cenobite
Monastery community member
A cenobite is a member of a religious community, as opposed to a hermit who lives in solitude.
The term applies particularly to monks and nuns in communal monasteries following a shared rule of life: Benedictine cenobites gather for prayer seven times daily.
The cenobitic tradition emphasizes collective worship and mutual support over isolated contemplation.
Mutual goodwill among companions
- common lifeShared everyday existence
- sharedHeld in common
- collectiveJointly organized group
- refectoryInstitutional dining room
congregation · brotherhood · sisterhood · mutual · rule of life · stability · dormitory · chapter
Enforced economic stringency
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
- fastingDeliberate food avoidance
renunciation · chastity · temperance · frugality · discipline · simplicity · penance · celibacy
Covered monastic walkway
- abbeyMonastic house of worship
- conventReligious sisters' dwelling
- friarMendicant order member
- nunHebrew alphabet's fourteenth
habit · vows · refectory · dormitory · chapterhouse · scriptorium · cell · prioress
Focused attention practice
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- prayerAddress to deity
- solitudeState of being alone
- silenceTotal lack of sound
retreat · spiritual · devotion · mysticism · quietude · reflection · centering · inner life
Container with hidden mechanism
- LeviathanScriptural marine serpent
- cenobitesMembers of religious communities
- sadomasochismErotic pain-giving and receiving
- otherworldlySeemingly not earthly
fellowship
Mutual goodwill among companions
- common lifeShared everyday existence
- sharedHeld in common
- collectiveJointly organized group
refectory · congregation · brotherhood · sisterhood · mutual · rule of life · stability · dormitory · chapter · communal prayer
austerity
Enforced economic stringency
- self-denialRestraining one's own desires
- abstinenceVoluntary forgoing of indulgences
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
fasting · renunciation · chastity · temperance · frugality · discipline · simplicity · penance · celibacy · poverty
cloister
Covered monastic walkway
nun · habit · vows · refectory · dormitory · chapterhouse · scriptorium · cell · prioress · prior
meditation
Focused attention practice
- contemplationSustained reflective attention
- prayerAddress to deity
- solitudeState of being alone
silence · retreat · spiritual · devotion · mysticism · quietude · reflection · centering · inner life · hermitage
puzzle box
Container with hidden mechanism
- LeviathanScriptural marine serpent
- cenobitesMembers of religious communities
- sadomasochismErotic pain-giving and receiving
otherworldly · demons · chains · hooks · suffering · pleasure · Butterball
vespers
Evening devotional service
psalms · chanting · liturgy · breviary · antiphon · gregorian · prime · sext · none · vigils
- monasticismabbeys, abbey, abbots, abbot, cloister
- asceticsascetic, ascetics, hermit, hermits, recluse
- clergypriest, bishop, pope, nun, monk
- monasticsmonk, nun, abbot, nuns, abbess
- monksmonk, abbot, friar, brother, novice
- Orthodox SpiritualityDesert Fathers, stillness, holy silence, deification, watchfulness