Monachos

"It is well known that there are four kinds of monks...

The first kind are the Cenobites:

those who live in monasteries

and serve under a rule and an Abbot.

 

The second kind are the Anchorites or Hermits:

those who,

no longer in the first fervor of their reformation,

but after long probation in a monastery,

having learned by the help of many brethren

how to fight against the devil,

go out well armed from the ranks of the community

to the solitary combat of the desert.

They are able now,

with no help save from God,

to fight single-handed against the vices of the flesh

and their own evil thoughts."

 

- from the Rule of St Benedict.

 

Detail of a praying Benedictine monk carved in stone on the canopy over the High Altar of Ampleforth Abbey.

Done