III
MONASTICISM (AN ORTHODOX PERSPECTIVE)
Monasticism
The
innermost spiritual sense of Orthodox Monasticism is revealed in joyful
mourning. This paradoxical phrase denotes a spiritual state in which a
monk in his prayer grieves for the sins of the world at at the same
time experiences the regenerating spiritual joy of Christ's forgiveness
and resurrection. A monk dies in order to live, he forgets himself in
order to find his real self in God, he becomes ignorant of worldly
knowledge in order to attain real spiritual wisdom which is given only
to the humble ones. (Ed.)
With the development of monasticism in
the Church there appeared a peculiar way of life, which however did not
proclaim a new morality. The Church does not have one set of moral
rules for the laity and another for monks, nor does it divide the
faithful into classes according to their obligations towards God. The
Christian life is the same for everyone. All Christians have in common
that "their being and name is from Christ" 1. This means that the true
Christian must ground his life and conduct in Christ, something which
is hard to achieve in the world.
What is difficult in the
world is approached with dedication in the monastic life. In his
spiritual life the monk simply tries to do what every Christian should
try to do: to live according to God's commandments. The fundamental
principles of monasticism are not different from those of the lives of
all the faithful. This is especially apparent in the history of the
early Church, before monasticism appeared.
In the tradition of
the Church there is a clear preference for celibacy as opposed to the
married state. This stance is not of course hostile to marriage, which
is recognized as a profound mystery2, but simply indicates the
practical obstacles marriage puts in the way of the pursuit of the
spiritual life. For this reason, from the earliest days of Christianity
many of the faithful chose celibacy. Thus Athenagoras the Confessor in
the second century wrote: "You can find many men and women who remain
unmarried all their lives in the hope of coming closer to God"3.
From
the very beginning the Christian life has been associated with self
denial and sacrifice: "If any man would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me"4. Christ calls on us to
give ourselves totally to him: "He who loves father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me"5.
Finally, fervent and unceasing prayer,
obedience to the elders of the Church, brotherly love and humility, as
well as all the essential virtues of the monastic life were cultivated
by the members of the Church from its earliest days.
One cannot
deny that the monk and the married man have different ways of life, but
this does not alter their common responsibility towards God and His
commandments. Every one of us has his own special gift within the one
and indivisible body of Christ's Church6. Every way of life, whether
married or solitary, is equally subject to God's absolute will. Hence
no way of life can be taken as an excuse for ignoring or selectively
responding to Christ's call and His commandments. Both paths demand
effort and determination.
St Chrysostom is particularly emphatic
on this point: "You greatly delude yourself and err, if you think that
one thing is demanded from the layman and another from the monk; since
the difference between them is in that whether one is married or not,
while in everything else they have the same responsibilities... Because
all must rise to the same height; and what has turned the world upside
down is that we think only the monk must live rigorously, while the
rest are allowed to live a life of indolence"7. Referring to the
observance of particular commandments in the Gospels, he says: "Whoever
is angry with his brother without cause, regardless of whether he is a
layman or a monk, opposes God in the same way. And whoever looks at a
woman lustfully, regardless of his status, commits the same sin". In
general, he observes that in giving His commandments Christ does not
make distinction between people: "A man is not defined by whether he is
a layman or a monk, but by the way he thinks"8.
Christ's
commandments demand strictness of life that we often expect only from
monks. The requirements of decent and sober behaviour, the condemnation
of wealth and adoption of frugality9, the avoidance of idle talk and
the call to show selfless love are not given only for monks, but for
all the faithful.
Therefore, the rejection of worldly thinking
is the duty not only of monks, but of all Christians. The faithful must
not have a worldly mind, but sojourn as strangers and travellers with
their minds fixed on God. Their home is not on earth, but in the
kingdom of heaven: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the
city which is to come"10. The Church can be seen as a community in
exodus. The world is its temporary home but the Church is bound for the
kingdom of God. Just as the Israelites, freed from bondage in Egypt,
journeyed towards Jerusalem through many trials and tribulations, so
Christians, freed from the bondage of sin, journey through many trials
and tribulations towards the kingdom of heaven.
