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Areligious order is a subgroup within a largerconfessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate theirfounders, and have a document describing their lifestyle called arule of life. Such orders exist in many of the world'sreligions.
InBuddhist societies, a religious order is one of the number ofmonastic orders of monks and nuns, many of which follow a certain school of teaching—such as Thailand'sDhammayuttika order, a monastic order founded byKing Mongkut (Rama IV). A well-knownChinese Buddhist order is the ancientShaolin order in Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism; and in modern times, the Order of Hsu Yun.
A religious order in the Catholic Church is a kind ofreligious institute, a society whose members (referred to as "religious") makesolemn vows that are accepted by a superior in the name of the Church,[1] who wear areligious habit and who live a life of brothers or sisters in common.[2] Religious orders are to be distinguished fromreligious congregations, which are religious institutes whose members professsimple vows, and fromsecular institutes, includingsocieties of apostolic life andlay ecclesial movements. Unless they are alsodeacons orpriests inHoly Orders members of religious orders are notclergy butlaity. However, particular orders and institutes are classified as either specifically clerical or lay depending on theircharism.[3]
Among the traditional forms of solemnly vowed religious order, there are four key categories:
Religious life began in theLatin Church as early as the 3rd century, with theOrder of Saint Benedict being formed in the 6th, in 529. All the earliest religious foundations were either essentially monastic or canonical depending on how much weight they placed onmonastic enclosure orpastoral care respectively. Initially rules of life tended to vary between communities but gradually by the 10th century theRule of St Benedict became the standardised norm among the Latin Church’s monks and nuns while theRule of St Augustine was standardised among its canons and canonesses. The earliest orders include theCistercians (1098), thePremonstratensians (1120), thePoor Clares founded byFrancis of Assisi (1212), and the Benedictine reform movements ofCluny (1216). These orders consist entirely of independent abbeys and priories where power rests in the hands of the individual communities and their abbot or abbess, prior or prioress. Their members remain in the same community for life.
Later in the 13th century themendicant orders like theCarmelites, theOrder of Friars Minor, theOrder of Preachers, theOrder of the Most Holy Trinity and theOrder of Saint Augustine formed. These Mendicant orders did not hold property for their Religious Communities, instead begging for alms and going where they were needed. Their leadership structure included each member, as opposed to each Abbey or House, as subject to their direct superior. In the 16th century the orders ofclerics regular began to emerge, including such institutes as theSociety of Jesus, theTheatines, theBarnabites, theSomascans. Most of these groups began to turn away from the common public celebration of the divine office.
In accordance with the concept of independent communities in the Rule of Saint Benedict, the Benedictines, Cistercians, andTrappists have autonomous abbeys (so-called "independent houses"). Their members profess "stability" to the abbeys where they make theirreligious vows; hence their abbots or abbesses may not move them to other abbeys. An "independent house" may occasionally make a new foundation which remains a "dependent house" (identified by the name "priory") until it is granted independence by Rome and itself becomes an abbey. Each house's autonomy does not prevent it being affiliated into acongregation—whether national or based on some other joint characteristic—and these, in turn, form the supra-nationalBenedictine Confederation.
Non-monastic religious institutes typically have a motherhouse, generalate, or general curia with jurisdiction over any number of dependent religious communities, whose members may be moved by their superior general to its other communities as the institute's needs require.
Well-known Roman Catholic religious institute includeAugustinians,Basilians,Benedictines,Bethlehemites,Bridgettines,Camaldolese,Carmelites,Carthusians,Cistercians,Conceptionists,Crosiers,Dominicans,Franciscans,Hieronymites,Jesuits,Minims,Piarists,Salesians,Olivetans,Theatines,Trappists and theVisitandines.
Several religious orders evolved during theCrusades to incorporate a military mission becoming "religiousmilitary orders", such as theKnights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, theKnights of the Order of the Temple and theKnights of the Holy Sepulchre.
In theEastern Orthodox Church, there is only one type of monasticism. The profession of monastics is known astonsure (referring to the ritual cutting of the monastic's hair which takes place during the service)[4][5] and is considered by monks to be aSacred Mystery (Sacrament).[6] The Rite of Tonsure is printed in theEuchologion (Church Slavonic:Trebnik), the same book as the other Sacred Mysteries and services performed according to need.
After the foundation of theLutheran Churches, some monasteries in Lutheran lands (such asAmelungsborn Abbey nearNegenborn andLoccum Abbey inRehburg-Loccum) and convents (such asEbstorf Abbey near the town ofUelzen andBursfelde Abbey inBursfelde) adopted the Lutheran Christian faith.[7]
Other examples of Lutheran religious orders include theOrder of Lutheran Franciscans in the United States. Also, aLutheran religious order following theRule of Saint Benedict, The Congregation of the Servants of Christ, was established at St. Augustine's House in Oxford, Michigan, in 1958 when some other men joined FatherArthur Kreinheder in observing the monastic life and offices of prayer.[8][9] This order has strong ties to Benedictine Lutheran religious orders in Sweden (Östanbäck Monastery) and in Germany (Priory of St. Wigbert).
