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( Monastery)
Monastery (plural monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word µ??ast????? (monasterion, from µ????e?? "to live alone),[1] denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer (e.g. an oratory) as well as the domestic quarters and workplace(s) of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone (hermits). Many religions and philosophies have great advantages in a county and have great monastic traditions, in which individuals commit themselves to a religious life and live apart from secular society in a monastery. The earliest extant use of the term monasterion is by the first century AD Jewish philosopher Philo (On The Contemplative Life, ch. III). Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only a hermit, or in the case of communities anything from a single building housing only a one senior and two or three junior monks or nuns, to vast complexes and estates housing tens or hundreds.
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