Christian monasticism
Part of a series on |
Christian mysticism |
---|
Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of
Christian monks did not live in monasteries at first, rather, they began by living alone as
Life for monks and nuns
The basic idea of monasticism in all its varieties is seclusion or withdrawal from the world or society. Monastic life is distinct from the "religious orders" such as the
Both ways of living out the Christian life are regulated by the respective church law of those Christian denominations that recognize it (e.g., the
History
Biblical precedent
This section possibly contains original research. (December 2023) |
First-century groups such as the Essenes and the Therapeutae followed lifestyles that could be seen as precursors to Christian monasticism.[8] Early Christian monasticism drew its inspiration from the examples of the Prophet Elijah and John the Baptist, who both lived alone in the desert, and above all from the story of Jesus' time in solitary struggle with Satan in the desert, before his public ministry.[9] Another monastic precedent in Bible would be Nazirites as they practiced tonsure,[10] followed a certain diet as a form of fasting,[11] lived consecrated lives [12][13] and they followed a certain practice concerning hygiene.[14] However, case of Nazirites is usually defined as a form of a historical Jewish vow or oath instead of being a direct precedent of monastic orders because of the historical context concerning Israelites and the importance of private rituals concerning vow making in historical Israelite religion.[15][failed verification]
Early Christianity
Early Christian ascetics have left no confirmed archaeological traces and only hints in the written record. Communities of virgins who had consecrated themselves to Christ are found at least as far back as the 2nd century. There were also individual ascetics, known as the "devout", who usually lived not in the deserts but on the edge of inhabited places, still remaining in the world but practicing asceticism and striving for union with God. In ante-Nicene asceticism, a man would lead a single life, practice long and frequent fasts, abstain from meat and wine, and support himself, if he were able, by some small handicraft, keeping of what he earned only so much as was absolutely necessary for his own sustenance, and giving the rest to the poor.[16]
An early form of "proto-monasticism" appeared as well in the 3rd century among
Eremitic Monasticism
Eremitic monasticism, or solitary monasticism, is characterized by a complete withdrawal from society. The word 'eremitic' comes from the Greek word eremos, which means desert.[17] This name was given because of St. Anthony of Egypt, who left civilization behind to live on a solitary Egyptian mountain in the third century. Though he was probably not the first Christian hermit, he is recognized as such as he was the first known one.[18]
Another option for becoming a solitary monastic was to become an anchoress/anchorite. This began because there were persons who wanted to live the solitary lifestyle but were not able to live alone in the wild. Thus, they would go to the bishop for permission who would then perform the rite of enclosure. After this was completed, the anchoress would live alone in a room that typically had a window that opened into a church so they could receive communion and participate in church services. There were two other windows that allowed food to be passed in and people to come to seek advice.[19] The most well-known anchoress was Julian of Norwich who was born in England in 1342.[20]
Cenobitic monasticism
While the earliest Desert Fathers lived as hermits, they were rarely completely isolated, but often lived in proximity to one another, and soon loose-knit communities began to form in such places as the Desert of Nitria and the Desert of Skete.[9] Saint Macarius established individual groups of cells such as those at Kellia, founded in 338. These monks were anchorites, following the monastic ideal of St. Anthony. They lived by themselves, gathering together for common worship on Saturdays and Sundays only.[21]
In 346
Guidelines for daily life were created, and separate monasteries were created for men and women. St Pachomius introduced a monastic Rule of cenobitic life, giving everyone the same food and attire. The monks of the monastery fulfilled the obediences assigned them for the common good of the monastery. Among the various obediences was copying books. St Pachomius considered that an obedience fulfilled with zeal was greater than fasting or prayer.[22]
A Pachomian monastery was a collection of buildings surrounded by a wall. The monks were distributed in houses, each house containing about forty monks. There would be thirty to forty houses in a monastery. There was an abbot over each monastery and provosts with subordinate officials over each house. The monks were divided into houses according to the work they were employed in: thus there would be a house for carpenters, a house for agriculturists, and so forth. But other principles of division seem to have been employed, e.g., there was a house for the Greeks. On Saturdays and Sundays, all the monks assembled in the church for Mass; on other days the Office and other spiritual exercises were celebrated in the houses.[16]
