I've often wondered what the other 25 chequers did. That's right, I went there! :^)
Posted on 02/20/2025 5:57:32 PM PST by SunkenCiv
During excavations at the Khirbat el-Masani site, a Byzantine monastery dated between the 4th and 7th centuries, several tombs were uncovered. Among them, one stood out in particular: a burial where the individual had been wrapped in chains, an ascetic practice symbolizing the sacrifice of the body and detachment from the material world. Traditionally, this type of penance has been associated with male anchorites, leading archaeologists to assume that the remains belonged to a man. However, the poor preservation of the bones prevented a conclusive osteological determination of the individual's sex.
Faced with the inability to rely on traditional osteological methods, researchers turned to dental enamel proteomics, an innovative technique that allows for determining biological sex through the analysis of proteins in tooth enamel. In this case, scientists analyzed the presence of the amelogenin protein, which has specific variants in the X and Y chromosomes. The absence of the male variant (AmelY) in the sample conclusively indicated that the individual was a woman.
(Excerpt) Read more at labrujulaverde.com ...
She’s the Woman in the Box
Buried in her .....
Mortification of the flesh. An act of repentance and penance, humility and rejection of the world. Performed in various ways - immurement, rejection of footware (hence “discalced” monastic orders), vows of silence, self whipping, etc.
Back in the early aughts, I got a freelance gig at a museum that featured a lot of Tibetan and Buddhist golden artifacts. I’m talking huge golden buddhas and Hindu Shivas and stuff. I was talking to the manager there one day and she was telling me they had an exhibit of these African grave post things the previous year. I said it sounded like it could be haunted and she turned and looked right at me and said, “Everything in this place is haunted… man this stuff is solid gold and thousands of people died over it. We have weird sh!t happen here ALL the time.” I was only there a few weeks and never saw anything weird, but I always remembered that conversation.
I did wonder that.
Nuns and sisters?? Two names for female monestics. The same thing.
Nope. Nuns are monastics. Their vocation is to live a life of prayer within a cloistered convert and have little or no contact with the outside world.
Sisters are those who belong to religious orders that have ministries out in the world: teaching, missionary work, caring for the sick, etc. In popular parlance they get called "nuns", but ask any Sister and she will quickly explain to you the difference.
indicated that the individual was a woman.
Assigned at death, I presume?
There were anchorites who were women - that’s how nuns started basically.
And they would have been separate from the male monks
Yes.Read that in the article, didn’t think of that in connection to the beginning of nuns. Interesting.
But she was in chains. Seemed a punishment.
Rethinking this, “However, no material evidence had been found confirming that some women also adopted the most extreme forms of penance”.
Some in the past have practiced self flagellation, Thomas More wore a hair shirt, but this act is so extreme.
I just got the ‘Alice’ joke 😆
In a monestery there can be males (monks) and females (nuns). So no there are no female monks.
They misidentified the body because they made a false assumption.
Some in archeology do that regularly. For instance trying to interpret finds through a Marxist lens seems to never work.
They should’ve just ax it it’s preferred pronouns.
I have two, myself: “The One who is My Intellectual Superior”, and, “The Chancellor of the Exchequer!”
Ends any argument very shortly after it has begun.
I've often wondered what the other 25 chequers did. That's right, I went there! :^)
...Nuns are monastics. Their vocation is to live a life of prayer within a cloistered convert and have little or no contact with the outside world.Sisters are those who belong to religious orders that have ministries out in the world.
Thanks! I learned something!
I found this, which probably explains some of why I, and I suspect many others, don't know this.
The most common misconception is that all sisters are nuns. This is not true. Both sisters and nuns are addressed as “sisters” which makes this confusing. For example, referring to a woman religious as Sr. Mary does not indicate whether or not Sr. Mary is a nun or a sister.So, sort of like the "Dr." case we are more familiar with. Mostly if you are introduced to someone as "Dr. Smith" you assume he's a medical doctor, but in fact he could be a dentist, or even a Ph.D. of some sort with pretensions of grandeur.
What you have described is, I think, unique to the Catholic Church, which of course are the vast majority of "Sisters" we have in the USA.
I think that the Orthodox Christians have Nuns, but not "Sisters" as a separate calling.
And, of course the Buddhists have a long monistic tradition as well. I don't think they are called "brother" and "sister" at all, though. There was one at college when I was there, but I don't remember this detail.
Thanks in return, because I learned something too. And I never really thought about what monastics are called in Buddhism. I’ll have to check that out.
😆
I used to use “Chief Scribe of the Unwritten Law”.
I described it as “a mostly ceremonial position, but it gets me into the best parties and it comes with a big clothing allowance.” Lol!
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