Orthodox Christian Monasticism Outline Part 2 - Religion - http://maxpages.com/democracy/Orthodox_Monasticism

The monk wears the prayer rope, a cord with many knots by which to count prayers and prostrations. He strives continuously to have the name of Lord Jesus always in mind, in heart, in thought and on his lips. This "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." (Eph. 6:17) helps us in our spiritual warfare, "For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places". (Eph 6:12).

Dressed through the constant daily striving, the monk obeys the voice of Saint Paul to: "Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to withstand the evil day, and having done all to stand." (Eph. 6:11).
The monk can be an inspiration for the common man, not so much as to follow him in his calling, but to follow his example with regard to respecting to God's will, strengthening his belief in God, reviewing his habits and rearranging his values and priorities in life. The Orthodox monk is the guardian and the living proof of a long standing and holy Tradition. In an Orthodox Monastery, Byzantium lives forever as an environment of devotion and a special way of worship.

The monastic rule has as its strength to safeguard the monk in his daily life, helping him, through obedience, to keep unceasing vigil upon his inward integrity so that the union of heart and spirit may become for him a reality and lead him, as far as this is possible upon earth, to union with God. It is the primary rule of the order of Offices and also covers the obedience of intellectual and manual work. Work is itself a prayerful activity with the ascetic end in view of overcoming our rebel nature and to keep us from idleness which is so harmful to the spiritual life. Hagiography, icon painting, Byzantine music, woodcarving, incense preparation, making Church vestments, translating or writing books on the spiritual life and printing them, all arts that originated in Byzantium are still performed and flourish in the Monasteries. Art and especially Byzantine iconography is one of the basic ways for someone to approach God. Byzantium and the particular Tradition we inherit from it, mainly through the monasteries, constitute one of the main components of Christian identity. It is one of our deepest roots.

Monks are athletes of God, and as Saint Paul said must run with patience the race that is set before them (Heb. 12:1); effort without discipline leads nowhere. It is only by patient, deliberate striving that the soul can hope to perfect itself and come closer to God. The rule is, be it in Eremitic or Cenobitic life, of paramount importance, its virtue consisting in being kept. It is naturally more complex in the Cenobitic life, for it has to deal with offices read in common and has to regulate the community life with all its aspects of different characters and dissimilar backgrounds of the individuals gathered under the same roof.

A monastery or a convent is a community of monks or nuns living under a common rule governed by an Abbot (Abbess) or superior chosen from among professed monks. He rules like a loving father over his children, being assisted by a council of professed monks, to members of which he delegates certain powers and responsibilities. Apart from its life of prayer, which remains at all times the essential preoccupation of the monks, a monastery may harbor, as circumstances demand, the sick, the aged, the orphaned, the homeless, or perform any work of Christian charity. All monasteries have a guesthouse in which the traveler can stay for the first three nights free of charge, paying guests may also be taken. Monks have to work for their livelihood and the upkeep of the monastery. There is no enclosure, as in some Western orders, nevertheless monks and visitors mix only at certain times, in well-defined places. The Megaloschema keep very much apart.

The rule governing all monasteries is basically founded upon the primitive rules of Saint Basil the Great, itself a synthesis of the foregoing monastic life of the Desert Fathers. The rule has become an integral part of the spiritual tradition of the whole Orthodox Church; It is gradually adapted through the centuries, down to our day, by St. Sabbas, Saint Theodore Studite, the Athonite tradition of the 14th century and Paisie Velitchikowsky at the end of the 18th century.

Among the many ascetical works of Saint Basil, the Great Rules ( Oroi Kata Platos) and the Brief Rules (Oroi kat' Epitomen), are the most significant in terms of regulating the life of monasticism. They extol the monastic life in common as the ideal Christian life, the life of perfection. While at the same time indicating the dangers of the solitary anchorite life, St. Basil's Rules become the Magna Carta of Monasticism, both in the East and in the West. The difference is that while in the Christian East the anchorite spirit of Saint Anthony continues to exist as the traditional monastic ideal, thus the times reaching against the organized monasticism of Pachomian, cenobitic type promulgated by Saint Basil in the Rules, the Christian West, after the modifications to the Basilian Rules of Saint Benedict, remains faithful to the cenobitic spirit of organized monasticism.

Saint Basil set Christian perfectionism as the goal of monastic life. The monks were to practice Christian virtues together, especially love; to practice obedience to a spiritual father; to practice chastity and poverty, and share the common good of the monastery. After they achieved Christian perfection, they were allowed to come back to the world and help others to achieve Christian perfection. Thus, the monks had the mission of 'social workers.' Saint Basil's institutions, especially his Basileias, which was at the same time an orphanage, a 'kitchen for the poor,' and a school for the illiterate was in practice run by monks. This was Saint Basil's way of utilizing the monastic movement to benefit the Church in the world. Following Saint Basil's example, the Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon (A.D. 451), in its council legislations, placed the monastics in a given diocese under the direct jurisdiction of the diocesan bishop. Only this bishop can allow the foundation of new monasteries in his diocese (Canon 4 and 8). Thus in the Orthodox Church the possibility of creating monastic orders, as we see them in the West during the Middle Ages, was once for all eliminated. The Church has always refused to approve tendencies, which would isolate the monks from the Church and imply that they had a mission that was essentially different and superior to that of the other Christians.

Monasticism is the most radical revolt against evil and its reign in the world and against all forms of compromise and conformist. Paul Evdokimov, a Russian contemporary theologian, points out: "the witness that the martyrs had given to eschatological realities passed over into the hands of the monks and was transformed into a ministry of eschatological maximilism." The monk is an eschatological man, a men literally possessed by the Parrousia. A monk is a witness 'par excellence' of the last things, an apostle of evangelical perfection. The ministry of the monk is of a charismatic kind destined to serve the Church and the world.
Whether he lives apart or in a community, the monk is a witness of the Kingdom to come."

IC-XC-NI-KA

The monastic askesis(exercise), is not a thing of the past and, therefore, irrelevant for the man of today. Monasticism is an integral part of the Church, because it expresses a universal spiritual norm, a value normative for every soul. It is essentially the coming of the Kingdom in the heart of the humble soul before the doors of paradise.

STEFAN CRISBASAN

webmaster@stefanc.findhere.com

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Page Updated Fri Apr 2, 1999 8:59am EST