Heliga Korsets och Profeten Elias kloster i Östanbäck (OSB)

With much initial help and inspiration from the (Anglican) Society of St Francis and after ten years of preparation for monastic life for men in the Church of Sweden – five years as students in varying novitiates or small fraternity experiments, five as a more regular community in a vicarage outside the city of Västerås involved in the life of the parish – the community settled in an old village (Östanbac) 40 kms to the north and adopted the Rule of St Benedict.

The declarations and the constitution of Östanbäcks kloster were written before the solemn dedication of the monastery in 1975 by the bishop emeritus Bengt Sundkler, formerly of Bukoba, Tanzania. They describe a life where priority is given to the liturgical prayer and to manual labour as well as to the reception of guests (for retreat, re-orientation in life eg after a divorce, general spiritual guidance, refugees, lonely persons looking for fellowship).

The search for visible unity in diversity of all Christians, including acceptance of the Roman ministry of Peter, has received a symbol in the ‘church of Unity’ dedicated in 2012 with broad participation from different churches. The community was affiliated with the Dutch Benedictine Congregation from 1994 and now after its dissolution with the Congregation of the Annunciation.