ST. ANDREW'S MONKS SHARE FAITH ON WEB.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

In their efforts to preserve the traditional forms of prayer, the Benedictine monks of St. Andrew's Abbey have turned to a new medium - the Internet.

The monks have set up a Web site, http://www.ptw.com/standrab, to share with a wider world their interest in early Christian spirituality and to show the world something of their life.

``It is a chance for us to share with others, through a high-tech medium, traditions and values that are worth preserving,'' said the Rev. Luke Dysinger, one of the monks. ``It's intriguing that in a day of flashy technology that people are willing to look at something with a parchment and illuminated feel.''

The Web site features information on the history of the abbey's monastic community, a description of the monks' cycle of prayer and work, and information on how one becomes a monk.

The abbey plans to make available articles and text on prayers and psalms used in prayer. Those works will begin coming on line later this year.

``It's really incumbent on those in the monastic community to let people know - in this morass of knowledge - what's available for them that is good,'' Dysinger said.

The site also has descriptions on the spiritual retreats and workshops offered at the abbey, links to other monastic communities, and information on the annual Valyermo Fall Festival, scheduled for Sept. 27-28 this year.

There is also information on the abbey's ceramics shop, featuring unique plaques designed by the Rev. Maur van Doorslaer, a monk with Sint-Andriesabdii Zevenkerken in Brugge, Belgium.

Netizens can e-mail suggestions on saints, angels or biblical scenes that should be added to the more than 300 plaque designs already available.

Monks always have had an interest in using the most convenient and reliable technology available to preserve and share text of prayers. In the middle ages, monastery scribes spent their lives copying by hand Bibles and other texts in the days before the invention of printing.

In recent times, they used photography to preserve medieval manuscripts of Gregorian chants.

The abbey's main computer is an IBM compatible with 32 megabytes of RAM, a Pentium processor, and three gigabytes of storage, Dysinger said. There is also another computer for abbey visitors to browse through the abbey's electronic card catalog on their library holdings.

``Nothing is exactly cutting edge,'' Dysinger said. ``Monastic communities tend to make do with what was cutting edge two or three years ago - that's what people are willing to give us.''

The idea of using the Internet was first broached in terms of advertising the abbey's ceramic shops, but thoughts quickly turned to finding ways to make their library holdings available to scholars.

With the help of Lancaster Internet, a local Internet service provider, the abbey's Web site went on line in November. A counter was installed on the site in early May and shows more than 760 hits.

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Photo: The monks of St. Andrew's Abbey have set up a Web site to give the world a glimpse of their life.