The Caloyers ( grc-gre, καλόγερος, ''kalos ghérôn'', "good old men"),
καλόγερος
"

Wiktionary Wiktionary ( , , rhyming with "dictionary") is a multilingual, web-based project to create a free content dictionary of terms (including words, phrases, proverbs, linguistic reconstructions, etc.) in all natural languages and in a number ...

. also spelled Calogers or Calogeri, were

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s who followed the

rule of Saint Basil Basilian monks are Roman Catholic monks who follow the rule of Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea (330–379). The term 'Basilian' is typically used only in the Catholic Church to distinguish Greek Catholic monks from other forms of monastic l ...

. Both male and female, they inhabited

Mount Athos Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...

(only men), and disseminated throughout many of the churches of the East. They lived either in monasteries, as at Mount Athos and

Meteora The Meteora (; el, Μετέωρα, ) is a rock formation in central Greece hosting one of the largest and most precipitously built complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries, second in importance only to Mount Athos.Sofianos, D.Z.: "Metéora". ...

or insulated in

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...

ages, devoted to

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peop ...

and

prayer Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deifi ...

. There was never any reform among them; they retained their original institution and former habits, with minute exactness. Tavernier observed that they lived an isolated, austere life, eating no meat, and maintained four

lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

s, besides numerous other fasts, with great strictness: they ate no food till they had earned it by the labor of their hands. During their lents, some did not eat more than once in three days, others only twice in seven. They were divided into three ranks or degrees: the novices, called ''Archari''; the moderately accomplished, called ''Microschemi'' (Μικρόσχημοι); and the perfect, called ''Megaloschemi'' (μεγαλόσχημοι). This last rank was divided into the following: ''

Coenobites Cenobitic (or coenobitic) monasticism is a monastic tradition that stresses community life. Often in the West the community belongs to a religious order, and the life of the cenobitic monk is regulated by a religious rule, a collection of prece ...

'', who spent the day reciting their offices, from midnight to sunset; ''

Anchorites In Christianity, an anchorite or anchoret (female: anchoress) is someone who, for religious reasons, withdraws from secular society so as to be able to lead an intensely prayer-oriented, ascetic, or Eucharist-focused life. While anchorites ar ...

'', who left the community to live alone, only going outside on Sundays and holidays to perform devotions at monasteries; and '' Recluses'', who lived alone in grottos and caverns, on the mountains, and survived on alms furnished to them by the monasteries.

References

Sources

* McClintock, John and James Strong. "Caloyers". ''Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological & Ecclesiastical Literature''. Baker Academic. 1982. . * Gardner, James. ''Faiths of the World''. Kessinger Publishing. 2003.
Page 248
* Webster, Noah. ''American Dictionary of the English Language''. 1828. * {{1728, title=Caloyers Ascetics History of Eastern Orthodoxy in Greece Greek Christian monks

See also

References

Sources