monacato cristiano

Eremitic monasticism, or solitary monasticism, is characterized by a complete withdrawal from society. The word 'eremitic' comes from the Greek word eremos, which means desert.^[25]

Paul the Hermit is the first Christian historically known to have been living as a monk. In the 3rd century, Anthony of Egypt (252–356) lived as a hermit in the desert and gradually gained followers who lived as hermits nearby but not in actual community with him. This type of monasticism is called eremitical or "hermit-like".

Another option for becoming a solitary monastic was to become an anchorite, someone who lived apart from society. In later times, those who wanted to live in monastic solitude but were unable to live alone could request that a bishop perform the rite of enclosure. These anchorites would live alone in a room that typically had a window that opened into a church so they could receive communion and participate in church services. There were two other windows that allowed food to be passed in and people to come to seek advice.^[26] The most well-known anchoress was Julian of Norwich who was born in England in 1342.^[27]

While the earliest Desert Fathers lived as hermits, they were rarely completely isolated, but often lived in proximity to one another, and soon loose-knit communities began to form in such places as Egypt's Desert of Nitria and the Desert of Skete.^[13]Saint Macarius established individual groups of cells such as those at Kellia (in the Nitrian Desert), founded in 338. These monks were anchorites, following the monastic ideal of St. Anthony. They lived by themselves, gathering together for common worship on Saturdays and Sundays only.^[28]

In Egypt, St Pachomius established the first cenobitic (from the Greek words "koine" (common) and "bio" (life)) Christian monastery.^[13] At Tabenna in Upper Egypt, sometime around 323 AD, Pachomius decided to mold his disciples into a more organized community in which the monks lived in individual huts or rooms (Latin: cellula), but worked, ate, and worshipped in shared space. The intention was to bring together individual ascetics who, although pious, did not, like Saint Anthony, have the physical ability or skills to live a solitary existence in the desert. This method of monastic organization is called cenobitic or "communal". Catholic theological teaching regards this community-based living as superior because of the obedience practiced and the accountability offered. The head of a monastery came to be known by the word for "Father"—in Syriac, Abba; in English, "Abbot".

Guidelines for daily life were created, and separate monasteries were created for men and women. St Pachomius introduced a monastic Rule of cenobitic life, giving everyone the same food and attire. The monks of the monastery fulfilled the obediences assigned them for the common good of the monastery. Among the various obediences was the copying of books. St Pachomius considered that an obedience fulfilled with zeal was greater than fasting or prayer.^[29]

A Pachomian monastery was a collection of buildings surrounded by a wall. The monks were distributed in houses, each house containing about forty monks. There would be thirty to forty houses in a monastery. There was an abbot over each monastery and provosts with subordinate officials over each house. The monks were divided into houses according to the work they were employed in: thus there would be a house for carpenters, a house for agriculturists, and so forth. But other principles of division seem to have been employed: there was a house for the Greeks, for example. On Saturdays and Sundays, all the monks assembled in the church for Mass; on other days the Office and other spiritual exercises were celebrated in the houses.^[24]

Monasteries thus functioned as industrial communities in which almost every kind of trade was practised. Monks had ships of their own on the Nile to distribute their agricultural produce and manufactured goods to the market and then bring back what the monasteries required.^[24]

La comunidad de Pacomio tuvo tanto éxito que se le pidió que ayudara a organizar otras, y según un cálculo, para cuando murió en el año 346, se creía que existían 3000 comunidades de este tipo repartidas por Egipto, especialmente en la Tebaida . Desde allí, el monacato se extendió rápidamente, primero a Palestina y el desierto de Judea , Siria , el norte de África y, finalmente, al resto del Imperio Romano y más allá.

