The Flowering of Monastic Life

Monasticism or manacos in Greek literally means a solitary person. Pre-cursors of Christian monasticism are found in the lives of the prophets and the Old Testament righteous who withdrew into the wilderness to draw near to God. In the first century Judaism also experienced monastic like groups called the Essenes and the Nazarenes. There was a quasi-monastic practice by the time of the incarnation already present within Jewish society.