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+root and cause of early christian monasticism
+root and cause of early christian monasticism
+root and cause of early christian monasticism
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The monastic life in early medieval Europe went one of two ways, either life in a monastery working as a monk or nun or life as hermit, secluding oneself from the rest of world with very scarce resources. Despite the difference of the two lifestyles there was a main goal in common: complete and utter devotion to the christian religion and God. The main origin of the monastic life was starting come out of the end of the fourth century as Christianity had been announced the empire’s official religion. The rise of Eastern monasticism had been inspired with people such as St. Jerome and St. Anthony who were well known hermits or as some called “Desert Fathers”. Shortly after, monastic life began to enter the West through people coming in from the …show more content…
These men were sworn to a hard life without a single thing to their name, forced to face the desert in homemade shelters or old abandoned places. They went through these harsh circumstances, giving their life to God, and “fighting off the ever-present temptation to return to the world.” Eventually, this idea of monasticism had migrated from the East to the West and was first seen throughout the Mediterranean. Although, in the west, it was formed into a different living style. The monks and nuns still gave every end of their life to the Lord, but rather they lived in religious communities with others that shared the same religious values. They still lived in seclusion, but rather it was seclusion from the everyday temptations from the outside society. There were also monks that lived their independent life, living under no distinct rule called sarabaites and people who went from to and from monasteries that called themselves gyrovagues. Even though there were many forms of the monastic life, they all lived under a common set of beliefs and most monks and nuns followed the same set of …show more content…
Benedict, also known as benedictine rule. Through his lifetime, St. benedict originally sought out his monastic life as a hermit but eventually preferred the communal lifestyle compared to a secluded one. In the mid-sixth century, he found Monte Cassino which became “one of the largest monasteries and most important intellectual centers in Europe.” His rule came from the motto of “ora et labora” which meant “pray and work”. Within his rules, was a very detailed description on how a monk would spend their days with the monastery walls. They had a scheduled day, that started around two to three in the morning, with certain times of prayer, meals, work, and singing. Their times of prayer, work, and reading would change throughout the year depending on the season. The work the monks did either consisted of general work on the fields or specialized jobs that craftsmen would be responsible for. The Benedictine rule for reading and work was meant to give people the perfect balance of both. The normal day would consist of about three hours of reading scriptures or other religious text and about six hours of work. This was meant for the people of the monastery so they didn’t become too mentally or physically drained with an uneven amount of one activity over the other. The lives of these men and women were in no means meant to be easy, but rather meant to show the
and I am going to evaluate the evidence about the stage of the monasteries at the time of their decision. Henry V111 and Cromwell had sent around people to report that the monks are not following the rules, for example: that the monks are playing dice and spent much money on gambling, monks are not answering the door and the prior of the crossed friar's monastery in London in bed with a woman. When Henry V111 had the evidence that the monks were not following the rules, he felt he could close the monasteries. This evidence may not have been reliable because inspectors were employed by Cromwell who wanted to please Henry V111 and look for negative thing about monks; Cromwell was protestant (probably employed protestant inspectors) so likely to be used against catholic monastery and might be good reason for women to be there (for example: sick) monastery might really be poor. Modern historian can use the benefit of hindsight to help them by looking at all the evidence and have a less biased opinion,
We live in a fallen world filled with evil desires, temptations, and idols. Many believed that if one desires to be as holy and as close to God as possible then they must distance themselves from sin. This involves putting aside worldly desires and possessions since anything of this fallen world is sinful. This calling brought many people to live simplistic lives alone. However, around fourth century a man named Pachomius founded a place where people with this similar interest could live together, known as a monastery (Benedictine Abbey of Christ in the Desert). This way of living became very appealing not only for spiritual pursuits but also for the pursuit of knowledge. Outside of monasteries the literacy rate was extremely low. For the most part only monks knew how to read and write. For these reasons monasteries began to be established all over Europe. However, with so many of them styles and rules became very different. There were many different kinds of rule that separated monasteries fro...
Benedict lived in the 16th century from 480 – 547 in Italy (Nursia) at the time when the great Roman Empire was crumbling. This period was stuffed with wars and paganism. Benedict left his native land to the city of Rome to pursue his education, but paganism in the city disgusted him and he desist from the world to embrace a life of solitude. His life style came to the noticed of many people. Some monks joined him, and he then established twelve monasteries with twelve monks each. He later abandon his monastery due to jealousy and went up the mountain of Cassino where he lived till his death in 547 AD. Benedict thought that establishing rules will act as a guide for the monks to advance in holiness and for the smooth running of the monastery.
