Monasticism is the ripe fruit
of the wider ascetic ideal of Christian teaching, which in the first three
centuries was expressed with the Christians’ enthusiasm and the various forms
of ascetic spirituality. The ascetic tendencies took the form of personal gift
of certain people, as well as of collective quest for spiritual perfection. Those
tendencies had the form of opposition to the tendencies for relaxation of
Christians’ moral life...
From those tendencies, in the
second century, the classes of the “abstinent”
men and women emerged in every local church, which activated the particular
gifts of chastity, abstinence and ascesis concerning the devotional life of
Christian community. There were, of course, some extreme tendencies concerning
those spiritual quests, but the general principle of avoiding any show – off or
boasting regarding austere ascesis was always in force. In general, the
enthusiasm for the profession of faith led many believers to the excessive and
extreme tendency of seeking martyrdom, a fact that resulted to the quest of new
forms of ascetic ideal.
Quetism was, since the middle
of the third century, the most important expression of those quests and
entailed the retreat of believers with special gifts from the Christian
community to nearby or distant deserts, in order untrammeled to be devoted to
the spiritual struggle of ascesis. While the retreat from the Christian
community was reprehended as denial of Christ for the world during the period
of persecutions, in quetism it was praised as denial of the world for Christ.
Leaving the world wasn’t
retreat from temptations as well, since carnal thoughts are, basically, a
spiritual alienation and not deviation of the flesh from the Christian’ right
spiritual experience. The example of Christ’s retreat to the desert, in order
to conquer Satan’s temptations was the exceptional paradigm for those who
wished to achieve the best possible mimesis of Christ’s polity and to master
their personal temptations. In that sense the exercitants placed greater
emphasis on the inner spiritual temptations and identified mortal sins with the
heavier sins of thought.
From Quetism sprang
Monasticism. A link of the two spiritual quests was the ascetic life of
Antonios the Great, the most famous hermit in the beginning of the fourth
century.
Antonios the Great was born
around 250 in Koma, Memphis, from a prosperous Christian family. Even when he
was a child he showed great zeal concerning regular participation in the Mass,
and he had memorized the entire New Testament. After his father’s death at the
age of 20, Antonios the Great retreated to a cave in the desert in Middle Egypt and lived
an austere ascetic life for 25 continuous years. Imitating the previous
hermits, he himself became a paradigm for many others, who imitated him and
went to live in the desert during the last decades of the third century. The
rumors for his ascetic deeds were spread all around Egypt and were a basic motive for
the quietists to go to the desert (hermits). Antonios the Great left the old
cave, due to its been surrounded by many hermits, and went to an unknown area
of the desert, in order to avoid temptation of ascetic pride. The new area was
near the sea and offered him ideal circumstances for his ascetic life.
Antonios the Great died in 355
at the age of 105 leaving behind an eternal example of ascesis and consistent
spiritual life. Therefore he was rightly characterized as “teacher of the desert”.
From the tendencies to
organize ascetic life sprang the Monastic system of ascesis. Its introducer was
the hermit Pachomios, a student of Palaemonas, who had realized the monks’
practical difficulties.
When he left Palaemonas,
Pachomios became a hermit at the east river bank of the Nile,
where founded Lavra and applied the first rules of the Monastic system. Similar
Lavras he founded in other places as well, which functioned with the same
rules. The rules of the Monastic system solved the basic devotional and
practical problems of the desert hermits, but at the same time they co –
ordinated the hermits regarding a particular programme of ascesis. Those monks,
spread at the Cells and the Lavras, had a common morning prayer, common
participation in the programmed works of the community, uniform apparels,
common incomes and expenses, common meals and common programmes of ascesis,
without abolishing the special gifts.
The monks’ uniform clothes
were a simple kirtle, with or without sleeves and belt, white ship skin with
wool, coniform cover for the head and the neck, linen over – coat for the
shoulders and shoes. The monks’ uniform clothes were being made in the
Monasteries. The monks’ food was dictated by the austere rules of fasting and
the frugality of ascesis and its basis was bread made of vegetal or other
materials allowed during fasting. For the days that fasting wasn’t obligatory,
they had fish, oil and wine. Animal or bird meat was rare, while meals often
comprised milk, cheese and eggs. The great hermits, of course, subjected
themselves to more austere tests with less variety of food.
The enthusiastic recognition
of the Monastic life on the part of the church modeled two understandable
tendencies. The first came from the local church and was seeking a more organic
incorporation of Monasticism into the spiritual life of the local church and
presented as necessary the indissoluble unity of the spiritual experience of
the local ecclesiastic body. The second tendency came from Monasticism and was seeking
its enforcement on the local church connecting the claim for supremacy of the
ascetic experience with the claim for coordination of the clergy and the people
of the local church under the principles of Monasticism. The problem was that
the distinction between those two tendencies wasn’t discernable, since the
common criterion in both cases was their relationship to the local church.
