MONACH 





IM 



at all hour* of the <Uy and night, fur the full space of threescore yean 

 and ton, while a choir of monk* and two cboin of virgin*, seated OB 

 the around bek>w, lent the aid of their voices to swell the strain. 

 About the beginning, or, ai others think, about the middle, of the 

 Mh century a pious individual, named Alexander, Mt up new fashion 

 of monachMui at Constantinople the professors of which received the 

 name of Aooemetw (in Greek, ire^iirri.), that i. the watcher*, or the 

 aUspteas, from their practice of dividing themselves into three classes, 

 which took the performance of divine service in uubroken succession, 

 so at to keep up a constant sound of devotion throughout the entire 

 round of the twenty-four hour*. The Acntnetts, sometimes called 

 HtmJiln, from Studiua, a Roman nobleman, who became one of their 

 MX!/, and built a famous monastery for them, which, after him, was 

 named Stadium, were held in great estimation, and became very 

 numerous at Constantinople. Alongside of the Stylitte may be placed 

 another description ef fantastic enthusiasts, the ttwrmt, or < 

 Monks, who** whim it was to live like the beasts of the i'n-l-1. inhabit- 

 ing no houMi, and eating neither bread nor flesh, but roaming about 

 upon the mountains, as they continued without ceasing to make the 

 wilderness reaouml with tlieir hymns and psalms, and when it was 

 time to eat, every man, taking his knife in hi* hand, proceeded to cut 

 or dig for himself a dinner of herbs from the ground. Still another 

 sort of old monks is mentioned, under the name of (fyrorn;/i. the 

 Vagabond Honks, as the epithet may be translated. St. Benedict de- 

 scribes these as rambling about continually from province to province. 

 getting themselves well entertained for three or four days at every cell 

 they came to, mere slaves to their gluttonous appetites, and in all things 

 worse even than the Sarabarifee. 



Prom this sketch it is evident that the institution of monachism hod 

 arrived at a state of very considerable corruption both in the ' 

 .in<l the Western churches, when St. Benedict arose to reform it. in the 

 latter, in the earlier part of the Gtli century. [UgximcTiNK ORDER.] 

 The Carthusians, Cistercians, Grandimontenses, Pr.emi 'iistratenses, 

 Clunjacs, ic., were all only so many varieties of Benedictines. The 

 historians of mnnaohism indeed reckon up twenty-three subdivisions of 

 this order in all, distinguished only by such local or other specific 

 appellations, and by some alight differences of habit and discipline. 

 The innovations introduced by Benedict were of course longest in 

 .ting to the more remote corners of Christendom ; and perhaps 



; :. .' 

 in no oth 



no other part of Europe were they so long in being generally 

 received as in the British Islands. Bede and others denomin 

 system which prevailed among the British monks before the arm d f 

 St. Augustine in 597, the apostolic discipline ; but it was probably 

 merely the ancient rule of Pachomius. It is even disputed whether 

 St. Augustine brought over with him the rule of St. Benedict ; and at 

 all events it is tolerably clear that the rule was not universally estab- 

 lished in the British churches till its observance was enforced by St. 

 Dunrtan and bin friend Oswald, in the reign of Edgar, after the middle 

 of the 10th century. 



Meanwhile in the Eastern church also monasteries and nunneries 

 had been made the subject of legal regulation by a constitution of 

 Justinian (Nov. 6), addressed to Kpiphaniiis, the archbishop of Con- 

 stantinople and (ecumenic patriarch, in the consulship of Helisarius, 

 A.D. 535. Persons were not |ierraitted to assume the monastic habit 

 till .-liter a three years' probation, and the abbots (rrrovnivoi) were re- 

 . during this time, to examine well into their life, conversation, 

 and fitness for the monastic profession. On being approved, the candi- 

 date* assumed the dress and tonsure. Both free persons and slaves 

 were alike admissible into monasteries, and were received on the same 

 footing in all respects. It seems that a man could leave his monastery 

 and enter the world again, though it was considered .-infill ; but as all 

 the property which he had not disposed of before entering the monostei y 

 (subject to some provisions for his wife or . -he had any) 



became the prupei ty of the monastery on bin entering it, if he chose to 

 leave it lie could not take with him or recover any part of his property. 

 Celibacy and chastity were required of the monks, though at this time 

 marriage was permitted to certain clerical persons, as singers and 

 readers. Further regulations on the life of monks and nuns arc con- 

 tained in the 184th Novel 



In the earliest age of the monastic system, the monks were left at 

 liberty at to many things which were afterwards mode the subject of 

 strict regulation by the laws either of the state or the church. St. 

 AtliaiuinniH, in one of his epistles, speaks of bishops that f 

 monks that cat and drink ; bishops that drink no wine, and monks that 

 do ; bishops that are not married, and many monks that ore the 

 f children. Originally, too, monks were all laymen ; and, although it 

 gradually become more and more the common practice for them to 

 take holy orders, it was not till the year 1311 that it was made obli- 

 gatory upon them to do so by Pop* Clement V. N,, r was any vow of 

 celibacy or any other particular vow formally taken by the earliest 

 monk* on their adtni-ion. It appear* oven that it was not urni 

 ponrins to embrace the monmtic life with tin- intuition of only con- 

 monks for a few yearn, and for those who had spent some time 

 in a monastery a< ' ,.,M. 



