religious order
Friars or nuns
A religious order is a community of people bound by vows to live according to a particular spiritual rule—monks, nuns, friars, or similar groups within a faith tradition.
Catholic orders like the Jesuits, Franciscans, and Benedictines are the most familiar examples in the West.
Members typically take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, living communally under shared discipline: She joined a religious order at nineteen.
Religious seclusion dwelling
- conventReligious sisters' dwelling
- abbeyMonastic house of worship
- prioryLesser monastic house
- friaryMendicant monks' residence
cloister · motherhouse · chapter · province · congregation · foundation · cell · refectory
Monk following ancient rule
- FranciscanMendicant order member
- DominicanPreaching order member
- JesuitCatholic religious order member
- CarmeliteCatholic contemplative order member
Trappist · Augustinian · Sangha · Theravada · dervish · Sufi · Shaolin
Cloistered religious devotee
- nunHebrew alphabet's fourteenth
- friarMendicant order member
- brotherMale with shared parents
- sisterFemale sibling
novice · postulant · oblate · abbot · abbess · prior · prioress · father
Deep, loyal commitment
- pietySincere religious devotion
- holinessSacred spiritual purity
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
- mysticismPursuit of divine union
discipline · sacrifice · self-denial · simplicity · solitude · mortification · humility · service
Severe lack of resources
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
- solemn vowsSerious formal promises
perpetual vows · profession · consecration · renunciation · commitment · enclosure · stability
monastery
Religious seclusion dwelling
friary · cloister · motherhouse · chapter · province · congregation · foundation · cell · refectory · scriptorium
Benedictine
Monk following ancient rule
- FranciscanMendicant order member
- DominicanPreaching order member
- JesuitCatholic religious order member
Carmelite · Trappist · Augustinian · Sangha · Theravada · dervish · Sufi · Shaolin
monk
Cloistered religious devotee
sister · novice · postulant · oblate · abbot · abbess · prior · prioress · father · novitiate
devotion
Deep, loyal commitment
- pietySincere religious devotion
- holinessSacred spiritual purity
- asceticismSevere self-denial practice
mysticism · discipline · sacrifice · self-denial · simplicity · solitude · mortification · humility · service · charity
poverty
Severe lack of resources
- chastityAbstaining from sexual activity
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- celibacyAbstaining from intimate relations
solemn vows · perpetual vows · profession · consecration · renunciation · commitment · enclosure · stability
liturgy
Formal worship structure
compline · mass · chanting · prayer · meditation · contemplation · habit · tonsure · silence · fasting
- Catholic ChurchVatican, papacy, cardinals, popes, papal
- orderscommand, decree, dictate, mandate, proclamation
- Communescommunes, communal living, kibbutz, hippie commune, utopian communities
- faith healthcarefaith healing, hospital chaplain, chaplaincy, spiritual care, healing ministry
- nunsnun, nuns, sister, sisters, convent
- religious communitiesabbey, ashram, ashrams, convent, friary
religious orderparish
Local church community
diocese · local church · laity · congregation · archdiocese
religious ordersecular life
Non-spiritual way of living
secular society · civilian life · married life · ordinary life
order, religion, religious, religiously, nonreligious, irreligious, religiosity, unreligious, antireligious