En 370, Basilio el Grande , fundador de monasterios en Capadocia, se convirtió en obispo de Cesarea y plasmó por escrito sus principios de vida ascética. Las enseñanzas monásticas orientales fueron introducidas en la Iglesia occidental por San Juan Casiano ( c. 360 – c. 435 ). Siendo joven, él y su amigo Germán ingresaron en un monasterio en Palestina y luego viajaron a Egipto para visitar a los grupos eremíticos de Nitria . Muchos años después, Casiano fundó un monasterio de monjes (y probablemente también de monjas) cerca de Marsella. Escribió dos extensas obras, las Instituciones y las Conferencias . En estos libros, ofreció una visión del monacato cristiano con una sólida base evangélica y teológica. ^{[ 13 ]}

En el momento de su conversión en Mediolanum (actual Milán) entre los años 386 y 387, Agustín conocía la vida de San Antonio en el desierto de Egipto. Sin embargo, a su regreso a África como cristiano en el año 388, Agustín y algunos amigos cristianos fundaron en Tagaste una comunidad laica. Se convirtieron en cenobitas en el campo, en lugar de en el desierto. ^{[ 30 ]}

San Benito ( c. 480 – 547 d. C.) vivió muchos años como ermitaño en una cueva cerca de Subiaco, Italia . Se le pidió que dirigiera a varios monjes que deseaban adoptar el estilo monástico de Pacomio viviendo en comunidad. Entre los años 530 y 560, escribió la Regla de San Benito como guía para los monjes que vivían en comunidad. ^{[ 30 ]}

El historiador Lester K. Little atribuye el auge del monacato a los inmensos cambios en la Iglesia provocados por la legalización del cristianismo por Constantino a principios del siglo IV. ^{[ 31 ]} La posterior transformación del cristianismo en la principal religión romana acabó con la condición de los cristianos como secta minoritaria. En respuesta, se desarrolló una nueva forma de consagración.

It seems that the first Celtic monasteries were merely settlements where the Christians lived together—priests and laity, men, women, and children alike—as a kind of religious clan.^[75] According to James F. Kenney, every important church was a monastic establishment, with a small walled village of monks and nuns living under ecclesiastical discipline, and ministering to the people of the surrounding area.^[76] Monastic spirituality came to Britain and then Ireland from Gaul, by way of Lérins, Tours, and Auxerre. Its spirituality was heavily influenced by the Desert Fathers, with a monastic enclosure surrounding a collection of individual monastic cells.^[77] The British church employed an episcopal structure corresponding closely to the model used elsewhere in the Christian world.^[78]Illtud, David, Gildas, and Deiniol were leading figures in 6th-century Britain.

According to Thomas O'Loughlin, "Each monastery should be seen, as with most monasteries of the period, as an individual response to the monastic impulse by someone who had experienced monasticism and then went off to establish either a hermitage to which others later came or a cenobitic community."^[79] The monasteries were organized on a family basis. Next in importance to the abbot was the scribe, in charge of the scriptorium, the teaching function of the monastery, and the keeping of the annals. The role of scribe was often a path to the position of abbot.^[80] Hereditary right and relationship to the abbot were factors influencing appointment to monastic offices.

Buildings would generally have been of wood, wattle, and thatch. Monasteries tended to be cenobitical in that monks lived in separate cells but came together for common prayer, meals, and other functions. Celtic monasticism was characterized by a rigorous asceticism and a love for learning.^[81]

Some more austere ascetics became hermits living in remote locations in what came to be called the "green martyrdom".

The monastery of Brigit of Kildare at Kildare, Ireland, was a double monastery, with both men and women, supervised by an Abbess, a pattern found in other monastic foundations.^[82]

Around 397, Ninian, a Briton probably from the area south of the Firth of Clyde, dedicated his church at Whithorn to St. Martin of Tours. According to Bede, Ninian evangelized the southern Picts.^[83]

Kentigern was an apostle of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late 6th century and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow. Due to anti-Christian sentiment, he re-located for a time to Wales, where he established a monastery at St. Asaph's. Here he divided the monks into three groups. The unlettered was assigned to the duty of agriculture, the care of cattle, and the other necessary duties outside the monastery. He assigned 300 to duties within the cloister of the monastery, such as preparing food and building offices within the monastery enclosure. The remaining monks, who were lettered, he appointed to the celebration of divine service in church by day and by night.^[84]

Cadoc founded Llancarfan in the latter part of the fifth century. He received the religious habit from an Irish monk, St. Tathai, superior of a small community near Chepstow, in Monmouthshire. Returning to his native county, Cadoc built a church, and monastery, which was called Llancarfan, or the "Church of the Stags". There he also established a college and a hospital.^[85] His legend recounts that he daily fed a hundred clergy and a hundred soldiers, a hundred workmen, a hundred poor men, and the same number of widows. When thousands left the world and became monks, they very often did so as clansmen, dutifully following the example of their chief. Bishoprics, canonries, and parochial benefices passed from one to another member of the same family, and frequently from father to son. Their tribal character is a feature which Irish and Welsh monasteries had in common.^[86]

