A lavra or laura (Greek: Λαύρα; Cyrillic: Ла́вра) is a type of monastery consisting of a cluster of cells or caves for hermits, with a church and sometimes a refectory at the center. Lavra monasteries operate within the Orthodox and other Eastern Christian traditions; the name is also used by some Catholic communities.[1][dead link][2] The term in Greek initially meant a narrow lane or an alley in a city.[3][4]
- ^ Order of Carmelites: Hermitical Communities
- ^ For example: Lavra Netofa
- ^ λαύρα. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- ^ Kazhdan, Alexander P., ed. (1991). "Lavra". The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.