MonasteryA monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities (as cenobites) or alone (as hermits).
AbbeyAn abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian or Buddhistmonks and nuns. The concept of the abbey has developed over many centuries from the early monastic ways of religious men and women where they would live isolated from the lay community about them. Religious life in an abbey may be monastic.
Mendicant ordersMendicant orders are primarily certain Catholicreligious orders that have vowed for their male members a lifestyle of poverty, traveling, and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry, especially to less wealthy individuals.
Religious sisterA religious sister (abbreviated: Sr.) is a Christian woman who has taken public vows in a religious order dedicated to apostolic works. Though often referred to as nuns, they are canonically distinct. Nuns, religious sisters and canonesses all use the term "Sister" as a form of address. Religious sisters are found in various traditions of Christianity, particularly Catholicism, Evangelical Lutheranism and Anglicanism.FriarA friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Evangelical-Lutheran Churches and Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the older monastic orders' allegiance to a single monastery formalized by their vow of stability.Canon regularThe Canons Regular are Catholic priests and religious brothers (canons) who live in community under a rule (Latin: regula and κανών, kanon, in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology. As religious communities, they have lay brothers as part of the community. Canons regular generally follow the Rule of Saint Augustine.
NunMember of a religious community of womenNunNuns in different parts of the world. Clockwise, from top left: Catholic, Cistercian (France); Catholic, Benedictine (Germany); Jain (India); Buddhist (Thailand); Buddhist (Bhutan).A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to prayer, religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.
Catholic ChurchChristian church based in Rome
LutheranismMajor branch of ProtestantismLutheran priest elevating the host during the Mass at Alsike Church, SwedenChurch of the Revelation, an Evangelical-Lutheran parish of the Church of Sweden in the locality of Saltsjöbaden
Anglican CommunionInternational Christian communionThe Anglican Communion (AC) is a Christiancommunion consisting of the autocephalous national and regional churches historically in full communion with the See of Canterbury. Member churches exercise jurisdictional independence but share a common heritage concerning Anglican identity and commitment to scripture, tradition, and reason as sources of authority.
MonkA monk (; from Greek: μοναχός, monachos, 'single, solitary', via Latin monachus) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many religions, and in philosophy, across numerous cultures. Monasticism is historically rooted in the Sramana movements of ancient India, which produced the structured ascetic orders of Jainism and Buddhism.
Canon (title)Canon (Ancient Greek: κανονικός, romanized: kanonikós) is a Christian title usually used to refer to a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, in one of the houses within the precinct of or close to a cathedral or other major church and conducting his life according to the customary discipline or rules of the church.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.