In the early
days this exodus from the world did not involve a change of place but a
change of the way of life. A man does not reject God and turns towards
the world physicaly but spiritually, because God was and is everywhere
and fulfills everything, so in the same way the rejection of the world
and turning towards God was not understood in physical sense but as a
change of the way of life. This is especially clear in the lives of the
early Christians. Although they lived in the world they were fully
aware that they did not come from it nor did they belong to it: "In the
world but not of the world". And those who lived in chastity and
poverty, which became later fundamental principles of the monastic
life, did not abandon the world or take to the mountains.
Physical
detachment from the world helps the soul to reject the worldly way of
life. Experience shows that human salvation is harder to achieve in the
world. As Basil the Great points out, living among men who do not care
for the strict observance of God's commandments is harmful. It is
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to answer Christ's call to take
up one's cross and follow Him within the bounds of worldly life. Seeing
the multitude of sinners, one not only fails to see his own sins but
also falls into temptation to believe that he has achieved something,
because we tend to compare ourselves with those who are worse than we
are. Furthermore, the hustle and bustle of everyday life distracts us
from the remembrance of God. It does not only prevent us from feeling
the joy of intense communion with God, but leads us to contempt and
forgetfulness of the divine will.
This does not mean that
detachment from the world guarantees salvation, but surely does help us
a lot in our spiritual life. When someone devotes himself wholly to God
and His will, nothing can stop him from being saved. St. Chrysostom
says: "There is no obstacle to a worker striving for virtue, but men in
office, and those who have a wife and children to look after, and
servants to see to, and those in positions of authority can also take
care to be virtuous"12.
Saint Simeon the New Theologian
observes: "Living in a city does not prevent us from carrying out God's
commandments if we are zealous, and silence and solitude are of no
benefit if we are slothful and neglectful" 13. Elsewhere he says that
it is possible for all, not only monks but laymen too, to "eternally
and continuously repent and weep and pray to God, and by these actions
to acquire all the other virtues"14.
Orthodox monasticism has
always been associated with stillness or silence, which is seen
primarily as an internal rather than an external state. External
silence is sought in order to attain inner stillness of mind more
easily. This stillness is not a kind of inertia or inaction, but
awakening and activation of the spiritual life. It is intense vigilance
and total devotion to God. Living in a quiet place the monk succeeds in
knowing himself better, fighting his passions more deeply and purifying
his heart more fully, so as to be found worthy of beholding God.
The
father of St Gregory Palamas, Constantine, lived a life of stillness as
a senator and member of the imperial court in Constantinople. The
essence of this kind of life is detachment from worldly passions and
complete devotion to God. This is why St Gregory Palamas says that
salvation in Christ is possible for all: "The farmer and the leather
worker and the mason and the tailor and the weaver, and in general all
those who earn their living with their hands and in the sweat of their
brow, who cast out of their souls the desire for wealth, fame and
comfort, are indeed blessed"15. In the same spirit St Nicolas Kavasilas
observes that it is not necessary for someone to flee to the desert,
eat unusual food, change his dress, ruin his health or attempt some
other such thing in order to remain devoted to God16.
The
monastic life, with its physical withdrawal from the world to the
desert, began about the middle of the third century. This flight of
Christians to the desert was partly caused by the harsh Roman
persecutions of the time. The growth of monasticism, however, which
began in the time of Constantine the Great, was largely due to the
refusal of many Christians to adapt to the more worldly character of
the now established Church, and their desire to lead a strictly
Christian life. Thus monasticism developed simultaneously in various
places in the southeast Mediterranean, Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria
and Cyprus, and soon after reached Asia Minor and finally Europe.
During the second millennium. however, Mount Athos appeared as the
centre of Orthodox monasticism.
