§ 214. The Internal Structure of the Monastery

We have seen that monasteries and monks are dependent, in everything and in every respect, on the competent diocesan bishop—or on the patriarch, in the case of stauropegial monasteries—and this holds, and must hold, in an absolute sense, without any exception whatsoever, however small. The internal administration of a monastery is conducted by the superior together with the brotherhood, according to the general monastic rules and according to the particular typikon, where such exists for individual monasteries.

From the very beginning of the cenobitic monastic life, there stood at the head of the administration of every monastery a particular person, who directed and oversaw the whole monastic life. He was called abba (ἀββᾶς), as a father in relation to his children—the other monks of the monastery, who among themselves were called brothers (ἀδελφοί)—which showed the character of the mutual relations among the members of a monastery, as of a spiritual family, in which the younger are bound to their elder by filial love, and among themselves by brotherly love, for which reason the monastery itself was sometimes called a brotherhood (ἀδελφᾶτον, ἀδελφότρια). The name abba was afterward retained only as an honorific title of the monastery’s superior, and it became customary to call him hegumen (ἡγούμενος) and archimandrite (ἀρχιμανδρίτης) for monasteries of monks, and, for monasteries of nuns, hegumenia and archimandritissa. The superior of a larger monastery, in which there were many monks, bore the title of archimandrite, and the superior of a smaller monastery the title of hegumen.[1] The rights and duties of an archimandrite and of a hegumen in their monasteries are entirely equal.[2] Since the number of monasteries in which the superiors were archimandrites was far smaller than the number of those in which hegumens were superiors, and since the title of hegumen was regarded as the regular one for a monastery’s superior, while the title of archimandrite was a privileged title reserved for only a few monasteries, the sources of church law regularly speak only of hegumens.

For the office of a monastery’s superior only such a monk may be appointed as is known to all to be strictly devout, whose life has always been exemplary, and who is capable, by his authority, of maintaining discipline among the monks and order in the monastery.[3] This is the chief thing to which attention must be paid in appointing a monastery’s superior, and all other external conditions are of only secondary significance, so that it is not taken into account at all whether the person in question is senior in years, or in tonsure, to the other monks—it suffices that all the other monks regard him as the best and most capable man for the office of superior.[4] A brother of another monastery may also be appointed superior, if by chance in the monastery in question there is no one who possesses the necessary qualities.[5]

As a rule, the superior is elected by all the brothers of the monastery in question. This election must be carried out by those concerned in full awareness of the responsibility which they take upon themselves before God and the Church, and for this reason they swear on the Gospel before the election that they will vote according to conscience, and not out of partiality or bribery. The election is subject to confirmation by the diocesan bishop, who, if he approves it, elevates the elected man to the rank of hegumen or archimandrite and issues him the corresponding charter.[6] For stauropegial monasteries the superiors are appointed by the patriarch or the synod.[7] In those monasteries for which there exist special founders’ (ktetors’) statutes, it is also permitted for the founder or founders in question, according to the provisions of the statute, to take part in the election of the monastery’s superior.[8]

The rights and duties of every monastery’s superior are set out in the corresponding charter (ἔνταλμα), which the bishop issues to him upon his enthronement as superior.[9] The chief duties of the superior are these: 1) to see that all the monks strictly and precisely observe the monastic rules, and to be for the younger brethren a living example of the most perfect monastic life; 2) that the divine service in the monastery church be celebrated strictly according to the typikon, and that at every service he himself be first, and likewise that no brother or novice absent himself from the service; 3) that, according to the prescription of the typikon, the lives of the saints be read every day; 4) that he never leave the monastery without pressing need, and likewise that no monk leave the monastery without his express permission; 5) that he often visit the monks’ cells, by day and by night, to see how the monks occupy themselves in the time free from the divine service, and that he assign each monk a suitable occupation; 6) that at fitting times he gather all the monks in the chapter hall, to deliver edifying discourses to them, and that the monastic rules be read and expounded there; 7) that he oversee the monastic economy, and that nothing be procured or issued without his knowledge; 8) that he see whether the econome, the ecclesiarch, and the other monastery officials exactly perform their duties, and likewise whether the novices are being properly prepared for tonsure; 9) that he submit to the church authority, at the prescribed time, and at least once a year, an exact report both on the monastic life and conduct of the monks and on the monastic economy.[10]

In connection with these duties, and all the others arising from those just enumerated, the superior has in his monastery certain corresponding rights as well. He is, in his monastery, the head with full authority over all the monks, who all depend on him and can do nothing without his permission, and if they do something on their own authority he has the right at once to subject them to punishment according to the rules.[11] Besides the primacy of authority and honor in his monastery, the superior has also certain hierarchical rights. Thus, according to the 14th canon of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, the superior has the authority to confer on a monk of his monastery the first degree of the priesthood, that is, to ordain him a reader;[12] and by the 6th canon of Nicephorus the Confessor the superior may in his monastery also ordain a monk a subdeacon, and so he would have the right to ordain to all the lower degrees of the sacred hierarchy.[13] According to the commentators, it is also the right of the superior to receive new monks into the order.[14]

