Eastern Christian monasticism
Eastern Christian monasticism is the life followed by monks and nuns of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East and some Eastern Catholic Churches.
History
began in the Eastern Mediterranean in Syria, Palestine and Egypt where the Desert Fathers pioneered traditions that would influence both the Hesychast traditions of Eastern Orthodoxy as well as Western monastic traditions pioneered by John Cassian and codified in the Rule of St Benedict.The Early Church
The mystical and other-worldly nature of the Christian message very early laid the groundwork for the ascetical life. The example of the Old Testament Prophets, of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself, going into the wilderness to pray and fast set the example that was readily followed by the devout. In the early Christian literature evidence is found of individuals who embraced lives of celibacy and mortification for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven, these individuals were not yet monks, as they had not renounced the world, but lived either in towns or near the outskirts of civilization. We also read of communities of virgins living a common life committed to celibacy and virtue. The accounts of some of these virgins are preserved in the martyrologies of the day.The Founders
The beginning of monasticism per-se comes right at the end of the Great Persecution of Diocletian, and the founder is Saint Anthony the Great. As a young man he heard the words of the Gospel read in church: If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. St. Anthony was among the Desert Fathers - those who left the world to seek God in the silence and seclusion of the Egyptian desert. Around him gathered many disciples, whom he guided in the spiritual life. These first monks were hermits, solitaries who battled temptation alone in the wilderness.As time went on, monks began to congregate into closer communities. Saint Pachomius is regarded as the founder of cenobitic monasticism, wherein all live the common life together in a single place under the direction of a single Abbot. The first such monastery was in Tabennisi, Egypt.
Saint Theodore of Egypt, the principle disciple of St. Pachomius, succeeded him as head of the monastic community at Tabennisi. He would later go on to found a third type of monastic institution, the skete, as a "middle road" between anchorites and cenobites. A skete is composed of individual monastic dwellings surrounding a common church. Each monk lives by himself, or with one or two others, coming together only on Sundays and feast days. The rest of the time they spend working and praying alone.
On this threefold foundation all subsequent Christian monasticism was built.
Coptic monasticism
As the birthplace of monasticism, Egypt has continued the monastic tradition unbroken until the present day. After the Council of Chalcedon, the Alexandrian Patriarchate broke communion with those churches which accepted the council, and became what today is known as the Coptic Orthodox Church. Like the Byzantines, monasticism has continued to play a crucial role in the life of the church, and bishops are always chosen from among the ranks of monks. After the Islamic invasion in 639, the Egyptian Christians found themselves dispossessed in their own land. Coptic monasticism declined and up to the fourteenth century, most monasteries were depopulated and had fallen into ruins. However, despite persecutions and intense pressure to convert, Coptic monasticism has survived, and some of the most ancient monastic communities in the history of Christianity continue to be inhabited to this day. A number of Coptic monasteries have also been established in the New World. Coptic monasticism has seen a renaissance in the twentieth century and tripled its monks between the 1930s and 1980s. Today there are more than 30 monasteries with up to 100 monks each six female monasteries with most of the sisters working as Diaconesses in social and charitable areas. The monasteries play a fundamental part in the Coptic Church today.Ethiopia was one of the first nations to accept Christianity, officially converting in 330 under the rule of king Ezana of Axum. King Abreha became the first sovereign in the world to engrave the Sign of the Cross on his coins. From the year 341 it was subject to the Patriarch of Alexandria, gaining its independence only in 1959. The church is officially known as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. In 480 the Nine Saints came from the Mediterranean world to establish Ethiopian monasticism which has continued to flourish despite wars and persecutions. Especially forming were the monks Tekle Haymanot and Ewostatewos and the nuns Kristos Samra and Welete Petros. Today, there are about 800 monasteries with thousands of monks, which may surpass the total number of monks and nuns in all other Eastern Churches, inklusive the Greek and Slavic Churches. The Ethiopian Church also maintains monasteries in the Holy Land, most notably Deir Es-Sultan, on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
Syrian monasticism
The monastics of Armenia, Chaldea, and of the Syrian countries in general were influenced by neither the ecclesiastical nor imperial authority of Byzantium, and continued those observances which were known among them from the time of St. Anthony.Monasticism was very popular in early Syrian and Mesopotamian Christianity, and originally all monks and nuns there were hermits, like the notable Isaac of Nineveh. Members of the Covenant, an early monastic community was active since the 3rd century in Edessa and its environs. About 350 Mar Awgin founded the first cenobitic monastery of Mesopotamia on Mount Izla above the city of Nisibis and monastic communities began to thrive. An important personality was Saint Simeon Stylites, an ascetic who lived for 37 years on pillar close to Aleppo. A monastery was later founded around the column where he had lived.