From a secular point of view, a monastery was an industrial community in which almost every kind of trade was practised. This, of course, involved much buying and selling, so the monks had ships of their own on the Nile, which conveyed their agricultural produce and manufactured goods to the market and brought back what the monasteries required. From the spiritual point of view, the Pachomian monk was a religious living under a rule.[16]
The community of Pachomius was so successful he was called upon to help organize others, and by one count by the time he died in 346 there were thought to be 3,000 such communities dotting Egypt, especially in the
.In 370 Basil the Great, monastic founder in Cappadocia, became bishop of Caesarea and wrote principles of ascetic life. Eastern monastic teachings were brought to the western church by Saint John Cassian (c. 360 – c. 435). As a young adult, he and his friend Germanus entered a monastery in Palestine but then journeyed to Egypt to visit the eremitic groups in Nitria. Many years later, Cassian founded a monastery of monks and probably also one of nuns near Marseilles. He wrote two long works, the Institutes and Conferences. In these books, he not only transmitted his Egyptian experience but also gave Christian monasticism a profound evangelical and theological basis.[9]
At the time of his conversion in Milan in the years 386–387, Augustine was aware of the life of Saint Anthony in the desert of Egypt. Upon his return to Africa as a Christian in the year 388, however, Augustine and a few Christian friends founded at Thagaste a lay community. They became cenobites in the countryside rather than in the desert.[23]
Saint Benedict (c. 480 – 547 AD) lived for many years as a hermit in a cave near Subiaco, Italy. He was asked to be head over several monks who wished to change to the monastic style of Pachomius by living in the community. Between the years 530 and 560, he wrote the Rule of Saint Benedict as a guideline for monks living in community.[23]
Scholars such as
Opposition
In the early church, there were also opponents of Monasticism, among the first opponents to Monasticism were Helvidius, Jovinian, Vigilantius and Aerius of Sebaste. Most of them were attacked by Jerome who defended monastic and ascetic ideas. Jovinian was the most influential opponent of monasticism, he wrote a work in the year 390, which is now lost, which attacked monasticism and its ethical principles.[24][25] Monasticism was also opposed by some Arians.[26]
Eastern Christian monasticism
Orthodox monasticism does not have religious orders as in the West,
Within the Eastern Orthodox Church, there exist three types of monasticism: eremitic, cenobitic, and the skete. The skete is a very small community, often of two or three (Matthew 18:20), under the direction of an Elder. They pray privately for most of the week, then come together on Sundays and Feast Days for communal prayer, thus combining aspects of both eremitic and coenobitic monasticism.
Historical development
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2023) |
Even before Saint Anthony the Great (the "father of monasticism") went out into the desert, there were Christians who devoted their lives to ascetic discipline and striving to lead an evangelical life (i.e., in accordance with the teachings of the Gospel). As monasticism spread in the East from the hermits living in the deserts of Egypt to Palestine, Syria, and on up into
Among these earliest recorded accounts was the Paradise, by
Among the first to set forth precepts for the monastic life was Saint Basil the Great, a man from a professional family who was educated in Caesarea, Constantinople, and Athens. Saint Basil visited colonies of hermits in Palestine and Egypt but was most strongly impressed by the organized communities developed under the guidance of Saint Pachomius. Saint Basil's ascetical writings set forth standards for well-disciplined community life and offered lessons in what became the ideal monastic virtue: humility.
Saint Basil wrote a series of guides for monastic life (the Lesser Asketikon the Greater Asketikon the Morals, etc.) which, while not "Rules" in the legalistic sense of later Western rules, provided firm indications of the importance of a single community of monks, living under the same roof, and under the guidance—and even discipline—of a strong abbot. His teachings set the model for Greek and Russian monasticism but had less influence in the Latin West.
Of great importance to the development of monasticism is the
At the height of the East Roman Empire, numerous great monasteries were established by the emperors, including the twenty "sovereign monasteries" on the Holy Mountain,[28] an actual "monastic republic" wherein the entire country is devoted to bringing souls closer to God. In this milieu, the Philokalia was compiled.
As the
Present
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2023) |
Christian monasticism was and continued to be a lay condition—monks depended on a local parish church for the
Monastic centers thrive to this day in Bulgaria, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, North Macedonia, Russia, Romania, Serbia, the Holy Land, and elsewhere in the Orthodox world, the Autonomous Monastic State of Mount Athos remaining the spiritual center of monasticism for the Eastern Orthodox Church. Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, a great renaissance of monasticism has occurred, and many previously empty or destroyed monastic communities have been reopened.
