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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 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 might suggest. As more people took on the lives of monks, living alone in the wilderness ...
Monasticism (from Ancient Greek μοναχός (monakhós) 'solitary, monastic'; from μόνος (mónos) 'alone'), also called monachism or monkhood, is a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work.
A religious (using the word as a noun) is, in the terminology of many Western Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churches, and Anglican Communion, what in common language one would call a "monk" or "nun".
The beginning of monasticism per-se comes right at the end of the Great Persecution of Diocletian, and the founder is Saint Anthony the Great (251 - 356). As a young man he heard the words of the Gospel read in church: If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me (Matthew 19:21).
The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits, although some, like the Olivetans, wear white. [2] They were founded by Benedict of Nursia , a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule.
The Cistercians (/ s ɪ ˈ s t ɜːr ʃ ən z /), officially the Order of Cistercians (Latin: (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly influential Bernard ...
Accordingly, they were often skeptical of Catholic mystical practices, which seemed to them to downplay the role of grace in redemption and to support the idea that human works can play a role in salvation. Thus, Protestant theology developed a strong critical attitude, oftentimes even an animosity towards Christian mysticism. [173]