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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