was ahvavs taken.
The stream also turned the abbeij tnill,
at a small distance from the monastery.
Other offices, such as st(d)li's, hrvw-houscs,
bah-e-houses, and the like, in the larger
establishments, usually occupied another
court ; and, in the smaller, Avere connected
Avith the chief buildings in the only quad-
rangle. It is needless to say that, in so
general an account, Ave cannot enumerate
exceptional cases. It may, however, be
necessary to say, that the greatest diff'er-
ence of all, that of placing the quadrangle
at the north instead of the south side of
the church, is not unknoAvn ; it is so at
Canterbury and at lancoln, for instance.
The subject may be folloAved out in
the several plans of monasteries scattered
among our topogra])hical Avorks, and in a
paper read by ]\lr. Bloxam before the Bed-
fordshire Architectural Society, and pub-
lished in their Report for ISoO.
MONKS. The Avord monk, being de-
rived from the Greek fiovog, solus, signifies
the same as a solitary, or one Avho lives
sequestered from the company and con-
versation of the rest of the Avorld, and is
usually applied to those Avho dedicate
themselves Avholly to the service of reli-
gion, in some monastery (as it is called) or
religious house, and under the direction of
some particular statutes, or rule. Those
of the female sex who devote themselves
in like manner to a religious life, are called
nuns. (See Ninis.)
There is some difference in the sentiments
of learned men concerning the original and
rise of the monastic life. But the most
probable account of this matter seems to
be as folloAvs :
Till the year 250, there Avere no monks,
but only ascetics, in the Church. (See
Ascetics.)
In the Decian persecution, Avhich Avas
about the middle of the third centmy,
many persons in Egypt, to avoid the fury
of the storm, fled to the neighbouring
deserts and mountains, where they not
only found a safe retreat, but also more
time and liberty to exercise themselves in
acts of piety and Divine contemplations ;
AA'hich sort of life became so agreeable to
them, that Avhen the persecution Avas over,
they refused to return to their habitations
again, choosing rather to continue in those
cottages and cells Avhich they had made for
themselves in the Avilderness.
The first and most noted of these soli-
taries Avere Paul and Anthony, tAvo famous
Egyptians, Avhom therefore St. Jerome calls
the' fathers of the Christian hermits. Some
indeed carry \\\) the original of the monas-
tic life as high as John Baptist and Elias.
512
MONKS.
But learned men generally reckon Paul
the Thebsean, and Anthony, as the first
promoters of this way of living among the
Christians.
As yet there were no bodies or commu-
nities of men embracing this life, nor any
.monasteries built, but only a few single
persons scattered here and there in the
deserts of Egypt, till Pachomius, in the
peaceable reign of Constantine, procured
some monasteries to be built in Thebais in
Egypt, from whence the custom of living in
societies was followed by degrees in other
parts of the world, and in succeeding ages.
Macarius peopled the Egyptian desert
of Scetis with monks. Hilarion, a dis-
ciple of Anthony's, was the first monk in
Palestine or Sp'ia. Not long after, Eusta-
thius, bishop of Sebaste, brought^ mona-
chism into Armenia, Paphlagonia, and
Pontus. But St. Basil is generally con-
sidered as the great father and patriarch
of the Eastern monks. It was he who re-
duced the monastic life to a fixed state of
uniformity, who united the Anchorets and
Coenobite's, and obliged them to engage
themselves by solemn vows. It was St. Basil
who prescribed rules for the government and
direction of the monasteries, to which rules
most of the disciples of Anthony, Pacho-
mius, and Macarius, and the other ancient
fathers of the deserts, submitted. And to
this day, all the Greeks, Nestorians, Mel-
chites, Georgians, ]\Iingrelians, and Ar-
menians, follow the rule of St. Basil.
The monastic profession made no less
progress in the West. Athanasius, bishop
of Alexandria, retiring to Rome, about
the year 339, with several priests, and
two Egyptian monks, made known to
several pious persons the life of Anthony,
who then lived in the desert of Thebais ;
upon which many were desirous to em-
brace so holy a profession. To this eff'ect
several monasteries were built at Home,
and this example was soon followed all
over Italy. Benedict of Nursia appeared
in that country in the early part of the
sixth century, and published his rule, which
was universally received throughout the
West; for which reason that saint was
styled the patriarch of the Western monks,
as St. Basil was of the Eastern.
