Can they be a monk?

Comments

• PrincessMary

  August 2005

  thats a great question marmar, which i dont really know the answer too, but i just wanted to say that a lot of things have changed in the rules to joining a monastary, like before you didnt need to have completed school or anything to go to a monastary, but now you have to get a college degree before they let you join the monastary, because some people wanted to join the monastary simply because they did not get accepted to a good university or do not want to finish school etc
  
  I dont know about virginity but I do not think it should matter, God came for sinners, not for the righteouss, and He accepted many sinners, like the samaritan woman, the woman that anointed his feet, mary magdalene ..etc, and St. Ba2eesa (whose feast is this monday) also was a sinner (prostitute) but then repented and went to a monastary, so if God accepts our repentance, i dont see why we should forbid someone from entering the monastary

  I think I heard something about people living in the monestary without (or maybe before) being ordained monks... is that true or just my imagination?

  if u want to become a monk or a nun you go in the monastary and are under supervision for a while and are being trained for monastic life, but you do not become a monk or a nun till after you have shown that you can really do it, so those are people living in the monastary before becoming monks or nuns, if you pass the tests then you can be a monk or nun and they will read the prayer of the dead on you, because you are then "dead to the world"
• PrincessMary

  August 2005

  but you see thats the whole point, is giving up something that you really like, for a far greater purpose, because if you really love God then it doesnt matter, you will leave all materialistic things for the sake of gaining His love. So it shows that you spent all those years studying and going to school, but in the end you didnt chose to use it, but you gave it all up, because there was someone that meant more to you than all of that
• PrincessMary

  August 2005

  "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ " Philippians 3: 7, 8
  
  love is about sacrificing, and even if you do go to school or whatever you are doing in the world, you can still live a life simmilar to that in the monastary, before you decide to go to the monastary, you have to first train yourself on being a monk or a nun and living their life-style, so you are really not wasting anytime in either case, because whether you live in the monastary or not doesnt matter, if you have Jesus in your heart that is what matters,
  
  one time St. Makarius the great was praying and God told him you know there are 2 women that have reached your spiritual level and even greater, so st Makarius after hearing that went to visit them and hear their story, they were 2 sister-in laws living together praying everyday and fasting, and each one took care of the others children as if they were her own, they couldnt tell their children apart because of how much they loved all of them, so it shows you that not every1 who lives in the monastary is better than those who live in the world
• nardin

  August 2005

  well abba kame the priest was married but he was still a virgin tho
  and he became a monk
• Unknown

  August 2005

  hey guys,
  didn't Saint Moses the Black do almost every imaginable sin before becoming a monk, and Saint Augustine had a son with the woman he was living with before he entered the monastery as well...I guess it depends on the circumstances or something and it's up to the abbot or abbess (nunnery) to decide..
  
  hope that helps
  
  Your sister,
  Mariam
• Unknown

  August 2005

  that's right marmarnematalla Saint moses the black used to be a murderer, stealer, and commited lots of sins, but he is a great saint!
• mazza

  August 2005

  but guys we knoe wats right and wats not
  lets not say ok now we can all lose our virginity and then become nuns/monks cus we r sinners lol
  like b realistic.
  being a monk/nun invloves chastity and purity- how can that be obtained wen u commited all these sins
  st moses the black etc wer an excpesion- they didnt know christ but we do and we do all we can 2 remain pure and holy until watever the lord wills (marriage or solitude)
  
• gurl-servant

  August 2005

  [quote author=MarMar91 link=board=4;threadid=2256;start=0#msg34304 date=1123375223]
  Okay so now a days in 2005.. can u be a monk if u were previously married, had kids, or are not a virgin?
  
  
  Actually we talked about that in Sunday school.
  B4 in the times of st-Marina, St-Moses the Black, Saint Augustine(well I think u get the point) the rules were different then they are now. And one of those rules that were changed was the whole losing ur 'virginity thing'. B4 u could have lost ur "virginity" and still become a monk or a nun but now u have to be "pure" or in other words a "virgin" to become a monk or a nun.'
  
  This is why saint marina's dad was able to go to the monastery with his daughter, but as some of u might know she was pretending to be a man until she died. I recommend u guys to read her story (St-Marina the nun)
  
  Like I said in the beginning, we talked about this in sunday school so I'm a 100% sure that Today in 2005 u need to be a virgin to become a monk or a nun. Well i hope that helped. ;D
  
  [move]Do ur best and God will do the rest. ;D[/move]