Monastic silence

Monastic silence is a spiritual practice recommended in a variety of religious traditions for purposes including facilitation of approaching deity, and achieving elevated states of spiritual purity. Silence has been practiced in every monastic tradition for centuries. It may be in accordance with a monk's formal vow of silence, but can also engage laity who have not taken vows, or novices who are preparing to take vows. Monastic silence is more highly developed in the Roman Catholic faith than in Protestantism, but it is not limited to Catholicism. The practice has a corresponding manifestation in the Orthodox church, which teaches that silence is a means to access the deity, to develop self-knowledge, or to live more harmoniously. Theophilus, patriarch of Alexandria, placed the virtue of silence on par with the faith itself in a synodal letter from AD 400. "Monks—if they wish to be what they are called—will love silence and the Catholic faith, for nothing at all is more important than these two things."

The practice of silence is observed during different parts of the day; practitioners talk when they need to but maintain a sense of silence or a sense of prayer when talking. The rules of silence apply to both vowed practitioners and non-vowed guests. Religious recommendations of silence as praxis do not deprecate speech when it is thoughtful and considerate of commonly held values. According to Andrew March of the Benedictine order, we "can listen to substantive speech for hours while five minutes of garrulous speech is too much." It is noteworthy that "silence" can include what is more aptly characterized as "quietness", i.e. speaking in low voice tones. Silence is not an absence of words or thoughts—it is a positive and substantive reality.

In the book Silence, The Still Small Voice of God, Andrew March establishes the roots of silence doctrine in the Psalms attributed to David. "Benedict and his monastics would know from chanting the Psalter every week the verse that follows: “I was silent and still; I held my peace to no avail; my distress grew worse, my heart became hot within me. While I mused, the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue” (Psalm 39: 3).

St. Norbet's Arts Center also anchors its views on silence in the Old Testament: "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." (Psalm 62)

The Trappist rubric "Living in silence" illustrates centuries-old hand gestures which were "developed to convey basic communication of work and spirit".

Silence plays a salient role in the Benedictine rule. It is thought that by clearing the mind of distraction, one may listen more attentively to the deity.

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