Religious Order

Definition and Meaning

The Korean term for a religious order, sudohoe (修道會), means "a society for cultivating the Way." It refers to a community of religious who have taken vows and live according to a rule (a set of regulations governing community life). Religious commonly take three vows. Poverty means owning no personal property; chastity means living a celibate life; and obedience means submitting to one's superiors in the community. Male religious are called brothers or monks, female religious are called sisters or nuns, and the house in which they live together is called a monastery or convent. Religious orders exist mainly in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, and the Anglican Communion.

Biblical and Historical Background

No passage of Scripture directly commands the monastic life. The monastic tradition has appealed to Jesus' words to the rich young man, in which he told him to sell his possessions and give to the poor (Matthew 19:21). It also points to the example of the Jerusalem church, whose members held their goods in common (Acts 4:32-35).

From the late third century, solitary hermits began to appear in the Egyptian desert. Pachomius is generally credited with subsequently founding cenobitic monasteries, in which monks lived together in community. In the sixth century, the Rule written by Benedict of Nursia became the foundational norm for Western monasticism. The thirteenth century saw the rise of the mendicant orders, whose members lived by begging while preaching. The most prominent were the Franciscans, founded by Francis of Assisi, and the Dominicans.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther, himself an Augustinian friar, criticized the notion that monastic vows were a meritorious work contributing to salvation. John Calvin likewise criticized monastic vows. As a result, many monasteries in Protestant territories were closed. Protestantism emphasized an understanding of vocation in which ordinary occupations outside the monastery are also a calling from God. Anglicans reestablished religious orders in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, ecumenical monastic communities with Protestant origins also emerged, such as the Taizé Community in France.

Practice in the Korean Church

The Presbyterian, Methodist, Holiness, Baptist, and Full Gospel denominations in Korea have no official religious orders with a system of vows. These denominations generally do not regard religious as having a special status. Instead, in keeping with the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers, they teach that all believers are called to live holy lives in their everyday circumstances.

The Anglican Church of Korea has religious communities such as the Society of the Holy Cross. In 1965 the Anglican priest Archer Torrey (known in Korean as Dae Cheon-deok) founded Jesus Abbey in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, a community centered on prayer and common life. Donggwangwon, led by Lee Hyun-pil, is known as an early example of a Korean Protestant monastic community. Some prayer retreat centers also use the name "monastery," but they differ in character from religious orders that have vows and a rule.

In recent years, interest in contemplative prayer and the spiritual disciplines of the monastic tradition has grown among some Protestants. Some regard this as the recovery of a forgotten spiritual tradition, while others caution against it as an influence of Catholic mysticism.