But monasticism also offered society a spiritual outlet and ideal with important consequences for medieval culture as a whole. Monasteries encouraged literacy, promoted learning, and preserved the classics of ancient literature, including the works of Cicero, Virgil, Ovid, and Aristotle.
Full Answer
What was monasticism in the early Middle Ages?
Monasticism in the Early Middle Ages. Irish Christians embraced monasticism as enthusiastically as they had accepted the Christian religion itself. As with the doctrines and rituals of Christianity, the Irish created a form of institutionalized ascetic life dependent upon continental originals but unique to the society and culture of Ireland.
What were the ideals of monastic life?
The ideals of monastic life were almost uniform and universal. In all places and in all ages its dominant ideal was that of asceticism. A monk of virtue must employ every means to avoid worldly pleasures and natural human desires. The different forms of discipline were chiefly intended to spiritual growth and moral betterment.
What are the ideals of monasticism of supreme educational value?
These are of supreme educational value even today. The ideals of monasticism were usually summed up in the three ideals of chastity, poverty and obedience, or, more technically, conversion, stability and obedience. The monastic ideals had their positive as well as negative social significance.
What was the point of obeying the monastic rule?
The point of obeying the monastic rule was not performing works to gain merit from God, they said, but rather was done to remove worldly obstacles between the monk or nun and God. Supporters of Christian monasticism stress Jesus Christ 's teachings about wealth being a stumbling block for people.
What was the appeal of monasticism?
Monasticism was deemed appealing because of the basic necessities provided to the residents by the monastic community. Monks were given guidance on earth and the tools necessary to reach eternal deliverance.
Why was monasticism so popular in the Middle Ages?
Monasticism became quite popular in the Middle Ages, with religion being the most important force in Europe. Monks and nuns were to live isolated from the world to become closer to God. Monks provided service to the church by copying manuscripts, creating art, educating people, and working as missionaries.
What was the appeal of monasticism how did it contribute to the growth of the church?
What was the appeal of monasticism and how did it contribute to the growth of the Church? It was a spiritual and social movement in which women and men withdrew from the world to live solitary or communal lives to attain personal holiness.
Why is monasticism important to Christianity?
Christian monasticism is a structured, ascetic pursuit of the Christian life. It involves a return to God through attention to the classic spiritual disciplines of silence, chastity, prayer, fasting, confession, good works, obedience, and vigils.
What led to the rise of monasticism?
A significant impetus to the rise of Monasticism in Europe came from the legalization of Christianity. The erstwhile illicit nature of Christianity in the Roman Empire allowed devout Christians to publicly announce their religion, in exchange for an enduring test that lasted till their execution.
What is the purpose of monastic life?
The ultimate purpose of the monastic endeavour is to attain a state of freedom from bondage, where both bondage and freedom are defined in theological terms.
What is monasticism and how did it change over time?
Monasticism at first was a way of life to be secluded from the rest of society and live life soley to God. It eventually changed due to sets of rules that were to be followed in doing a lot of physical labor, scribing and evnetual missionary work to spread the Christian faith.
How did monasticism influence everyday life in the Middle Ages how did it contribute to the rise of universities and scholasticism?
Scholasticism and scholastic thought were encouraged as monks and nuns sought to understand and connect to sacred texts. This scholarly environment allowed for the development of monastic schools to better train monks and nuns for their intellectual and spiritual endeavors, which developed into medieval universities.
What are the aims of monastic education?
Spiritual The aim of monastic education is the salvation of individual souls, a kind of moral and physical discipline based on bodily mortification and worldly renunciation for the sake of moral improvement.
What are the 3 characteristics of monasticism?
The basic, common features of monasticism, therefore, can be reduced to these four: special status; dedication of monastics to the practice of personal religious disciplines; ritual entry and ongoing identification marked by special appearance; the role of monasticism as an option for some persons within a larger ...
Why did monastic orders become more numerous and popular in Christianity?
The monastic movement grew dramatically after the Roman Empire officially adopted the Christian religion. Once everybody in the Empire was considered Christian, more devout Christians could show the special depth of their faith through monasticism.
How did monasticism develop?
The origins of and inspiration for monasticism, an institution based on the Christian ideal of perfection, have traditionally been traced to the first apostolic community in Jerusalem—which is described in the Acts of the Apostles—and to Jesus' sojourn in the wilderness.
Why did monastic orders become more numerous and popular in Christianity?
