Christ the Savior Monastery (Niagara Falls, NY)

Christminster or Christ the Savior Monastery is a Western Rite monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), established in Rhode Island in 1993 with the blessing of Archbishop Hilarion, then Bishop of Manhattan, who authorized Dom James M. Deschene (formerly the prior of the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Royal) to continue the Western Rite mission of Mount Royal under the title of Christ the Saviour Monastery or Christminster. It is currently located in Niagara Falls, NY.

History

Founded in 1910 as an Old Catholic monastery, Mount Royal's mission and work continued under Old Catholic auspices until 1962. In that year the community was received into the patriarchal Russian Orthodox Church by its American exarch, Bishop Dositheus (Ivanchenko) of New York. For several years, the monks of Mount Royal staffed a Western Rite chapel in the Russian Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Manhattan, later moving to Woodstock, New York. Bishop Dositheus' successor, Archbishop John (Wendland), blessed and confirmed the Western Rite observance and mission of Mount Royal and the leadership of its abbot, Dom Augustine Whitfield.

In 1975, under Abbot Augustine, the monastery was received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia by Archbishop Nikon (Rklitzsky), who again authorized and blessed its mission and observances.

In 1993, upon the retirement of Abbot Augustine, Christminster was founded in Rhode Island with the blessing of Bishop Hilarion to carry on the work of Western Rite Orthodoxy in the ROCOR Synod.

External links

• Christ the Savior Monastery (official site)
• News site