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Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός (monachos, 'monk'), itself from μόνος (monos) meaning 'alone'. [1] [2] Christian monks did not live in monasteries at first; rather, they began by living alone as solitaries, as the word monos ...
Women pursuing a monastic life are generally called nuns, religious sisters or, rarely, canonesses, while monastic men are called monks, friars or brothers. During the fourth and fifth century monasticism allowed women to be removed from traditional lifestyles such as marriage and childbearing to live a life devoted to God.
Women in Church history have played a variety of roles in the life of Christianity—notably as contemplatives, health care givers, educationalists and missionaries. Until recent times, women were generally excluded from episcopal and clerical positions within the certain Christian churches; however, great numbers of women have been influential in the life of the church, from contemporaries of ...
By and large the largest obstacle to evangelization of Africans was the widespread nature of polygamy among the various populations. Africa was initially evangelized by Catholic monks of medieval Europe, and then by both Protestants and Catholics from the seventeenth century onward.
Many Catholic women, both lay and in religious orders, have become influential mystics or theologians – with four women now recognised as Doctors of the Church: the Carmelites have produced two such women, the Spanish mystic Saint Teresa of Avila and French author Saint Therese of Lisieux; while Catherine of Siena was an Italian Dominican and ...
The religious status of women is a very important aspect of the history of the religion and one of the most critical issues between the oldest religious divisions of the religion, Svetambar and Digambar. The major distinction between these two divisions is the position of women in their societies.
This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 13 January 2025. Member of a monastic religious order For other uses, see Monk (disambiguation) and Monks (disambiguation). Portrait depicting a Carthusian monk in the Roman Catholic Church (1446) Buddhist monks collecting alms A monk (from Greek: μοναχός, monachos, "single, solitary" via Latin ...
The early church developed a monastic tradition which included the institution of the convent through which women developed religious orders of sisters and nuns, an important ministry of women which has continued to the present day in the establishment of schools, hospitals, nursing homes and monastic settlements.