Monks

"The romantic tale of Peter Abelard and Heloise has been widely known for centuries. The legend relates in part to the letters exchanged between the two, years after Abelard had been castrated at the behest of Heloise's vindictive uncle, Fulbert.

These "personal" letters form the basis for bestselling compilations of works by Abelard and Heloise in translation, such as the recently revised Penguin The Letters of Abelard and Heloise or the new Hackett Abelard and Heloise, The Letters and Other Writings. They hold fascination for the light they shed on the relationship between the man and woman, as teacher and student, lovers, husband and wife, monk and nun, abbot and mother superior, and much more.

The popularity of the "personal" letters has generated considerable fanfare for the publication of another set of correspondence printed under the title The Lost Love Letters of Heloise and Abelard. The authorship of all these letters has been contested repeatedly, with the last-mentioned collection being the center of a present firestorm.

Generally ignored have been nearly a dozen other letters or letter-like texts, unassailably the work of Peter Abelard. Jan M. Ziolkowski's comprehensive and learned translation of these texts affords insight into Abelard's thinking over a much longer sweep of time and offers snapshots of the great twelfth-century philosopher and theologian in a variety of contexts. One group shows him engaging with Heloise and nuns of the Paraclete, another with Bernard of Clairvaux, and a third with four entirely different addressees on four entirely different topics. Broadening our panorama of the twelfth-century Renaissance, the picture presented by these texts complements, complicates, and enriches Abelard's autobiographical letter of consolation and his personal letters to Heloise."

ATANAZY Z ALEKSANDRII
I „KRÓLESTWO PUSTYNI” W JEGO DZIEŁACH
(Streszczenie)
Prezentowany artykuł ma na celu ukazanie roli św. Atanazego Wielkiego w propagowaniu
życia monastycznego w jego dziełach: Żywocie świętego Antoniego,
Listach do mnichów i Listach paschalnych. Na przykładzie św. Antoniego Atanazy
ukazywał rolę, ważność i zalety życia poświęconego Bogu, z dala od świata. Atanazy
ukazuje się poprzez swe dzieła jako propagator monastycyzmu i życia ascetycznego,
a jednocześnie obrońca ortodoksji. Dzięki jego pismom, monastycyzm, który
wyrósł na egipskiej pustyni, stał się znany daleko poza Egiptem i stał się podstawą
do tworzenia grup monastycznych w całym ówczesnym Imperium Rzymskim.

William Wordsworth's poetry reveals his interest in the social model of the Catholic monastery, his sense of this model's vulnerability during political crises, and its potential in addressing the social and environmental concerns of the nineteenth century. While Wordsworth laments the devastation of religious communities during the French Revolution, he targets industrial capitalism as the modern-day threat to a communal ideal of environmental and spiritual harmony. Underexplored works such as “Tuft of Primroses” and “St. Bees” legitimize a celibate religious vocation and female leadership within this context, views he shared with the founders of the Oxford Movement who sought his involvement in a shared agenda of religious reform on the local level. Catholic ruins in Great Britain, in Wordsworth's estimation, can be remodeled along Protestant lines congruent with the original founders' institutional mission to address the needs of the local community. Thus, the transformation of “St. Bees” from a medieval nunnery to a nineteenth-century Protestant seminary is just one way in which a legacy of service and sustainability can continue in the modern age. Wordsworth's writings on the relevance of monastic culture in the nineteenth-century make visible his contributions to the Victorian projects of local reform, historic preservation, and religious liberalization.

In the light of a new reading of archaeological data of this site we propose a new hypothesis. It is possible we are facing a monastery specialized in the production of parchment. We examine El Bolavar linking the site with its nearest geographical area, but also inserting it into the documented context of the parchment production in the former territories of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and High Middle Ages.

Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, 90 ( 2014)

Figures like Voltaire and Rousseau are sometimes cited as examples of vegetarians in 18th century France. But were they?  Poverty and religious requirements certainly compelled some to follow a meatless diet, but was anyone who did so guided by a coherent philosophy or theory? This paper explores these questions.

