This paper examines the promotion and reimagining of ‘traditional’ masculinity through modern, global Orthodox monastic culture. It does this through a case study of an Orthodox monastic community of men and women on the Scottish islands of Mull and Iona, which has acquired a number of monastic buildings on these islands since 2010 as part of a larger, global growth of Romanian Orthodox monasticism. The paper examines how these new Orthodox monasteries have brought together Celtic and Romanian saints in a shared history of traditional, ascetic masculinity, to spread Orthodoxy in the modern western world. This shared history and vision of masculinity has been promoted through a lively programme of events in the island monasteries, an active online presence and the organisation of Scottish and Romanian retreats. Seeking to reclaim ‘the ancient East in the west’, this transnational monastic masculinity differs from other, more militaristic Orthodox approaches to gender that set themselves explicitly in opposition to the West. Instead, by crafting an entangled Scottish-Romanian history, this international monastic community has reimagined a new, traditionalist narrative of global Orthodoxy rooted in a shared history of ascetic masculinity.