According to the character of the monastic community, all the rights of a monastery’s superior are conditioned by his relation to the monks, as of a father to his children. With regard to this, the superior’s authority in the monastery must not be despotic, nor may he exercise this authority alone on his own, but in agreement and consultation with the senior monastic brethren, and only in a gentle manner. This is expressly prescribed by all the existing monastic statutes, and in the first place by the Studite statute, which served as the model for all the other statutes.[15] In accordance with these prescriptions, in every monastery there must exist a superior’s council (βουλή) for all matters, both spiritual and administrative. This council is composed of: the deputy, the confessor, the ecclesiarch, and the monastery econome, and, when needed, also all those senior monks who are known as exemplary in the monastic life. All these persons are called the superior’s counsellors (σύμβουλοι), and they compose three separate administrative departments: one for spiritual judgment, another for church and liturgical matters, and a third for matters of the monastic economy.

The monastic court (κριτήριον), under the presidency of the superior, is composed of: 1) The superior’s deputy, who is called the “second” (δευτερεύων) in the monastery, or, in the Hilandar statute, “the first brother after the hegumen.”[16] The deputy has no independent office of his own in the monastery, but replaces the superior when the latter is prevented, and assists him in the performance of the superior’s duties. 2) The confessor (πατὴρ πνευματικός), usually one of the oldest and most devout hieromonks, who confesses all the monks in the monastery, beginning with the superior down to the youngest brother.[17] It is also his duty to oversee how the novices in question are being prepared for tonsure. 3) Two or three senior and exemplary monks, who as members of the monastic court are called epistemonarchs (ἐπιστημονάρχαι).[18]

Over the monastery church and the divine service is appointed the ecclesiarch (ἐκκλησιάρχης), who sees to the internal order of the church and that all the church services are strictly performed according to the typikon.[19] The ecclesiarch has several assistants in his office, namely: the pareklisiarch, and, subordinate to him, the protokanonarch and the kanonarchs, whose duty it is to read the canons and the psalms in church, and the taxiarch, who keeps the church, and everything needed for the divine service, in order and cleanliness.[20] The service in the monastery church itself must be performed, in weekly rotation, by all the monks who are hieromonks, according to the arrangement of the ecclesiarch and the pareklisiarch.

The administration of the monastery’s economic affairs, under the oversight and joint responsibility of the superior, is entrusted to the monastery econome (οἰκονόμος). The office of econome is regarded in the monastery as very important, exactly like that of the ecclesiarch. The econome, the ecclesiarch, and the superior are regarded as the chief persons in the monastery, without whom a properly ordered monastic life cannot even be conceived. If the superior fails to see to it that there be an econome in the monastery, such a superior is subject to a penance, and the bishop in such a case himself appoints and designates an econome for the monastery’s affairs.[21] The econome takes care of all the monastery’s property and of all the monastery’s income and expenditure. He sees that the monastery’s estate is kept intact and that nothing perishes, and that no immovable or movable thing passes into strangers’ hands. Together with the superior and with the more devout and prominent (εὐλαβέστεροι καὶ προέχοντες) monks he draws up, at the appointed time, a budget of the monastery’s expenses for the whole year, and when the year is complete he renders to the assembly of the brotherhood an account of everything spent in the year in question, and of how much was received from lands, from pious contributions, and from alms. He may make no extraordinary expenditure without the superior’s knowledge and permission, just as only with the superior’s knowledge may something new be procured for the monastery. In managing the monastery’s economy the econome is assisted by certain designated monks, namely: 1) The pareconome, or the econome’s deputy, who replaces the econome when he is prevented by something. As a rule the pareconome takes care of the ikonomion, where the clothing and other things for the monks are kept. 2) The econome for the metochion, who takes care of the metochia and of the lands worked there. 3) The treasurer, who keeps the monastery treasury and receives and disburses the necessary money.[22] 4) The grammatikos, or scribe, chosen from among the most learned and most skilled-of-hand monks. He records all the accounting business of the monastery, and besides this keeps the monastery archive in order, keeps the minutes at the brotherhood’s sessions, conducts the official correspondence of the monastery’s administration, and keeps and manages the monastery library. It is also his duty to record all the chief events concerning the monastery, for which reason he is also called the chronicler (ὑπομνηματογράφος).[23] All these persons are subordinate to the monastery econome. Dependent on him too are all the other monks who must look after various places and things in the monastery.[24]

All these persons of the monastic administration exist in large and spacious monasteries, while in smaller monasteries with a smaller number of monks it is quite natural that there cannot be so great a number of officials; rather, all the offices are divided among the monks who are there, and to a lesser degree also among the novices.

II. CHURCH BROTHERHOODS