St. Isaac of Syria Skete (Boscobel, Wisconsin)

From OrthodoxWiki
Jump to: navigation, search
St. Isaac of Syria Skete
Jurisdiction independent
Type Male Skete
Founded 1987
Superior Monk Simeon
Approx. size 5 monks
Location Boscobel, Wisconsin
Liturgical language(s) English
Music used Russian Chant
Calendar Julian
Feastdays celebrated January 28
Official website Official website

St. Isaac of Syria Skete is a monastic community for men located in Boscobel, Wisconsin. There are currently four monks and one novice within the monastery.

The community was founded in April 1987 with the arrival of Abbot Simeon Gitlis to the Boscobel area. The skete is an offshoot of Christ of the Hills Monastery (COTH) in Blanco, Texas, which at the time belonged to the Archdiocese of Vasiloupolis.

In time, a church, a school and the Monastery of St. Silouan, a female monastery, were also constructed.

In 1991, COTH and the Boscobel skete were received into the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR).

The skete returned its antimins to ROCOR in 1999, after ROCOR withdrew its antimins from COTH.

Some time later the community joined the Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia.

In 2009 Gitlis was deposed by the Bulgarians, and the Bulgarian diocese withdrew its antimins from the skete. The community, now lacking ordained clergy, receive the Holy Mysteries at the nearby ROCOR parish of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist in Blue River, Wisconsin.

The community produces icons, keeps the church and mission structures, and conducts pastoral, charitable and missionary outreach.

External links