Poverty and Spirituality in the Medieval Church

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Attaining Poverty and Spirituality In The Medieval Church By Liz Strutt With the persecution of Christians during the Roman Empire, those who wished to dedicate their lives to their faith would flee into the wilderness to be one with God and to avoid the fate that their beliefs would bring them. The belief of hermits was that in order to attain a completely spiritual life, one must live in poverty and away from society, living as Jesus did. There were two reasons that hermits would choose this life path, one being simply that they wished to dedicate their lives to become one with God and the other being that they saw the corruption of the Romans and fled to separate themselves from this and to spare themselves from His wrath. When word of these holy men would spread, people would seek out the hermits sanctuary for guidance, healing, teaching and prayers. These hermits were the beginning of monasteries and monks. Monks and friars also believed that living a life of spirituality and poverty was the correct way to live, although they executed it in different ways. Unlike hermits, who live in secluded, self imposed exile and live by what they individually believe to be the correct way of life, monks live together in monasteries and each take vows of chastity, poverty and obedience. While monks are people who dedicate their lives to God, it is not always the main reason why they have chosen this life as apposed to any other form of devotion. There are other spiritual reasons, such as wanting to live in a secure environment, wanting to escape the violence of the outside world or wanting to live a quiet and peaceful life. Also unlike hermits, monks are willingly involved with the outside world. They tend to the sick, teach in schools and become advisors for nobles, among other things, and in return receive payment in the form of money, land and, in the form of

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