Deir Hajla Monastery & Laura of Gerasimus

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There are two main forms of monasticism in the Judean Desert: the Laura and the Coinobion. The laura, also called Lavra, means solitude, its a form of abstinence. A group of monks would retire on weekdays, secluded from the world from Monday to Friday, and meet in a common place only on Saturdays and Sundays, days of prayer. The meeting was for the purpose of prayer, eating together, and the replacement of what they produced, with raw materials for work during the coming week.
The term "LAVRA" comes from Greek and means "corridor", or "path", and it probably represent the path that connects the individual cells of its members and the common place where they met on Saturday and Sunday.
Lavras developed during the fourth and fifth centuries in the Land of Israel as a combination of solitude and living together. It was a solution for those monks who did not want to live in a convent, which is a restrictive cooperative framework, but wanted to be part of a community.
Gerasimus' Lavra monks, lived among other locations, in the secluded cells in front of us - in a few minutes we will visit there.
Coinobion in Greek or Cenobion in Latin, means "living together", it is a communal monastery where monks live, study, pray, and eat, while living together. A few hundred meters from here, we will visit today two places representing the two forms of monasticism.

Yehuda Holtzman