@givenup @branman65 @Saber Oh for sure. Allegedly it used to be somewhat common for second or third born sons of ye olde middle class to be pushed towards priesthood or monastic life, in part because there wasn't likely to be enough estate for them all to get a decent size. I don't think that's the way to go, but I think the idea of rejection of monasticism outright is foolish. If we formally abolished monasticism, it would just start again from a based holy man going innawoods to survive and a few random people bumping into him and recognizing the holy nature radiating from him. That's what happened for Anthony and Benedict. I have to imagine it was kind of a reluctant situation where they were forced to become teachers.