The Arabic conquest of Sicily is considered as a crucial phase of the decline of eastern monasticism because of the downfall of many monasteries, abandoned by Byzantine monks to flee the island and search for refuge on the Continent.
With the arrival of Normans on the island, the Pope took advantage of the opportunity to project the reorganisation of his Clergy and the reintroduction of Roman jurisdiction but Normans decided to protect the monks and helped them to reconstruct their cenobites and abbeys. Despite this, the rising decline of Italian greek culture had already started, as for the increase of Latin monks arriving on the island, especially during the last years of the reign of Roger II, during which Latinisation quickly expanded and the presence of European prelates and french bishops started to become more frequent, with the consequent weakening of the earlier ethnic and religious tolerance. From 1113, this major opening to the introduction of other ethical groups from northern Italy and other territories over the Alps certainly implemented the Latinisation and catholic Christianization of the Sicilian Church and thus determined the downsizing of the greek political role.
However, Basilian Monasticism continue to withstand during Swabian domination (1198-1266) even though with the arrival of Henry VI and Frederick II of Swabia starts, as it’s written in the “Epistola ad Petrum Panormitane Ecclesiae Thesaurarium de calamitate Siciliae” by pseudos Hugo Falcandus, the progressive downfall of the multicultural balance in the Reign.
With the arrival of Angioinians (1266-1282), the irreversible decline phase, caused by the loss of greek religious customs in favour of Latin ones, continued relentlessly. In fact, it was easily detected a not indifferent decrease in the number of monks that abandoned their monasteries or went on the religious Latin orders’ side with a consequent disuse of the traditional eastern custom as well as the Greek language, previously spoken during the liturgy.
The decline of Basilian Monasteries got even worse in 1494 because of the commendatory system. The commendatory abbot is an ecclesiastic or lay, that runs an abbey in “commendam”, committed temporarily. It’s important to distinguish it from an abbey committed in “titulum”, permanently. The commandry divides the economical management of the monastery from the ownership of the abbey. The commendatory abbot generally didn’t live in the monastery and didn’t have any power over the intern monastic discipline, committed to the claustral abbot, that lived in the monastery with the community of monks. Moreover, the commendatories were more interested in their personal enrichment rather than the right management of the abbeys committed to them.