The Extension Of Monasticism Thr


Asceticism arose within the Christian Church partly as the practical

expression of the conviction of the worthlessness of things transitory and

partly as a reaction against the moral laxity of the times. As this laxity

could not be kept entirely out of the Church, and Christians everywhere

were exposed to it, those who sought the higher life felt the necessity of

retirement. From the life of the isolated hermit, asceticism advanced
br />
naturally to the community type of the ascetic life. There were

forerunners in non-Christian religions of the solitary ascetic and the

cenobite in Egypt, Palestine, India, and elsewhere, but all the essentials

of Christian monasticism can be adequately explained without employing the

theory of borrowing or imitation. For the principal points of development,

v. §§ 53, 78, 104. When monasticism had once made itself a strong factor

in the Christian religious life of Egypt, it was quickly taken up by other

parts of the Church as it satisfied a widely felt want. In Asia Minor

Basil of Caesarea was the great promoter and organizer of the ascetic life;

and his rule still obtains throughout the East. In the West Athanasius

appears to have introduced monastic ideas during his early exiles. Ambrose

was a patron of the movement. Martin of Tours, Severinus, and John Cassian

did much to extend it in Gaul. Augustine organized his clergy according to

a monastic rule which ultimately played a large part in later monasticism.





(a) Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, ch. 38. (MSG, 34:1099.)





The Rule of Pachomius.





Palladius, the author of the history of monasticism, known as the

Historia Lausiaca, was an Origenist, pupil of Evagrius Ponticus,

and later bishop in Asia Minor. He is not to be confused with

Palladius of Helenopolis, who lived about the same time, in the

first part of the fifth century. The work of Palladius receives

its name from the fact that it is dedicated to a high official,

Lausus by name. Palladius made a careful study of monasticism,

travelling extensively in making researches for his work. He also

used what written material was available. It is probable that the

text is largely interpolated, but on the whole it is a trustworthy

account of the early monasticism. It was written about A. D. 420,

and the following account of Pachomius should be compared with

that of Sozomenus, Hist. Ec., III, 14, written some years later.

Text in Kirch, nn. 712 ff.





There is a place in the Thebaid called Tabenna, in which lived a certain

monk Pachomius, one of those men who have attained the highest form of

life, so that he was granted predictions of the future and angelic

visions. He was a great lover of the poor, and had great love to men.

When, therefore, he was sitting in a cave an angel of the Lord came in and

appeared to him and said: Pachomius you have done well those things which

pertain to your own affairs; therefore sit no longer idle in this cave.

Up, therefore, go forth and gather all the younger monks and dwell with

them and give them laws according to the form which I give thee. And he

gave him a brass tablet on which the following things were written:



1. Give to each to eat and drink according to his strength; and give

labors according to the powers of those eating, and forbid neither fasting

nor eating. Thus appoint difficult labors to the stronger and those who

eat, but the lighter and easy tasks to those who discipline themselves

more and are weaker.



2. Make separate cells in the same place; and let three remain in a cell.

But let the food of all be prepared in one house.



3. They may not sleep lying down, but having made seats built inclining

backward let them place their bedding on them and sleep seated.



4. But by night let them wear linen tunics, being girded about. Let each

of them have a shaggy goatskin, made white. Without this let them neither

eat nor sleep. When they go in unto the communion of the mysteries of

Christ every Sabbath and Lord's Day, let them loose their girdles and put

off the goatskin, and enter with only their cuculla [cf. DCA]. But he

made the cuculla for them without any fleece, as for boys; and he

commanded to place upon them certain branding marks of a purple cross.



5. He commanded that there be twenty-four groups of the brethren,

according to the number of the twenty-four letters. And he prescribed that

to each group should be given as a name a letter of the Greek alphabet,

from Alpha and Beta, one after another, to Omega, in order that when the

archimandrite asked for any one in so great a company, that one may be

asked who is the second in each, how group Alpha is, or how the group

Beta; again let him salute the group Rho; the name of the letters

following its own proper sign. And upon the simpler and more guileless

place the name Iota; and upon those who are more ill-tempered and less

righteous the letter Xi. And thus in harmony with the principles and the

life and manners of them arrange the names of the letters, only the

spiritual understanding the meaning.



6. There was written on the tablet that if there come a stranger of

another monastery, having a different form of life, he shall not eat nor

drink with them, nor go in with them into the monastery, unless he shall

be found in the way outside of the monastery.



7. But do not receive for three years into the contest of proficients him

who has entered once for all to remain with them; but when he has

performed the more difficult tasks, then let him after a period of three

years enter the stadium.



8. When they eat let them veil their faces, that one brother may not see

another brother eating. They are not to speak while they eat; nor outside

of their dish or off the table shall they turn their eyes toward anything

else.



9. And he made it a rule that during the whole day they should offer

twelve prayers; and at the time of lighting the lamps, twelve; and in the

course of the night, twelve; and at the ninth hour, three; but when it

seemed good for the whole company to eat, he directed that each group

should first sing a psalm at each prayer.



But when the great Pachomius replied to the angel that the prayers were

few, the angel said to him: I have appointed these that the little ones

may advance and fulfil the law and not be distressed; but the perfect do

not need to have laws given to them. For being by themselves in their

cells, they have dedicated their entire life to contemplation on God. But

to these, as many as do not have an intelligent mind, I will give a law

that as saucy servants out of fear for the Master they may fulfil the

whole order of life and direct it properly. When the angel had given these

directions and fulfilled his ministry he departed from the great

Pachomius. There are monasteries observing this rule, composed of seven

thousand men, but the first and great monastery, wherein the blessed

Pachomius dwelt, and which gave birth to the other places of asceticism,

has one thousand three hundred men.





