What's It Like to Become a Monk?

[Applause] [Music] [Applause] the aura of a life lived outside of time hangs thick in the monastery blurring the shimmering shape of Father seon the youngest of the monks to take the [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] vows [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] normal days begin at quarter past midnight just as the monks wake up when half the world rests and the other half goes to bed the solitary carthusians leave the SS together and perform morning prayer quarter past midnight the silent prayer will last for 2 hours they're only together physically they don't exchange glances let alone [Music] words at night the carthusians are happier the only light inside is that which cuts through the Silhouettes come to God Alone immersed deep in silence like Christ who spent 40 days in the desert praising [Music] solitude for my f Father Anthony Eduardo Lopez was 20 years old when he entered the monastery in 1954 and filed away his civil name he became Anthony The Hermit adopting the name and the philosophy for for in the silent Monastery only the attorney Anthony still has contact with the hustle and bustle of the life of men he used to be the prior and Vicor the current prior was one of the seven monks who founded the Charter House of ivora in [Music] 1960 seven carthusian monks first founded the Charter House in 1084 in France another seven arrived in Portugal in 1587 they remained in Portugal for 247 years and until 1834 the order succumbed to The Echoes of the French Revolution and the Splendor of other Portuguese orders the monastery though poor and self-sufficient followed the course of all others during its state ownership the monastery was turned into an agricultural college and fell into ruin it was bought in the middle of the last century by the Earl of V Alva the family of the count through the foundation Eugenio de almea returned it to the order and rebuilt it in 1960 today the Charter House of iora has 12 monks 10 of them have completed their vows while two of them are aspirants George was a civil engineer for 27 years 3 months ago go he came to the [Music] monastery foree fore fore for spe Prett they live quietly work in silence pray in silence George is a Layman of the 12 eight were priests and four took a different path before arriving here just George among the Ley came earlier Andrew the brother electrician Jose Maria the brother who takes care of the Orange Grove and Antonio the cook have been here for many years the carthusians renounced meat they eat only what life and their business demands they have two meals a day here time is tied to the rituals of the order with the clock Bell [Music] [Music] if we look at the sequence of the carthusian day they lie down at 8:30 in the evening for 3 hours they wake up when it's already dark for morning prayer before that first sleep brother Anthony distributes the second and last meal of the day to everyone a very little fish with cooked vegetables locked in their cells only an emergency will release [Music] them 62 years ago father isidori was Francisco a devote of sport but in 1943 he gave up all Earthly Pleasures to contemplative meditation and God [Music] ISF living in a prison cell for 20 hours a day for 62 years like father is adoro requires much more than the noble flame that keeps a marriage burning and in this cell stripped of pleasure there is just base cement and mass that's not made for normal men foree father isidori suffered from a severe stomach illness that failed to heal his fragility freed him from fasting on Fridays he's one of the three monks exempt from fasting the priests of the monastery are responsible for the training of the Ley Isidor the priest via the second in the hierarchy of the monastery after the father prior has a computer in his cell which he uses to study but computer sharing stops at the [Music] priest [Music] for father Isidor glories in the beauty of [Music] flowers at Charter House six days a week are always the same only the Sunday party interrupts the solit ude where lunch is eaten together in the cafeteria usually monks are left to harness their loneliness but at times there are complaints about our absence from the community so there is a meal on Sunday and a walk together on the first day of the week some nin for Jose morera who wanted to be an active policeman was a carthusian for many years but he changed his path he married and had children the physical presence of this man without habit who is partially attached to the routine of the monastery is more than the symbolism of a dream that was to be achieved the monks feel that the police protect them the police protect the Monk's silence and Solitude before the last meal of the day the monks pray together three times quter 5 in the afternoon in the Silence of his cell he prays at 6:45 in the morning when getting up at 930 at noon at 3:00 p.m. and at 7: in the evening then they lie down for their first sleep until morning prayer at 3:30 in the morning they returned to their cells for their second sleep and do them into this foree at 52 father Antonio's soul is accustomed to the austerity of the carthusians but so is his body after being in the monastery for 6 months there are ages at which a body of routines has even more difficulty in freeing itself from the natural pleasures of the soul to eat all day without daring to satisfy the the greed to always put aside the flesh fasting on Fridays just bread washed down with water Antonio pinete was a priest in the many parishes he left to find solitude [Music] 20 hours in the cell every day forever it's much more than any [Music] conviction [Music] fore for for to fulfill their vows Antonio George and the two aspirants to the monastery wear black when they exit the cell black is always opposite from the church the church is White the color of the monastery in morning morning Mass Antonio is also distinguished by size as in all joint prayers the monks give themselves to God omitting one another at Mass a single Earthly pleasure could take away from God the wine of the Eucharist is a simple example of the foundation that protects them and the monks who lent the name of the order to label the precious flavor the contemplative life of carthusians made up of rituals which are strange to any other Church requires that every priest celebrates Mass alone in silence Anthony The Hermit often does so at 3:00 a.m. after morning prayer prayer Bruno an American priest who adopted the name of the monk who 900 years ago founded the order celebrates the Awakening from asleep first just before the most common prayer of the [Music] day they live within themselves locked in a ritual that makes them different they're apart from Men released from idle talk standing in prayer prisoners to God away from the crowds the monks of silence come and praise the loneliness

Channel: Journeyman Pictures

Views: 101,349

Keywords: journeyman pictures, news, current affairs, world news, documentary, Carthusian, monks, solitude, religion, faith, monastery, sacrifice, isolation, Portugal, spirituality, Father, God, self-denial, Christianity, elegy, silence

Id: e0HvQ50cnvE

Length: 22min 45sec (1365 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 06 2016