monachism (monakizm)

[= F. mona chis me = Sp. monaquismo = Pg. It. monachismo, See monk . The root-idea of monachism is... retirement from society in search of some ideal of life which society cannot supply, but which is thought attainable by abnegation of self and withdrawal from the world. This definition applies to all forms of monachism ,.. whether amongst Brahmans, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Moslems, or the communistic societies of the present day, even when theo retically anti-theological. This broad general conception of monachism is differenced in the following ways:- It may take the form of absolute separation, so far as practicable, from all human intercourse, so as to give the whole life to solitary contemplation - the anchoretic type; or it may seek fellowship with kindred spirits in a new a ociation for the same common end-the cœnobitic type; it may abandon society as incurably corrupt, as a City of Destruction out of which the fugitive must flee absolutely the Oriental view, for the most part; or it may er itself as having a mi ion to influence and regenerate society - which has been, on the whole, and with minor exceptions, the Western theory of monastic life. Encyc. Brit ., XVI. 698. 2. A monastic characteristic or peculiarity; also, such characteristics collectively. Florence of Worster, Hunting don, Simeon of Durham, Hoveden, Mathew of Westminster, and many others of obscurer note, with all their monachisms. Milton , Hist. Eng., iv. Monachus (mon'a-kus), n. [NL., 2. In ornith., a genus of warblers containing such as the common blackcap, Sylvia atrica pill a. J. J. Kaup, 1829.-3. In entom., a large and important genus of leaf-beetles, erected by Suffrian in 1852. It is composed of small bluish beetles with or without red spots, and with the body very convex. There are about 100 species, all American, of which 6 belong to North America and the rest to more tropical regions.