In an ancient monastery behind huge medieval battlements in a hilltop town just south of Rome, 10 monks are striving to keep alive a 1,600-year-old spiritual tradition against increasing odds. Aged between 23 and 89, they are among Italy’s last remaining Byzantine-rite monks. They are inspired by the teachings of fourth-century St. Basil, following an ascetic regimen of prayer and work.
Brother Claudio Corsaro, 27, abandoned a promising career as an opera singer to become a monk. The only singing he does now is in the chapel.
“I was only six years old when I felt the Lord for the first time but I fully realised my vocation many years later, when I had already started my singing career,” he said while walking between olive trees in the monastery compound.
Corsaro and his confreres dress in the habit of Orthodox churchmen, including flowing black robes and the traditional flat-topped round hat.
Basilian monk St Nilus founded the Grottaferrata abbey in 1004, 50…