On this page, we would like to give a glimpse on monastic life in its varieties, history and spirituality. Yet before starting to talk about such a wide-spread subject, some fundamental matters are to be mentioned, in favour of a better understanding.

Monastic life in Roman-Catholic and Orthodox Church are two structural differing matters today, even though life and prayer of monks and nuns may be in their character and meaning not entirely different.

In Roman-Catholic Church, religious communities (orders and congregations) of vita consecrata are approved juridical as institutions of papal law. Hence they have a written constitution, i.e. their rules and articles as well as liturgical books are licenced by Holy See. Within these focused and defined profile, the whole institution has to organise, and in the best case differences between single houses of an order base on secondary, not on primary circumstances.

In Orthodox Church, such a foundation of religious communities is unknown. Here, every single monastery develops a special profile formed by its own abbot or abbess, as constituting their ideals of life, work and pray.er Order's rules written by Sts. Anton the Great, Pachomius or Basilius the Great are known and find observance, yet these play no constitutive role in monastic life, as the Rule of St. Benedict for Benedictines in Catholic Church. Thus Orthodox monasticism does not know the honouring of founders of religious orders. Influencing Eastern monasticism itself, that is - rather than juridical or institutional structures - spirituality, mysticism and the devoted life formed by sacraments. It is the integrity of Orthodox tradition, keeping not only ational churches, but also the variety of monasteries and hence the whole Orthodox monastisicm together.

Common to Catholic and Orthodox monasticism is the obligation of the Evangelical Counsels: chastity, poverty and obedience.