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Collectivities and groups > Organisations > Ecclesiastical and religious organisations > Monasteries > Monasteries (Christianity)

Preferred term

2473Monasteries (Christianity)  

Broader concept

Scope note

  • Organised collectivities of Christians who have devoted themselves to monastic life at a particular place and under a common set of rules. Christian monasteries dispose of a set of buildings and dwellings for the performance of holy services and the accomodation of the monks or nuns, as well as some means of production that provide the necessary income of the monastery or simply guarantee the monks' subsistence. In the course of time some monasteries acquired great property and functioned as important production units in their own right with cosiderable influence in public affairs, while some also developed significant libraries and became sites of knowledge production and reproduction. Monasteries are organised according to an adminstrative structure under the governance of a prior. In the history of Western Christianity, the monasteries' networks and their relationship with Church authorities depended on the development of distinct monastic orders. In Eastern Christianity, monasteries retained to a larger extent the traditions of early Christianity, with the main divide between monasteries being whether they are autonomous or not from local Church administration. The tradition of cenobitic monasteries has become prevalent, with the idiorrhythmic ("self-regulated") monasteries having as a rule been absorbed by larger cenobitic ones.

Source

  • Johnston & Kleinhenz 2015

Contributor

  • Katsiadakis Helen (AA)

Creator

  • Tzedopoulos Giorgos (AA)

Notation

  • 2473

In other languages

URI

https://humanitiesthesaurus.academyofathens.gr/dyas-resource/Concept/2473

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