Today is the day Orthodox Christians observe the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, founder of Western monasticism. Because he’s a saint of the pre-schism Church, the Orthodox recognize him as a saint, just as the Roman Catholics do. Via Matthew Milliner, I read this interesting account of a 10th-century Benedictine who left Monte Cassino and ended up on Mount Athos, living in a Western Rite monastery there. Excerpt:

John of Benevento later made his way from Jerusalem to Sinai, dwelt there for six years, then set his face towards Greece, sojourning ‘upon the mountain which is called Agionoros’ [approx. 993], where he dwelt at Amalfion, among his countrymen. And there it was that St Benedict appeared to him in sleep, ordering him to return to Monte Cassino to be elected abbot. He did return, and—Manso having died in 997—he was chosen to be John III, 29th Abbot of Monte Cassino.

I did not realize until reading this that there had been an Athonite monastery that followed the Rule of St. Benedict. The Amalfion monastery lasted from the 10th through the 13th centuries. Read about it here.