Page "Abbey" Paragraph 11

The necessity for defence from attacks ( for monastic houses tended to accumulate rich gifts ), economy of space and convenience of access from one part of the community to another, by degrees dictated a more compact and orderly arrangement of the buildings of a monastic coenobium.

Large piles of building were erected, with strong outside walls, capable of resisting the assaults of an enemy, within which all the necessary edifices were ranged round one or more open courts, usually surrounded with cloisters.

The usual Eastern arrangement is exemplified in the plan of the convent of the Great Lavra, Mount Athos.