France owes the institution of the mon-
astic life to St. Martin, bishop of Tours,
in the fourth century ; who built the mon-
asteries of Luguge and Marmontier. The
Council of Saragossa, in Spain, anno 380,
which condemns the practice of clergy-
men, Avho affected to wear the monastical
habits, is a proof that there were monks
in that kingdom in the fourth century,
before St. Donatus went thither out of
Africa, with seventy disciples, and founded
the monaster)' of Sirbita.
Augustine, being sent into England by
Gregory the Great, in the year 596, to
preach the faith, at the same time intro-
duced the monastic state into this king-
dom. It made so great a progress here,
that, within the space of 200 years, there
were thirty kings and queens who pre-
ferred the religious habit to their crowns,
and founded stately monasteries, where
they ended their days in retu-ement and
solitude.
The monastic profession was also carried
into Ireland by St. Patrick, who is looked
upon as the apostle of that kingdom, and
multiplied there in so prodigious a man-
ner, that it was called the Island of Saints.
— Brou(jJiton.
The monastic life soon made a veiy
great progress all over the Christian world,
llufinus, who travelled through the East in
373, assures us there were almost as many
monks in the deserts, as inhabitants in the
cities. From the wilderness (contrary to
its original institution) it made its way
into the towns and cities, where it multi-
plied greatly : for the same author informs
us, that, in the single city of Oxirinca,
there Avere more monasteries than private
houses, and above 30,000 monks.
The ancient monks were not, like the
modern, distinguished into orders, and de-
nominated from the founders of them ; but
they had their names from the places where
they inhabited, as the monks of Scetis,
Tahennesm, Nitria, Canopus in Egypt, &'C.
or else were distinguished by theh' difl'erent
ways of living. Of these the most re-
markable were,
1. The anchorets, so called from their re-
tiring from society, and living in private
cells in the wilderness. (See Anclwrets.)
2. The Coenobites, so denominated from
their living together in common. (See
Cocnohitcs.)
All monks were, originally, no more than
laymen : nor could they well be otherwise,
being confined by their own rules to some
desert or wilderness where there could be
no room for the exercise of the clerical
functions. Accordingly St. Jerome tells
us, the office of a monk is, not to teach, but
to mourn. The Council of Chalcedon ex-
pressly distinguislies the monks from the
clergy, and reckons them with the laymen.
Gratian himself, who is most interested for
the moderns, owns it to be plain from ec-
clesiastical history, that to the time of
Pope Sircius and Zosimus, the monks were
only mere monks, and not of the clerg5%
MONKS.
513
In some cases, however, the clerical and
monastic life were capable of being con-
joined; as, first, when a monastery ha])-
pened to be at so great a distance from its
})roper church, that the monks could not
ordinarily resort thither for Divine service,
which was the case of the monasteries in
Egypt and other parts of the East. In
this case, some one or more of the monks
were ordained for the performance of di-
vine offices among them. Another case, in
which the clerical and monastic life were
united, was, when monks were taken out of
monasteries by the bisliops, and ordained
for the service of the Church. This Avas
allowed, and encouraged, when once mon-
asteries were become schools of learning
and pious education. In this case they
usually continued their ancient austerities ;
and upon this account the Greeks styled
them ifooiuovaxoi, clergy-monks. Thirdly,
it happened sometimes that a bishop and
all his clergy embraced the monastic life
by a voluntary renunciation of property,
and enjoyed all things in common. Euse-
bius Vercellensis was the first who brought
in this way of living, and St. Augustine
lived thus among the clergy of Hippo.
And so far as this was an imitation of
coenobitic life, and having all things in
common, it might be called a monastic as
well as a clerical life.
The Coenobites, or such monks as lived
in communities, were chiefly regarded by
the CImrch, and were therefore under the
direction of certain laM's and rules of
government, of which we shall here give a
short account. And,
First, All men were not allowed to turn
monks at pleasure, because such an in-
discriminate permission would have been
detrimental both to the Church and State.
Upon this account the civil laAV forbids
any of those officers called cun'alcs to
become monks, unless they parted with
their estates to others, who might serve
their country in their stead. For the
same reason servants were not to be ad-
mitted into any monastery without their
masters' leave. Indeed, Justinian after-
wards abrogated this law ])y an edict of
his own, which fii'st set servants at liberty
from their masters, under pretence of be-
taking themselves to a monastic life. The
same precautions were observed in regard
to married persons and children. The
former were not to embrace the monastic
life, unless with the mutual consent of both
parties. This precaution was afterwards
broke through by Justinian ; but the
Church never approved of this innovation.
