lauras

Noun

laura (plural lauras or laurae)

1. (historical) A number of hermitages or cells in the same neighborhood occupied by anchorites who were under the same superior
   • The solitaries of the Thebaid found that they became selfish wild beasts, or went mad, if they remained alone; and they formed themselves into lauras, 'lanes' of huts, convents, under a common abbot or father.1864, Charles Kingsley, Lecture IX: The Monk a Civilizer: The Roman and the Teuton: A Series of Lectures Delivered Before the University of Cambridge, page 240
2. (historical, Eastern Orthodoxy) A cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the centre.
   • There were the cenobia, or monasteries proper, where the life was according to the lines laid down by St Basil; and there were the lauras, wherein a semi-eremitical life was followed, the monks living in separate huts within the enclosure.1966, E. C. Butler, “Chapter XVIII: Monasticism”, in H. M. Gwatkin, J. P. Whitney, editors, The Cambridge Medieval History, volume 1, page 529

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