Where are nuns in scriptures?

  • Thread starter Thread starter A_A
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Nuns were not specifically mentioned in the Bible. In Matthew, Jesus said" Give up everything and come follow me."
 
While the monastic life wasn’t yet “invented” during the Biblical times covered by the Scriptures, there are certainly women in the Bible leading a holy life. For example, Anna the Prophetess in Luke 2: 36-38, a widow who had spent years in the Temple, worshipping, fasting and praying. This is similar to the later life of a nun. I have also heard homilies discussing how Mary’s time spent with Elizabeth when they were both pregnant was similar to forming a little religious community where the women spent their days working, praying and contemplating the holy mysteries of their pregnancy.
 
Even if there was no mention of it in Scriptures, it would not mean they are invalid. Not everything needs to be explicitly stated in Sacred Scripture to be valid.
 
We know of one nun mentioned in Scripture, in 1 Chronicles 7:26-27:
"Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son;
Nun his son, Joshua his son"


forgive me…
 
Last edited:
Taking vows come from the Old Testament. Temporary and permanent ones.

The Glorious Precursor and Forerunner John was a lifelong Nazirite.

There are myriads of things that are true that aren’t in the Bible.

The most important thing Protestants need to study that is in the Bible is that of Christ starting the Catholic Church, and giving her His authority in perpetuity.

Sacred Tradition pre-dates the Bible, and it was her that decided what is canonical.

Deacon Christopher
 
Saint Anthony the Great founded the organized monaatic life. This happened in the 3rd century AD. So of course there are no nuns in the Bible.
Before St Anthony organized monastic life, he had to provide for his young sister. St Athanasius describes it this way:
Having committed his sister to known and faithful virgins, and put her into a convent to be brought up, he henceforth devoted himself outside his house to discipline , taking heed to himself and training himself with patience. For there were not yet so many monasteries in Egypt, and no monk at all knew of the distant desert.
St Athanasius The Life of St Anthony 3
On the original question, the most relevant biblical passage is probably 1 Timothy 5. The story of the deacons in Acts 6 is really about groups of women in the earliest days of the Church, so it might be relevant as well.
 
I’ve seen many non-Catholics saying that nuns aren’t in the Bible so can someone show me some Bible verses to rebut these statements please!
“Altar calls”, the “Jesus Prayer”, faithful Christians who aren’t under the authority of the pope, and televangelists aren’t in the Bible either. Would your non-Catholic friends say that the fact that these aren’t in the Bible is proof that they are wrong? 😉
 
Of the “three Marys”, you have Mary Magdalene, who was definitely proto-religious and the closest female equivalent to an Apostle; Mary the Wife of Clopas, who was the sister of Mary the Mother of Jesus and was herself the mother of James the Less; and Salome aka Mary Salome, who was the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James and John. (All three are in the Roman Martyrology.) These last two were wives or widows but were practicing some sort of religious life by following Jesus and according to tradition were part of Christian pilgrim communities with their sons later.
 
Last edited:
Protestant: Where are nuns in the Bible?

Zaccheus: Nuns are not mentioned in the Bible. So what?
 
Last edited:
Also not mentioned in the Bible but definitely present in both the Jewish faith at the time of Jesus, and in the early Christian community, were consecrated virgins - those people (men and women) who consecrated their virginity to God and, after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, to Christ. According to the apocryphal life of Mary, she was one of these consecrated virgins.
 
I would ask them where does it say ( in the Bible) that the Bible is the only authority
 
Now in regard to virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy…I should like you to be free of anxieties. An unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord. But a married man is anxious about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, and he is divided. An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction. 1 Cor. 7:25,32-35

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. Acts 4:32

Oh, and of course what the Lord said to the rich young man:
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Matt. 19:21-24
He also said: “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.” Matt. 19:12

The evangelical counsels aren’t difficult to see in the plain meaning of the Gospels. What began with communities of men seeking perfection described by Our Lord in Matthew 19 also grew to include communities of women. Based on St. Paul’s advice in his letter to the Corinthians, there is no reason to suppose that the evangelical counsels have not always been considered equally applicable to women and men. (St. Paul suggested that young widows, who had obviously been married, strongly consider re-marriage, presumably because those women had already discerned they weren’t cut out for a celibate life for the sake of the Kingdom and were too young to be supported by the community indefinitely, as older widows with no children who would have difficulty finding a suitable marriage would need to be.)

Now that this is answered…where are Protestants in the Bible? Where is the authority to split away and form multiple denominations or to dispute the traditions handed down from the Apostles? St. Paul was very clear that his audience was to be wary of people coming along with something new, after all.
 
Last edited:
I think we can also see a prefiguration of religious life in some of the wives of King David.
 
Where did Saint Paul say to his audience to be wary of people coming along with something new? I’d like to use it in future debates Please!
 
Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by an oral statement or by a letter of ours. 2 Thes. 2:15

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers nd will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.
2 Tim. 4:1-4

Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock of which the holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, in which you tend the church of God that he acquired with his own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come among you, and they will not spare the flock. And from your own group, men will come forward perverting the truth to draw the disciples away after them. So be vigilant and remember that for three years, night and day, I unceasingly admonished each of you with tears. And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated. Acts 20:28-32

There were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who ransomed them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Pet. 2:1
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top