St. Petroc Monastery (Cascades, Tasmania)

Saint Petroc Monastery
Jurisdiction	TOC-R
Type	Semi-Eremitic Male Monastery
Founded	1992
Superior	Fr Michael
Approx. size	n/a
Location	unknown
Liturgical language(s)	English
Music used	Western Rite, Sarum
Calendar	Julian
Feastdays celebrated	Unknown
Official website	n/a

Saint Petroc Monastery was a semi-eremitic monastic community for men located in Cascades, Tasmania. It was headed by Fr. Michael for the duration of its existence, and followed the Sarum practise of the Western Rite. It no longer exists.

History

Saint Petroc Monastery was founded in 1992 as an Anglo-Catholic monastery. In 1995 it turned to Orthodoxy and, under instruction, was placed under the direction of Patriarch Ignatius IV of Antioch. In 1997, the monastery was received into ROCOR, under the omophorion of Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, with the mandate to not only continue using the Sarum practise of the Western Rite, but to do so with the explicit intent of attracting people of Anglo-Celtic ancestry to Orthodoxy through this rite. Fr Michael and Fr Barry Jefferies, a married priest associated with Fr Michael, were baptised and ordained by Abp Hilarion to this end[1]. The Monastery also received permission to create attached monastery missions and parishes. In 1998, the monastery began one of these attached missions in Launceston, named for St. Stephen.

In 2001, Fr. Michael becomes a chaplain at the University of Tasmania; though this service concludes after the University of Tasmania sells their faith centre.

In 2003, the Saint Colman Prayer Book, compiled by the monastery, is authorised for use in ROCOR. In June of the next year, the Monastery calls a meeting of Western Rite clergy in Australia and New Zealand - which included the priests attached to the monastery and two Antiochian clergy - to discuss the future of Western Rite in Australasia.

On November 19, 2010, Hieromonk Michael is made the Assistant to the Metropolitan for Western Rite communities in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, while Dom James (Deschene) was made the Assistant to the Metropolitan for Western Rite communities in the United States of America and Canada.

On May 23, 2011, Hieromonk Michael is suspended by Metropolitan Hilarion for public defamation of brother clergy. This was lifted around late June, with Hmk Michael restricted simply to caring for his flock in Tasmania.

On February 13, 2013, Hieromonk Michael is suspended and retired by Metropolitan Hilarion due to canonical violations, neglect (through absence) of St Dyfan's parish in Hobart, and "bringing disrepute to the Orthodox witness of the Western Rite movement" through his online interactions. On the 31st of March, he announced that "[o]n the 15th of March, [he] was notified in writing of [his] reception by his eminence [sic], Metropolitan Daniel of the Metropolitanate of Moscow (TOC-R). This was followed by the necessary decrees. The decrees stated that [he is] a Hieromonk of Metropolitan Daniel's diocese, resident in the United Kingdom". This reception means the departure of Hieromonk Michael and St Petroc Monastery from the Church. It is notable to mention that St Dyfan's, the Western Rite community in Hobart, chose to remain in ROCOR under the care of Fr Barry Jeffries. In 2014, Fr Michael (now living in Scotland) was received back into ROCOR by Metropolitan Hilarion, and is involved in an unrelated monastic project. As such, St Petroc Monastery no longer operates.

External Links

• 'A site of St Petroc Monastery'
• Saint Petroc Monastery, Hobart, Tasmania. A ROCOR missionary initiative.
• FrMichael Hieromonk Facebook page