Ha azt feleled: „én” (Terek, térélmények Szent Benedek életében,monostorában és Regulájában)
If you reply: „I am the one” (Space and the experience of space in life, in the monastery, and in the Rule of Saint Benedict)

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the way Saint Benedict dealt with already established traditions while creating the culture of monasticism. When reading the Rule, one cannot help seeing that the disposition of space within the monastery not only pursues considerations on functionality, but also integrates local architectural traditions. The architectonical space in Benedict's monastery does not seem to be hierarchical. Everyday life is centered neither around the church building nor on that of the oratory, but its only focus is common prayer and the divine service. The entire monastery is called "Domus Dei" - not merely the building, but the community itself. This is how God is present everywhere, revealing himself to the older as well as to the younger. This principle also defines the relationship to the world of objects, since all that belongs to the monastery is sacred. Benedict does not believe that life could be changed merely partially, because he thinks, in a city in which only the church building is considered as holy, it is only a matter of time that it will not be holy any more either. Conversion (metanoia), therefore, is a once-for-all decision propelled by the power of recognition, and it implies to learn a different approach to the created world. It is remarkable that the text of the Rule is not hierarchically structured, either.

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