Monks vs. Friars

[Sinner1]

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but what exaclty is the difference between a monk and a friar?

[Friar David, O.Carm]

Originally Posted by Sinner1

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but what exaclty is the difference between a monk and a friar?

A monk is a member of a monastic order.

A friar is a member of a mendicant order.

Monks live in a monastery.

Friars live in a friary.

Monks are usually cloistered.

Friars are usually active.

[Pious]

What Byzcath said and an Abbott is usually the head of the Monastery / Abbey and a Guardian is the head of a Friary.

[Sinner1]

Okay, then what's the difference from a monestary and a friary?

[Fortiterinre]

A monastery is usually intentionally isolated in the countryside to promote a peaceful and more contemplative lifestyle for the monks; a friary is usually located next to whatever apostolic work the friars are doing, whether that is a parish, a school, etc.

[tee_eff_em]

Every time I see this subject, I think it should be related to the Football thread.

"I'll take the Friars and 6 points,"
tee
(who was raised from a cub by friars)

[Br. Rich SFO]

That reminds me of something I heard long ago.


On a tiny little island there was a group of cannibals. One day the witchdoctor was called to a hut where several cannibals had bad tummy aches. After looking at each he inquired. What did you have for lunch? One of the cannibals explained that they had boiled one of the funny brown robed men for the other island. Aha!!!! said the witchdoctor that is the problem! You should not have boiled him, he was a friar!

[Tantum ergo]

A group of tourists went through an olde English monastery, which had recently started selling food goods, and had opened up a small restaurant on the premises, specializing in the old standby "fish and chips".

The food was so delicious that one of the men insisted on going into the kitchen to thank the cooks in person.

There were two men in the kitchen. One was the chip monk. The other was the fish friar.

[Friar David, O.Carm]

Pun warning. Do not say that I did not warn you!

A group of friars moved into town and opened up a florist shop. Things were going very well as they could charge less than everyone else becuase they didn't need much to live on.

Well their success was causing trouble for the only other florist shop, a family run business, in town. The owners of this shop went to see the friars to ask them to either close their shop or to raise their prices. The friars could not understand this request and refused to do either.

So the father of this family sent his son Hugh over to speak to the friars one last time.

Well this seemed to work, as the friars closed up shop the next day.

Do you know what the moral of the story is?

Hugh, and only Hugh, can stop florist friars.

Again, you were warned.

[FrCorey]

Originally Posted by Br. Rich SFO

That reminds me of something I heard long ago.


On a tiny little island there was a group of cannibals. One day the witchdoctor was called to a hut where several cannibals had bad tummy aches. After looking at each he inquired. What did you have for lunch? One of the cannibals explained that they had boiled one of the funny brown robed men for the other island. Aha!!!! said the witchdoctor that is the problem! You should not have boiled him, he was a friar!

so, if a friar works parttime in a fast food place to earn a living, would that make him a french friar?

[PaulNik]

Originally Posted by ByzCath

Pun warning. Do not say that I did not warn you!

A group of friars moved into town and opened up a florist shop. Things were going very well as they could charge less than everyone else becuase they didn't need much to live on.

Well their success was causing trouble for the only other florist shop, a family run business, in town. The owners of this shop went to see the friars to ask them to either close their shop or to raise their prices. The friars could not understand this request and refused to do either.

So the father of this family sent his son Hugh over to speak to the friars one last time.

Well this seemed to work, as the friars closed up shop the next day.

Do you know what the moral of the story is?

Hugh, and only Hugh, can stop florist friars.

Again, you were warned.

I tried and I tried to resist but the devil made me read this. I must have sinned because it made me laugh.

[Joseph Bilodeau]

To bring this back to a serious note, "monk" comes fron the greek "monos", meaning "alone". This is because the the monastic tradition began with hermits living a solitary, contemplative religious life. Later, the stress changed from a solitary life to a communal life, though still largely contemplative, and with the community largely sepapated from the distractions of the rest of the world rather than the individual.

"Friar" comes from the latin "frater", meaning "brother". As has been mentioned before, communities of friars typically live a much more active lifestyle within the world. The rise of friar communities is a more recent historical development than that of monastic orders.

There are also monastic and active religious communities for women. Those which tend to follow the monastic model are typically cloistered nuns and those that follow the active model may also be called nuns, or religious sisters.

Finally, it should also be noted that not every religious community can be neatly divided into one of these two categories. Some cross over into both categories, such as the Poor Clares Franciscan Orders of Sisters. These originate from a Franciscan spirituality which is more fraternal than monastic, but the Poor Clares are usually cloistered communities. Other communities may contain members whose different individual vocations may be either monastic or fraternal, even within the same house.