A monastery is the habitation of monks, derived from the Greek word for a hermit's cell. Western Christian monasteries are also called abbey, priory, charterhouse, friary, and preceptory, while the habitation of nuns can also be called a convent. The communal life of a monastery is called cenobitic, as opposed to the anchoretic (or anchoritic) life of a hermit.

Etymology

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The word monastery comes from the Greek "monasterion", from the root "monos" = one, or alone (originally all Christian monks were hermits) and the suffix "-terion" = place for doing something.

In England the word monasterium was also applied to the habitation of a bishop and the cathedral clergy who lived apart from the lay community. Most cathedrals were not monasteries, and were served by canons secular, who were communal but not monastic. However some were run by monastic orders, such as York Minster. Westminster Abbey was for a short time a cathedral, and was a Benedictine monastery until the Reformation, and its Chapter preserves elements of the Benedictine tradition. See the entry cathedral. They are also to be distinguished from collegiate churches, such as St George's Chapel, Windsor.

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His Holiness the 17th Karmapa opened the Second Conference on Environmental Protection for Kagyu Monasteries and Centershttp://bit.ly/E3hvJ
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His Holiness the 17th Karmapa opened the Second Conference on Environmental Protection for Kagyu Monasteries and Centershttp://bit.ly/E3hvJ

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