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