In the midst of our many activities, we take time to contemplate and enjoy the great beauty surrounding us. While written for monks of a specific time and place, the Holy Rule provides an authentic witness to the ancient monastic tradition. Its precepts flow from the Gospel and from the common experience of the first five centuries of Christian monastic life. Eminently practical, the Rule contains nothing original. Its major sources are the Gospel, the writings of St. Basil the Great and John Cassian, and the sayings of the desert fathers.
Prayer is the monk's first duty.
It is the principal reason for his life apart from the rest of human society. Continue. . .