Monasticism had developed fast which resulted in the increasing of monasteries and religious orders of monks and nuns. Also, it was not strict and the monasteries was relax. Life in medieval monastery was self-contained and self-sufficient. The largest building was the church and to the south church was the
closer to God. The monasteries were a place to get away from evil and anything
The Carthusian order, also known as the Order of Saint Bruno, was one of the orders that came about during the 12 century that combined the eremitical way of life( this is one of the oldest monastic ways that stresses seclusion from society) with cenobitic life( which focuses on community life). Following the Rule of Statutes, this in comparison to the Rule of St. Benedict which is followed by Benedictine Monks, Carthusian monks differed from Benedictine Monks as they lived in their own separate cells where they ate, prayed, and studied, which provided an emphasis on solitude and silence. Carthusian monks did not have any abbots, but instead only priors. The other order that emerged at this time would be the Cistercian order, which has many similarities to traditional Benedictine practices. Cistercian monks focused mainly on field work and a return to manual labor, something which had been forgotten in other orders. Leaving the house of Molesme in 1098, Cistercian Monks hoped to start their own order where the Rule of St. Benedict would be observed properly. Over time the Cistercian order grew as they began to devise structures which bound individual houses together in a way that was not done before. Differing from the Carthusians, Cistercian monks focused on three occupations: the performance of the liturgy, manual labor, and
In his youth, St. Boniface encountered many priests or clerics who traveled from town to town. Through these spiritual conversations, it became evident to St. Boniface that he wanted to pursue a life with God. Eventually, after continuos begging and his fathers fatal sickness, he was sent to the care of the Monastery of Examchester. (Appleton) It is here, that St. Boniface expressed to the Abbot at the time, that he wanted to live a monastic life. The father of the monastery, after council, granted him his wish. Here is where the saint began to prove his love for God, and could begin his journey of the Christian life. After exceeding all expectations and surpassing the knowledge of his teachers, he moved to a neighboring monastery, called Nursling, whereby he studied under the influence of Abbot Winbert.(St. Boniface Church) Here he gained vast knowledge of scriptures and the spiritual exposition of the Bible. Here, he gained such a reputation that men and women from far and wide traveled to study scriptures under his guidance. At the age of 30 he was humbly ordained a priest and yet another branch of his life was fulfilled.
One of the biggest spiritual reforms was the development of monasteries. Before this time monasteries were a place for social revolutionaries and rejects, but St. Benedict set up a code of values for these monasteries that emphasized such values as prayer, poverty, obedience and chastity. Therefore, monasteries became an acceptable way to show devotion to God and the church.
The Medieval Era The Medieval era is so easily generalized into the three orders of those who fight, those who work, and those who pray, or even simply divided into the privileged and unprivileged. These distinctions are important, for the ability of the church and manor to influence a peasant's actions and to take a peasant's earnings was obviously a central component of a peasant's life. However, when peasants constituted such a sizable majority of the population (over 90 percent), it is also important to recognize the distinctions among them. Some peasants were free and some were serfs. Some peasants were well off and some were barely subsisting.
St. Cuthbert also added to the monastic tradition. He also took himself into isolation to assert his faith. Following his death, after many years of loyalty to the faith, it was fo...
Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases relating to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium.
However, this would have been nothing without the exemplary spiritual life that was seen to exist at Cluny. The continual use of vocal prayer was popular with the laity, with many wishing to be included in the prayers of the monks. The personal qualities of the abbots were also much admired, as was the way of life practised at Cluny. The cluniac model of benedictine obervence was seen by many by the time of Abb...
The differences between the laity and monastic worshippers within Buddhist tradition are distinguished by the extent to which these two groups are willing to follow the middle-way as taught by Buddha. Typically, in order to have a functional Buddhist society, there must be the devout, and those who support the devout, giving aid in the form of food, monies, shelter, transportation, etc. The devout who sacrifice the purity of a true monastic lifestyle in order to support the community (who in turn are the recipients of merit or punya; a bank of ‘good’ actions tied to ‘good’ karma) (Gethin 101), from the monastic worshippers, are called the laity; upasakas (men laity) and upasikas (women laity). The monastics, or Bhikkhus (monks) and Bhikkhunis (nuns) are responsible for accepting the devotion shown by the laity, reciprocally, the laity are obliged to maintain devotion for “in order to be free from guilt […] the bases of a clear conscience [is] generosity and good conduct” (Ibid 83) . Good conduct is the realization and active partaking of the “eight significant dimensions [the Noble Eight-fold Path] of one’s behavior” (Ibid 82), which constitute right (in all actions of) understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration (although not limited to, rather expanded upon realization). The importance of a laities duty within society is to support, through their livelihood, the only traditional Buddhist teaching available to them (Ibid 92). In order to adapt a Buddhist ideology, some conducts were left out of lay worship to support a less strenuous spiritual life (putting the emphasis on merit earned) in pursuit of maintaining a functional community. The purpose, to establish the five lay percepts ...
Many Christians today know very little if anything about Monasticism. Some probably have never heard of the term before. Monasticism also referred to as monarchism is the act of living alone. It is a religious practice where one fully devotes one’s life to those things that are wholly spiritual.
In the middle ages Friars, Monks and Prioresses had very specific roles in society. A Friar had to follow the mendicant order while living off of charity, preaching, educating, attending to the sick and absolving people from their sin. The Prioress was the head of a group of nuns. She would have had a low social standing as she belongs to the Theocracy. Her roles included growing vegetables and grain, producing wine and honey, providing medical care for the community and being in charge of the Priories. Lastly, the Monk’s role was to remain in his cloister and study religious texts; “And that a monk uncloistered is a mere/ Fish out of water, flapping on the pier…”(177-178). All of these people were supposed to model holiness; they were bound to the community and had no personal possessions. They are supposed to be selfless Christians dedicated to the Church.