MONASTICISM

MONASTICISM

Antony the Great

• Antony the Great (d. 356)– Ascetism – Anchorite– Desert Fathers

• Apophthegmata Patrum

St. Antony of Egypt

Antony’s cave

Desert Fathers• Macarius the Egyptian (ca.

300-390) • Moses the Black (ca. 320-407)• Abba Poemen (late 4th-mid 5th

century)

Hermits

Anchorites

Her

mit

’s

cell

St. Symeon the Stylites

Irish eremitism

Eremitis

m

St. Pachomius

Early Monasticism

St. Pachomius (286-346)The ‘inventor’ of cenobitism…

St. Basil The Great

Today’s Greek-Orthodox cenobites

In the Sinai

Greek coenobitism

Greek coenobitism

St. Benedict

St. Benedict (ca. 480-547)

“The Father of Western Monasticism”

• Abbot of Subiaco and Monte Cassino

• Studied the rules of Pachomius and Basil

The Rule of St. Benedict• Self-contained society• Vague rules• Moderation in all things• 4 key teachings:

1. Opus Dei or “Work of God.”2. Lectio Divina or “Sacred

Reading.”3. Opus Manuum or “Manual

Labor.”4. The abbot was in charge of all.

Monte Cassino

Ora et labora

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