This paper focuses on the theme of the Dormition of monks - hermits and/or cœnobites - as represented in the earliest figurative sources of Byzantine art, and especially in illustrated manuscripts. The study of the material led to the identification of some recurrent features, such as the sobriety of the composition and details, the inevitable monastic habit, the enhancement of humility and asceticism. An attempt has been made to create a dialogue between images and written sources, thanks to which a complex and vivid picture has emerged, reflecting multiple meanings that have to be analyzed through the eyes of the past. This paper also deals with the issue of the origin of this iconographic subject and its relationship with other models.

Статтю присвячено розгляду передумов формування колегіуму Товариства Ісуса у Львові в другій половині XVI ст. Аналізуючи студії з історії Товариства єзуїтів, легко зауважити помітний ухил в сторону досліджень їхньої освітньої діяльності, натомість практично немає праць, які б ілюстрували розвиток певного осередку в контексті тогочасних подій. Звідси-велика кількість термінологічних і фактографічних неточностей, зокрема трактування діяльності єзуїтів лише з перспективи освітньої складової. З огляду на це, метою даної статті є спроба розглянути передумови формування осередку Товариства у Львові. Завдання статті-реконструювати за джерелами мотиви й плани самих єзуїтів при заснуванні даного осередку. Вагому роль у розгляді цього питання відіграють матеріали, що ними керувалося Товариство: передусім статутні документи-Формули Інституту Товариства Ісуса (які складаються з апостольських листів, виданих папами Павлом ІІІ та Юлієм ІІІ) та Конституції Товариства Ісуса. Завдяки ним можна уточнити низку термінологічних питань, а також сам механізм функціонування єзуїтських осередків. Не менш важливою є й пістолярна спадщина, дотична поточних на той час справ. Зокрема, аналізуючи документи, можна зауважити, що Товариство мало самостійні плани щодо розбудови власної мережі, а також не ставило за мету лише навчання дітей. Приміром, Річ Посполиту розглядали як територію, придатну для місіонерства та подальшого руху на Схід. Окрім того, простежуються плани заснування львівського осередку в статусі колегії задовго до офіційного запрошення перших монахів до міста. Значну увагу в статті приділено трактуванню поняття «колегіум», важливого для розуміння мотивів заснування осередку у Львові та пояснення його подальшої діяльності.
Ключові слова: єзуїти, орден єзуїтів, Товариство Ісуса, колегіум єзуїтів, Львівський єзуїтський колегіум, Львів.

the hermits & other monks of the 3rd-5th centuries or so. 
(pre-Benedictine or Gregorian. 

the early days of the spartan Christian monks, in the centuries after Constantine (AD 300-350), and after the Gnostics and Manicheans (AD 75-175 & AD 225-250) brought unusual prophetic doctrine that was rejected by the church, along with all the other lost Christian and Jewish writings.) 

Reminiscent of Ghandi

Proverbs and short stories from hermits and monastics of the Egyptian desert:

"(Abba Isaiah) said to those who were making a good beginning by putting themselves under the direction of the holy Fathers, 'As with purple dye, the first colouring is never lost.' And, 'Just as young shoots are easily trained back and bent, so it is with beginners who live in submission.'." Desert Fathers and Mothers-a few sayings from the larger corpus. Sayings of the Desert Fathers From the Sayings of the Desert Fathers Abba Ammonas was asked, 'What is the "narrow and hard way?" (mt. 7.14) He replied, 'The "narrow and hard way" is this, to control your thoughts, and to strip yourself of your own will, for the sake of God. THis is also the meaning of the sentence, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you." (Mt. 19.27) It was said of him that he had a hollow in his chest channelled out by the tears which fell from his eyes all his life while he sat at his manual work. When Abba Poemen learned that he was dead, he said weeping, 'Truly you are blessed, Abba Arsenius, for you wept for yourself in this world! He who does not weep for himself here below will weep eternally hereafter; so it is impossible not to weep, either voluntarily or when compelled through suffering.' [i.e. the latter suffering in hell] It was also said of him (Abba Arsenius) that on Saturday evenings, preparing for the glory of Sunday, he would turn his back on the sun and stretch out his hands in prayer towards the heavens, till once again the sun shone on his face. Then he would sit down. + + + It was said of Abba Ammoes that when he went to church, he did not allow his disciple to walk beside him but only at a certain distance; and if the latter came to ask him about his thoughts, he would move away from him as soon as he had replied, saying to him, 'It is for fear that, after edifying words, irrelevant conversation should slip in, that I do not keep you with me.' It was said of Abba Ammoes that he had fifty measures of wheat for his use and had put them out in the sun, Before they were properly dried off, he saw something in that place which seemed to him to be harmful so he said to his servants, 'Let us go away from here.' But they were grieved at this. Seeing their dismay he said to them, 'Is it because of the loaves that you are sad? Truly, I have seen monks fleeing, leaving their whitewashed cells and also their parchments, and they did not close the doors, but went leaving them open.' Abba Abraham told of a man of Scetis who was a scribe and did not eat bread. A brother came to beg him to copy a book. The old man whose spirit was engaged in contemplation, wrote, omitting some phrases and with no punctuation.