Monasticism continues to be very influential in the Eastern Orthodox Church. According to the
Types of monks
This section needs additional citations for verification. (December 2023) |
There are also three levels of monks: The Rassophore, the Stavrophore, and the Schema-Monk (or Schema-Nun). Each of the three degrees represents an increased level of asceticism. In the early days of monasticism, there was only one level—the Great Schema—and even Saint Theodore the Studite argued against the establishment of intermediate grades, but nonetheless the consensus of the church has favored the development of three distinct levels.
When a candidate wishes to embrace the monastic life, he will enter the monastery of his choice as a guest and ask to be received by the
After a period of about three years, the Hegumen may at his discretion tonsure the novice as a Rassophore monk, giving him the outer garment called the Rassa (Greek: Rason). A monk (or nun) may remain in this grade all the rest of his life, if he so chooses. But the Rite of Tonsure for the Rassophore refers to the grade as that of the "Beginner", so it is intended that the monk will advance on to the next level. The Rassophore is also given a klobuk which he wears in church and on formal occasions. In addition, Rassophores will be given a prayer rope at their tonsure.
The next rank, Stavrophore, is the grade that most Russian monks remain all their lives. The title Stavrophore means "cross-bearer" because when Tonsured into this grade the monastic is given a cross to wear at all times. This cross is called a Paramand—a wooden cross attached by ribbons to a square cloth embroidered with the
The highest rank of monasticism is the Great Schema (Greek: Megaloschemos; Church Slavonic: Schimnik). Attaining the level of Schema monk is much more common among the Greeks than it is among the Russians, for whom it is normally reserved to hermits, or to very advanced monastics. The Schema monk or Schema nun wears the same habit as the Rassophore, but to it is added the Analavos (Church Slavonic: Analav), a garment shaped like a cross, covering the shoulders and coming down to the knees (or lower) in front and in back. This garment is roughly reminiscent of the scapular worn by some Roman Catholic orders, but it is finely embroidered with the Cross and instruments of the Passion (see illustration, above). The Klobuk worn by a Schema monk is also embroidered with a red cross and other symbols. the Klobuk may be shaped differently, more rounded at the top, in which case it is referred to as a koukoulion. The skufia worn by a Schema monk is also more intricately embroidered.
The religious habit worn by Eastern Orthodox monastics is the same for both monks and nuns, except that the nuns wear an additional veil, called an apostolnik.
The central and unifying feature of Eastern Orthodox monasticism is
Western Christian monasticism
History
The introduction of monasticism into the West may be dated from about A.D. 340 when St. Athanasius visited Rome accompanied by the two Egyptian monks Ammon and Isidore, disciples of St. Anthony. The publication of the "Vita Antonii" some years later and its translation into Latin spread the knowledge of Egyptian monachism widely and many were found in Italy to imitate the example thus set forth. The first Italian monks aimed at reproducing exactly what was done in Egypt and not a few—such as Saint Jerome, Rufinus, Paula, Eustochium and the two Melanias (Elder and Younger)—actually went to live in Egypt or Palestine as being better suited to monastic life than Italy.[5]
The earliest phases of monasticism in Western Europe involved figures like
Celtic monasticism
It seems that the first Celtic monasteries were merely settlements where the Christians lived together—priests and laity, men, women, and children alike—as a kind of religious clan.[29] According to James F. Kenney, every important church was a monastic establishment, with a small walled village of monks and nuns living under ecclesiastical discipline, and ministering to the people of the surrounding area.[30] Monastic spirituality came to Britain and then Ireland from Gaul, by way of Lérins, Tours, and Auxerre. Its spirituality was heavily influenced by the Desert Fathers, with a monastic enclosure surrounding a collection of individual monastic cells.[31] The British church employed an episcopal structure corresponding closely to the model used elsewhere in the Christian world.[32] Illtud, David, Gildas, and Deiniol were leading figures in 6th-century Britain.
