BASILIANS, EASTERN MONKS. – This is the name given to the religious of the East who model their monastic life on the rules of St. Basil. The expression “Order of St. Basil,” under which, from the 16th century to modern times, all monks of the Byzantine rite were erroneously included, originated in the West and was first used, at the beginning of the 11th century, as a mere chancery formula by the Roman Curia when it dealt with the Greek monks of southern Italy (see BASILIANS of ITALY).
The Basilians, while preserving the essential elements of monastic life such as prayer, common life, and the observance of the evangelical counsels, now differ from primitive monasticism in the variety of aims and regulations that guide them. Within Catholicism, they include the following canonically recognized Orders:
I. BASILIAN ORDER OF ST. JOSAPHAT. – This takes its name from the great monk and martyr Josaphat Kuntsevych (d. 1623), who felt called to reform the monasticism of his country. Having become Archbishop of Polotsk, the reform gained momentum through the work of Josyf Rutsky, archimandrite since 1609 of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Vilnius. When he became metropolitan in 1614, he convened in July 1617, at his estate in Ruta near Novogrudok, the first General Chapter of the reformed Basilians. With the cooperation of the Jesuits, who had settled in Vilnius, he drew up for them a draft of constitutions that closely reflected the way of life of the Society of Jesus, even more closely imitated in the final legislative Chapter held at Torokany in 1780. However, the new Basilians retained the obligation of reciting the Divine Office, and while the monasteries of the East depend on the local bishop, Rutsky grouped all the monasteries under the authority of a proto-archimandrite, a true General of the Order, freely elected by the Congregation. He nevertheless stipulated that all monks should be subject, both for external ministry and internal life, to the metropolitan as well. In this way, he gave the institution a rigid organization perfectly suited to an active life, as he had always desired, departing from the customs of the ancient Eastern monasteries. The religious, in addition to the other three vows, were required to take the supplementary vow of refusing all dignities. Benedict XIV, however, dispensed them from this with the brief *Inclyam quidem* of 12 April 1753. On 4 October 1624, the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith invited all Basilians to unite in a congregation. Thus approved by Urban VIII with the brief *Exponi nobis* of 20 August 1631, it took the name of the Holy Trinity of Lithuania.
Meanwhile, many monasteries in Poland, having entered into Catholic union, along with others newly founded and remaining independent of these congregations, united in the General Chapter held at Lviv in 1739, taking the name of the Congregation of the Protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary or of Poland. Benedict XIV, with the brief *Etsi dubitare* of 27 November 1742, urged them to unite with the Congregation of Lithuania, as in fact happened in the General Chapter of the Cathedral in May 1743. In this way, a single Basilian congregation was formed, divided into the two provinces of Lithuania and Poland. Benedict XIV, with the brief *Inter plures* of 11 May 1744, approving the resolutions of the Chapter, decreed that the congregation should take the name of *Ordo s. Basilii Magni Ruthenorum* and that the proto-archimandrite should be elected alternately from each province, as well as the procurator general resident in Rome. These provisions remained in force even after the partition of Poland. In 1744, the Ruthenian Basilians numbered about 1,300 with 72 monasteries in Lithuania and 69 in Poland. In 1780, the number of provinces was increased to three: one for Lithuania, another for the territories passed to Russia, and a third, of St. Nicholas, for White Russia. But when persecution broke out in Russia in 1832, the Basilian Order could no longer exist there by 1839. In the Austrian dominions, the Order was not spared by Josephinism; so that, when the reform of Leo XIII was decreed in 1882, only 14 monasteries remained.
The Ruthenian monks of Hungary, remaining independent of those in Poland, did not suffer materially; but, having been reduced to very few, in 1922 they were annexed to the Congregation of Galicia reformed by Leo XIII. Of this, which in turn was not in better condition than the others, the same Pontiff, with the apostolic letter *Singulare praesidium* of 12 May 1882, entrusted the reform to the Jesuits, who, with the approval of the new constitution on 10 June 1896, successfully carried it out. The new congregation, called of the Most Holy Saviour, having become flourishing and numerous, was able to undertake missions in Brazil, Canada, and the United States of America for the benefit of Ruthenian emigrants and to take over in 1904 the direction of the Ruthenian College in Rome. In 1921, the Romanian Maxim, who became a blessed in the monastery of Krekhiv in Galicia, wished to restore the ancient convent of SS. Peter and Paul among his fellow citizens in Transylvania. Following this, the need was felt to restore the local monastic organization, and the General Chapter held at Dobromyl in July 1931 reestablished the dignity of archimandrite for the entire congregation with residence in Rome and the authority of a proto-hegumen at the head of each of the three provinces: the Galician, the Carpathian for the countries south of the Carpathians, and the American-Canadian, which also included the United States of America, to which was added the vice-province of Brazil, now a province.