Religious orders in England were dissolved byKing Henry VIII upon the separation of the English church from Roman primacy. For three hundred years, there were no formal religious orders in Anglicanism, although some informal communities – such as theLittle Gidding community – occasionally sprang into being. With the advent of theOxford Movement in theChurch of England and worldwideAnglicanism in the middle of the 19th century, several orders appeared. In 1841, the first order for women was established. The first order for men was founded 25 years later.
Anglican religious voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years, to holding their possessions in common or in trust; to a celibate life in community; and obedience to their Rule and Constitution.[10]
There are presently thirteen active religious orders for men, fifty-three for women, and eight mixed gender.[citation needed]
TheMethodist Church of Great Britain, and its ancestors, have established a number of orders ofDeaconesses, who are now ordained as clergy and are Ministers in equal standing alongside their presbyteral colleagues. TheMethodist Diaconal Order (MDO) currently admits both men and women to the Order and all are now known as Deacons. Since the functions of a deacon are primarilypastoral, the MDO may therefore be regarded as an order ofRegular clerics.[original research?]
The Order of the Flame is a religious order under the auspices of theWorld Methodist Council devoted to the charism ofevangelism.[11]
The Order of Saint Luke is a religious order in theUnited Methodist Church dedicated to sacramental and liturgical scholarship, education, and practice.
Some Protestant religious orders followAnabaptist theology. These would include theHutterites andBruderhof, who live in full community of goods[12] and living as a peace church.[13]
Among their corporations, theReligious Order of Jehovah's Witnesses cares for matters specific toJehovah's Witnesses special full-time servants. In a particular branch,traveling overseers,special pioneers, andbranch staff are considered members of theOrder of Special Full-time Servants and the Bethel Family.[14] Globally, their order is theWorldwide Order of Special Full-Time Servants of Jehovah's Witnesses.[15] Male and female members of such religious orders typically make a formalvow of poverty and are granted certain status and exemptions by many governments. While Jehovah's Witnesses do not consider members of their religious orders to be aclergy separate from other Witnesses, who are also ordained ministers, they do recognize that a government may consider them such for administrative purposes.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not have a separate clergy class, but consider an adherent's qualifiedbaptism to constitute hisordination as aminister.[16] Governments have generally recognized that Jehovah's Witnesses' full-time appointees qualify as ministers[17] regardless of sex or appointment as anelder ordeacon ("ministerial servant"); the religion itself asserts what is sometimes termed "ecclesiastical privilege" only for its appointed elders.
Atariqah is how a religious order is described inSufism. It especially refers to the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seekingḥaqīqah "ultimate truth". Such tariqas typically have amurshid (guide) who plays the role of leader or spiritual director. Members and followers of a tariqa are known asmurīdīn (singularmurīd), meaning "desirous", viz. "desiring the knowledge of knowing God and loving God" (also called afaqīrفقير). Tariqas havesilsilas (Arabic:سلسلة) which is the spiritual lineage of the Shaikhs of that order. Almost all orders trace their silsila back to the Islamic prophetMuhammad. Tariqas are spread all over the Muslim world.
AmongShias,Noorbakshia Islam is an order that blends Sufi principles with Shia doctrine. It claims to trace its direct spiritual lineage and chain (silsilah) to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Ali, the first imam of Shia Islam.
There is some historical connection between certain schools of Sufism and the development ofWahhabism andSalafism due to the history of these denominations.
Ibn Abd al-Wahhab was inspired byIbn Taymiyyah, a 14th-century scholar and dedicated Sufi, who is however remembered mainly as an outspoken critic of the excesses of certain schools of Sufism during his time.[18]
A form of ordered religious living is common also in many tribes and religions ofAfrica andSouth America, though on a smaller scale, and some parts of England.[citation needed] Due to the unorganized character of these small religious groups, orders are not as visible as in other well-organised religions.
Cults and coercive groups such asScientology andMoonies often rely heavily on devout religious orders as a tactic to indoctrinate and control their followers.[19] Scientology'sSea Org, for example, are required to sign a one billion year contract[20] and pledge allegiance to founderL. Ron Hubbard and are responsible for senior management positions within the Organization.[21]
The monastery is mentioned for the first time in 1197. It belongs to the group of so-called Lüneklöstern (monasteries of Lüne), which became Lutheran convents following the Protestant Reformation. […] It is currently one of several Lutheran convents maintained by the Monastic Chamber of Hanover (Klosterkammer Hannover), an institution of the former Kingdom of Hanover founded by its Prince-Regent, later King George IV of the United Kingdom, in 1818, in order to manage and preserve the estates of Lutheran convents.
Lutheran monasteries have been founded in the past 40 years in Denmark and Michigan, while an evangelical monastic community exists in Koera bearing the name of Jesus Abbey.
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