The word mm. in Qreek Norli, in Uit,in .Y,,,,,,,r, j Kaid to 



.in origin, and to signify a virgin. Another account is, that the 

 oiigiuaj meaning of the Latin no**a, nonnema, or nannanu, was a 

 |>enitrnt The Italians still use nontii und notina for a grandfather 



and grandmother. Cyprian and T. 



3rd century, make mention of virgins dedicating themselves to < 



Snob a practice was indeed a natural mode of self-sacrifice, which had 



been familiar to all relig'ons. Some of these ecclesiastical or en- 



virgins, as they were called, appear already to have formed themselves 



into communities, similar to those of the monks ; but other 



to reside in their fathers' houses. The progress of female mon:i 



however, from the rudeness and laxity of the first form of tli- 



tution, to the strict regulation which characterised its maturity, moved 



on side by side with that of mole monachism. 



Monasteries are called by tho Greek fathers not only Mara<rrfipta 

 and Moral, but also sometimes ai/ima, that is, holy places ; ijyovf""'', 

 the residences of the abbots, ntyl-d rrraviuim. uiv*p*i. in- 



dosures ; and fpomtrTfaia, places of reflection < 

 one of the purposes to which they were yery early applied. 



The three vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, arc taken by all 

 monks and nuns at their admission. All. both nial. 

 wise receive t . like all the cccleoiasti 



In all the orders the candidate for admission must, first undergo a 



ic, which varies from one t irs. The age at 



novices may make profession differs in different conn: , nilc 



laid down by the council of Trent only requires that liether 



male or female, should be sixteen. It is scarcely necessary to ac!< 

 in the modern constitution of monachism, the vows and statu 

 professed person, as indeed of all ecclesiastics, are by the law of the 

 Roman church for life and indelible. 



The greatest revolution by which the "history of monachism has 

 been marked since the establishment of the rule of St. Benedict, was 

 the rise, in the beginning of the 13th century, of the Mendic.m: ' 

 Of these an account has been given under the word Kuuiis : and 

 further particulars will be found under the names of the several 

 orders. 



The general dissolution of monastic establishments was one of the 

 first consequences of the Reformation in our own and all other countries 

 that separated from the Romish church. There are however a few- 

 Protestant monastic establishments in some parte of (iermany. 

 hi some Roman Catholic countries, especially in Germany and ! 

 the number of these establishments has been greatly reduced within 

 the lost fifty or sixty years, and the wculi!. i them 



that still exist most materially curtailed. The reform < if the Qi 

 monasteries was begun by the emperor Joseph I!.: those of i 

 were all swept away at the commencement of the lir.-t Involution ; Imt 

 some of them were set up again, though with dim' i.dour, 



after the restoration of the Bourbons. Since the relaxation ot the 

 penal laws, several Roman Catholic nunneries h.iv. 

 England and Scotland, as well as in Ireland. M..nks and nuns of all 

 descriptions still swarm in Italy, and in the coir 

 lately subject to the Spanish and Portuguese crowns; in 

 Portugal monasteries were suppressed by the Cortes, dm 



iparte: but many of them have been since n 

 though much of their property has tionnl 



purposes. Even in modern times we still I .nally of the 



order of monks. One, called the Congr 



of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was established by the late Pope Leo XII., 

 in 1 



MONARCHY, from the Greek povaf\ta, a word compounded of 

 Mor,<fr, " alone," and the clement &f\M, "govern," and cignifying the 

 "government of a single person." The word / -, 

 applied to the government of a political community in which one 

 person exercises the sovereign powr. [S .] In such cases, 



and in such cases alone, the government is properly styled a monarchy, 

 and the supreme ruler is properly styled a nion.iich. i 

 monarchy, properly so , ..tlor.Vd liy many or!.' 



inents, both in ancient anil modem times, by the ;_'ovciiimentsot' 

 and S|i.iin in Miiry, and ; governments of Russia, 



i.i, and France. 



But since monarchs have in many coses borne tile honorary title 

 of /3a<riAius, rt.i , rr, rui, ! 



in many states not .1 the highest rank in 



mcnt, and di i ok by inheritance, gorernmei 1 over 



"son bearing one of the titles just menu 

 called m-'iia, 



The name , however incorrectly applied to a government, 



unless the king (or person bearing the ]mv. ilent title) p..--e 

 entire sovereign power ; as was the case with the king of I 1 

 the Greeks called " the great king." or simply "the king"), ami in 

 recent times with king Louis XI-V., called by his c. 

 Grnnd Mm , 



Now .1 king doiM not necessarily possess the 



' essarily a monarch. Thus the king has 

 ther with a class of nobles, as in thi 



. lio.lv, 



a* in the U an ko 



and in Hungary till the 



Ili'l^ium and .- properly i 



the possession of the eiitn. -...,, , the person to v. 1 



I. Tho tit! u tho other hand, does not imply that 



the king possesses the entire sovereign power. In a state where tho 



