kind of civil death, which in all worldly matters has the same effect with the natural death. The council of Trent, &c., fix sixteen years the age at which a person may be admitted into the monastical state.

pendent, and subject to the bishop. See MONK.

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MONK anciently denoted, "a person who retired from the world to give himself up wholly to God, and to live in solitude and abstinence." The word is derived from St. Anthony is the person, who, the Latin monachus, and that from in the fourth century, first insti- the Greek oraxos, solitary;" of tuted the monastic life; as St. Pa-vos, solus, “alone.". chomius, in the same century, is said to have first set on foot the cœnobitic life, i. e. regular communities of religious. In a short time the deserts of Egypt became inhabited by a set of solitaries, who took upon them the monastic profession. St. Basil carried the monkish humour in the East, where he composed a rule which afterwards obtained through a great part of the West.

The original of monks seems to have been this: The persecutions which attended the first ages of the Gospel forced some Christians to retire from the world, and live in deserts and places most private and unfrequented, in hopes of finding that peace and comfort among beasts which were denied them among men; and this being the case of some very extraordinary persons, their example gave such reputation to retirement, that the practice was continued when the reason of its commencement ceased. After the empire became Christian, instances of this kind were numerous; and those whose security had obliged them to live separately and apart, became afterwards united into societies. We may also add, that the mystic theology, which gained ground towards the

In the eleventh century the monastic discipline was grown very remiss. St. Oddo first began to retrieve it in the monastery of Cluny that monastery, by the conditions of its erection, was put under the immediate protection of the holy see; with a prohibition to all powers, both secular and ecclesiastical, to disturb the monks in the possession of their effects or the election of their abbot. In virtue hereof they pleaded an ex-close of the third century, conemption from the jurisdiction of the bishop, and extended this privilege to all the houses dependent on Cluny. This made the first The monks, at least the ancient congregation of several houses ones, were distinguished into soliunder one chief immediately sub-taries, cœnobites, and sarabaites. ject to the pope, so as to con- The solitary are those who live stitute one body, or, as they now call it, one religious order. Till then, each monastery was inde

tributed to produce the same effect, and to drive men into solitude for the purposes of devotion.

alone, in places remote from all towns and habitations of men, as do still some of the hermits. The

eœnobites are those who live in community with several others in the same house, and under the same superiors. The sarabaites were strolling monks having no fixed rule or residence.

The houses of monks, again, were of two kinds, viz. monasteries and laura.

time the whole East was filled with a lazy set of mortals, who, abandoning all human connexions, advantages, pleasures, and concerns, wore out a languishing and miserable existence amidst the hardships of want, and various kinds of suffering, in order to arrive at a more close and rapturous communication with God and angels.

From the East this gloomy dis

Those who are now called monks, are cœnobites, who live together in a convent or monastery, who make vows of living ac-position passed into the West, and cording to a certain rule established by the founder, and wear a habit which distinguishes their order.

Those that are endowed, or have a fixed revenue, are most properly called monks, monachi; as the Chartreux, Benedictines, Bernardines, &c. The Mendicants, or those that beg, as the Capuchins and Franciscans, are more properly called religious and friars, though the names are frequently confounded.

first into Italy and its neighbouring islands; though it is uncertain who transplanted it thither. St. Martin, the celebrated bishop of Tours, erected the first monasteries in Gaul, and recommended this religious solitude with such power and efficacy, both by his instructions and his example, that his funeral is said to have been attended by no less than two thousand monks. From hence the monastic discipline extended gradually its progress through the The first monks were those of other provinces and countries of St. Anthony, who, towards the Europe. There were, besides the close of the fourth century, form- monks of St. Basil (called in the ed them into a regular body, en- East Calogeri, from xahos yeguvy gaged them to live in society with" a good old man,") and those of each other, and prescribed to St. Jerome, the hermits of St. them fixed rules for the direction of their conduct. These regulations, which Anthony had made in Egypt, were soon introduced into Palestine and Syria by his disciple Hilarion. Almost about the same time, Aones, or Eugenius, with their companions Gad-century, the monks, who had fordanas and Azyzas, instituted the monastic order in Mesopotamia, and the adjacent countries; and their example was followed with such rapid success, that in a short

Augustine, and afterwards those of St. Benedict and St. Bernard: at length came those of St. Francis and St. Dominic, with a legion of others; all which see under their proper heads.

Towards the close of the fifth

merly lived only for themselves in solitary retreats, and had never thought of assuming any rank among the sacerdotal order, were now gradually distinguished from

century to such as devoted themselves to the sacred gloom and in

the populace, and endowed with such opulence and honourable privileges, that they found them-dolence of a convent. This vene

selves in a condition to claim an ration caused several kings and eminent station among the pillars emperors to call them to their and supporters of the Christian courts, and to employ them in community. The fame of their civil affairs of the greatest mopiety and sanctity was so great, ment. Their reformation was atthat bishops and presbyters were tempted by Louis the Meek, but often chosen out of their order; the effect was of short duration. and the passion of erecting edi- In the eleventh century they were fices and convents, in which the exempted by the popes from the monks and holy virgins might serve authority of their sovereigns, and God in the most commodious man- new orders of monks were conner, was at this time carried be- tinually established; insomuch, yond all bounds. However, their that in the council of Lateran that licentiousness, even in this century, was held in the year 1215, a dewas become a proverb; and they cree was passed, by the advice of are said to have excited the most Innocent III, to prevent any new dreadful tumults and seditions in monastic institutions; and several various places. The monastic or- were entirely suppressed. In the ders were at first under the imme- fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it diate jurisdiction of the bishops, appears, from the testimony of the from which they were exempted best writers, that the monks were by the Roman pontiff about the generally lazy, illiterate, profliend of the seventh century; and gate, and licentious epicures, the monks, in return, devoted whose views in life were confined themselves wholly to advance the to opulence, idleness, and pleainterests and to maintain the dig-sure. However, the reformation nity of the bishop of Rome. This had a manifest influence in reimmunity which they obtained straining their excesses, and rena fruitful source of licen- dering them more circumspectand tiousness and disorder, and occa- cautious in their external consioned the greatest part of the duct. vices with which they were afterwards so justly charged. In the eighth century the monastic disci-white, grey, &c. Among the pline was extremely relaxed both in the castern and western provinces, and all efforts to restore it were ineffectual. Nevertheless, this kind of institution was in the highest esteem; and nothing could equal the veneration that was paid about the close of the ninth