Статията спира вниманието върху монасите от така нар. “нео-халкедонизъм” – теологично движение, което възниква след Четвъртият вселенски събор / Халкедонският събор (в малоазийския град Халкедон от 08 октомври до 01 ноември 451 г.). Монасите от това движение са описани в античните писмени извори като „скити“ (= “Scythian”). Тяхната самоличност все още не е изяснена напълно, макар да се знае, че са имали важна роля за династията на Юстиниан Велики (527–565), чрез тяхната борба срещу популяризирането на император Анастасий I (491–518).
Авторът предполага, че споменатите монаси са свързани с по-интензивно изследвания в последно време античен град Залдапа (община Крушари, България). Представени са всички извори, в които тези монаси са споменати и в: общ контекст; политически и религиозни аспекти и с акцент върху периода преди началото на така нар. спор за „Божието / Христовото страдание“ (= “Theopaschite Controversy”). Дадени са биографични бележки за по-известните Scythici monachi – според изискванията на “Prosopographie chrétienne du Bas-Empire”.

the 2nd book of the Gospel of Truth! 

The book of the Testimony of Truth is a late Gnostic writing that is basically the last gospel book in the broader Christian canon. The book is from the other 1945 discovery of religious writings, in Egypt.  It was written sometime between 150 and 200 AD.

The doctrine is reminiscent of the Gospel of Philip and the (Divine) Wisdom of Jesus.

About 25% of the text is unrecoverable. Managed to renumber it into 500 verses just right!

the Book of Miscellanies of Gnostic Notes,
a century and a half of monk's Bible notes, AD 50-200 

Renumbers well to 3361-5565, even if a little choppy at times, like a boat

Based on the large Letter of Barnabas (and Matthew), to James and the Jerusalem church, AD 55-60

For centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania constituted a place of operation of numerous Latin religious observations: monks, mendicant orders as well as canonical and clerical, and its capital – Vilnius – was one of the most important centers of religious life of the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was the convents that played the role of an outstanding carrier of the ideas of christianitas and latinitas as well as an intermediary in the transmission of specific cultural content, both in a broad institutional sense and as individual institutions. Rooted in European civilization, they influenced all areas of social life, including, in particular, the organization of the education system.
The research focused on reconstruction as well as unearthing the mechanisms of the functioning of the phenomena constituting the book culture in Roman Catholic monasteries – from the 15th century right to the liquidation of the local religious network and the dissolution of individual institutions. They were based on the assumption that memory, as a human ability to consolidate experience and build knowledge about oneself and the world and to form group identity, is particularly important for the environments integrated by religion. Implementation of a specific way of thinking, subordinated to spiritual goals and shaped in accordance with religious legislation, implies the use of specific communication practices, some of which are implemented within the community, while some consist of complex relationships with church structures and society. Therefore, attention was paid to the specificity of the functioning of the Latin Church structures in a specific social environment and their participation in shaping a specific model of culture in the former Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Considering the permanence of the presence of religion in the social space, its significance not only in the sacrum sphere, but also as a social phenomenon is a proof of the importance of the functioning of environments shaped by specific values and their influence on society.
The subject of the undertaken analyzes was, in particular, the presence of literature created and used by religious communities that implemented the life model based on common values and similar communication practices. The choice of such an approach points to the characteristics of how the normative provisions and behavioral patterns promoted in this environment influenced the shape and multitude of practices of creating and using religious, literary, scientific, and utilitarian texts in monasteries. The rich source material, which included catalogs as well as book inventories, including various texts produced and used in this environment, constituted the basis of the research. They served not only the implementation of accepted spiritual ideals, but in a broader context they showed diverse forms of the presence of religious institutions in Old Polish society. Therefore, efforts were made to identify the thematic threads that make it possible to describe the universal phenomena and processes characterizing the circulation of books in the religious environment, which has its origin in specific church legislation as well as the implemented forms of activity and presence in the world.
In particular, the aim was to determine under what circumstances, how, and by what types of texts the communities of religious orders communicated with each other. The objective was to show the influence of various religious legislations on the way of organizing the circulation of books and the selection of texts used in convents, and to what extent they influenced communication practices and the canon of literature. Hence, attempts were made to determine which texts were essential for the functioning of the monasteries and their structures, and which were intended for the local or supra–local community. Therefore, various types of works were subjected to analysis: the religious as well as utilitarian, literary, occasional, scientific works, etc. The objective was to determine the extent to which religious orders carried out specific tasks for their environment, and to what extent in the religious culture was the specificity of multicultural and multi–religious the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, especially in the tradition and practice of creating and using literature against the background of complementary forms of using the word was visible.
The communication perspective, in which writing and text are seen in the context of the sacrum, constituted the research axis. Their significance in the context of spiritual values was strengthened by pointing to the role in shaping and maintaining the identity of groups constituted by faith. The specificity of communication in these environments can be seen at many levels, for example, in the religious order environments we do not notice any conflict between the oral and the written, but rather we observe their coexistence, and likewise there is no definite antinomy between religiosity and the high and popular culture.
The perception of monasteries as important and permanent elements of social and religious life as well as vital factors of cultural changes allowed made it possible to register a lot of regularities that enrich the knowledge about the book culture of the communities of religious orders, verifying the stereotypical and often derogatory assessments related to the role of writing and reading in church environments. The religious communities integrate not only the same axiological system, but also similarly shaped communication competences resulting from a specific religious formation and implementation of the repertoire of communication practices that apply in these environments. They existed not only as isolated church institutions (constituted in this way by held values as well as institutional structure), but also as groups functioning in society which were linked – at the local level and in a broad perspective – by specific dependency models as well as formal and informal, public and private, institutional and private contacts.
Literature “existing” in monasteries testifies to the spiritual culture of monks, shows intellectual formation, undertaken literature, scientific, and publishing work as well as the organization of an individual workshop, including the formation and subsequent use in pastoral and education of the texts of the collected canon. The formation of the reading choices of religious orders were influenced by the recommendations of the church authorities, they were also shaped by social expectations as well as by individual preferences and practices associated with the text being created or read.
With the circles of the religious order, texts representing essentially several thematic groups were used. Their typology should be built while paying attention to the requirements related to activities in the public sphere, in relation to a specific social environment, as well as taking into account the expectations of the adopted form of vitae christiana. Historical book collections of the religious orders constituted of various collections, dominated by various types of religious, philosophical, and theological literature; however, also rich in historical, legal, medical, fine, parenetic, and school literature. An analysis of their operation showed, on the one hand, organizational diversity, while on the other, a close dependence of the thematic profile on the tasks assigned to the community as well as the location and social environment of a particular convent or the diverse interests and needs of the people working in it.
The analysis covered not just the normative documentation alone, but also strictly preserved library records, such as registered provenance records as well as various reading certificates and sources that made it possible to distinguish the author and reader, the archivist, and the librarian or the collector and the bibliophile in within the religious order. It was pointed out that of significance was the comprehensive recognition of the internal reality of these institutions to draw conclusion on the reading activity, reception of specific content, intellectual interests, and the intensity of the influence of these groups in the broader context of the culture model.
The described manifestations of book culture in religious environments point to the great importance of both intellectus et scientia as well as fide etspiritus in their lives and prove how literature contributed to preserving the identity of the clergy and to building traditions as well as to significant cultural and civilization–related role in Old Polish society. In this perspective, it turns out that writing and reading, hence the text, document and the book, constitute immortal witnesses of events not only in the so–called chronological reality, but also in the history of the long and stable duration of the religious orders in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

2015-10-02: You find today's update here as well: http://www.snrk.de/academia/Banker_and_Broker.pdf

2015-04-05: Lay-out changes only.

2014-12-24: Henry Holiday's depiction of the "Broker" in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark" was called "antisemitic". However, Holiday may have been inspired by what could be a cliché of the face of a roman catholic monk found in the 16th century anti-papal painting "Edward VI and the Pope" (anonymous painter).