Illtyd spent the first part of his religious life as a disciple of Cadoc at Llancarfan. He founded the monastery at Llanilltyd Fawr. One of his students was Paul Aurelian, a key figure in Cornish monasticism.^[87]Gildas the Wise was also a student at Llanilltyd Fawr,^[85] as was Samson of Dol. Samson founded a monastery in an abandoned Roman fort near the river Severn and lived for a time the life of a hermit in a nearby cave before going to Brittany.

St David established his monastery on a promontory on the western sea, well placed to be a centre of Insular Christianity. His establishment became known for its austerity and holiness, more than as a centre of learning,^[88] although when King Alfred sought a scholar for his court, he summoned Asser of St David's. Contemporary with David were Teilo, Cadoc, Padarn, Beuno and Tysilio among them.

Many early medieval settlements in the region were occupied by hermitage chapels which are often dedicated to St Michael as the conventional slayer of pagan demons, as at St Michael's Mount.

Los primeros asentamientos monásticos en Irlanda surgieron a finales del siglo V. Fue de Illtud y sus colegas de quienes los irlandeses buscaron orientación en materia de ritual y disciplina. Enda de Aran es llamado el "patriarca del monacato irlandés". ^{[ 88 ]} Príncipe guerrero de Oriel, tras la muerte de su prometida decidió estudiar para el sacerdocio. Primero se unió a St Ailbe en Emly, antes de viajar a Candida Casa de Ninian en Escocia, donde fue ordenado. Alrededor del año 484 fundó el primer monasterio irlandés en Killeaney en Aran Mor. Se dice que Finnian de Clonard estudió con Cadoc en Llancarfan en Glamorganshire . ^{[ 89 ]} Finnian de Moville estudió con Colman de Dromore y Mochae de Noendrum, antes de ir también a Candida Casa. ^{[ 90 ]}

Irlanda era una sociedad rural de jefes que vivían en el campo. Al igual que en Gales, si un jefe de clan aceptaba el cristianismo, también lo hacían aquellos a quienes gobernaba. ^{[ 91 ]} Por lo general, los monasterios irlandeses se establecían mediante la concesión de tierras a un abad o abadesa perteneciente a una familia noble local. El monasterio se convertía en el centro espiritual de la tribu o grupo de parentesco. Los sucesivos abades y abadesas eran miembros de la familia del fundador, una política que mantenía las tierras monásticas bajo la jurisdicción familiar (y que correspondía a la tradición jurídica irlandesa, que solo permitía la transferencia de tierras dentro de una familia). En Irlanda, al abad se le solía llamar "coarb", término que designaba al heredero o sucesor del fundador. ^{[ 83 ]}

Los abades de los principales monasterios —como Clonard, Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Swords, etc.— eran de altísimo rango y gozaban del mayor respeto. Ejercían un gran poder y tenían una enorme influencia. El abad solía ser solo un presbítero, pero en los grandes monasterios había uno o más obispos residentes que conferían órdenes y desempeñaban las demás funciones episcopales. El abad era el superior del monasterio y todos estaban sujetos a su autoridad. ^{[ 92 ]}

La regla irlandesa era rigurosa. La rutina diaria de la vida monástica consistía en oración, estudio y trabajo manual. En cuanto a la alimentación, la regla era muy estricta. Solo se permitía una comida al día, a las 3 de la tarde, excepto los domingos y los días festivos. Los miércoles y los viernes eran días de ayuno, excepto el intervalo entre la Pascua y el Domingo de Pentecostés. Los alimentos permitidos eran pan de cebada, leche, pescado y huevos. No se permitía la carne, excepto en las grandes fiestas. ^{[ 92 ]}

In Ireland, a distinctive form of penance developed, where confession was made privately to a priest, under the seal of secrecy, and where penance was given privately and ordinarily performed privately as well.^[93] Penance was considered therapeutic rather than punitive.^[94] Certain handbooks were made, called "penitentials", designed as a guide for confessors and as a means of regularising the penance given for each particular sin. According to Thomas Pollock Oakley, the penitential guides first developed in Wales, probably at St. David's, and spread by missions to Ireland.^[95]

Irish monasticism maintained the model of a monastic community while, like John Cassian, marking the contemplative life of the hermit as the highest form of monasticism. Saints' lives frequently tell of monks (and abbots) departing some distance from the monastery to live in isolation from the community. Irish monastic rules specify a stern life of prayer and discipline in which prayer, poverty, and obedience are the central themes.

