the.com/monasticism

means A way of life built around withdrawing from ordinary society — chastity, poverty, and obedience, usually in a community — to pursue religious discipline full-time.

from From Greek 'monachos,' meaning solitary or single, built from 'monos' (alone). The word first described hermits who fled into the Egyptian desert to live apart from the world; as solitary ascetics gradually gathered into communities, the 'alone' at the root of the word became something of an irony — monks living in close, regimented company, bound by shared rules and bells, but still named for the solitude the whole tradition began with.