According to Thomas O'Loughlin, "Each monastery should be seen, as with most monasteries of the period, as an individual response to the monastic impulse by someone who had experienced monasticism and then went off to establish either a hermitage to which others later came or a cenobitic community."[33] The monasteries were organized on a family basis. Next in importance to the abbot was the scribe, in charge of the scriptorium, the teaching function of the monastery, and the keeping of the annals. The role of scribe was often a path to the position of abbot.[34] Hereditary right and relationship to the abbot were factors influencing appointment to monastic offices.
Buildings would generally have been of wood, wattle, and thatch. Monasteries tended to be cenobitical in that monks lived in separate cells but came together for common prayer, meals, and other functions. Celtic monasticism was characterized by a rigorous asceticism and a love for learning.[35]
Some more austere ascetics became hermits living in remote locations in what came to be called the "green martyrdom".
Women's communities
Women's communities were normally much smaller and poorer. The nuns had to do everything themselves unless they had a couple of tenant-farmers to supply food, or pious who made donations. They spun and wove, kept their huts clean, milked their cows, and made their own meals, which could be meager.[citation needed]
Double monasteries
The monastery of Brigit of Kildare at Kildare, Ireland, was a double monastery, with both men and women, supervised by an Abbess, a pattern found in other monastic foundations.
Scotland
Around 397, Ninian, a Briton probably from the area south of the Firth of Clyde, dedicated his church at Whithorn to St. Martin of Tours. According to Bede, Ninian evangelized the southern Picts.[36]
Wales
Cadoc founded Llancarfan in the latter part of the fifth century. He received the religious habit from an Irish monk, St. Tathai, superior of a small community near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire. Returning to his native county, Cadoc built a church, and monastery, which was called Llancarfan, or the "Church of the Stags". There he also established a college and a hospital.[37] His legend recounts that he daily fed a hundred clergy and a hundred soldiers, a hundred workmen, a hundred poor men, and the same number of widows. When thousands left the world and became monks, they very often did so as clansmen, dutifully following the example of their chief. Bishoprics, canonries, and parochial benefices passed from one to another member of the same family, and frequently from father to son. Their tribal character is a feature which Irish and Welsh monasteries had in common.[38]
St David established
among them.Cornwall
Many early medieval settlements in the region were occupied by hermitage chapels which are often dedicated to St Michael as the conventional slayer of pagan demons, as at St Michael's Mount.
Ireland
The earliest monastic settlements in Ireland emerged at the end of the fifth century. It was from Illtud and his colleagues that the Irish sought guidance on matters of ritual and discipline.
Ireland was a rural society of chieftains living in the countryside. As in Wales, if a clan chieftain accepted Christianity so did those he ruled.[43] Commonly Irish monasteries were established by grants of land to an abbot or abbess who came from a local noble family. The monastery became the spiritual focus of the tribe or kin group. Successive abbots and abbesses were members of the founder's family, a policy which kept the monastic lands under the jurisdiction of the family (and corresponded to Irish legal tradition, which only allowed the transfer of land within a family). In Ireland, the abbot was often called "coarb", a term designating the heir or successor of the founder.[36]
The abbots of the principal monasteries— such as Clonard, Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Swords, etc.—were of the highest rank and held in the greatest esteem. They wielded great power and had vast influence. The abbot usually was only a presbyter, but in the large monasteries, there were one or more resident bishops who conferred orders and discharged the other functions of a bishop. The abbot was superior of the house, and all were subject to him.[44]
The Irish rule was rigorous. It was more or less a copy of the French rule, as the French was a copy of the Thebaid. The daily routine of monastic life was prayer, study, and manual labor. With regard to food, the rule was very strict. Only one meal a day, at 3 o'clock p.m., was allowed, except on Sundays and Feast days. Wednesdays and Fridays were fast days, except the interval between Easter and Whit Sunday. The food allowed was barley bread, milk, fish, and eggs. Flesh meat was not allowed except on great feasts.[44]
In Ireland, a distinctive form of
Irish monasticism maintained the model of a monastic community while, like John Cassian, marking the contemplative life of the hermit as the highest form of monasticism. Saints' lives frequently tell of monks (and abbots) departing some distance from the monastery to live in isolation from the community. Irish monastic rules specify a stern life of prayer and discipline in which prayer, poverty, and obedience are the central themes.
