What is a monastery?
A monastery is a building with monks inside, there is a room reserved for prayer (an oratory) and they work to get money to build more buildings or food and other items such as candles and more. The monks inside live a hermit monastery life or a social monastery life. They are devoted to a balance of prayer and work. In the monastery there is an abbot (the leader) and he keeps everything in order although they are never doing anything wrong he is just there to help. Monasteries are devoted to religion and prayer, many monasteries have large gardens. Some monasteries are open to visitors and others stay in locked up and want to be cut off from the outside world. Most monasteries grow and make their own food such as vegetables bread and animals so they don’t have to go into the outside world and because it’s healthy and saves money. Most monasteries are old because they have been running continually for many years.
Who was St. Benedict?
St. Benedict was a son of roman noble of Nursia, he studied literature. One day Benedict meets a monk Romanus of Subiaco while he was walking in the city the monk’s monastery was on a hill not far away and gave him advice. Benedict took this advice and become a hermit for three years in the monastery. St. Benedict stayed in the monastery and wrote a rule it was called the rule of St. Benedict. St Benedict spent the rest of his life realizing the ideal of monasticism which he had drawn out in his rule. For prayer Benedict turned to psalms the songs and poems from the Jewish liturgy that Jesus himself had prayed.
What is the rule of St. Benedict?
The rule opens with a hortatory preface, in which St. Benedict sets forth the main principle of monastic and religious life. The 73 chapters of then rule is all about how the monastery works and how it should work. This rule if followed will be how a monk lives and what is done in a monastery. St. Benedict wrote this rule in the monastery in his spare time. The first chapter of the rule is about the four different kinds of monks like hermit and social. Chapter 20 is about prayer; the prayer should have compassion and be heartfelt. Chapter 33, there should not be any private possessions and the abbot should get the necessary things for everyone. Chapter 70 forbids monks striking each other.
What is the daily routine of a monk?
The monks firstly wake up from sleeping eight hours, they pray when they get out of bed. The monks pray before breakfast and after. They mostly pray and work all day, they have a balance of work and prayer. The monks would work in a garden or making candles for example to sell. If they didn’t sell or get money they wouldn’t survive, they use this money to buy food and other items needed for the monastery. They would grow their own vegetables to save money. Sometime they would have mass or a reflection mass usually the abbot would be the leader in this. They would finish the day with prayer and dinner and then finally sleep.
How does participation in monastery life apply to Christian beliefs and church teachings?
The participation of monastic life applies to Christian teachings in many ways. In a monastery the Christian rule is used, a monk or abbot picks up on the values of the Bible (e.g., prayer, fasting, and service of neighbour) and arranges for a life in which these values can be lived out in community this happens in most monasteries. The abbot is the head of the monastery and a long time ago he use to take after the monastery because he is the leader and make sure everything is in check if this didn’t happen the monastery wouldn’t be organised. In a hermit community there is one monk or nun that buys food from shops or markets back when the rules started the monks or nuns would die from starvation if this didn’t happen. An equal balance of prayer and work is essential in every monastery and everyone participates this was needed for the monastery to survive with funds from selling the produce or stuff they make outside the monastery