Especially in the region of the Amanos Mountains, also called the Black Mountain, many monasteries by Armenian, Jacobite, Georgian, Melkite and in the 12th century Latin Christian communities flourished for several centuries. Close to Antioch was also the so-called Wondrous Mountain which hosted the Monastery of Saint Simeon Stylites the Younger.
East Syriac Church
Under pressure from their Zoroastrian rulers, the Synod of Beth Lapat in 484 declared that the teaching of Nestorius was to be the official doctrine of the Assyrian Church of the East, and decreed that all monks and nuns should marry. This severely weakened the church and spiritual life declined. Some opponents to this decision left altogether and joined the newly established Monophysite church.This decision was reverted in 553, and in 571 Abraham the Great of Kashkar founded a new monastery on Mt. Izla with strict rules. The third abbot of this monastery was his student Babai the Great. Babai finally drove out the married monks from Mt. Izla, and as "visitor of the monasteries of the north" ensured that the monastic ideal was taken seriously throughout northern Mesopotamia. East Syriac monasticism then spread across the Silk roads to Central Asia.
File:Mor Gabriel Manastırı.jpg|thumb|Mor Gabriel Monastery in the Tur Abdin
Today, no East Syriac monastic communities survive, primarily due to the massacres during the persecution by Timur Lenk in the 14th century. However, the East Syriac Catholic Church has one male congregation, the Antonite Order of St Hormidas, and two female established in the twentieth century, the Daughters of Mary Immaculate and the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
West Syriac Church
The West Syriac Church has a rich monastic tradition, focused especially around the Tur Abdin, which has been called the Mount Athos of Syriac Christianity. In its hey-day, nearly every village had its monastery and though the massacres by Timur Lenk also hugely impacted West Syriac monasticism, it survived and there are six monasteries in the Tur Abdin, one in Mosul, one in Jerusalem and a newly founded one in Glarne/Losser in the Netherlands.Armenian monasticism
In 301, Armenia became the first sovereign nation to officially accept Christianity as a state religion. The Armenian Apostolic Church eventually became a great defender of Armenian nationalism.In 451 the Armenian church rejected the Council of Chalcedon. and today is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion. The first Catholicos of the Armenian church was Saint Gregory the Illuminator. St. Gregory soon withdrew to the desert to live as a hermit, and his youngest son, Aristakes, was appointed bishop and head of the Armenian Church. More than thousand monasteries dotted the area of Greater Armenia of which about 900 are well documented. Over the centuries of waxing and waning influence, persecution, and independence of the Armenian nation, monasticism remained a central aspect of their spiritual life. The closest thing to monastic communities in today's Armenian church are the so-called brotherhoods.
The Armenian church has both married and monastic clergy. Armenian monks follow much the same monastic tradition as Coptic and Byzantine monastics, but are much stricter in the matter of fasting. The novitiate lasts eight years. A Hieromonk, or celibate priest, declares a vow of celibacy the evening of the same day he is ordained and is given a veghar, a special head-cover, which symbolizes his renunciation of worldly things. A celibate priest is given the title of Monk. Upon successful completion and defense of a written thesis, on a topic of his choosing, the Monk receives the rank of Archimandrite. This indicates that he is a “Doctor” of the Church and receives the right to carry the staff of an Archimandrite. A higher rank of Senior Archimandrite can be granted after completing and defending a doctoral thesis. The rank can only be granted by Bishops who themselves have attained the rank of Senior Archimandrite. The bishops are elected from among those celibate priests who have achieved the rank of archimandrite. In the Middle Ages, the vardapets of different monasteries would be given a monastery specific title: as such, those of the monastery of Karmik Vank would be called šnorhali, those of the school of Arac'agot imastasēr and those of the monastery of Siwnik k'ert'ol.
Most Armenian bishops live in monasteries. Etchmiadzin, the residence of the Catholikos of all Armenians, is the spiritual center of the Armenian Church. There is also a Catholicos of Cilicia, who resides in Antilyas in Lebanon, and leads the churches belonging to the Holy See of Cilicia. Since 1461 there has been an Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. The Armenians possess the huge monastery of St. James, the centre of the Armenian Quarter of Jerusalem, where their Patriarch of Jerusalem lives, and the convent of Deir asseituni on Mount Zion with numerous nuns.
At present, there are three monastic brotherhoods in the Armenian Church: the Brotherhood of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Brotherhood of St. James at the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and the Brotherhood of the Holy See of Cilicia. Each Armenian celibate priest becomes a member of the brotherhood in which he has studied and ordained in or under the jurisdiction of which he has served. The brotherhood makes decisions concerning the inner affairs of the monastery. Each brotherhood elects two delegates who take part in the National Ecclesiastical Assembly.
The Mechitarists, also spelled Mekhitarists, are a congregation, founded in 1701 by Mechitar, of Armenian Benedictine monks in communion with the Catholic Church. They are best known for their series of scholarly publications of ancient Armenian versions of otherwise lost ancient Greek texts.