A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds. A monastery complex typically comprises a number of buildings which include a church, dormitory, cloister, refectory, library, balneary and infirmary, and outlying granges. Depending on the location, the monastic order and the occupation of its inhabitants, the complex may also include a wide range of buildings that facilitate self-sufficiency and service to the community. These may include a hospice, a school, and a range of agricultural and manufacturing buildings such as a barn, a forge, or a brewery.
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent. The term is often used interchangeably with religious sisters who do take simple vows but live an active vocation of prayer and charitable work.
A mantle is an ecclesiastical garment in the form of a very full cape that extends to the floor, joined at the neck, that is worn over the outer garments. Especially in the case of Elijah, it was likely a tallit, a Hebrew garment that housed the fringes still seen today which are also translated at “the hem of His garment” in the New Testament. It is also likely that further ecclesiastical garments were based originally on this one.
Tonsure is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word tonsura and referred to a specific practice in medieval Catholicism, abandoned by papal order in 1972. Tonsure can also refer to the secular practice of shaving all or part of the scalp to show support or sympathy, or to designate mourning. Current usage more generally refers to cutting or shaving for monks, devotees, or mystics of any religion as a symbol of their renunciation of worldly fashion and esteem.
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism by living a monastic lifestyle, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicate his life to serving other people and serving God, or to be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions and in philosophy.
Christian monasticism is the devotional practice of Christians who live ascetic and typically cloistered lives that are dedicated to Christian worship. It began to develop early in the history of the Christian Church, modeled upon scriptural examples and ideals, including those in the Old Testament. It has come to be regulated by religious rules and, in modern times, the Canon law of the respective Christian denominations that have forms of monastic living. Those living the monastic life are known by the generic terms monks (men) and nuns (women). The word monk originated from the Greek μοναχός, itself from μόνος meaning 'alone'.
Hegumen, hegumenos, or igumen, is the title for the head of a monastery in the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, or an archpriest in the Coptic Orthodox Church, similar to the title of abbot. The head of a convent of nuns is called a hegumenia or igumeni. The term means "the one who is in charge", "the leader" in Greek.
A hieromonk, also called a priestmonk, is a monk who is also a priest in the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholicism.
Religious vows are the public vows made by the members of religious communities pertaining to their conduct, practices, and views.
A skufia is an item of clerical clothing, a cap, worn by Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Lutheran and Eastern Catholic monastics or awarded to clergy as a mark of honor.
A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, although in their case without conformity to a particular uniform style.
Ecclesiastical titles are the formal styles of address used for members of the clergy.
A typikon is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the Byzantine Rite office and variable hymns of the Divine Liturgy.
Eastern Christian monasticism is the life followed by monks and nuns of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East and Eastern Catholicism. Eastern monasticism is founded on the Rule of St Basil and is sometimes thus referred to as Basilian.
Holy Resurrection Monastery is an American monastic community of men. Under the canon law of the Eastern Catholic Churches the brotherhood is a self-governing monastery within the Romanian Catholic Eparchy of St George's in Canton, Ohio, and located in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin. The ruling hierarch is Bishop John Michael Botean; the current Abbot of the monastery is Hierodeacon Moses (Wright). He replaced the founding Abbot Nicholas Zachariadis in February of 2023. Abbot Nicholas retired in late 2022.
The koukoulion is a traditional headdress worn by monks and certain patriarchs in Eastern Christianity.
Bishop George is bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, bishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, and former abbot of the Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, West Virginia.
Schema-Archimandrite Serapheim (Travassaros) of the Lavra of St. Sabbas the Sanctified, also Serapheim Savvaitis the "Elder of the Desert", or Serapheim Agiotafitis, born Stamatios Travassaros, was the Igumen and spiritual father of the Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified, in the Bethlehem Governorate of the West Bank, from 1957 to 2003. He was also the founder of the Sanctuary of the Shepherds' Field in Beit Sahour, begun in 1971 as a metochion of the Lavra of St. Sabbas and consecrated in 1989.
The Analavosof the Great Schema is a distinctive vestment worn only by the highest degree of monastics in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, emblematic of their monastic habit. It is a symbol of their total devotion to the cross and to the Orthodox Faith, and is adorned with the Instruments of the Passion and other religious symbols.
