Anglican religious order

Anglican religious orders are communities of men or women (or in some cases mixed communities of men and women) in the Anglican Communion who live under a common rule of life. The members of religious orders take vows which often include the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, or the ancient vow of stability, or sometimes a modern interpretation of some or all of these vows. Members may be laity or clergy, but most orders and their houses include a mixture of both. They lead a common life of work and prayer, sometimes on a single site, sometimes spread over multiple locations. About 2,400 monks and nuns are currently in the Anglican communion, about 55% of whom are women and 45% of whom are men.

Though many Anglicans are members of religious orders recognized by the Anglican Communion, others may be members of ecumenical Protestant or Old Catholic religious orders while maintaining their Anglican identity and parochial membership in Anglican churches.