Irish monks needed to learn Latin, the language of the Church. Thus they read Latin texts, both spiritual and secular, with an enthusiasm that their contemporaries on the continent lacked. Subjects taught included Latin, Greek, Hebrew, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, arithmetic, chronology, the Holy Places, hymns, sermons, natural science, history and especially the interpretation of Sacred Scripture.
By the end of the seventh century, Irish monastic schools were attracting students from England and from Europe.
The achievements of
Culdees
The Culdees (
Hiberno-Scottish mission
Irish monasticism spread widely, first to Scotland and Northern England, then to Gaul and Italy. Columba and his followers established monasteries at Bangor, on the northeastern coast of Ireland, at Iona, an island north-west of Scotland, and at Lindisfarne, which was founded by Aidan, an Irish monk from Iona, at the request of King Oswald of Northumbria. Abbots of Iona were normally appointed from the founders kin, with an abbot often naming his successor.[36]
Benedictine monasticism
While the Celtic monasteries had a stronger connection to the semi-eremitical tradition of Egypt via Lérins and Tours, Benedict and his followers were more influenced by the cenobitism of St
Medieval monastic life consisted of prayer, reading, and manual labor.[50] Prayer was a monk's first priority. Apart from prayer, monks performed a variety of tasks, such as preparing medicine, lettering, reading, and others. Also, these monks would work in the gardens and on the land. They might also spend time in the cloister, a covered colonnade around a courtyard, where they would pray or read. Some monasteries held a scriptorium where monks would write or copy books. When the monks wrote, they used very neat handwriting and would draw illustrations in the books and decorate the first letter of each paragraph.
The efficiency of Benedict's cenobitic Rule in addition to the stability of the monasteries made them very productive. The monasteries were the central storehouses and producers of knowledge. Vikings started attacking Irish monasteries famous for learning in 793. One monk wrote about how he did not mind the bad weather one evening because it kept the Vikings from coming: "Bitter is the wind tonight, it tosses the ocean's white hair, I need not fear—as on a night of calm sea—the fierce raiders from Lochlann."[51]
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the growing pressure of monarchies and the nation-states undermined the wealth and power of the orders. Monasticism continued to play a role in Catholicism, but after the
Military orders
In the twelfth century, traditional monastic orders in
Western Christian orders in the modern era
Many distinct monastic orders developed within
Roman Catholicism
Part of a series on the |
Canon law of the Catholic Church |
---|
Catholicism portal |
- Benedictines, founded in 529 by Saint Benedict at Monte Cassino, stresses manual labor in a self-sufficient monastery. They are an order of independent monastic communities.
- Cluniacs, a branch of the Benedictines, at its height c.950-c.1130
- Camaldolese, a branch of the Benedictines, founded c.1000 Saint Romuald of Ravenna.
- Vallombrosans, a branch of the Benedictines, founded c. 1038 by Saint Gualberto Visdomini.
- Carthusians, also known as the Order of Saint Bruno, founded 1084 by Saint Bruno of Cologne. Open to both sexes; combines eremitical and cenobitic life.
- Cistercians, the Order of Cîteaux, sometimes referred to as the Order of Saint Bernard, founded in 1098 by Saint Robert of Molesme.
- Paulines, founded in Hungary in 1225 by Blessed Eusebius.
- Celestine V.
- Olivetans or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, a branch of the Benedictines, founded in 1313 by Bernardo Tolomei (born Giovanni Tolomei) along with two of his friends from the noble families of Siena, Patrizio Patrizi and Ambrogio Piccolomini.
- Bridgettines, founded in 1344 by Saint Bridget of Sweden.
- eremiticalcommunity formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome.
- Saint Beatrice of Silva.
- Turchines, formally the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, founded in 1604 by Blessed Maria Vittoria De Fornari Strata
- Saint Jane Frances de Chantalin Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France.
- Trappists, a Cistercian reform, begun c. 1664.
- dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven on November 1, 1950, in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City.[53] The Monastic Sisters were founded in France, soon after the event, and the Monastic Brothers in 1976.
Lutheran Church
After the foundation of the
Loccum Abbey and Amelungsborn Abbey have the longest traditions as Lutheran monasteries. Since the 19th century, there has been a renewal in the monastic life among Protestants. There are many present-day Lutherans who practice the monastic teaching of the Catholic Church.