Irish monks learned Latin, the language of the Church. Thus they read Latin texts, both spiritual and secular. Subjects taught included Latin, Greek, Hebrew, grammar, rhetoric, poetry, arithmetic, chronology, the Holy Places, hymns, sermons, natural science, history and especially the interpretation of Sacred Scripture.^[92] In 544 AD, St Ciarán founded a monastery at Clonmacnoise, which became one of the most important centers of learning and religious life in Ireland. Contrary to common practice, the title of abbot – which included the title "Comarba of Saint Ciarán" – at the community was not hereditary, which reflected the humble origins of its founder. In 557, St Brendan founded a monastery at Clonfert.

By the end of the seventh century, Irish monastic schools attracted students from England and Europe.^[96]

Irish monastic achievements of insular art, in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells, high crosses, metalwork like the Ardagh Chalice and the Cross of Cong and manuscript decoration had a profound influence on Western medieval art.^[97] The manuscripts were produced by and for monasteries, and evidence suggests that metalwork was produced in both monastic and royal workshops.^[98]

The Culdees (Irish: Céilí Dé, lit. "Spouses of God") were members of ascetic Christianmonastic and eremitical communities of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England in the Middle Ages. Appearing first in Ireland and subsequently in Scotland, attached to cathedral or collegiate churches, they lived in monastic fashion though not taking monastic vows.^[99]

Irish monasticism spread widely, first to Scotland and Northern England, then to Gaul and Italy. Columba and his followers established monasteries at Bangor, on the northeastern coast of Ireland, at Iona, an island north-west of Scotland, and at Lindisfarne, which was founded by Aidan, an Irish monk from Iona, at the request of King Oswald of Northumbria. Abbots of Iona were normally appointed from the founders kin, with an abbot often naming his successor.^[83]

Columbanus, an abbot from a Leinster noble family, traveled to Gaul in the late 6th century with twelve companions. Columbanus and his followers spread the Irish model of monastic institutions to the continent. A whole series of new monastic foundations under Irish influence sprang up, starting with Columbanus's foundations of Luxeuil and Fontaine-lès-Luxeuil and, sponsored by the Frankish King Childebert II. After Childebert's death Columbanus traveled east to Metz, where Theudebert II allowed him to establish a new monastery among the semi-pagan Alemanni in what is now Switzerland. One of Columbanus's followers founded the monastery of St. Gall on the shores of Lake Constance, while Columbanus continued onward across the Alps to the kingdom of the Lombards in Italy. There King Agilulf and his wife Theodolinda granted Columbanus land in the mountains between Genoa and Milan, where he established the monastery of Bobbio. From about 698 until the reign of Charlemagne in the 770s, the Hiberno-Scottish efforts in the Frankish Empire were continued by the Anglo-Saxon mission. The rule of St. Columbanus, which was originally followed in most of these monasteries, was eventually superseded by that of St. Benedict.

Benito de Nursia es el monje occidental más influyente y se le conoce como el "padre del monacato occidental". Se educó en Roma, pero pronto buscó la vida de ermitaño en una cueva en Subiaco , a las afueras de la ciudad. Allí atrajo a numerosos seguidores con quienes fundó el monasterio de Monte Cassino alrededor del año 520, entre Roma y Nápoles . Estableció la Regla de San Benito , adaptando en parte la anterior Regla del Maestro ( Regula magistri ), anónima y escrita al sur de Roma alrededor del año 500, que definía las actividades del monasterio, sus oficiales y sus responsabilidades. En el siglo IX, en gran medida bajo la inspiración del emperador Carlomagno , la Regla de Benito se convirtió en la guía fundamental del monacato occidental.

