Map of Orthodox monasteries in France
There are three Orthodox monasteries less than two hours away from Chateau View. The nearest is the monastery at Cantauque, near Limoux, about a 40-minute drive from here. This monastery publishes the guide to Orthodox monasteries in France (Petit guide des monastères orthdoxes de France), which includes a map (left) and a detailed listing for each of the monasteries covering all Orthodox jurisdictions and languages. The book is usually available for sale at the monastery.
Cantauque
This is our nearest monastery, about 40-minutes by car from Chateau View. The Monastery of the Theotokos and Saint Martin at Cantauque nestles in a beautiful spot including farmland and forests in the hills around Limoux, and welcomes guests. It was founded in 2002 by monks returning to France after living for 20 years in the Holy Land.
The monastery is within the Romanian Orthodox Church, but uses French as its main liturgical language along with traditional Byzantine music in its beautiful small Basilica-style church. All the monks speak French, though English, Russian and Romanian are also spoken.
The Monastery’s main activities are hospitality, iconography, psaltic chant, Biblical Hebrew, wood engraving, the restoration of ancient icons, apiculture and farming. We usually have some monastery honey, so you may well be treated to this at breakfast.
Père Jakob in the bookshop at the Cantauque Monastery
You can find out more about this monastery on their website: www.monastere-cantauque.com.
Buisson Ardent
The Orthodox Community of the Resurrection is a little over an hour away to the north, and also traces its roots back to Palestine. This monastery is under the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of Europe.
As in Cantauque, the liturgical language is French and Byzantine chant is used. More details can be found on the Archdiocese website at: www.antiocheurope.org. (See the archived version of this page if the link is not working.)
Le Vilar
The Romanian Orthodox Monastery of the Dormition of the Mother of God is found at the Priory of Santa Maria del Vilar. Like the monastery at Cantauque, it is a part of the Romanian Orthodox Metropolia of Western and Southern Europe, but uses both French and Romanian as its liturgical languages.
The monks run guided tours of the ancient priory in which they live, and more details of these can be found on their website: www.prieureduvilar.free.fr.
A Google map of the Orthodox monasteries in France can be found here.
