What is the term for a religious community of monks or nuns living under a fixed rule?

• A. Religious congregation
• B. Priory
• C. Abbey
• D. Monastic order

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is a community of monks or nuns organized to live by a fixed set of rules. When a group of religious people lives together under a prescribed way of life—their vows, daily schedule of prayer and work, and governance by a common rule—they form a monastic order. This term emphasizes both the shared spiritual framework and the broader network of houses that follow that rule, not just a single building. An abbey or priory refers to specific houses within such an order—the abbey being led by an abbot or abbess, the priory by a prior or prioress—so they are individual establishments within the larger order. A religious congregation is a broader label that can describe various communities but doesn’t inherently signify the traditional monastic rule-bound structure. So the best match for a religious community of monks or nuns living under a fixed rule is monastic order.