Moreover, in the papal audience of 24 February 1932, the monks of the Dobromyl reform, divided into 23 monasteries, obtained permission to assume the name “Basilian Order of St. Josaphat” in memory of the part played by this saint in the rebirth of the ancient Ruthenian congregation.
II. MELKITE BASILIANS OF THE HOLY SAVIOUR
These Basilians, also called “Salvatorians,” trace their origin to a foundation by Euthymios Saifi (1642–1722), Metropolitan of Tyre and Sidon. As early as 1684, he had gathered some priests, having them take religious vows and, in 1708, building for them near Sidon the monastery and church that still exist today. Like Rutsky, Euthymios did not initially intend to found a true Eastern-rite monastery; yet his monks immediately appear as Basilians and at the same time as true missionaries. In the constitution *Demandatum* of 24 December 1743, Benedict XIV recognized the Salvatorians as existing *viam facti*, declared them Basilians, enjoined them to observe the genuine rule of St. Basil, and subjected them to the local ordinary and, mediately, to the Melkite Patriarch of Antioch, to whom they remain directly subject in rites where no Catholic ordinary exists. Their form of government is analogous to that of the Basilians of Shuwayr and Aleppo.Until the conquest of Syria by the Egyptians (1831–32), the Salvatorians devoted themselves to parochial ministry in Phoenicia, Palestine, Egypt, and the city of Damascus; and even today they continue to do so especially in the dioceses of Tyre, Sidon, Ptolemais (St. Jean d’Acre), Caesarea Philippi (Paneas), Tripoli (Lebanon), and Damascus, where they have 7 monasteries and 290 monks, most of them priests.
### III. ORDER OF THE BLESSED JOHN THE BAPTIST (BALADITI ŠUWARITI) OF THE MELKITES
From the monastery of Balamand, near Tripoli, around 1710, two hieromonks, Gerasimo and Salomone, left to retire into solitude. Upon arriving in Lebanon, they founded a small monastery near the church of St. John the Baptist, found between Šuwajr and Btagrin. Due to war, the monastery had to be abandoned soon after, and they sought refuge in Beirut. Salomone remained alone when his companion returned to Balamand. However, in September 1712, Gerasimo returned to his monastery and obtained great favors from the Catholic metropolitan of Beirut. As the number of monks increased, in June 1720 they convened a Chapter: they elected Niceforo Karmi as archimandrite and established the rules of their discipline in 18 articles. In 1722, the archimandrite prescribed the emission of the three vows, in addition to that of humility, imitating the Lebanese Maronite monks. Later, to complete the brief and long rules of St. Basil, Fr. Nicola Ša'ig found it expedient to adopt simply the constitutions of the aforementioned Lebanese monks, derived from Italian constitutions not yet well identified. However, the variations were minor and were approved by Benedict XIV with the brief *Ecclesiae Catholicae regimini* of June 11, 1757.
Toward the end of the 18th century, the metropolitan of Beirut, Ignazio Sarrūf, attempted to reform the Šuwajrita Congregation under the pretext of certain abuses, but failed. He then established a new congregation in the monastery of Mār Sim'an (St. Simon the Stylite near Beirut). Patriarch Teodosio VI Dahan suppressed it with the approval of the Propaganda Fide, which, however, approved some parts of the regulations imposed on the Šuwajriti by the metropolitan (1784). The Šuwajriti, though monks from the beginning, had to adapt, like the Salvatorians, to serving parishes lacking secular clergy in the dioceses of Beirut and Zahelè.
Currently, they have 5 convents, 5 procuracies, and 118 professed members. Most hieromonks, alongside liturgical life, engage in apostolic and charitable works.
### IV. ORDER OF THE BLESSED ALEPPO (ALEPPINO) OF THE MELKITES
This is a derivation of the Šuwajrita Congregation, from which it separated as early as 1824. Since the separation was annulled by the emir of Lebanon, Bašir II Šihab, only in September 1829 was a definitive division possible, approved by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide on January 9, 1832. Since then, the members of the Lebanese branch are called "Baladiti," while the others are called "Aleppini." The B. Aleppini have never exercised pastoral care in their own country; however, they govern 25 parishes outside it in the dioceses of Ba'albek, Zahelè, Tripoli (Lebanon), Damascus, Transjordan, Egypt, and Sudan. They number 75 monks and 5 monasteries, including that of the Most Holy Savior in Saba (Lebanese Republic).