Diocese: Diocese of the West
Deanery: Rocky Mountain Deanery
Mailing address:
c/o POB 141
Harrison, MT 59735
Website: stpetersmonastery.com
Parish Contacts
Bozeman, MT
Lay Leadership
Parish Background
On April 19, 2012 Archbishop Benjamin, attended by Abbot Meletios of St. John Monastery in Manton, California, conducted a moleban service, blessing the land designated for the future site of St. Peter’s Monastery. The owners of this beautiful thousand-acre ranch in Southwest Montana have pledged to place their ranch in a Church trust as soon as a monastery can be established on it. A Deed of Conservation Easement granted the owners in 2006 preserves the land in perpetuity whilst making provision for the building and maintenance of an Orthodox monastery on the property.
St. Peter’s Monastery, established in 2014, is a tax-exempt 501(c)3 foundation recognized by the State of Montana. Its six-member board is chaired by Archbishop Benjamin (OCA), and the work is supported by the priests and parishes throughout our State. These include Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church in Butte (Fr. Russell Radoicich); Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Missoula (Fr. Haralambos Spaliatsos); St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Billings (Fr. Moses Hibbard); St. Anthony the Great Orthodox Church in Bozeman (Fr. David Morrison); and St. Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church in Kalispell (Fr. Daniel Kirk).
St. Peter’s Monastery is ideally situated not only to offer a sequestered life for monastics, but also to support the growth of the Church in Montana and throughout the Mountain West. It is surrounded by mountains in sparsely populated ranch lands and lies off the grid, generating its own electricity from wind and sun. Philosophy River, named by explorers Lewis and Clark in 1805, flows through the property and into an undeveloped lake that forms the south boundary of the Monastery. The ranch lies along the north shore of this lake and is located in the center of the State, north of Yellowstone Park and south of Helena, the State capital, and only an hour’s drive from the Bozeman and Butte airports.