As to children, the Council of Gangra
2 L
decreed that if any such, under pretence
of religion, forsook their ])arents, they
should be anathematized. Ikit Justinian
enervated the force of this law likewise,
forbidding parents to hinder their children
from becoming monks or clerks. And as
children were not to turn monks without
consent of their parents, so neither could
parents oblige their children to embrace a
monastic life against their own consent.
But the fourth Council of Toledo, A. D. 633,
set aside this precaution, and decreed that,
whether the devotion of their j)arcnts, or
their own ])rofession, made them monks,
both should be equally binding, and there
should be no permission to return to a
secular life again, as was before allowable,
when a parent off"ered a child before he
was capable of giving his own consent.
The manner of admission to the monastic
life was usually by some change of habit
or dress, not to signify any religious mys-
tery, but only to express their gravity and
contempt of the world. Long hair was
always thought an indecency in men, and
savouring of secular vanity ; and there-
fore they polled every monk at his ad-
mission, to distinguish him from seculars ;
but they never shaved any, for fear they
should look too like the priests of Isis.
This, therefore, was the ancient tonsure, in
opposition to both these extremes. As to
their habit and clothing, the rule was the
same : they were to be decent and grave,
as became their profession. The monks
of Tabennesus, in Thebais, seem to have
been the only monks, in those early days,
v>'ho were confined to any particular habit.
St. Jerome, who often speaks of the habit
of the monks, intimates that it diff'ered
from others only in this, that it Mas a
cheaper, coarser, and meaner raiment, ex-
pressing their humility and contempt of
the world, without any singularity or af-
fectation. The father is very severe
against the practice of some Mho appeared
in chains or sackcloth. And Cassian blames
others w^ho carried M'ooden crosses con-
tinually about their necks, M'hich M-as only
proper to excite the laughter of the spec-
tators. In short, the Western monks used
only a common habit, the philosophic
pallium, as many other Christians did.
And Salvian seems to give an exact de-
scription of the habit and tonsure of the
monks, M^hen, reflecting on the Africans
for their treatment of them, he says, " they
could scarce ever see a man with short
hair, a pale face, and habited in a pallium,
M'ithout reviling, and bestoM'ing some re-
proachful language on him."
A^'c read of no solemn vom^, or profes-
514
MONKS.
sion, required at their admission : but they
underwent a triennial probation, during
which time they were inured to the exer-
cises of the monastic life. If, after that
time was expired, they chose to continue
the same exercises, they were then ad-
mitted without any further ceremony into
the community. This was the method
prescribed by Pachomius, the father of the
monks of Tabennesus,from which all others
took their model.
Nor was there, as yet, any solemn vow
of poverty required ; though it Avas cus-
tomary for men voluntarily to renounce the
world by disposing of their estates to cha-
ritable uses, before they entered into a
community, where they were to enjoy all
things in common. Nor did they, after
renouncing their own estates, seek to en-
rich themselves, or their monasteries, by
begging, or accepting, the estates of others.
The W'estern monks did not always adhere
to this rule, as appears from some Imperial
laws made to restrain their avarice. But
the monks of Egypt were generally just in
their pretensions, and would accept of no
donations but for the use of the poor.
Some, indeed, did not wholly renounce all
property, but kept their estates in their
own hands, the whole yearly revenue
of which they distributed in charitable
uses.
As the monasteries had no standing
revenues, all the monks w^ere obliged to
exercise themselves in bodily labour to
maintain themselves, without being bur-
densome to others. They had no idle men-
dicants among them • they looked upon a
monk that did not work as no better than
a covetous defrauder. Sozomen tells us,
that Serapion presided over a monastery
of ten thousand monks, near Arsinoe in
Egypt, who all laboured with their own
hands, by which means they not only
maintained themselves, but had enough to
relieve the poor.
The monasteries were commonly divided
into several parts, and proper officers ap-
pointed over each of them. Every ten
monks were subject to one, wlio was called
the decanus, or dcat}, from his presiding
over ten ; and every hundred had another
officer called centenarius, from his presiding
over a hundi'ed. Above these Avere the
patreSf or fathers of the monasteries, called
likewise abhates, ahhots, from the Greek
«/i3/3oc, which signifies father ; and hc(iii-
vieni {I'jfiovfiivoi) 2'residc7iis ; and anhi-
jiuindrites, from nuindni, a sheep-fold. The
business of the deans was to exact every
man's daily task, and bring it to the ccco-
nomas, or steward, who gave a morthly
account thereof to the father, or abbot.
