The passage below is from A History of the Index by Dennis Duncan.
The monasteries put reading at the centre of daily life. After rising for prayer in the middle of the night, the Benedictine Rule stipulates that monks should then apply themselves to two hours of reading, after which they may either go back to bed, ‘or if anyone may perhaps want to read, let him read to himself in such a way as not to disturb anyone else’. At mealtimes, one monk will be appointed to read to the others, who must keep absolute silence ‘so that no whispering may be heard nor any voice except the reader’s’. Reading –and listening –have utter priority. The situation is the same in the nunnery, where St Caesarius prescribes two hours to be set aside for reading in the early morning and a nominated reader to be the only audible voice both at mealtimes and during the nuns’ daily weaving. And woe betide the sister who finds herself drifting off: ‘If anyone should become drowsy, she shall be ordered to stand while the others are seated, so that she can banish the heaviness of sleep.’ Attention is enforced. The scriptures are not to be a background noise, a radio left on quietly in the corner of the room. In the monastic tradition, reading is meditation, not a means to learning but an end in itself, endlessly repeated over a lifetime of ordered devotion, of devoted order.
I want to ask the meaning of ‘ordered devotion’, and ‘devoted order’.
Of ‘ordered devotion’, it seems that ‘ordered’ means ‘carefully arranged or controlled’ and ‘devotion’ means ‘commitment’. (Am I right?)
The meaning of ‘devoted order’ is much difficult to me, especially the meaning of ‘order’. Here ‘devoted’ seems to mean ‘committed’. (Am I right?)
Now about the meaning of ‘order’ I cannot surely specify any meaning to agree with this context. My guess is that it seems to mean ‘a society’ as in the Benedictine order of monks. (Am I right?)
Thanks in advance.
See entry #13 Ordered devotion = devotion that has been mandated by an authority. com/order 13. A group of persons living under a religious rule: Order of Saint Benedict.
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See entry #13
Ordered devotion = devotion that has been mandated by an authority.
devoted order = a group of people who are committed to a cause or way of life
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/order
13. A group of persons living under a religious rule: Order of Saint Benedict.