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Monastery

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Buddhist monastery near Tibet

A monastery is the habitation of monks. Originally: a hermit's cell.

Christian monasteries are also called abbey, priory, charterhouse, friary, and preceptory

The habitation of nuns is also called a convent.

The communal life of a monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the anachoretic life of an hermit.

Etymology

The word monastery comes from the Greek "monasterion", from the root "monos" = alone (originally all Christian monks were hermits).

In England the word monasterium was also applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Thus in English-language usage, cathedrals, which were never monasteries, developed named such as York Minster, and abbeys could likewise be termed "minster" such as Westminster Abbey. See the entry cathedral.

For a discussion of the history and development of monasteries see monasticism and abbey.

Christian monasteries

Christian cenobitic monasticism started in Egypt. Originally, all Christian monks were hermits, and especially in the Middle East this continued to be very common until the decline of Syrian Christianity in the late Middle Ages. But not everybody is fit for solitary life, and numerous cases of hermits losing their grips are reported.

The need for some form of organized spiritual guidance was obvious, and around 300 St. Anthony started to organize his many followers in what was to become the first Christian monastery. Soon the Egyptian desert abounded with similar institutions.

The idea caught on, and other places followed:

  • Mar Awgin founded a monastery on Mt. Izla above Nisibis in Mesopotamia (~350), and from this monastery the cenobitic tradition spread in Mesopotamia, Persia, Armenia, Georgia and even India and China.
  • Mar Saba organized the monks of the Judean Desert in a monastery close to Betlehem (483), and this is considered the mother of all monsteries of the Eastern Orthodox churches.

Roman Catholic monasteries

A number of distinct monastic orders developed within Roman Catholicism. Eastern Orthodoxy does not have a system of individual Orders, per se.

Augustinian canons ('The Black Canons'), which evolved from the Priests Canons who would normally work with the Bishop: now living together with him as monks under St. Augustine's rule
Augustinian friars
Benedictine monks ('The Black Monks') , founded by St. Benedict, stresses manual labor in a self-subsistent monastery.
Bridgettine
Carmelite friars ('The White Friars'), Contemplative Order
Carthusian monks
Celestines
Cistercian monks ('The White Monks')
Cluniac monks
Dominican friars, ('The Black Friars'/'The Friars Preachers') Mendicant (preaching) order. They blend the active and the contemplative life: namely they practice contemplation, and go out to preach the fruits of that contemplation and encourage others to contemplate.
Franciscan friars ('The Grey Friars'/'Friars Minor'), another Mendicant order, they were charged with preaching to the poor.
Gilbertine
Poor Clares
Premonstratensian canons ('The White Canons')
Tironensian monks ('The Grey Monks')
Trinitarians ('The Red Friars')
Trappist
Redemptorist
Christian Brothers
Valliscaulian monks
Visitation Sisters
Knights Templar
Knights Hospitaller

The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) is a religious order, having vows; but, it is not a monastic order, strictly speaking, as all its members live in the world.

Famous Catholic monasteries include:

Famous dissolved monasteries:

Orthodox Christian monasteries

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, a highest-rank monastery is called lavra.

The centre of Orthodox monasticism is Mount Athos in Greece, an isolated peninsula containing over a dozen ancient monasteries.

Other famous Orthodox monasteries include:

See also: monasticism, abbey, priory, cloister Look under the specific monastic order you are interested in, e.g. Benedictine, Cluny, etc. Broader treatment and a more complete list are available at the entry for Monasticism.

Buddhist monasteries

See also

monasticism, list of Buddhist temples

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