(See Ahhot.)
To their bodily exercises they joined
others that w^ere spiritual. The first of
these was a perpetual repentance. Upon
which account the life of a monk is often
styled the life of a 7nonrncr. And in allu-
sion to this, the isle of Canopus, near
Alexandi-ia, formerly a place of great
lewdness, was, upon the translation and
settlement of the monks of Tabennesus
there, called Insulce 3Ietanoece, the Isle of
Repentance.
The next spiritual exercise was extra-
ordinary fasting. The Egyptian monks
ke])t every day a fast till three in the
afternoon, excepting Saturdays, Sundays,
and the fifty days of I'entecost. Some
exercised themselves with very great aus-
terities, fasting two, three, four, or five
days together ; but this practice was not
generally approved. They did not think
such excessive abstinence of any use, but
rather a disservice to religion. Pacho-
mius's rule, which was said to be given
him by an angel, permitted every man to
eat, drink, and labour, according to liis
bodily strength. So that fasting was a
discretionary thing, and matter of choice,
not of compulsion.
Their fastings were accompanied with
extraordinary and frequent returns of de-
votion. The monks of Palestine, Meso-
potamia, and other parts of the East, had
six or seven canonical hours of prayer.
Besides which they had their constant
vigils, or nocturnal meetings. The monks
of Egypt met only twice a day for public
devotion ; but, in their private cells, whilst
they were at work, they were always re-
peating psalms, and other parts of Scrip-
ture, and intermixing prayers with their
bodily labour. St. Jerome's description
of their devotion is very lively : " When
they are assembled together, (says that
father,) psalms are sung, and the Scriptures
read : then, prayers being ended, they all
sit down, and the father begins a discourse
to them, which they hear with the pro-
foundest silence and veneration. His
Avords make a deep impression on them ;
their eyes overfloAv Avith tears, and the
.speaker's commendation is the Aveeping of
his hearers. Yet no one's grief expresses
itself in an indecent strain. But A\'hen he
comes to speak of the kingdom of heaven,
of future happiness, and the glory of the
Avorld to come, then one may observe each
of them, with a gentle sigh, and eyes lifted
up to heaven, say Avithin himself, * Oh that I
had the wings of a dove, for then Avould
I flee aAvav, and be at rest ! ' " In some
MONKS.
MONOTHELITES.
515
places, they had the Scriptures read during
their meals at table. This custom was
first resorted to in the monasteries of Caj)-
padocia, to prevent idle discourses and
contentions. But in Egypt they had no
occasion for this remedy ; for they were
taught to eat theii' meat in silence. Pal-
ladius mentions one instance more of their
devotion, which was only occasional ;
namely, their psalmody at the reception
of any brethren, or the conducting them
with singing of psalms to their habitation.
The laws did not allow monks to interest
themselves in any public affairs, either
ecclesiastical or civil ; and those who were
called to any employment in the Church,
were obliged to quit their monastery there-
upon. Nor were they permitted to en-
croach upon the duties, or rights and pri-
vileges, of the secvdar clergy.
By the laws of their first institution, in
all parts of the East, their habitation was
not to be in cities, or places of public con-
course, but in deserts, and private retire-
ments, as their very name implied. The
famous monk Anthony used to say, " That
the Avilderncss was as natural to a monk,
as water to a fish ; and therefore a monk
in a city was quite out of his element, like
a fish upon dry land." Theodosius en-
acted, that all who made profession of the
monastic life should be obliged by the
civil magistrate to betake themselves to
the Avilderness, as their proper habitation.
Baroiiius, by mistake, reckons this law a
punishment, and next to a persecution of
the monks. Justinian made laws to the
same purpose, forbidding the Eastern
monks to appear in cijies ; but, if they
had any business of concern to be trans-
acted there, they might do it by their
Apocrisarii or Responsales, that is, then*
proctors or syndics, which every monas-
tery was allowed for that purpose.
