic celebrations done by the ROCOR Archbishop, with ROCOR and Serbian clergy. At the feastday in 2004, there were four monks or novices in residence. During the 2005 feast day celebrations, Monk Sergius was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood, and there were six monks or novices in residence.

Archimandrite Alexis

After several years service at the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, being the superior twice, Archimandrite Alexis (Rosentool) came to Australia and founded Holy Transfiguration Skete. He is an experienced iconographer, having studied under Archimandrite Kyprian (Pyzhov), completing the fresco on the ceiling of the Nativity of St John the Forerunner Church, Canberra. He has given lectures at various Russian and Serbian youth conferences, including at New Shamordino, 1982, and the 38th Russian Youth Conference in Melbourne, 2002.

External link

• Official monastery website]
• ROCOR Parish and Clergy Directory listing.
• Holy Transfiguration Monastery Feast Day - Photos on Flickr.com