The Role and Significance of the Monastic Life in Medieval Christianity

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The Role and Significance of the Monastic Life in Medieval Christianity

What is monasticism?

The central and original role of the monastic life can be drawn from

the meanings of the words 'monk' and 'hermit'. the word 'monk' comes

from the Greek word 'monaches' which means solitary and 'hermit' from

'heremites' a desert dweller. The early monks and nuns were just that:

men and women who fled the worldliness of urban life and the ethos of

a church that was at the time of Anthony and St. Paul and established

institution of the Roman Empire. They fled to the desert to repent and

seek God by prayer, fasting and hard manual labour. In the desert they

practiced an aesthetical lifestyle of great poverty and extreme

simplicity. It is from this standpoint of monasticism as essentially

fulfilling a role of life of repentance and dedication to God that

will begin this essay. This is because although the monastic life did

fulfill other roles in medieval Christianity the main motivation for

joining the monastic order was the renunciation of society and the

world to follow a vocation to which they

'wished to dedicate themselves to a deeper understanding and more

thorough observance of the commandments and counsels of Christ that is

demanded by the simple profession of Christian faith.'

(Knowles:1969:10)

In this essay I am firstly going to discuss the motivation for joining

the monastic life and thus its original role within medieval

Christianity. I will then in turn discuss the other roles which the

monasteries began it provide outside the simple renunciation of

society. Having established these I will discuss how the private and

pu...

... middle of paper ...

...ught a new life of evangelical privy, they confined membership to

adults, simplified services, abandoned all feudal obligations, and

tried to restore the contemplative life. The Carthusians tried to

recapture the old eremitical spirit of the desert. This was extremely

important if the monasteries were to continue for there was a need to

return to the original role of monasticism from the days of Anthony,

that of a place where those who wished to asceticism and renounce the

world could join together in obtaining a closeness to God, a closeness

which was unobtainable in the material world. They did this but

diverted monasticism in a different direction than previously taken,

towards a retreat from society becoming an important figure of the

medieval frontier, cutting down forests and opening new ground for

agriculture.

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