But this rule admitted of some excep-
tions. As, first, in times of common danger
to the faith. Thus Anthony came to Alex-
andria, at the request of Athanasius, to
confute the Ai'ian heresy. Sometimes
they thou_^ht it necessary to come and in-
tercede with the emperors and judges for
condemned criminals. Thus the monks
in the neighbourhood of Antioch forsook
their cells, to intercede with the emperor
Theodosius, who was highly displeased
with that city for demolishing the impe-
rial statues. Afterwards, indeed, this prac-
tice grew into an al)use, and the monks
were not contented to petition, but would
sometimes come in great bodies or troops,
and deliver criminals by force. To repress
which tumultuous way of proceeding, Ar-
2 L 2
cadius published a kw, forbidding any
such attem])ts under very severe penalties.
As the monks of the ancient Church
were under no solemn voav or ])rofession,
they were at liberty to betake themselves
to a secular life again. Julian himself was
once in the monastic habit. The same is
observed of Constans, the son of that Con-
stantine, who, in the reign of lionorius,
usurped the empire in Britain. The rule
of Tachomius, by which the Egyptian
monks were governed, has no mention of
any vow at their entrance, nor any punish-
ment for such as deserted their station
afterwards.
In process of time, it was thought pro-
per to inflict some punishment on such as
returned to a secular life. The civil law
excludes deserters from the privilege of
ordination. Justinian added another
punishment ; which was, that if they were
possessed of any substance, it should be all
forfeited to the monastery which they had
deserted. The censures of the Church
were likewise inflicted on deserting monks
in the fifth century.
MONOPHYSITES. (From hovoq, only,
and (phmg, nature.) A general name given to
all those sectaries in the Levant who only
own one nature in our blessed Saviour^
and who maintain that the Divine and
human nature of Jesus Ciihist were so
united as to form only one nature, yet
Avithout any change, confusion, or mixture
of the two natures. (See Eutychitms.)
INIOXOTHELITES. Christian here-
tics in the seventh century, so called from
the Greek words ^ovoq [only) and OeXrjua
{icill), because they maintained, that,
though there were two natures in Jesus
Christ, the human and the Divine, there
was but one will, which was the Divine.
The author of this sect was Theodore,
bishop of Pharan in Arabia, in 626, who
first started the question, and maintained
that the manhood in Christ was so united
to the Word, that, though it had its facul-
ties, it did not act by itself, but the Avhole
act was to be ascribed to the Word, which
gave it the motion. Thus, he said, it was
the manhood of Christ that suffered hun-
ger, thirst, and pain ; but the hunger, thirst,
and pain were to be ascribed to the AN'okd.
In short, the Word was the sole author
and mover of all the operations and wills
in Christ.
Sergius, patriarch of Constantinople, was
of tlie same sentiment ; and the emperor
Ileraclius embraced the party so much the
more willingly, as he thought it a means
of reconciling some other heretics to the
Church.
51G
MONTANISTS.
MONUMENT.
Pope Martin I. called a council at Home
in 649, upon the question about the two
operations and two wills. In this council,
at which were present 105 Italian bishops,
the doctrine of the Monothelites was gener-
ally condemned. The emperor Constans,
who looked upon this condemnation as a
kind of rebellion, caused Pope Martin to
be violently carried away from Rome, and,
after most' cruel usage, banished him to
Chersona.
However, this heresy was finally con-
demned in the sixth general council, held
at Constantinople, under Constantino Po-
gonatus, in the year (380.
MONTANISTS. Christian heretics, who
sprung up about the year 1 7 1 , in the reign
of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. They
were so called from their leader, the here-
siarch Montanus, a Phrygian by birth,
whence they are sometimes styled Phry-
gians and Cataphrygians.
Montanus, it is said, embraced Chris-
tianity in hopes of rising to the dignities
of the Church. He pretended to inspira-
tion, and gave out that the Holy Ghost
had instructed him in several points which
had not been revealed to the apostles.
Priscilla and Maximilla, two enthusiastic
women of Phrygia, presently became his
disciples, and in a short time he had a
great number of followers. The bishops
of Asia, being assembled together, con-
demned his prophecies, and excommuni-
cated those who dispersed them. After-
wards, they wrote an account of what had
passed to the Western Churches, where the
pretended prophecies of Montanus and his
followers were likewise condemned.
The Montanists, finding themselves ex-
posed to the censure of the whole Church,
formed a schism, and set up a distinct
society, under the direction of those who
called themselves prophets. Montanus, in
conjunction with Priscilla and Maximilla,