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Double Mon Asteries DOUBLE MONASTERIES A Paper read before the Heret i cs Society on Deéember 6th 1 91 4 , CONST A NCE ST ONEY NE WNHA MCOLLE GE . CA MBRI DG E CA MBRIDGE : D E IGHT ON, BE LL ’ L ONDON ELL S NS LI M T E G . B O , I D . EA RLY DOUBLE MONA STERIES ’ A Pape r r ead before the Her etics S ociety on D ecemb e 6th 1 9 1 4 r , CONST A NCE 'T ONEY NE W H A N M CO LLE G E , CA MBRI DG E C A M B R ID G E D E I HT BE LL G ON co. , LI MIT E D . LO N D O N B L 8: G. E L S O NS , LI MIT E D . E A R LY D U M O N A T E R I E O BLE S S . H E m on T system of double monasteries , or a s t e r ies for both men and women , is as old as a t th t of Christian monas icism itself, though the ” 1 phrase m o n a s t e r ia duplicia dates from about the C6 . The term was also sometimes applied to twin monasteries for men ; Bede uses it in this ea r m o u t h Y sense with reference to W and arrow , while he generally speaks of a double monastery as ” vi n monasterium r gi u m . ' The use of the word double is important . The monastery was not mixed ; men and women v did not li e or work together , and in many cases did not use the same Church ; and though the e chief feature of the system was association , ther was in reality very little , when compared with the amount of separation . I n time , the details of h organisation varied , such , for example , as w ether an abbot or an abbess ruled the whole monastery , t h though it was generally the latter . Details of e rule of the community naturally alte red at different ff times and in di erent places , but the essential character remained the same . 1 ” M na i . o st er a a u lla ur . o ur . duplici t appe nt C rp ' Ci v. K o . ( rueger) C dex I iii , 4 3 ‘ 4 33 1mm'no uBLE : M O NAS T E R I E S As to the ob'ect of such an arrangement , opinions f dif er . Some have regarded it as a sort of moral experiment ; others have seen in it only the natural outcome of the necessity for having priests close at hand to celebrate Mass , hear confessions and minister in general to the spiritual needs of the nuns . There is , too , the practical side of the plan n a m e lv t h e , that each side of community was economically dependant on the other , as will be seen later . H owever this may be , the practice of placing t h e two together under one head seems to be as ancient as monasticism itself. The double monastery in its S implest form was that orga nisation said to have been founded in the 1 P . C . 4 by S achomius , an Egyptian monk He settled with a number of men , who had consecrated T a b en n a t h e themselves to the spiritual life , at , by s side of the N ile . About the same time , his ister o f Mary went to the opposite bank the Nile , and began to gather round her women disciples . This settlement soon becam e a proper nunnery under the control of the superior of the monks , who delegated elderly men to care for its discipline With the exception of regulations concerning dress , both monks and nuns observed the same rule ' . P which S achomius wrote for them . It was very 1 t a Pa h M P a col . 2 8 . c om . a t . La t t om c . Vi igne . 7 3 , p 4 a x 8 P ris , 4 9 . R t m . a . Pach o m n . Gallandius Vet . Pat o egul S Bib . 4 p 1 8 . 1 6 7 Venice , 7 5 . EARLY DOUBLE M O NAS T E R I E S 5 simple . There were to be twelve prayers said during the day , twelve at twilight , twelve at night , M and a psalm at each meal . ass was celebrated on Saturday and Sunday . Meals were to be eaten all together and the amount of food was unlimited . A ‘ b e monk could eat or fast as pleased , but the more he ate , the more work must he do . They were to sleep three in a cell . N o formal vows were to be taken , but the period of probation before entry into the community , was to be three years . The men provided the food , and did the rough work for the women , building their dwellings , etc . , h while the women made clothes for the men . W en a nun died her companions brought her body to the river bank a n d then retired presently some monks ‘ b o d r o wed fetched away the y , back across the Nile , 1 and buried it in their cemetery . That the communities of S . Basil and his sister C Macrina (also in the 4) were of this type , may be seen from the rule of S . Basil . The communities , P O like those of achomius , were on pposite banks of ’ - i n Ma c r in a s a river this case , the I ris and nunnery is supposed to have been in the village of - A n n es i N ee a A . D . , near Caes rea , and founded 3 5 7 In her nunnery , lived her mother and her younger P d . brother eter , who afterwar s became a priest T h e life of this s a intly family and the relation between the two communities may be learned fro m 1 h m ’ Pac o . Mi n P 2 c . t I . at o c 8 o l 2 8 . a e s at . t m a . Vi g , 7 3 , p , 4 a 1 8 . P ris , 4 9 6 EARLY DOU BLE M O NAST E R I E S the charmingly written Life of S . Macrina by her I brother Gregory of Ny s s a . The Rule of S . Basil is written in the form of question and answer , and much of it refers to the relations between monks and nuns , while all impress upon the religious the duty of giving no occasion ' to the enemy to blaspheme . May the head of the monastery speak often with the abbess ' May he speak with any of the sisters other than the ' t h e abbess , on matters of faith May abbess be angry if a priest orders the sisters to do anything without her knowledge I f a sister refuses to sing the psalm s , is she to be compelled to do so All the answers urge both parts of the community to avoid giving ground for scandal . The nuns , in h a d this case , seem to have a separate church , for Gregory speaks of the ' Chorus of Virgins who awaited him when he came t o visit his sister Macrina on her death bed . There were , too , ’ schools for boys and girls attached to S . Basil s house , for he makes regulations concerning their education . There is practically no evidence for double C monasteries in the 5 , but at the opening of the C 6 we find them again . I n the West the earliest monastic communities had been founded by S . 1 Martin of Tours , first at Milan in 3 7 and after 1 L v o f Wo m a a i es en S in ts . Tra nslated by an e rly auth or k ow o a 1 6 o - 6 1 r 1 E t . o t m a (un n n) pr b bly 5 . di ed by C H rs nn 1 88 6 . EARLY DOUBLE M O NA ST E R I E S f wards in Gaul , which from then became the chie monastic centre . a r I t is here , then , that nother brother and siste figure as the founders of a double monastery . S . l C a es a r iu s A r le s , Bishop of , persuaded his sister Caesaria to leave Marseilles , where she was in a t h e convent , and 'oin him at Arles to preside over women who had gathered there to live under h is guidance and the rule which he afterwards wrote for these nuns is the first Western rule for nuns , and was afterwards followed in many double 2 monasteries . H e arranged it , as he himself says , according to the teachings of the fathers of the Church . He stipulates that all 'oining the com o n munity shall , their entry , renounce all claims t o to outside property . O nly those women are enter wh o accept the rule of their own accord and are prepared to live in perfect equality and without t t o n i s servants . Much a t en i paid in the rule to the instruction of the nuns they were to devote con s id e ra b le time to music , as being an art through which God could fit t i n gly be praised ; to be taugh t r eading and writing ; to practice cooking , and weaving both of Church vestments a n d their own clothing .
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