Benedict of Nursia wrote his Rule for monks around 530, drawing on earlier rules. With moderation and wisdom it orders a community’s life around the Divine Office, manual labour and sacred reading, under an abbot. It became the basis of Western monastic life, summed up later in the phrase “pray and work”.
Rule of Saint Benedict
The sixth-century rule for monks that shaped Western monasticism: prayer, work, stability and obedience.
Also: ora et labora