In the 200s AD, the Roman Empire saw the rise of monastic traditions beginning in the deserts of Egypt and Syria. In Syria, St. Pachomius was working out how Christian ascetics could live in monastic communities, while in Egypt, St. Anthony was living as a solitary hermit in the desert. Within a generation of these two saints beginning their different types of monastic living, tens of thousands were copying them in Syria and Egypt, living in monasteries or else as lone hermits in the desert, in the latter case trying to emulate the life of Saint John the Baptist, the "voice of one crying in the wilderness: make straight the way of the Lord!"
Why did this all happen? Because in the 200s AD, Rome experienced 50 years of civil wars and almost as many emperors. The Roman Empire nearly fell, and life after the "Crisis of the Third Century" was never the same again. By the late 200s, Rome's skeptical, materialistic, rather complacent attitude was all gone, replaced by religious fervor among the entire population, from peasants to rulers, and by a need for spiritual consolation and oneness with the Divine.

We, today, in the modern world, are still quite skeptical, materialistic, and complacent, but crisis is emerging and many are yearning for a deeper meaning, a true purpose, in their lives. I suggest that if some intrepid souls, the likes of Saint Pachomius and St. Anthony, began a new tradition of monasticism in the West, hundreds of thousands of people would follow in their footsteps within a generation.
The teaching of those "Desert Fathers" became the foundation for medieval monasticism in Europe after the Empire fell and the region entered a Dark Age, as St. Benedict founded his monastery in Italy, consciously looking to the Desert Fathers as an example of how to get it right.
Incels, femcels, and others cast aside by today's society could find the warm embrace of God in a monastic setting, thus transforming their lives from ones of nihilistic rage to lives of

>>510047651 (OP)
[continued] spiritual fulfillment and deep tranquility that one only finds in oneness or merging with the Divine.
Yes, monks, the world over, take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. This is deliberate. Monks are meant to live "otherworldly" lives and to reject the values and desires of this world, so they give up sex, money, and willfulness. It is not that bad and is actually liberating to live this way.

>>510047651 (OP)
Based.
So when are you starting that new monastery, anon?

>>510047955
I might join an existing monastery, as I lack the land to found one, though I might inherit 160 acres in the future (probably in about a decade). If I get that land, I will very seriously consider founding a monastery.
It would be a place where society's rejects and misfits can go and look for meaning and purpose in their lives: helping the ill, the elderly, the poor, the suffering.
Of course, monasteries require discipline or else they break down. Taking in society's misfits runs the risk of all sorts of bad things happening if discipline isn't required, and people have to be screened before being accepted as permanent monks. Many US Catholic monasteries, for example, require an "initiate" to remain at the monastery and adhere to its rules for several years before they can be accepted as permanent monks who reside at the monastery.
But I'd like to go on to the monastic life at some point. At this time, family obligations, specifically taking care of some elderly relations, prevent me from joining a monastery. But in time, I may get the chance.

>>510047651 (OP)
>>510047687
Monasteries are lovely tradition, we owe a big thanks to the Coptic community for them & I would love to visit an Oriental Orthodox monastery sometime. However I will challenge your main idea OP, that they are the solution to societies problem.
Monasteries are sex exclusive. You can have a male monasteries, you can have a female convent. But they can’t be mixed sex. Thus monasteries cannot be the default societal model. They can leaven the lump, but they are not the lump.

The first thing that God saw that was NOTA Good was not original sin, but that man was alone. monasteries violate Edenic balance. But that is by design. Monks are not trying to restore Eden—they are bearing witness to the eschaton, the age to come, where, as Christ says, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Matthew 22:30).
But your my stands: not everyone is called to that. Genesis 2:18. Monasteries are beautiful but they exist in remote place for unique men. They are something that God calls many, let alone society, to.

A better model for society to follow would be the Old Order Anabaptists such as the Amish and Hutterites. Maybe also draw on historical successes such as the Harmony Society.

I think that many men look at the state of the world and are drawn to RETVRN TO MONK. In reality monks are very strong people, they make great sacrifices and work hard. But that desire to flee I think is in part motivated by cowardice. It’s hard being a Monk, but it’s also hard to fix society. Hope this gave you something interesting to reflect on, God love you OP.

>>510049498
Monasteries aren't meant to be a model for society; they are meant to be apart from society, to be "otherworldly" and detached from ordinary human concerns, allowing members and visitors to focus on divine things and God.

>>510049498
>I think that many men look at the state of the world and are drawn to RETVRN TO MONK. In reality monks are very strong people, they make great sacrifices and work hard. But that desire to flee I think is in part motivated by cowardice. It’s hard being a Monk, but it’s also hard to fix society. Hope this gave you something interesting to reflect on, God love you OP.
The Protestants believed this: that devout men (and women too) should focus on fixing society. It degenerated into secularism and materialism.
A strong monastic tradition helps anchor a society to holy concerns.
Yes, there can be friars, who are like monks who travel in the towns and cities doing good deeds and trying to help. The first friars appeared as Europe began to re-urbanize during the High Medieval Period (1000 to 1300 AD).
But the rural monks, who indeed are unique sorts of men, are needed to give a society a strong spiritual focus.

>>510051017
>Monasteries aren't meant to be a model for society; they are meant to be apart from society
I agree 100% anon, that was my point. They are apart from society so they aren’t the solution.

>The Protestants believed this: that devout men (and women too) should focus on fixing society. It degenerated into secularism and materialism.
I think you shouldn’t be so quick to point the finger at “Protestantism”, that’s vague, inaccurate and unhelpful. It also comes across as being uncharitable.
>A strong monastic tradition helps anchor a society to holy concerns.
A strong monastic tradition/community can be a city on a hill for a society, but as you already admitted…
>Monasteries aren't meant to be a model for society; they are meant to be apart from society
Rural communities should be looking to groups like the Old Order Amish for the reasons I listed previously (>>510049498). And none of this is to disparage monastics, but it’s not going to be a solution to societies problems for the reasons we both agreed on.