Buddhist monks and Buddhism more generally are often imagined, especially in Western countries, to be inherently nonviolent. While the Buddha certainly never advocated violence, many Buddhists, including Buddhist monks, have variously advocated for violence and participated in violent acts. Achan Chanh Ly (1941-2004) was a Lao border Theravada monk in Thailand whose life and death became dominated by Cold War politics, counterinsurgency and insurgency, and associated violence.

Looking at modern monasticism and its role in society one can see how traditional monastic concepts or values find their new forms. On the other hand, art and artists willingly, though not always consciously, use or refer to some monastic themes. In this paper, on the base of texts of some authors open to the dialogue between monasticism and art, a reading of monasticism in the key of art is proposed, exclusively in reference to the Christian monasticism. Given its present cultural and social context, the thesis of this paper is that through the rediscovering of monasticism through art, one can and should refresh and save it in a more and more secularized society, what may be also a perspective of a new role of monasticism in the modern world.

The exposition at the Rheinisches Landes Museum Bonn (till January 28, 2018) offers a wide range to understand the so called white monks . Their spirituality  "pray and work" combined with simplicity and poverty enabled at the same time strong  impulses of church reform and practical work and economy. Interested readers find a comprehensive companion volume in German: Die Zisterzienser. das Europa der Klöster (The Cistercians. The Europe of Monastaries). Darmstadt 2017, 368 pp., glossary

The majority of people in Thailand are devout Buddhists, with over 95 percent of the country following Buddhism and its entailed traditions and practices. Buddhism therefore, of course, plays an integral part in the culmination of Thai cultural identity. Buddhism is a part of every aspect of life in Thailand, from giving alms in the morning to the monks and children saying Buddhist prayers in the morning and the majority of Thai men being a monk at least for a short period of their life; Buddhist traditions are seen and felt everywhere in Thai society; As is the presence of the male dominated monkhood.

Christian monasticism, a wide spiritual and social movement in Christianity, began at the end of the 3rd century A.C., both in the desert of Egypt and also in Palestine and Syria. The life and culture of its first representatives has always been both very amazing and inspiring, although there are not too many source on this theme. One of the most important of them is the most ancient collection of sayings of the Desert Fathers called Apophthegms. In this book there are some texts dedicated to trees. In this paper we propose to examine these texts more exactly, discovering impressive role of trees in life and spirituality of monks living in the desert. This role has different dimensions: in the Sayings of the Desert Fathers the tress are described, but also taken as symbol or parable. They express monks’ admiration for nature and its wisdom. At the same time they become “an echo” of some Biblical texts, completing very finely some fragments, particularly those who are in the Gospel.  Finally, there is a great amount of mysticism and poetry hidden in the diversity and originality of rapports between trees and monks bring. They are well integrated with plot and style of narration. Speaking more concretely, from the analysis of these texts the trees appear as teachers (they are observed, contemplated, meditated to become parable, symbol or metaphor), they become symbols of a good life (they are, literally and figuratively, a shelter, they inspire and symbolize the fruitfulness of spiritual life and stability). On the other hand they participate, sometimes in a miraculous way, in life of monks, often playing important role or just expressing intervention of God (indicating and blessing a place or being witness of monks’ spiritual struggle). In symbolical and, in consequence, theological interpretation of these texts trees are a passage which should be done but they themselves should not cover the reality of heaven. They indicate the way to eternity and humility, even somehow anticipating it, but only as means. They are never objective of worship. They serve to come closer to God.

Este artigo explora a temática das relações eremíticas e cenobíticas no norte da atual Inglaterra, na Nortúmbria entre os séculos XI e XII. Os dois ideais de vida espiritual não foram dicotômicos e a regra beneditina considerou que alguns monges poderiam retirar-se, com a permissão do seu superior, para a vida eremítica. Buscamos, assim, discutir elementos que os monges beneditinos do priorado de Durham construíram sobre São Godric, o Eremita de Finchale, a partir da análise da hagiografia a Vida de São Godric. A narrativa foi confeccionada pelo monge do referido priorado Reginald de Durham, na segunda metade do século XII. Palavras-chave: Eremita. Inglaterra. Representações.