Читать книгу English Monasteries - A. Hamilton Thompson - Страница 4

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A monastery is a community of men or women, devoted to the service of God and obeying a fixed rule. Monastic rules of life varied in strictness and in detail; while each community supplemented the rule of its order by its own code of observances. The object, however, of these different rules and codes was one. The general term for the monastic life was 'religion' (religio): the 'religious' (religiosus) was bound by three vows, to poverty against the deceits of the world, to chastity against the lusts of the flesh, to obedience against the snares of the devil. His chief duty was to take part with his brethren in the recitation of the canonical hours, and in the celebration of daily masses. A portion of his day was set apart for meditation in the cloister; but his surplus time was devoted to labour. The business affairs of a monastery brought some religious into touch with the practical side of life. Others found their vocation in manual labour in the fields or workshops; while a certain number devoted themselves to literary work in the cloister.