{{Short description|Small room used by a hermit, monk, anchorite or nun to live and as a devotional space}} [[File:Avila - Convento de San Jose o de las Madres 23 (reproduccion de la celda de la Santa).jpg|thumb|Cell of Saint Teresa de Ávila in the Convent of Saint Joseph]] A '''cell''' is a small room used by a hermit, monk, nun or anchorite to live and as a devotional space. Cells are often part of larger cenobitic monastic communities such as Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Orthodox Christian monasteries, as well as Buddhist vihara,<ref>[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/monastery Cell] at Merriam Websters Dictionary.com.</ref> but may also form stand-alone structures in remote locations. The word ''cell'' comes from the Old French ''celle'' meaning a monastic cell, itself from the Latin meaning "room",<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cell Cell] at dictionary.reference.com.</ref> "store room" or "chamber".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120812110538/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/cell cell] at Oxford Dictionaries.</ref>
Usually, a cell is small and contains a minimum of furnishings. It may be an individual living space in a building or a hermit's primitive solitary living space, possibly a cave or hut in a remote location. A small dependent or daughter house of a major monastery, sometimes housing just one or two monks or nuns, may also be termed a cell.
The first cells were in the Nitrian Desert in Egypt following the ministry of Paul of Thebes,<ref>[http://www.arce.org/conservation/archive/u25 St Pauls Monastery Egypt].</ref> Serapion, and Anthony the Great.<ref>Chryssavgis, John; Ware, Kallistos; Ward, Benedicta, ''In the Heart of the Desert: Revised Edition'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=goeFHFiL2h0C The Spirituality of the Desert Fathers and Mothers] (World Wisdom Bloomington, Ind., 2008) p15.</ref> in the mid 3rd century.
In some orders, such as the Trappists, the monks or nuns do not have cells but sleep in a large room called a dormitory. In eremitic orders like the Carthusians, the room called ''cell'' usually has the size and look of a small house with a separate garden.
==Buddhism== {{See also|Monastery#Buddhism}} In Buddhism, a vihara was a living arrangement similar to a Christian monastery. The term "kuti" is also used.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/kuti | title=Kuti, Kutī, Kuṭi, Kuṭī, Kūṭi, Kūti: 27 definitions | date=21 June 2008 }}</ref>
== See also ==
* {{annotated link|Kathisma#Monastic cell}} * {{annotated link|Lavra}} * {{annotated link|Poustinia}} * {{annotated link|Prison cell}} * {{annotated link|Skete}} * {{annotated link|Therapeutae}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{wikiquote}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Asceticism Category:Religious places Category:Rooms Category:Monasticism