The monastic movement grew dramatically after the Roman Empire officially adopted the Christian religion. Once everybody in the Empire was considered Christian, more devout Christians could show the special depth of their faith through monasticism.
When did monasticism became popular in Europe?
Monasticism emerged in the late 3rd century and had become an established institution in the Christian church by the 4th century.
Why do people usually join monastic orders?
The monastic orders of the Middle Ages developed from the desire to live a spiritual life without the distractions of the world. Men and women who took religious vows were seeking a purity of experience they found lacking as lay people.
How did monasticism influence everyday life in the Middle Ages how did it contribute to the rise of universities and scholasticism?
Scholasticism and scholastic thought were encouraged as monks and nuns sought to understand and connect to sacred texts. This scholarly environment allowed for the development of monastic schools to better train monks and nuns for their intellectual and spiritual endeavors, which developed into medieval universities.
Where did monasticism originate?
Christian monasticism got its start in Egypt and North Africa about 270 AD , with the desert fathers, hermits who went into the wilderness and gave up food and water to avoid temptation. One of the earliest recorded solitary monks was Abba Antony (251-356), who retreated to a ruined fort to pray and meditate. Abba Pacomias (292-346) of Egypt is regarded as the founder of the cenobitic or community monasteries.
What is monasticism criticized for?
Monasticism is often criticized as being unbiblical. Opponents say the Great Commission commands Christians to go into the world and evangelize. However, Augustine, Benedict, Basil and others insisted that separation from society, fasting, labor, and self-denial were only means to an end, and that end was to love God.
What were the abuses of monasteries in the 12th and 13th centuries?
By the 12th and 13th centuries, abuses began to set in. As politics dominated the Roman Catholic Church, kings and local rulers used monasteries as hotels while traveling, and expected to be fed and housed in royal fashion. Demanding rules were imposed on young monks and novice nuns; infractions were often punished with floggings.
What did the supporters of Christian monasticism say about Jesus Christ?
Supporters of Christian monasticism stress Jesus Christ 's teachings about wealth being a stumbling block for people. They claim John the Baptist 's strict lifestyle as an example of self-denial and cite Jesus' fasting in the desert to defend fasting and a simple, restricted diet.
How did monasticism spread?
Monasticism spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, largely due to the work of Irish monks. By the Middle Ages, the Benedictine Rule, based on common sense and efficiency, had become widespread in Europe. Communal monks worked hard to support their monastery.
What is the life of a Roman Catholic monk?
Everyday life usually consists of several regularly scheduled prayer periods, meditation, and work projects to pay the community's bills.
Why did monks work hard?
Communal monks worked hard to support their monastery. Often the land for the monastery was given to them because it was remote or thought to be poor for farming. With trial and error, monks perfected many agricultural innovations. They were also involved in such tasks as copying manuscripts of both the Bible and classical literature, providing education, and perfecting architecture and metal work. They cared for the sick and poor, and during the Dark Ages, preserved many books that would have been lost. The peaceful, cooperative fellowship inside the monastery often became an example for the society outside it.
What is monasticism in medieval times?
Monasticism was a special feature of Medieval life and education in Europe. It was first introduced during the Medieval Ages – 500 A. D. – 1500 A. D. – the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. The term “monasticism”, in its most general application, indicates the organisation of those who have taken special vows ...
Who was the first monasticism?
The first prominence was given to monasticism by St. Anthony (251-356 A.D.). Some great persons, disgruntled with life, took shelter in the deserts and began to lead a life of contemplation. They renounced all human wants and pleasures. People went to the deserts to visit these persons.
What were the problems of monasticism?
1. Family life was entirely neglected in monasticism. Human values, sentiments and feelings were not recognised. The monks annihilated human desires through penance. Therefore, the monastic system of education was not satisfactory. Education imparted in the monasteries was artificial and archaic. It was not creative. It was negative in character.
How did monasticism affect society?
Each one of-these monastic ideals introduced new factors into social development. For example, the habit of obedience presented as great a contrast as can be imagined to strong individualism. The ideals-and habits of the monks influenced the values and organisation of the society in different ways.
What was the significance of the rise of monasticism in the East?
The particular occasion of the rise of monasticism in the East, particularly in Egypt, was the intimate relation of Christianity to other Oriental religions. The particular occasion for its spread in the Western Europe was the development of the secular character of the church and the worldly life of its communicants after the general inclusion of the Roman population within the formal limits of Christianity.
