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In 1962, under the leadership of its abbot, Dom Augustine (Whitfield), the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Royal, which had been an Old Catholic monastic community since its foundation in 1910, was received into the Moscow Patriarchal [[Russian Orthodox Church]] by Bishop Dositheus (Ivanchenko) of New York. It was later received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, in 1975, by Archbishop Nikon (Rkitzsky). Mount Royal continued up until 2010, finally ceasing with the repose of Abbot Augustine.
In 1993, Bishop Hilarion (Kapral) of Manhattan (now Metropolitan Hilarion, First [[Hierarch]] of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]]) blessed the founding of a new Benedictine monastery under its abbot, Dom James (Deschene), the former Prior of Mount Royal. Christ the Saviour Monastery (Christminster) today runs an oblate programme and seeks to make modest provision for the formation of clergy within the [[Western Rite Orthodoxy|Western Rite]] of the Orthodox Church, a provision lacking in most Orthodox seminaries. It also publishes music and [[liturgical book]]s books to enhance the offering of the Western Rite Orthodox [[liturgy]].
In 1997, Hilarion (Kapral), then Archbishop of Sydney, received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia the monastery of Saint Petroc in Tasmania, Australia. This monastic community had been formed as a [[Continuing Anglican]] monastery in 1992 under its superior, Hieromonk Michael (Mansbridge-Wood). While it is not a Benedictine foundation it did have a Benedictine presence attached to it in the form of the Holyrood hermitage in Florida, which has since become an independent monastic hermitage under Abbot David (Pierce).
===Communities===
There are currently at least five Benedictine monastic houses within the Orthodox Church, namely Our Lady of Mount Royal, under Abbot Augustine (Whitfield); the [[Christ the Savior Monastery (Hamilton, Ontario)|Christ the Saviour Monastery]] (or Christminster) is a Benedictine monastery of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]] and is currently under Abbot James (Deschene); and the Abbey of the Holy Name with its daughter house of St John the Theologian. In addition, an oblate programme exists at [http://www.russianorthodoxoklahoma.org Saint Benedict Russian Orthodox Church] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. All of these houses and the parish in Oklahoma City are either under the jurisdiction of the [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia]] or the [http://www.orthodoxchristians.eu/ Holy Synod of Milan]. Within the United States of America, the [[Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America]], while having no monastic houses, does have a number of parishes that run an oblate programme.
There are currently no female Benedictine monastic houses in the Orthodox Church.
==Oblature==
The word ''oblate'' derives from the Latin ''oblatus'', which means "one offered". [[Oblates of Saint Benedict]] offer themselves to God in much the same way that monks and nuns do, except that they do not take monastic vows or necessarily live within the monastic enclosure. Rather, they make a commitment to God, in the presence of the monastic community (or the parish community, depending on circumstances) to strive to live according to the Rule of St Benedict as adapted to suit their own life situations. Usually, the rule is adapted according to the individual spiritual and practical needs of each oblate by the abbot or oblate master of the monastery to which he or she is to retain a bond of practical support and spiritual obedience.
Oblates may be male or female, celibate or married. They are not [[tonsure]]d as monastics, and, unlike monastic vows, their oblation may be revoked at any time. Out of necessity, Antiochian oblates are not usually attached to a monastery, (except for those who are under the direction of Christminster), as there are currently no Benedictine monasteries in that jurisdiction. However, the oblature operates on the parish level.