In 1947 Mother
In 1948 Bavarian Lutheran pastor Walter Hümmer and his wife Hanna founded the Communität Christusbruderschaft Selbitz.
In other Lutheran traditions "The Congregation of the Servants of Christ" was established at
In Lutheran Sweden, religious life for women had been established already in 1954, when Sister Marianne Nordström made her profession through contacts with The Order of the Holy Paraclete and Mother Margaret Cope (1886–1961) at St Hilda's Priory, Whitby, Yorkshire.
Anglican Communion
In England,
Monastic life in England came to an abrupt end with
Shortly after the
Some Anglican religious communities are contemplative, some active, but a distinguishing feature of the monastic life among Anglicans is that most practice the so-called "mixed life", a combination of a life of contemplative prayer with active service. Anglican religious life closely mirrors that of
In the early 20th century when the Anglo-Catholic movement was at its height, the Anglican Communion had hundreds of orders and communities, and thousands of religious. However, since the 1960s there has been a sharp falling off in the numbers of religious in many parts of the Anglican Communion, most notably in the United Kingdom and the United States. Many once large and international communities have been reduced to a single convent or monastery composed of elderly men or women. In the last few decades of the 20th century, novices have for most communities been few and far between. Some orders and communities have already become extinct. There are, however, still thousands of Anglican religious working today in religious communities around the world. While vocations remain few in some areas, Anglican religious communities are experiencing exponential growth in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Around 1964, Reuben Archer Torrey III, an Episcopal missionary, grandson of
Methodist Churches
In February 2001, the
Presbyterian Churches
The Community of the Sisterhood Emmanuel was founded in 1973 in Makak - in the Centre Province by Mother Marie, one of the first female Pastors of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. In 1975 she moved the community to the present site- at Agyati in Bafut. It has 10 finally consecrated Sisters, four in simple vows and a handful of others in formation. The Sisters are trained in strong collaboration with the sister Institutes of the Catholic Church. They say that one of their charisms is ecumenism. The Sisterhood Emmanuel is the only Presbyterian Monastery in Cameroon.
Anabaptism
Quakerism and Shakerism
The
If someone wants to become a Shaker, and the Shakers assent, the would-be member can move into the dwelling house. If the novices, as they are called, stay a week, they sign an articles of agreement, which protects the colony from being sued for lost wages. After a year, the Shakers will take a vote whether to allow the novice in, but it takes another four years to be granted full Shaker status in sharing in the colony’s finances and administrative and worship decisions.[63]
Currently, there are two remaining Shakers, Brother Arnold Hadd and Sister June Carpenter, though they hope that others will join them at the only remaining Shaker community, the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village.[64]
Ecumenical expressions
Christian monasticism is experiencing renewal in the form of several new foundations with an 'inter-Christian' vision for their respective communities.
In 1944
The Order of Ecumenical Franciscans is a religious order of men and women devoted to following the examples of Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare of Assisi in their life and understanding of the Christian gospel: sharing a love for creation and those who have been marginalized. It includes members of many different denominations, including Catholics, Anglicans, Eastern Orthodox, and a range of Protestant traditions. The Order understands its charism to include not only ecumenical efforts and the traditional emphases of the Franciscans in general, but also to help to develop relationships between the various Franciscan orders.
Additional expressions of ecumenical monasticism can be seen in the Bose Monastic Community and communities of the New Monasticism movement arising from Protestant Evangelicalism.
In 1999 an independent Protestant order was founded named The Knights of Prayer Monastic Order. The community maintains several monks in its Portland, Oregon, cloister, and has an international network of associated laypeople. It is not affiliated with any particular congregation.[citation needed]
Contributions
In traditional Catholic societies, monastic communities often took charge of social services such as
Education
The capitulary of 789 reads: "Let every monastery and every abbey have its school, in which boys may be taught the Psalms, the system of musical notation, singing, arithmetic, and grammar". There can be no doubt that by boys are meant not only the candidates for the monastery and the wards (generally the children of nobles) committed to the care of the monks but also the children of the village or country district around the monastery, for whom there was usually an external school attached to groups of monastic buildings.[65]
In the Middle Ages, monasteries conserved and copied ancient manuscripts in their scriptoria. A prospective monk first learned grammar, logic, and oratory. Later, he would take up mathematics, astronomy, and music. The students would use a stylus on wax. Later, when their handwriting improved, they would be given ink and parchment. Eventually, many of those schools became universities.[66] Monks in scriptoria copied texts of Greece and Rome, as well as religious texts, and kept these manuscripts from being lost during the Middle Ages.