Si bien los monasterios celtas tenían una conexión más estrecha con la tradición semieremítica de Egipto a través de Lérins y Tours, Benito y sus seguidores estuvieron más influenciados por el cenobitismo de San Pacomio y Basilio el Grande . Los primeros monasterios benedictinos eran relativamente pequeños y constaban de un oratorio, un refectorio, un dormitorio, un scriptorium, alojamiento para huéspedes y dependencias, un conjunto de habitaciones a menudo bastante separadas que recordaban más a una villa romana de tamaño considerable que a una gran abadía medieval. Un monasterio de alrededor de una docena de monjes habría sido lo normal durante este período.

La vida monástica medieval consistía en oración, lectura y trabajo manual. ^{[ 100 ]} La oración era la prioridad principal de un monje. Además de la oración, los monjes realizaban diversas tareas, como preparar medicinas, escribir, leer, entre otras. También trabajaban en los jardines y en la tierra. Podían pasar tiempo en el claustro , una columnata cubierta alrededor de un patio, donde oraban o leían. Algunos monasterios contaban con un scriptorium donde los monjes escribían o copiaban libros.

La eficiencia de la Regla cenobítica de Benedicto XVI, sumada a la estabilidad de los monasterios, los hizo muy productivos. Los monasterios eran los principales depósitos y productores de conocimiento. Los vikingos comenzaron a atacar los monasterios irlandeses, famosos por su erudición, en el año 793. Un monje escribió que no le importó el mal tiempo una noche porque impedía la llegada de los vikingos: «Esta noche azota el viento, agitando la blanca cabellera del océano; no tengo por qué temer —como en una noche de mar en calma— a los feroces asaltantes de Lochlann». ^{[ 101 ]}

En los siglos XI y XII, la creciente presión de las monarquías y los estados-nación socavó la riqueza y el poder de las órdenes religiosas. El monacato siguió desempeñando un papel en el catolicismo, pero tras la Reforma protestante, muchos monasterios de la Inglaterra anglicana fueron clausurados y sus bienes confiscados. En tierras luteranas evangélicas, algunos monasterios, conventos y abadías adoptaron la fe luterana evangélica y continuaron con su práctica; actualmente, la espiritualidad benedictina se encuentra en varios monasterios luteranos evangélicos, como el Monasterio de Östanbäck , la Casa de San Agustín y el Priorato de San Wigberto . ^{[ 102 ]}

• Los benedictinos , fundados en 529 por San Benito en Monte Cassino , enfatizan el trabajo manual en un monasterio autosuficiente. Son una orden de comunidades monásticas independientes.
• Los cluniacenses , una rama de los benedictinos, alcanzaron su apogeo entre c. 950 y c. 1130.
• Camaldulese , una rama de los benedictinos, fundó hacia el año 1000 San Romualdo de Rávena .
• Vallombrosans, a branch of the Benedictines, founded c. 1038 by Saint John Gualbert.
• Carthusians, also known as the Order of Saint Bruno, founded 1084 by Saint Bruno of Cologne. Open to both sexes; combines eremitical and cenobitic life.
• Cistercians, the Order of Cîteaux, sometimes referred to as the Order of Saint Bernard, founded in 1098 by Saint Robert of Molesme.
• Paulines, founded in Hungary in 1225 by Blessed Eusebius.
• Celestines, founded in 1244 and originally called Hermits of Saint Damiano, or Moronites (or Murronites). Became known as Celestines after their founder was elected Pope and took the name Celestine V.
• Olivetans or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, a branch of the Benedictines, founded in 1313 by Bernardo Tolomei (born Giovanni Tolomei) along with two of his friends from the noble families of Siena, Patrizio Patrizi and Ambrogio Piccolomini.
• Bridgettines, founded in 1344 by Saint Bridget of Sweden.
• Hieronymites, founded in Spain in 1364, by an eremitical community formally known as the Order of Saint Jerome.
• Conceptionists, formally the Order of the Immaculate Conception, founded in 1484 by Saint Beatrice of Silva.
• Turchines, formally the Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, founded in 1604 by Blessed Maria Vittoria De Fornari Strata
• Visitandines: the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, an order of women. Members of the order are also known as the Visitation Sisters. The Order was founded in 1610 by Saint Francis de Sales and Saint Jane Frances de Chantal in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, France.
• Trappists, a Cistercian reform, begun c. 1664.
• Monastic Brothers and Monastic Sisters of Bethlehem, who practice Carthusian spirituality and were founded in consequence of the influence on a small group of French pilgrims of the promulgation of the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven on November 1, 1950, in St. Peter's Square, in Vatican City.^[104] The Monastic Sisters were founded in France, soon after the event, and the Monastic Brothers in 1976.