What is the primary idea of monasticism?
1. The primary idea of monasticism is asceticism. In its original significance, asceticism was the training or discipline of the athlete in preparation for the physical contests. In its figurative use it indicates the subjection or the disciplining of all bodily desires and human affections in order that the mind and soul may be devoted to the interests of the higher life.
What did monks do in the early monasticism?
They set up extra-state organisations of their own. The monks produced practically all the literature of the time. They wrote chronicles, lives of saints and scholastic discussions. The literary heritage of monasticism was the development of the “Seven Liberal Arts” which included all learning of the time.
What was the role of monasticism in the Middle Ages?
Monasticism in the Early Middle Ages. Irish Christians embraced monasticism as enthusiastically as they had accepted the Christian religion itself. As with the doctrines and rituals of Christianity, the Irish created a form of institutionalized ascetic life dependent upon continental originals but unique to the society and culture of Ireland.
What are the three features of monastic settlements?
Typically, though, every monastic settlement had three features: a church, a patron saint's shrine in or near the church, and a circular enclosure of walls, ditches, or both. Monks combined and augmented these elements in myriad ways. At Reask in County Kerry a rounded stone wall enclosed pairs of connected, beehive-shaped huts ...
What was the name of the group of churches and monasteries that spread throughout Ireland?
In the late seventh century, via two lives of Patrick and a collection of jurisdictional statements called the Liber Angeli (Book of the angel), Armagh's leaders claimed the governance of a paruchia (network of churches and monasteries) that spread throughout Ireland, inferior in authority and size to none.
What was the most flourishing site of Irish monastic practice?
By the time that Kildare had acquired a major church and island-wide fame, it had competition as the most flourishing site of Irish monastic practice. Around the time of Brigit, many founders of ascetic communities built their settlements and established their own reputations as saintly monks and nuns.
What did the abbess of Kildare do?
The abbess of Kildare also demanded allegiance and revenues from other monasteries and churches scattered around Ireland dedicated to Saint Brigit, as well as from other local Leinster churches.
Why did Irish monks study Latin?
Wherever they lived, Irish monks and nuns, who had never known the Romans as rulers, took up Latin as part of their religious training. Monastic communities organized the study of this entirely foreign language, its grammar, and its major religious texts.
Where did the first monastic community in Ireland originate?
The first monastic community in Ireland may have been created by women at Kildare under the leadership of Brigit. Cogitosus, a monk of Kildare around 670, wrote the earliest Irish saint's life about Brigit. He suggested that she had established a church and a community of women, along with a bishop, at or near an old pagan center in the province of Leinster around 500. Kildare was patronized and staffed by the local nobility and royalty of the province. Abbesses and bishops usually came from leading families of the dynasty that controlled the kingship of Leinster or were the children of local chiefs. The monastery owned properties near its main church, and had tenants who provided income. The abbess of Kildare also demanded allegiance and revenues from other monasteries and churches scattered around Ireland dedicated to Saint Brigit, as well as from other local Leinster churches. Already a major pilgrimage site in the seventh century, Kildare had become by 650 a place of legal refuge, treasury of kings, and cultural center, where crowds flocked, as Cogitosus wrote, "for the abundance of festivals" and "to watch the crowds go by" ( Vita Sanctae Brigidae, in Migne, PL 72, col. 789).
Location of the classical period in time
The classical period begins in the 5th century BC. C. , with the end of the war between the city-states of Ancient Greece and the Persian Empire . The Greek armies were victorious against the Persian invader. Thus was founded a new feeling of greatness and cultural trust among its inhabitants.
The Hellenistic period (330-146 BC)
Alexander the Great came to dominate Greece, Egypt, India, Persia, and Central Asia.
The Roman Republic (from 509 to 27 BC)
At the same time, the Romans emerged as a civilization after the defeat of their monarchs in the 5th century . They became a unifying power of all the kingdoms whose territory today comprises that of Italy , after imposing themselves in the Samnite wars, the Latin wars and the Pyrrhic wars.
The Roman Empire (27 BC to 476 AD)
Roman culture inherited its imaginary and cultural riches from Greece.
Politics of the classical era
The enormous journey of the classical period still serves as a reference to the dilemmas and political questions of the West. In this period , direct democracy was born, Roman law was founded , but the greatest empires in history also prevailed.
Classical art
The arts played an important role in the various kingdoms and empires of the classical period. They were the reflection of the greatness of their nations and the development of their peoples.