Monks are distinguished by the colour of their habits into black,

monks, some are called monks of the choir, others professed monks, and others lay monks; which last are destined for the service of the convent, and have neither clericate nor literature.

Cloistered monks are those who actually reside in the house: in

opposition to extra-monks, who have benefices depending on the monastery.

Monks are also distinguished into reformed, whom the civil and ecclesiastical authority have made masters of ancient convents, and put in their power to retrieve the ancient discipline, which had been relaxed; and ancient, who remain in the convent, to live in it according to its establishment at the time when they made their vows, without obliging themselves to any new reform.

confusion, or mixture of the two natures.

The Monophysites, however, properly so called, are the followers of Severus, a learned monk of Palestine, who was created patriarch of Antioch in 513, and Petrus Fullensis.

The Monophysites were encouraged by the emperor Anastasius, but suppressed by Justin and succeeding emperors. However, this sect was restored by Jacob Baradæus, an obscure monk, insomuch that when he died bishop of EdesAnciently the monks were all sa, A. D. 588, he left it in a most laymen, and were only distinguish- || flourishing state in Syria, Mesopoed from the rest of the people by a peculiar habit and an extraordinary devotion. Not only the monks were prohibited the priesthood, but even priests were expressly prohibited from becoming monks, as appears from the letters of St. Gregory. Pope Siricius was the first who called them to the clericate, on occasion of some great scarcity of priests that the church was then supposed to labour under; and since that time the priesthood has been usually united to the monastical profession. Enc. Brit.; British Monachism, or Manners and Customs of Monks and Nuns of Englund; Mosheim's Ecc. Hist.

MONOPHYSITES (from ovos, solus, and poois, natura), a general name given to all those sectaries in the Levant who only own one nature in Jesus Christ; and who maintain that the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ were so united as to form only one nature, yet without any change,

tamia, Armenia, Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, and other countries. The laborious efforts of Jacob were seconded in Egypt and the adjacent countries by Theodosius, bishop of Alexandria; and he became so famous, that all the Monophysites of the East considered him as their second parent and founder, and are to this day called Facobites, in honour of their new chief. The Monophysites are divided into two sects or parties, the one African and the other Asiatic: at the head of the latter is the patriarch of Antioch, who resides for the most part in the monastery of St. Ananias, near the city of Merdin: the former are under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Alexandria, who generally resides at Grand Cairo, and are subdivided into Cophts and Abyssinians. From the fifteenth century downwards, all the patriarchs of the Monophysites have taken the name of Ignatius, in order to shew that they are the

lineal successors of Ignatius, who || herent: it was the same with that was bishop of Antioch in the first of the acephalous Severians.century, and consequently the They allowed of two wills in lawful patriarch of Antioch. In Christ, considered with regard to the seventeenth century a small the two natures; but reduced body of Monophysites in Asia them to one, by reason of the abandoned for some time the doc-union of the two natures, thinking trine and institution of their an-it absurd that there should be two cestors, and embraced the com- free wills in one and the same munion of Rome; but the Afri- person. They were condemned can Monophysites, notwithstand-by the sixth general council in ing that poverty and ignorance 680, as being supposed to destroy which exposed them to the seduc- the perfection of the humanity of tions of sophistry and gain, stood Jesus Christ, depriving it of will firm in their principles, and made and operation. Their sentiments an obstinate resistance to the pro- were afterwards embraced by the mises, presents, and attempts em- Maronites. ployed by the papal missionaries to bring them under the Roman yoke and in the eighteenth century those of Asia and Africa have persisted in, their refusal to enter into the communion of the Romish church, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties and alluring

offers that have been made from time to time by the pope's legates to conquer their inflexible constancy. The Monophysites propagate their doctrine in Asia with zeal and assiduity, and have not long ago gained over to their communion a part of the Nestorians who inhabit the maritime coasts of India.

MONTANISTS, a sect which sprung up about the year 171, in the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. They were so called from their leader Montanus, a Phrygian by birth; whence they are sometimes called Phrygians and Cataphrygians.

Montanus, it is said, embraced Christianity in hopes of rising to the dignities of the church. He pretended to inspiration; and gave out that the Holy Ghost had instructed him in several points which had not been revealed to the apostles. Priscilla and Maximilla, two enthusiastic women of Phrygia, presently became his MONOTHELITES (com- disciples, and in a short time he pounded of μόνος, σε single," and had a great number of followers. Jeha Sehw, volo, "I will,"), an an- The bishops of Asia, being assemcient sect, which sprung out of bled together, condemned his the Eutychians; thus called, as prophecies, and excommunicated only allowing of one will in Jesus those who dispersed them. Christ. terwards they wrote an account The opinion of the Monothe-of what had passed to the westlists had its rise in 630, and had ern churches, where the pretendthe emperor Heraclius for an ad-ed prophecies of Montanus and

Af