The commonest and safest form of
the monastic life is the coenobitic communion. In the coenobitic
monastery everything is shared: living quarters, food, work, prayer,
common efforts, cares, struggles and achievements. The leader and
spiritual father of the coenobium is the abbot. The exhortation to the
abbot in the Charter of St Athanasius the Athonite is typical: "Take
care that the brethren have everything in common. No one must own as
much as a needle. Your body and soul shall be your own, and nothing
else. Everything must be shared equally with love between all your
spiritual children, brethren and fathers".
The coenobium is the
ideal Christian community, where no distinction is drawn between mine
and yours, but everything is designed to cultivate a common attitude
and a spirit of fraternity. In the coenobium the obedience of every
monk to his abbot and his brotherhood, loving kindness, solidarity and
hospitality are of the greatest importance. As St Theodore of Studium
observes, the whole community of the faithful should in the final
analysis be a coenobitic Church17. Thus the monastic coenobium is the
most consistent attempt to achieve this and an image of Church in small.
In
its "fuga mundi", monasticism underlines the Church's position as an
"anti-community" within the world, and by its intense spiritual
asceticism cultivates its eschatological spirit. The monastic life is
described as "the angelic state", in other words a state of life that
while on earth follows the example of the life in heaven. Virginity and
celibacy come within this framework, anticipating the condition of
souls in the life to come, where "they neither marry nor are given in
marriage, but are like angels in heaven"18.
Many see celibacy as
a defining characteristic of monastic life. This does not mean,
however, that celibacy is the most important aspect of the monastic
life: it simply gives this distinctiveness to this way of life. All the
other obligations, even the other two monastic vows of obedience and
poverty, essentially concern all the faithful. Needless to say, all
this takes on a special form in the monastic life, but that has no
bearing on the essence of the matter.
All Christians are obliged
to keep the Lord's commandments, but this requires efforts. Fallen
human nature, enslaved by its passions is reluctant to fulfill this
obligation. It seeks pleasure and avoids the pain involved in fighting
the passions and selfishness. The monastic life is so arranged as to
facilitate this work. On the other hand the worldly life, particularly
in our secular society, makes it harder to be an ascetic. The problem
for the Christian in the world is that he is called upon to reach the
same goal under adverse conditions.
The tonsure, with cutting of
hair, is called a "second baptism"19. Baptism, however, is one and the
same for all members of the Church. It is participation in the death
and resurrection of Christ. The tonsure does not repeat, but renews and
activates the grace of the baptism. The monastic vows are essentially
not different from those taken at baptism, with the exception of the
vow of celibacy. Furthermore, hair is also cut during baptism.
The
monastic life points the way to perfection. However, the whole Church
is called to perfection. All the faithful, both laymen and monks, are
called to become perfect following the divine example: "You, therefore,
must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect"20. But while the
monk affirms the radical nature of the Christian life, the layman is
content to regard it conventionally. The conventional morality of the
layman on the one hand and the radical morality of the monk on the
other create a dialectical differentiation that takes the form of a
dialectical antithesis.
St Maximus the Confessor, in contrasting
the monastic with the worldly life, observes that a layman's successes
are a monk's failures, and vice versa: "The achievements of the worldly
are failures for monks; and the achievements of monks are failures for
the worldly. When the monk is exposed to what the world sees as
success- wealth, fame, power, pleasure, good health and many children,
he is destroyed. And when a worldly man finds himself in the state
desired by monks—poverty, humility, weakness, self restraint,
mortification and suchlike, he considers it a disaster. Indeed, in such
despair many may consider hanging themselves, and some have actually
done so"21.
Of course the comparison here is between the perfect
monk and the very worldly Christian. However, in more usual
circumstances within the Church the same things will naturally function
differently, but this difference could never reach diametrical
opposition. Thus for example, wealth and fame cannot be seen as equally
destructive for monks and laymen. These things are always bad for
monks, because they conflict with the way of life the monks have
chosen. For laymen, however, wealth and fame may be beneficial, even
though they involve grave risks. The existence of the family, and of
the wider secular society with its various needs and demands, not only
justify but sometimes make it necessary to accumulate wealth or assume
office. Those things that may unite in the world divide in the monastic
life. The ultimate unifier is Christ Himself.
