The monks of the San Nilo Abbey of Grottaferrata are Catholics of the Byzantine-Greek rite and represent the Italian Congregation of the Basilian Monks, an institution established within the Catholic Church to unite the Byzantine rite monasteries present in southern Italy.
Currently, the Greek Abbey of Grottaferrata, known as the San Nilo Abbey of Grottaferrata, is the last of the numerous Byzantine Monasteries that were widespread throughout southern Italy and even in Rome during the Middle Ages. It is also unique in that, founded fifty years before the Schism that led to the separation of the Churches of Rome and Constantinople, it has always remained in communion with the Bishop of Rome, while preserving the Byzantine-Greek rite and the original Eastern monastic tradition.
