LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, JULY 15-16, 2017
A world apart right next door
Duchovny Dom Byzantine Catholic Men’s Monastery finds peace in the Blue Mountains
By PHIL WRIGHT
East Oregonian
Tobias Vincent gathered a goat
for milking while Gus the goose
waddled across a Weston Moun-
tain farm after him.
Vincent had just moments
before blinked sleep from his
eyes. But the brisk 6 a.m. air soon
had him awake at Duchovny
Dom Byzantine Catholic Men’s
Monastery.
The young man with a shock
of red hair wore all black work
clothes as he filled a metal pail
with milk from five goats. Like he
did the day before. Like he will do
the day after.
The monastic candidate tipped
the pail while setting it down,
spilling some of the milk.
“That was close,” he said.
Vincent arrived in January to
this Christian enclave about 10
miles outside Weston off Highway
204 in the Blue Mountains. He
said he fell in love with the place
and “been here since.” Come
August, he will take vows to step
up from a candidate to become an
initiate.
Duchovny Dom is the realiza-
tion of the Right Rev. Josef Stan-
ichar, but here he goes by Father
Joseph. He spent his youth in
New York, he said, and the accent
still slips through after years away
from the Big Apple.
He was ordained in 1968 and
enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in
the mid-1970s, where he was a
chaplain and retired a full colonel
after 23 years. His Air Force duties
brought him to eastern Wash-
ington, he said, and Walla Walla
had a small mission of about 15
families. He sought a quiet place
to retire and the mission found
him six acres in the Blues.
“It’s a good place,” he said.
Turning a small cabin into a
monastery started about four years
ago and the process continues.
Stanichar is the abbot and one
of five monks at Duchovny Dom.
In simple terms, they are members
of the Greek Catholic Church
that remains aligned with Rome.
They greet each other and guests
with “praise be Jesus.” They call
each other brother. Vincent is a
candidate, meaning he is at the
beginning of monastic levels.
Another member is an initiate.
One monk is absent now, away
for medical treatment.
And brother Andrew Griffith
is taking his solemn vows. He is
Stanichar’s right-hand monk.
The monks live and run the
monastery from a large home.
Antiques, paintings, decorative
rugs and church iconography
adorn the welcoming and living
rooms on the main floor. Stanich-
ar’s office and residence are up
the wood staircase on the second
floor along with the cloister,
where the monks reside.
The cloister is off limits to
women. This monastery is for
men, though Duchovny Dom
hosts pilgrims and people on
retreat of both sexes. This past
Memorial Day weekend, 51 came
for a work pilgrimage. Women
stay in an on-site trailer. Pilgrims
and retreatants join in the labor
and worship.
“They live the lives of monks,”
Griffith said.
What started as a private retreat
in the woods now spreads over 77
acres, including 40 acres of forest.
They have the five milk goats
See MONASTERY/4C
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Father Josef Stanichar has his morning cup of tea at the
Duchovny Dom Byzantine Catholic Mens Monastery before
heading to worship.
Father Andrew Griffith holds one of ten puppies born at the
Duchovny Dom Byzantine Catholic Mens Monastery.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Sunlight coming through a domed skylight at the Duchovny Dom Byzantine Catholic Mens Monastery creates sunbeams that
illuminate scaffolding below.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
Father Andrew Griffith hauls fenceposts Monday at the Duchovny Dom
Byzantine monastery.
Staff photo by Kathy Aney
The monastery sits on acreage on Highway 204, near Weston.