Tras la fundación de las Iglesias Luteranas , algunos monasterios en tierras luteranas (como la abadía de Amelungsborn cerca de Negenborn y la abadía de Loccum en Rehburg-Loccum ) y conventos (como la abadía de Ebstorf cerca de la ciudad de Uelzen y la abadía de Bursfelde en Bursfelde ) adoptaron la fe cristiana luterana. ^{[ 105 ]}

Las abadías de Loccum y Amelungsborn poseen las tradiciones más antiguas como monasterios luteranos. Desde el siglo XIX, se ha producido un resurgimiento de la vida monástica entre los protestantes. Actualmente, muchos luteranos evangélicos practican la vida monástica de forma similar a los de la Iglesia Católica.

En 1947, la Madre Basilea Schlink y la Madre Martyria fundaron la Hermandad Evangélica de María en Darmstadt, Alemania . Este movimiento se considera en gran medida de origen evangélico o luterano.

En 1948, el pastor luterano bávaro Walter Hümmer y su esposa Hanna fundaron la Communität Christusbruderschaft Selbitz .

En 1958, varios hombres se unieron al Padre Arthur Kreinheder para observar la vida monástica y los oficios de oración, y la Congregación de los Siervos de Cristo se estableció en la Casa de San Agustín en Oxford, Michigan . ^{[ 106 ]} Estos hombres y otros llegaron y se fueron a lo largo de los años. La comunidad se ha mantenido pequeña; en ocasiones, el único miembro era el Padre Arthur. Durante los 35 años de su existencia, más de 25 hombres pusieron a prueba su vocación a la vida monástica viviendo en la casa durante algún tiempo, desde unos pocos meses hasta muchos años, pero a la muerte del Padre Arthur en 1989, solo quedaba un residente permanente. A principios de 2006, hay dos miembros profesos permanentes y dos huéspedes de larga duración. Se mantienen fuertes lazos con esta comunidad y sus hermanos benedictinos-evangélicos luteranos en Suecia ( Monasterio de Östanbäck ) ^{[ 107 ]} y en Alemania ( Priorato de San Wigberto ). ^{[ 108 ]}

En Alemania, Communität Casteller Ring ^{[ 109 ]} es una comunidad luterana benedictina para mujeres.

En 2011, la Iglesia Católica Anglo-Luterana estableció una orden religiosa agustina, la Sociedad Sacerdotal de San Agustín (Societas Sacerdotalis Sancti Augustini) . ^{[ 110 ]}

En la Suecia luterana , la vida religiosa para mujeres ya estaba establecida en 1954, cuando la hermana Marianne Nordström hizo su profesión a través de contactos con la Orden del Santo Paráclito y la Madre Margaret Cope (1886–1961) en el Priorato de Santa Hilda, Whitby , Yorkshire. ^{[ 111 ]}

En Inglaterra, John Wycliffe organizó la Orden de Predicadores Lolardos (los "Sacerdotes Pobres") para promover sus ideas, muchas de las cuales coincidían con las de los reformadores protestantes posteriores.

La vida monástica en Inglaterra llegó a un abrupto final con la Disolución de los Monasterios durante el reinado del rey Enrique VIII . Las propiedades y tierras de los monasterios fueron confiscadas y retenidas por el rey, vendidas a terratenientes o entregadas a la nobleza leal . Los monjes y monjas recibieron una pensión y se retiraron, o algunos se vieron obligados a huir al continente o a abandonar su vocación. Durante aproximadamente 300 años, no existieron comunidades monásticas dentro de ninguna de las iglesias anglicanas .

