I have been blogging since 2004 and had used several headings and blog titles. From among those that i used, the current title seems to be the one that will really last long. I have friends in the laity who have been asking me what is meant by the word cenobite.
So, for the last time, i shall be posting a clarification and explanation of what a cenobite is all about:
The term cenobite is an archaic word meaning simply "a member of a communal religious order".
Cenobitic (also spelled cœnobitic, koinobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West, the community belongs to a religious order and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts.
The English words "cenobite" and "cenobitic" are derived, via Latin, from the Greek words κοινός and βίος (koinos and bios, meaning "common" and "life"). The adjective is κοινοβιακόν in Greek. A group of monks living in community is often referred to as a "cenobium".
Cenobitic monks were also different from their eremitic predecessors and counterparts in their actual living arrangements. Whereas the eremitic monks ("hermits") lived alone in a monastery consisting of merely a hut or cave ("cell"), the cenobitic monks ("cenobites") lived together in monasteries comprising one or a complex of several buildings.
In the case of the latter, each dwelling would house about twenty monks and within the house there were separate rooms or "cells" that would be inhabited by one, two or three monks.
This structure of living for the cenobitic monks has been attributed to the same man that is usually hailed as the "father of cenobitic monasticism," St. Pachomius.
Pachomius is thought to have got the idea for living quarters like these from the time he spent in the Roman army, because the style is very "reminiscent of army barracks."
So, for the last time, i shall be posting a clarification and explanation of what a cenobite is all about:
The term cenobite is an archaic word meaning simply "a member of a communal religious order".
Cenobitic (also spelled cœnobitic, koinobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West, the community belongs to a religious order and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of precepts.
The English words "cenobite" and "cenobitic" are derived, via Latin, from the Greek words κοινός and βίος (koinos and bios, meaning "common" and "life"). The adjective is κοινοβιακόν in Greek. A group of monks living in community is often referred to as a "cenobium".
Cenobitic monks were also different from their eremitic predecessors and counterparts in their actual living arrangements. Whereas the eremitic monks ("hermits") lived alone in a monastery consisting of merely a hut or cave ("cell"), the cenobitic monks ("cenobites") lived together in monasteries comprising one or a complex of several buildings.
In the case of the latter, each dwelling would house about twenty monks and within the house there were separate rooms or "cells" that would be inhabited by one, two or three monks.
This structure of living for the cenobitic monks has been attributed to the same man that is usually hailed as the "father of cenobitic monasticism," St. Pachomius.
Pachomius is thought to have got the idea for living quarters like these from the time he spent in the Roman army, because the style is very "reminiscent of army barracks."
1 comment:
hi papa dom! it's been a long time ei.. :D anyway, i hope you have a blessed 2009.
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