Mystical systems
Great Silence
Direct answer
Great Silence: The Great Silence is the monastic rule of not speaking from the end of the last prayer of the evening until after the first prayer of the next morning.
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At a glance
- Also called
- magnum silentium, monastic silence, grand silence, night silence monastery
- Found in
- Mystical Systems
- Related
- Desert Fathers, Vigil, Asceticism, Contemplation
The Great Silence is the monastic rule of not speaking from the end of the last prayer of the evening until after the first prayer of the next morning.
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What is the Great Silence?
The Great Silence, magnum silentium in Latin, is the stretch of the monastic day in which no one speaks at all. It begins when Compline, the night prayer, has been sung, and lasts until after the first office of the morning. Monks may speak sparingly at other hours; in these hours they do not, except in real need.
Great Silence’s purpose is practical and spiritual at once. The day's talk is ended, sleep is protected, and the mind is left facing itself and, in the monk's understanding, God. Retreat houses borrow the custom for guests, and some people keep a version of it at home by putting voices and screens away after a set hour.
On the tree of the hidden arts: Fasting and discipline.
What sets Great Silence apart
The Great Silence is defined by the clock and the liturgy, not by mood. It falls between two sung offices, so the last words of the day and the first of the next are prayer, and nothing private comes between them. Benedict gives it a whole chapter and a stated penalty for breaking it. He also writes its exception into the rule itself: the needs of a guest may be met by speech, with the greatest gravity and restraint.
- Latin name: magnum silentium
- Begins: after Compline, the night prayer
- Ends: after the first office of the morning
- Source: Rule of Benedict, chapter 42, written about 530
- Stated exception: the needs of guests, or an order of the abbot
- Strictest keepers: the Carthusians, founded in 1084
Often mistaken for something else: Hesychasm is an Eastern Christian way of inner stillness built on a repeated prayer; the Great Silence is a Western house rule about not speaking between two fixed hours.
The story behind Great Silence
The Rule of Benedict, written about 530, says that monks should love silence at all times and above all at night, and forbids speech after Compline save for the needs of guests or an order from the abbot. The custom passed into every Western monastic order. The Carthusians extended silence to most of the day. The film Into Great Silence, released in 2005, showed their life at the Grande Chartreuse with almost no spoken word.
Why Great Silence matters
Great Silence is the most widely kept form of the discipline of silence, and one with clear edges: a start, an end and a reason.
How to read Great Silence
Monasteries and retreat houses keep it nightly; writers use the phrase for any deliberate quiet that frames sleep.
Great Silence in practice: an example
A household that agrees on no talk and no telephones after ten at night, until breakfast, has borrowed the Great Silence.
Where readings of Great Silence go wrong
Silence yields at once to need: a monk speaks for a guest or an emergency, and so does anyone keeping the custom at home.
Sources and editorial method
This entry summarizes the tradition in the Almanac's own words; where no source is listed, it is an editorial summary rather than a primary text, and symbolic readings are named as the tradition's, not as fact.
- Source
- The Great Almanac Dictionary
- Category
- Mystical Systems
- Aliases
- great silence meaning, magnum silentium, monastic silence, grand silence, night silence monastery
- Last updated
- 2026-09-26
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Common questions
What is the Great Silence?
It is the nightly silence of a monastery, from the end of Compline in the evening until after the first prayers of the morning, during which the monks do not speak.
Where does the Great Silence come from?
From the Rule of St Benedict, about 530, which asks for silence above all at night and forbids talk after Compline except in necessity.
Can the Great Silence be kept at home?
In a simple form, yes: a fixed hour after which talk and screens are put away until morning. It is always broken for anyone's safety or need.