A characteristic extreme case
were the Eustathians. Their inspirer was Eustathios, who came from Sevastia, Asia Minor, and he had been a hermit and was consecrated
an elder. He was very enthusiastic and tried to enforce the principles of the
Egyptian Monastic life on all clerics and the believers, before the middle of
the fourth century. Just like the “abstinents”
of the first centuries, he obliged the adherents to abstain from marriage and
meat eating. The Eustathians contemned the married clerics and all the
mysteries they performed. In spite of the extremities of the adherents of
Eustathios regarding his teaching, many Christians followed him. In order to
fight the group of Eustathios the local synod was held in Gaggra of Paflagonia.
The case of Eustathians proved that there were always believers who were willing
to follow extreme ideas and teaching.
Another example of extremity
were the Messalians or Massalians, who appeared in Mesopotamia
in the middle of the fourth century. Basically, they were a conservative
ascetic move, whose basic rule was continual praying and enthusiastic dances,
avoiding ecclesiastical worship and the Mysteries.
In order to avoid similar
cases, the Fourth Ecumenical Synod with its decision placed the Monasteries
under the spiritual supervision of the local bishop. That decision limited the
incontrollable activities of the monks. The foundation of Monasteries was now
legal only if the agreed opinion of the relevant bishop was given.
In the west, Monastic life was
spread in the fourth century from the east. Athanasios the Great during the
period of his exiles to the west and the orthodox bishops of the west during
their exiles to the east spread the ideals of eastern Monastic life in the
west. The reorganization of western Monastic life came mostly from the ascetic
ideals of Kassianos and was realized by Saint Benedict, the founder of the
order of Benedicts. Saint Benedict, after ascetic itinerancy in various places,
adopted the Monastic ideal and lived as hermit. The fame of his austere life
was spread very fast in the Monasteries of the area. He was elected superior at
a Monastery at Vikovaro. However, the discontent of the monks due to the
superior’s austerity, made him return to ascetic life. Benedict went to Monte
Cassino of Campania, where he founded a new Monastery, in which he applied the
austere rules of the Monastic system. When he died, he left a thriving
Monastery at Monte Cassino
and the Canon for Monastic asceticism, which he himself had written.
Saint Benedict’s Canon was the
main source western for the western Monastic life in the begging of the
Monastic system. The Canon presents the Monastery as a family, the father of
which is the abbot. The monks have to hold very strictly to their Monastic
promises, to constantly pray, to actively participate in the Monastery’s
labour, to obey the abbot willingly, to read the Holy Bible and to make efforts
for the spiritual perfection. Saint Benedict’s Canon was spread all over the
west and strengthened the development of Monastic life, particularly in those
countries that accepted the Christian dogma after the fourth century.
From the ninth century the
monks were divided into small and great. The first lessened the austerity of
Monastic life. The latter were wearing around their chest a cloth with cross
and certain letters. Apart from them, there were order kinds of monks, such as
the pillar saints, who were living an a pillar, those who were living on a
tree, in caves, those chained with chains etc.
Since the ancient centers of
Monastic life, such us Egypt and Syria, passed under the predominance of the
Arabs, new centers were developed, where Monastic life thrived and those
centers were Constantinople, Olympos of Bythinia and Athos.
Monastic life, at that time,
thrived on Mount Athos, where the Monasteries
of Xenophon (11th century), Pantokrator and Koutloumousiou were
founded in the time of Alexios and Manuel Comnenos; also the Monasteries of
Chalantariou, Esfigmenou, Simonos Petra and Dionysiou (14th century)
were founded. To those Monasteries belonged other smaller ones, the Skites. The
Holy Mountain was, independent,
ecclesiastically and politically it was under the command of the emperor. Every
Monastery was managed by the abbot, who was elected by the monks and was
lifelong.
Apart from other distinctive
features of the monks on Mount Athos a peculiar system arose, according to
which every monk determines all by himself his way of life, he eats and sleeps
in his cell and receives from the Monasteries whatever he needs for his
preservation. That system became known in the 14th century and the
monks started to acquire property. The negative was that a relaxation of the
Monastic life was observed, for they were free concerning quality and the
quantity of food. The monks of the Monasteries were eating the same food at a
common table and they had all in common.
On Mount
Athos lived, apart from Greek monks, Russians, Serbs, Bulgarians,
and Georgians as well. The Monasteries were rich and that affluence was coming
from the donations of emperors and other leaders and thus they had landed
property outside Mount Athos. They had rich
libraries and many monks were distinguished for their education and their
spiritual eradiation, which was felt not only in Byzantium but also in many Orthodox
countries. The monks were distinguished and are still being distinguished for
their devotion to Orthodoxy.
by Nikos S. Lakasas,
Scientific Associate of the
Institute for National and Religious Studies
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