ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the economy at the individual level of monks and nuns as well as the role of poverty in monastic life and its economy. Objectively, the level of poverty or conversely of wealth of monastic communities can be measured in absolute values or relative values, in relation to the society that surrounds them or in terms of dependence on external aid. Non-voluntary poverty is mainly observed in the volume and distribution of income. Monastic poverty is theoretically part of the testimony given to society of the utopian way of life. The organisation of a monastery’s household is often revealing, with regard to the concrete simplicity of monastic life, in comparison to the respective standard of living of the society in which it is located. Monastic poverty can represent a challenge in the social context of material poverty, especially when the standard of living in the monastery is higher than the average standard of living in society.