Medicine
Monasteries also aided in the development of agricultural techniques. The requirement of
The consequence of this centralisation of knowledge was that they initially controlled both public administration and education, where the
The status of monks as apart from secular life (at least theoretically) also served a social function. Dethroned
The monasteries also provided refuge to those like
See also
- Asceticism
- Chronology of early Christian monasticism
- Clasau—the early Welsh monasteries
- Consensoria Monachorum
- Coptic monasticism
- Hermit
- Intentional community
- Into Great Silence—the award-winning documentary of life within the Carthusian monsastery of La Grande Chartreuse by Philip Groning
- List of monastic houses in England
- Mount Athos
- New Monasticism
- Order of Watchers—a French Protestant fraternity of Hermits
- Pachomius—an early example of a monastic organizer
- Pustynia
- Rule of St Benedict
Notes, references, and sources
References
- ^ Harper, Douglas. "monk". Online Etymology Dictionary.
- ^ Corbishley, Mike. Monks lived a very strict and regulated life. Life in a monastery included prayer, manual work, and this promoted the idea of the dignity and labour. Cultural Atlas for Young People The Middle Ages Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004, page 38.
- ^ Rowling, Marjorie. Everyday Life in Medieval Times. London: Jarrold and Sons Ltd, 1968, page 125.
- ISBN 978-0-300-11884-1.
- ^ a b c "Huddleston, Gilbert. "Monasticism." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 May 2013". Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
- ^ Macdonald, Fiona. How would you survive in the Middle Ages?. New York: Franklin Watts, 1995, page 37.
- ^ ""Early Monasticism", Monastery of the Holy Spirit". Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
- Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Ecclesiastical History, describes Philos Therapeutae as the first Christian monks, identifying their renunciation of property, chastity, fasting, solitary lives with the cenobitic ideal of the Christian monks. Professor Constantine Scouteris, Source Archived 25 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c d ""Early Christian Monasticism", Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance". Archived from the original on 29 September 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ Numbers 6:5-18
- ^ Mishneh Torah 5:1-7
- ^ Numbers 6:5
- ^ Numbers 6:8
- ^ Numbers 6:6-7
- ^ Bennett 2002, p. 83.
- ^ a b c "Bacchus, Francis Joseph. "Eastern Monasticism Before Chalcedon (A.D. 451)". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 May 2013". Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ "Idiorrythmic Monasticism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ Butler, Edward Cuthbert. "St. Anthony". The Catholic Encyclopaedia Vol. 1. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ "Anchoress". The Middle Ages Website. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ Gardner, Edmund. "Juliana of Norwich". The Catholic Encyclopaedia Vol. 8. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- ^ "Monasticism", Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, Nassau, Bahamas Archived 25 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ ""Venerable Pachomius the Great, Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism", Orthodox Church in America". Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
- ^ a b "Monasticism", Augnet Archived 12 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311–600 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library". ccel.org. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ "Philip Schaff: History of the Christian Church, Volume III: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity. A.D. 311–600 – Christian Classics Ethereal Library". ccel.org. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ISBN 978-3-7326-7204-2.
- ^ One may hear Orthodox monks referred to as "Basilian Monks", but this is really an inappropriate application of western categories to Orthodoxy.
- ^ Both Mount Sinai and Mount Athos are referred to as "the Holy Mountain" in Orthodox literature,
- ^ a b c Huddleston, Gilbert. "Western Monasticism." The Catholic Encyclopedia Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 18 December 2015
- ^ Kenney, J.F., The Sources for the Early History of Ireland, New York, 1929
- ^ ""Celtic Monasteries", Orthodox Christian Contact Wales". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
- ISBN 1-4039-7299-0
- ISBN 9781136787164
- ^ Hughes, Kathleen. "The Distribution of Irish Scriptoria and Centres of Learning from 730 to 1111", Studies in the Early British Church, (N. Chdwick et sl, eds.), Cambridge, 1958
- ISBN 9780809129645
- ^ ISBN 9780900701375
- ^ a b Chandlery, Peter. "Welsh Monastic Foundations." The Catholic Encyclopedia Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 18 December 2015
- ^ Newell, E.J., A History of the Welsh Church to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Chapter III, Elliot Stock, London, 1895
- ^ "Thurston, Herbert. "Welsh Church." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 19 Nov. 2013". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
- ^ ISBN 9781608334261
- ^ ""Irish Monasticism", Early Christian Sites in Ireland". Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
- ^ "Grattan-Flood, William. "St. Finnian of Moville." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 19 Jul. 2013". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- ISBN 9780472060511
- ^ a b c "O'Halloran, W., Early Irish History and Antiquities and the History of West Cork, Chapter XI, 1916". Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2014.