The Christian life
does not depend only on human effort but primarily on God's grace.
Ascetic exercises in all their forms and degrees aim at nothing more
than preparing man to harmonise his will with that of God and receive
the grace of the Holy Spirit. This harmonisation attains its highest
expression and perfection in prayer. "In true prayer we enter into and
dwell in the Divine Being by the power of the Holy Spirit"22. This
leads man to his archetype and makes him a true person in the likeness
of his Creator.
The grace of the Christian life is not to be
found in its outward forms. It is not found in ascetic exercises,
fasts, vigils and mortification of the flesh. Indeed, when these
excercises are practiced without discernment they become abhorrent.
This repulsiveness is no longer confined to their external form but
comes to characterise their inner content. They become abhorrent not
only because outwardly they appear as a denial of life, contempt for
material things or self-abandonment, but also because they mortify the
spirit, encourage pride and cultivate self justification.
The
Christian life is not a denial but an affirmation. It is not death, but
life. And it is not only affirmation and life, but the only true
affirmation and the only true life. It is the true affirmation because
if goes beyond all possibility of denial and the only true life because
it conquers death. The negative appearance of the Christian life in its
outward forms is due precisely to its attempt to stand beyond all human
denial. Since there is no human affirmation that does not end in
denial, and no worldly life that does not end in death, the Church
takes its stand and reveals its life after accepting every human denial
and affirming every form of earthly death.
The power of the
Christian life lies in the hope of resurrection, and the goal of
ascetic striving is to partake in the resurrection. The monastic life,
as the angelic and heavenly life lived in time, is the foreknowledge
and foretaste of eternal life. It aim is not to cast off the human
element, but clothe oneself with incorruptibility and immortality: "For
while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we
would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what
is mortal may be swallowed up by life"23.
There are
sighing and tears produced by the presence of sin, as well as the
suffering to be free of the passions and regain a pure heart. These
things demand ascetic struggles, and undoubtedly have a negative form,
since they aim at humility. They are exhausting and painful, because
they are concerned with states and habits that have become second
nature. It is however precisely through this abasement, self
purification, that man clears the way for God's grace to appear and to
act within his heart. God does not manifest Himself to an impure heart.
Monks
are the "guardians". They choose to constrain their bodily needs in
order to attain the spiritual freedom offered by Christ. They tie
themselves down in death's realm in order to experience more intensely
the hope of the life to come. They reconcile themselves with space,
where man is worn down and annihilated, feel it as their body,
transform it into the Church and orientate it towards the kingdom of
God.
The monk's journey to perfection is gradual and is
connected with successive renunciations, which can be summarised in
three. The first renunciation involves completely abandoning the world.
This is not limited to things, but includes people and parents. The
second is renunciation of the individual will, and the third is freedom
from pride, which is identified with liberation from the sway of the
world24.
These successive renunciations have a positive, not a
negative meaning. They permit a man to fully open up and be perfected
"in the image and likeness" of God. When man is freed from the world
and from himself, he expands without limits. He becomes a true person,
which "encloses" within himself the whole of humanity as Christ himself
does. That is why, on the moral plane, the Christian is called upon to
love all human beings, even his enemies. Then God Himself comes and
dwells within him, and the man arrives to the fullness of his
theanthropic being25. Here we can see the greatness of the human
person, and can understand the superhuman struggles needed for his
perfection.
The life of monasticism is life of perpetual
spiritual ascent. While the world goes on its earthbound way, and the
faithful with their obligations and distractions of the world try to
stay within the institutional limits of the church tradition,
monasticism goes to other direction and soars. It rejects any kind of
compromise and seeks the absolute. It launches itself from this world
and heads for the kingdom of God. This is in essence the goal of the
Church itself.
