any of the order's houses. There are other forms of consecrated life in the Catholic Church for both men and women. They make a public profession of the evangelical counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, regulated by canon law but live consecrated lives in the world (i.e. not as members of a religious institute). Such are the secular institutes, the hermits and the consecrated virgins (canon 604) These make a public profession of the evangelical counsels by a vow or other sacred bond. Also similar are the societies of apostolic life. Diocesan hermits individually profess the three evangelical counsels in the hands of their local ordinary. Consecrated virgins living in the world do not make religious vows, but express by a public so-called sanctum propositum ("holy purpose") to follow Christ more closely. The prayer of consecration that constitutes such virgins "sacred persons" inserts them into the Ordo Virginum and likewise places them in the consecrated life in the Catholic Church In the Lutheran Church In the Anglican Communion In the Eastern Orthodox Church Although the taking of vows was not a part of the earliest monastic foundations (the wearing of a particular monastic habit is the earliest recorded manifestation of those who had left the world), vows did come to be accepted as a normal part of the tonsure service in the Christian East. Previously, one would simply find a spiritual father and live under his direction. Once one put on the monastic habit, it was understood that one had made a lifetime commitment to God and would remain steadfast in it to the end. Over time, however, the formal Tonsure and taking of vows was adopted to impress upon the monastic the seriousness of the commitment to the ascetic life he or she was adopting. The vows taken by Orthodox monks are: Chastity, poverty, obedience, and stability. The vows are administered by the abbot or hieromonk who performs the service. Following a period of instruction and testing as a novice, a monk or nun may be tonsured with the permission of the candidate's spiritual father. There are three degrees of monasticism in the Orthodox Church: The ryassaphore (one who wears the ryassa however, there are no vows at this level the Stavrophore (one who wears the cross), and the Schema-monk (one who wears the Great Schema; i.e., the full monastic habit).