- ^ Medieval Handbooks of Penance, eds. John T. McNeil and Helena M. Gamer (New York, Columbia University Press, 1938), p. 28
- ISBN 9780865544369
- ISBN 9781584773023
- ISBN 0-7141-0554-6
- ^ D'Alton, Edward Alfred (1908). "Culdees". In Catholic Encyclopedia. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- ^ "Middle-ages.org.uk". Archived from the original on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
- ^ Rowling, Marjorie. Everyday Life in Medieval Times. London: Jarrold and Sons Ltd., 1968, page 114
- ^ Christiansen, Eric. The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. pg. 75.
- ^ "The beginnings of the Monastic Family of Bethlehem, of the Assumption of the Virgin and of Saint Bruno". Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
- ^ "Kloster Ebstorf". Medieval Histories. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
The monastery is mentioned for the first time in 1197. It belongs to the group of so-called Lüneklöstern (monasteries of Lüne), which became Lutheran convents following the Protestant Reformation. […] It is currently one of several Lutheran convents maintained by the Monastic Chamber of Hanover (Klosterkammer Hannover), an institution of the former Kingdom of Hanover founded by its Prince-Regent, later King George IV of the United Kingdom, in 1818, in order to manage and preserve the estates of Lutheran convents.
- ^ "Saint Augustine's House". Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
- ^ Östanbäck monastery Archived 13 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Priorat St. Wigberti: Unser Kloster". Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
- ^ Communität Casteller Ring Archived 11 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Priestly Society of St. Augustine
- ISBN 9780819193506.
- ^ "Learning from the Bruderhof: An Intentional Christian Community". ChristLife. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
- ISBN 9780520053434.
- ^ a b Williams, Kevin (3 May 2015). "A few good Shakers wanted". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- Daily News. New York. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
- ^ Turner, William. "Carolingian Schools." Archived 11 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 11 February 2015
- ^ "Historymedrend.about.com". Archived from the original on 9 August 2009. Retrieved 18 February 2010.
- ^ Elliott, Jane (6 August 2005). "The medical world of medieval monks". BBC News. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
Sources
- Ritari, K. (2009). Saints and Sinners in Early Christian Ireland: Moral Theology in the Lives of Saints Brigit and Columba. Turnhout: Brepols Publishers. ISBN 978-2-503-53315-5.
- Lawrence, C. H. (2001). Medieval Monasticism (3rd ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education. ISBN 0-582-40427-4.
- Chitty, D. J. (1966). The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism Under the Christian Empire. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Meyer, R. T. (1950). St. Athanasius: The Life of Anthony. ACW 10. Westminster, Md.: Newman Press.
- "Idiorrhythmic Monasticism". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- Butler, Edward Cuthbert. "St. Anthony". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- "Anchoress". The Middle Ages Website. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- Gardner, Edmund. "Juliana of Norwich". The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 8. Robert Appleton Company, 1910. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- "Mendicant Orders in the Medieval World". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 9 October 2012.
- Thomas, John P. (1987). Private Religious Foundations in the Byzantine Empire. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 9780884021643.
- Bennett, Harold V. (2002). Injustice Made Legal: Deuteronomic Law and the Plight of Widows, Strangers, and Orphans in Ancient Israel. Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-3909-1.
External links
- Directory of Contemplative Men's Monasteries in the United States
- Directory of Contemplative Women's Monasteries in the United States
- "Catholic Hermitage" – Christian Perspective on Monasticism
- Eastern Christian Monasticism orthodoxinfo.com
- Anglican religious orders and communities Anglican information on monasticism
- American Benedictine monastics
- Community of Jesus
- The Lay Monastic – Benedictine lay monasticism