In Church tradition this path is pictured as a
ladder leading to heaven. Not everyone manages to reach the top of this
spiritual ladder. Many are to be found on the first rungs. Others rise
higher. There are also those who fall from a higher or a lower rung.
The important thing is not the height reached, but the unceasing
struggle to rise ever higher. Most important of all, this ascent is
achieved through ever increasing humility, that is through ever
increasing descent. "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair not", was the
word of God to Saint Silouan of Mount Athos. When man descends into the
hell of his inner struggle having God within him, then he is lifted up
and finds the fullness of being26.
At the top of this spiritual
ladder are the "fools for Christ's sake", as the Apostle Paul calls
himself and the other apostles27, or "the fools for Christ's sake", who
"play the madman for the love of Christ and mock the vanity of the
world"28, Seeking after glory among men, says Christ, obstructs belief
in God29. Only when man rejects pride can he defeat the world and
devote himself to God30.
In the lives of monks the Christian
sees examples of men who took their Christian faith seriously and
committed themselves to the path which everyone is called by Christ to
follow. Not all of them attained perfection, but they all tried, and
all rose to a certain height. Not all possessed the same talent, but
all strove as good and faithful servants. They are not held up as
examples to be imitated, especially by laymen. They are however
valuable signposts on the road to perfection, which is common for all
and has its climax in the perfectness of God.
Endnotes
1. Maximos the Confessor, Mystagogia 1, PG91, 665C.
2. See Eph. 5, 32.
3. Presbeia 33. Also see Justin, Confession 1, 15, 6.
4. St. Mark 8, 34.
5. St. Matthew 10, 37.
6. "Each has his own special gift from God, one of one kind and one of another" I Cor. 7, 7.
7. Pros piston patera (To the faithful father) 3, 14, PG47, 372- 74.
8. Ibid 373.
9. "If we have food and clothing, with these we shall be content. I Tim 6,8.
10. Heb. 13, 14.
11. See Oroi kata platos (Monastic rules in full) 6, PG 31, 925A.
12. Catechism 7, 28, ed A. Wenger, "Sources Chritiennes' vol.50, Paris 21970m 0,243.
13. Catechism 12, 132-5, ed B. Krivocheine, "Sources Chritiennes' vol.l04, Paris 1964, p.374.
14. Catechism 5, 122-5, ed B. Knvocheine, "Sources Chritiennes". voL96, Paris 1963, p.386.
15. Homily 15, PG151, 180 BC.
16. See On the life in Christ 6, PG150, 660A.
17. See Letter 53,PG99, 1264CD.
18. St. Matthew 22, 30.
19. See Service for the Little Habit. The Greater Prayer-Book, p. 192.
20. St. Matthew 5, 48.
21. Maximos the Confessor, On love 3,85,PG90, 1044A.
22. Archimandrite Sophrony, Ascetic practice and theory, Essex, Eng/and 1996, p.26.
23. 2 Cor. 5,4.
24
See Stage 2, PG88, 657A. For a comparison of the patristic tradition on
the three stages of renunciation see the book by Archimandrite
Sophrony, Asceticism and Contemptation, p.26f.
25. See Archimandrite Sophrony, We Shall See Him as He is, Essex, England 3-1996, p.389.
26.
See Archimandrite Sophrony, Saint Silouan of Mount Athos, Essex,
England 7-1995, p.572 Also Asceticism and Contemptation, p.42.
27. 1 Cor. 4, l0.
28. The Elder Paisios, Letters, Souroti, Thessaloni 1994, p.235.
29 St. John 5, 44.
30 See Archimandrite Sophrony, Asceticism and Contemptation, pp.33-4.
Georgios
I. Mantzarides Professor of the Theological School Aristotle University
of Thessaloniki (abridged text from the book Images of Athos by monk
Chariton)
(taken from the blog "MONKS AND MERMAIDS"