St. Basil's Monastery Seminary

Монастир і семінарія св. Василія Великог

 St. Basil Seminary Monastery, had its humble beginnings here in Winnipeg, Ontario, almost 70 years ago.  We were one of the first inter-cultural Ukrainian/Canadian/American) religious communities to bridge the religious and cultural gap between Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman Catholic) Christians in the Northern Hemisphere.  Our project of creating an ecumenical, Orthodox/Catholic community was successful for over five decades.

"How blessed it is when brothers dwell in unity." Psalm 133:1

 Over the years, many men joined our community from Canada, US and abroad.   The number of seminarians and monastics grew to over fifty in the '70's, but we experienced a decline in numbers beginning in the 90's and the early 2000's.  This was due to the schism between our community here in Canada and our original community in the Ukraine.

In 2009, we suffered a devastating fire that would reshape our community.  Unfortunately, we were never able to recover from that tragic event which ultimately brought a sad closure to our once thriving and colourful community in 2016.

I, Fr. Peter, former Abbot, and one of the original Founders, have since retired from full-time ministry and  am living in a semi-eremetical life in Saskatchewan.  I still offer spiritual counselling and retreats.  Fr. Volodymyr, another original Founder, reposed (Вічна пам'ять) in 2016.  The rest of the community have since found homes in other jurisdictions or have been absorbed in other religious communities here in Canada, the US and elsewhere.  I still keep in contact with many of them.  While we are separated by distance, we are united in Christ.

If you wish, you can still contact me at: pstjohn@gmail.com

Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory Forever!

 Слава Ісусу Христу!   Слава навіки!