Poco después de que el Movimiento de Oxford comenzara a abogar por la restauración de la fe y la práctica católicas en la Iglesia de Inglaterra (véase Anglocatolicismo ), se sintió la necesidad de restaurar la vida monástica. El sacerdote anglicano John Henry Newman fundó una comunidad de hombres en Littlemore, cerca de Oxford, en la década de 1840, mientras era vicario de la Iglesia de Santa María y San Nicolás, en Littlemore . Desde entonces, se han establecido muchas comunidades de monjes , frailes , hermanas y monjas dentro de la Comunión Anglicana . En 1848, la Madre Priscilla Lydia Sellon fundó las Hermanas Anglicanas de la Caridad y se convirtió en la primera mujer en tomar votos religiosos dentro de la Comunión Anglicana desde la Reforma . En octubre de 1850 se consagró en Abbeymere, Plymouth , el primer edificio construido específicamente para albergar una congregación de religiosas anglicanas . Albergaba varias escuelas para los indigentes, una lavandería, una imprenta y un comedor social. Desde la década de 1840 y a lo largo de los siguientes cien años, proliferaron las órdenes religiosas tanto para hombres como para mujeres en el Reino Unido y Estados Unidos, así como en varios países de África , Asia , Canadá , India y el Pacífico .

Algunas comunidades religiosas anglicanas son contemplativas, otras activas, pero un rasgo distintivo de la vida monástica entre los anglicanos es que la mayoría practica la llamada "vida mixta", una combinación de oración contemplativa y servicio activo. La vida religiosa anglicana se asemeja mucho a la del catolicismo. Al igual que los religiosos católicos, los religiosos anglicanos también hacen los tres votos de pobreza, castidad y obediencia. Las comunidades religiosas viven juntas bajo una regla común, rezando el Oficio Divino y celebrando la Eucaristía diariamente.

In the early 20th century when the Anglo-Catholic movement was at its height, the Anglican Communion had hundreds of orders and communities, and thousands of religious. However, since the 1960s there has been a sharp falling off in the numbers of religious in many parts of the Anglican Communion, most notably in the United Kingdom and the United States. In the last few decades of the 20th century, novices have for most communities been few and far between. Some orders and communities have already become extinct. There are, however, still thousands of Anglican religious working today in religious communities around the world. While vocations remain few in some areas, Anglican religious communities are experiencing exponential growth in Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Around 1964, Reuben Archer Torrey III, an Episcopal missionary, grandson of R. A. Torrey, founded Jesus Abbey as a missionary community in Korea. It has some links with the Episcopal Church and holds an Evangelical doctrine.

In February 2001, the United Methodist Church organized the Saint Brigid of Kildare Monastery. It is a Methodist-Benedictine residential double monastery in Collegeville, Minnesota. Besides monastic orders, the Order of Saint Luke is a dispersed religious order within Methodism.

The Community of the Sisterhood Emmanuel was founded in 1973 in Makak, Cameroon, in the Centre Province by Mother Marie, one of the first female Pastors of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon. In 1975, she moved the community to Agyati in Bafut. In 2019, the sisters relocated to Foumbot.^[112] The Sisters are trained in strong collaboration with the sister Institutes of the Catholic Church.

Anabaptist Christians "retained many elements of the monastic understanding of a 'holy life' that followed true faith".^[113] The Hutterites and Bruderhof, for example, live in intentional communities with their big houses having "ground floors for common work, meals and worship, the two-storey attics with small rooms, like monastic cells, for married couples".^[114]

Los Shakers , también conocidos como los "Cuáqueros Temblorosos", se han caracterizado como una "orden monástica protestante que ofrece refugio y compensación espiritual". ^{[ 115 ]} Practican un estilo de vida célibe y comunitario, el pacifismo y su modelo de igualdad de género , que institucionalizaron en su sociedad en la década de 1780. También son conocidos por su sencillez en la vida, la arquitectura y el mobiliario. Se invita a los recién llegados sinceros a unirse a los Shakers:

Si alguien desea convertirse en Shaker y los Shakers dan su consentimiento, el aspirante puede mudarse a la casa. Si los novicios, como se les llama, permanecen una semana, firman un acuerdo que protege a la colonia de demandas por salarios perdidos. Después de un año, los Shakers votan si admiten al novicio, pero se necesitan otros cuatro años para que se le otorgue el estatus de Shaker de pleno derecho, participando en las finanzas de la colonia y en las decisiones administrativas y religiosas. ^{[ 116 ]}

Actualmente, quedan dos Shakers, el Hermano Arnold Hadd y la Hermana June Carpenter, aunque esperan que otros se unan a ellos en la única comunidad Shaker que queda, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village . ^{[ 117 ]}