– Admission Requirements
We admit candidates from good Christian background and especially Catholics practicing their faith. The Candidate should not be married and at least 20 years old. Graduated at least from secondary school or with diploma and above. He should be of good health. He should be able to learn other languages and especially English. Ability to adapt to different culture, environment and people. Should obtain military clearance. After the candidate decides to join us, he should also get the consent of the parents/guardians.
Monks with the Come & See Candidate at Mokattam, Cairo
–Discernment Process
Normally, each one of us responds to God’s call in different ways, at different times, ages and locations.
The Candidate’s discernment shall lead him to our monastic life in following the Gospel and the ideals set down in the Rule of St. Benedict. God will direct him to live in our Community under the guidance of the Prior.
The Candidate discerning to join us
–Contact Stage
The Candidate, our Vocations Director & the Retreat Master at St. Anthony, Ismailia
This is the first step in the discernment process. It’s time the candidate gathers information about the different kinds of religious life. If he is interested in becoming a Benedictine Monk of Egypt, he will need to learn about monastic life in general and the lives of the Desert Fathers. During this time of initial discernment, we encourage the Candidate to get in touch with us through our Vocations Director, to visit us and to talk with us about our lives as Benedictines.
The Candidate will be in contact with our Vocations Director who will help him to discern where God will lead him. He will ask guidance from the Holy Spirit and read articles and books to deepen his knowledge about the Benedictine life and the Benedictine values.
If in discernment with our Vocations Director the Candidate believes that he should take the next step, he will be invited to “Come and See” our Community. During this time and if he is interested, he may submit his formal application to join our Community through our Vocations Director who will in turn inform him whether has been accepted to us or advise him to consider other religious community or way of life. Upon acceptance he will be given a specific date to report into our Community to begin.
–Postulancy
The word “postulant” is from the Latin postulare, meaning to ask. A Postulant asks for admission into the monastery. He asks himself and God if this is where he is called, and the Community ask themselves if he has the right temperament and attitude to become a monk. St. Benedict says that the first thing necessary for anyone wishing to enter a monastic Community is that he truly seeks God. Not everyone is fit for monastic life, and in this initial period you can try it on and see how it fits.
Third from left is the Habit showing Postulancy stage, Chapel of St. Benedict Mokattam, Cairo
Postulancy is the transition period into the life of our Benedictine monastic Community and lasts for six months to one year. When being received by the Prior into Postulancy, he is vested with a cassock and a cincture.
Monks having breakfast in their Refectory at St. Benedict Mokattam, Cairo
The Postulant takes part in the life of our Community prayer and work at assigned tasks. He takes classes in Scripture, Liturgy, the Benedictine spirituality and the history of monasticism. He also does an English language course if it not his first language.
He will spend time in Lectio Divina – sacred reading as he grows in his personal relationship with God.
Each step of the discernment process should draw him more deeply into our monastic Community and should challenge him to a deeper relationship with God. And each step is made only when he is ready to do so. The formator journeys with him and together will determine the readiness for the novitiate. Admission into the novitiate follows.
–Novitiate
Upon completion of Postulancy, the postulant enters Novitiate. The Novitiate is a quiet time where a Novice frees himself from all worldly concerns. It is time of opening himself fully to God who called him.
A Novice being received into Novitiate the in the Chapel of St. Benedict Mokattam, Cairo
At a ceremony presided over by the Prior, receives a short scapular which he will where on top of his cassock and cincture. He would now be given the title “Brother” and the new Name of one of the Saints. He is also given The Rule of St. Benedict.
Novitiate period is twelve consecutive months as prescribed by the Canon Law. It is time of deeper immersion into the monastic Community. Involves prayer, reflection, solitude and work. It is special time to study the Rule of St. Benedict and monastic profession. The Novice Master journeys with the Novice.
He develops a deeper relationship with God, getting to know monks in the Community and learning monastic music.
Throughout the Novitiate time the novice will know the loving support of all the Community. The Community will pray with him and for him. Upon satisfactorily completing the Novitiate goals, the Novice may request through formal application to make his vows. The Novice Master will discern his readiness to enter into deeper commitment through First Monastic Vows.
–First Monastic Vows
The Novice is formally initiated into the Community through the ceremony of First Monastic Vows during Mass presided over by the Prior where he pronounces the vows of Stability, Fidelity to monastic life, and Obedience. He pronounces the formula of profession in front of the Altar; before God and His Saints. He signs the certificate of profession at the Altar and the Prior receives, witnesses and stamps. His name is now attributed with the initials OSB: – Order of St. Benedict. This is a commitment in which he intensifies his baptismal commitment and enters into a covenant with our Community. He receives a long scapular, equal to his cassock. He sings Suscipe Me Domine: – Receive me Lord. He is then officially welcomed by the Prior and all professed monks into the Community by a Kiss of Peace.
The Brother signing is vows at the Altar in Tigoni Priory, Kenya
This period is for three years, a time of fuller immersion into the Benedictine way of life, a time for the Junior Professed Brother to deepen his spirituality, a time to study more the Rule of St. Benedict. It is the time when the Brother becomes more fully integrated into our Community. It is also the time that he engages in either seminary or other professional studies.
The work of the brother in the Community will be determined by himself and the Prior based on his education, experience, talents, and the needs of our Community.
During this time the Brother continues with the process of growth and formation in the monastic way of life. He will do his best to a balanced life of prayer and work.
When the Brother and the Junior Master decide, he will take the final step and request through formal application to the Prior to make his Final Monastic Vows.
–Final Monastic Vows
After the Prior and the Community accept to admit the Brother into Final Monastic Vows, he will vow as in the ceremony of First Monastic Vows, but the formula of vows changes a little bit in the Mass presided over by the Prior:
Stability: The Brother promises to remain and live the monastic way of life in our Community, to be deeply rooted in the Community for the rest of his life.
Fidelity to Monastic Life: The Brother promises to seek God daily, a commitment to the continuing process of growth and formation in the monastic way of life as determined by the Rule of St. Benedict, our Constitutions and the norms of the Benedictine Confederation.
Obedience: The Brother promises to listen to the voice of the Spirit in the Scripture and in the Rule of St. Benedict through the Prior of our Community, in one another, in the Spirit within himself and in the events of human history.
The Brother prostrates himself in front of Altar and the litany of the Saints is called. He sings Suscipe Me Domine: – Receive me Lord and this time round he does three times; it’s really a total surrender to God. He is again welcomed by the Prior and all professed monks into the Community by a Kiss of Peace. The Prior then takes him to sit between other Finally Professed Monks meaning that he becomes a Chapter Member with voting rights and he can be appointed into the Community Council known as The Seniorate or any other Chapter Committee.
The Brother prostrating before the Altar during final vows
The Finally Professed Brother will know that, he has become part of our history. He belongs to both our present and our future.
–Education
The fullness of the monastic vocation does not necessarily depend on the priesthood. We do not have a fixed education programme and the brother cannot decide by himself what he wants to do. Education process and all the future assignments are decided by the superior in dialogue with the monk and with the community, hence taking into consideration the needs of the community, the abilities and the personal wishes of the confrere.
Monks in a session
Br. Arsanius OSB,
The Vocations Director
Monastery of St. Benedict of the Copts
2, 17 Street Mokattam
Cairo – Egypt
Email: vocations@osbegypt.com
Mobile: +201207551171 or +20155220281