Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: Monastery
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
This one word substitution question relates to religious vocabulary, especially Christian monastic life. The phrase a place where monks live as a secluded community points to a specific kind of religious residence. Knowing the correct term is useful when reading history, literature, and news related to religious orders and communities.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
A monastery is a building or group of buildings where monks live, work, and worship as part of a religious community, often separated from ordinary society. Cathedrals are large and important churches that serve as the seat of a bishop. A convent is a religious house often associated with nuns, although some traditions use the term more broadly. A diocese is a geographical region under the authority of a bishop, and a parish is a local church community. Therefore, only monastery matches the description of a secluded community specifically for monks.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify monks as male members of a religious order who often take vows and live together under a rule.
Step 2: Recall that the standard English term for their residence is monastery.
Step 3: Examine option A Monastery and see that it fits perfectly: it is a place where monks live, pray, and work as a community.
Step 4: Consider option B Cathedral, which refers to a main church building, usually in a city, not necessarily a secluded living community.
Step 5: Look at option C Convent, which in many contexts is used for communities of nuns rather than monks, though both are religious houses.
Step 6: Note that Diocese and Parish describe administrative areas or communities of believers, not the actual residence complex of monks.
Verification / Alternative check:
Think of famous examples. Mount Athos in Greece is known for its monasteries, where monks live in relative seclusion. When travel guides describe these places, they call them monasteries, not cathedrals or dioceses. A cathedral such as Notre Dame in Paris is a major church in a city and is not primarily a secluded, residential community for monks. A convent is similar in structure but associated mostly with communities of women religious. This comparison confirms that monastery is the precise term for the place described in the question.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option B Cathedral is a principal church building and may be surrounded by city life rather than seclusion; it is not defined as a living community for monks.
Option C Convent refers mainly to a residence for nuns, so it does not match the wording that specifically mentions monks.
Option D Diocese is a territory or district under a bishop's pastoral care, not a building or community house.
Option E Parish refers to the local community of believers and their parish church, not to the cloistered residence of monks.
Common Pitfalls:
Many learners confuse monastery and convent because both are religious houses. A simple way to remember the distinction is to associate monastery primarily with monks and convent primarily with nuns. Also remember that cathedral, diocese, and parish relate more to church administration and worship spaces than to monastic community life. Paying attention to the specific group mentioned in the description helps you choose the most accurate term.
Final Answer:
The place where monks live together as a secluded community is called a monastery.
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