Semnium
Semnium
(,, a temple), a name given by Philo to places of worship of the Therapeutae (q. i.). He says, In every one of their dwellings there is a sacred house or chapel, which they call their semnium, or monastery, where they perform the religious mysteries proper to their holy lives (Bingham, Christ. Antiq. vol. 7, ch. 2, 11). Monasteries came afterwards to be called semnia, as Suicerus shows out of Balzamon, Methodius, and Suidas. See Bingham, Christ. Antiq. vol. 7, ch. 2, 14.