(b) Basil the Great, Regula fusius tractata, Questio 7. (MSG, 31:927.)





The Rule of St. Basil is composed in the form of question and

answer, and in place of setting down a simple, clearly stated law,

with perhaps some little exhortation, goes into much detailed

argument, even in the briefer Rule. In the following passage Basil

points out the advantages of the cenobitic life over the solitary

or hermit life. It is condensed as indicated.





Questio VII. Since your words have given us full assurance that the life

[i.e., the cenobitic life] is dangerous with those who despise the

commandments of the Lord, we wish accordingly to learn whether it is

necessary that he who withdraws should remain alone or live with brothers

of like mind who have placed before themselves the same goal of piety.



Responsio 1. I think that the life of several in the same place is much

more profitable. First, because for bodily wants no one of us is

sufficient for himself, but we need each other in providing what is

necessary. For just as the foot has one ability, but is wanting another,

and without the help of the other members it would find neither its own

power strong nor sufficient of itself to continue, nor any supply for what

it lacks, so it is in the case of the solitary life: what is of use to us

and what is wanting we cannot provide for ourselves, for God who created

the world has so ordered all things that we are dependent upon each other,

as it is written that we may join ourselves to one another [cf. Wis.

13:20]. But in addition to this, reverence to the love of Christ does not

permit each one to have regard only to his own affairs, for love, he says,

seeks not her own [I Cor. 13:5]. The solitary life has only one goal, the

service of its own interests. That clearly is opposed to the law of love,

which the Apostle fulfilled, when he did not in his eyes seek his own

advantage but the advantage of many, that they might be saved [cf. I

Cor. 10:33]. Further, no one in solitude recognizes his own defects, since

he has no one to correct him and in gentleness and mercy direct him on his

way. For even if correction is from an enemy, it may often in the case of

those who are well disposed rouse the desire for healing; but the healing

of sin by him who sincerely loves is wisely accomplished. Also the

commands may be better fulfilled by a larger community, but not by one

alone; for while this thing is being done another will be neglected; for

example, by attendance upon the sick the reception of strangers is

neglected; and in the bestowal and distribution of the necessities of life

(especially when in these services much time is consumed) the care of the

work is neglected, so that by this the greatest commandment and the one

most helpful to salvation is neglected; neither the hungry are fed nor the

naked clothed. Who would therefore value higher the idle, useless life

than the fruitful which fulfils the commandments of God?



3. Also in the preservation of the gifts bestowed by God the cenobitic

life is preferable. For him who falls into sin, the recovery of the right

path is so much easier, for he is ashamed at the blame expressed by so

many in common, so that it happens to him as it is written: It is enough

that the same therefore be punished by many [II Cor. 2:6]. There are

still other dangers which we say accompany the solitary life, the first

and greatest is that of self-satisfaction. For he who has no one to test

his work easily believes that he has completely fulfilled the

commandments.



4. For how shall he manifest his humility, when he has no one to whom he

can show himself the inferior? How shall he manifest compassion, cut off

from the society of many? How will he exercise himself in patience, if no

one opposes his wishes?





(c) Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, Canon 4. Bruns, I, 26.





The subjection of the monastery and the monks to the bishop.





Asceticism of the solitary life was apart from the organization of

the Church; when this form of life had developed in cenobitism it

still remained for a time, at least, outside the ecclesiastical

organization. Athanasius, who was a patron of the monastic life

and often found support and refuge among the monks, did much to

bring Egyptian monasticism back to the Church, and in the fifth

century monks became a great power in ecclesiastical affairs,

cf. the Origenistic controversy, v. infra, § 88. Basil, at

once archbishop of Caesarea and leading exponent of monastic ideas,

brought the two to some extent together. But always the episcopal

control was only with difficulty brought to bear on the monastic

life, and in the West this opposition of the two religious forces

ultimately became embodied in the principle of monastic exemption.

The Council of Chalcedon, in 451, aimed to correct the early abuse

by placing the monasteries under the control of the bishop.





They who lead a true and worthy monastic life shall enjoy the honor that

belongs to them. But since there are some who assume the monastic

condition only as a pretence, and will upset the ecclesiastical and civil

regulations and affairs, and run about without distinction in the cities

and want to found cloisters for themselves, the synod therefore has

decreed that no one shall build a cloister or house of prayer or erect

anywhere without the consent of the bishop of the city; and further, that

also the monks of every district and city shall be subject to the bishop,

that they shall love peace and quiet and observe the fasts and prayers in

the places where they are assigned continually; that they shall not cumber

themselves with ecclesiastical and secular business and shall not take

part in such; they shall not leave their cloisters except when in cases of

necessity they may be commissioned by the bishop of the city with such;

that no slave shall be admitted into the cloister in order to become a

monk without the permission of his master. Whoever violates this our order

shall be excommunicated, that the name of God be not blasphemed. The

bishop of the city must keep a careful oversight of the cloisters.





(d) Jerome, Epistula 127, ad Principiam. (MSL, 22:1087.)





The introduction of monasticism into the West during the Arian

controversy.





5. At that time no high-born lady at Rome knew of the profession of the

monastic life, neither would she have dared, on account of the novelty,

publicly to assume a name that was regarded as ignominious and vile. It

was from some priests of Alexandria and from Pope Athanasius(155) and

subsequently from Peter,(156) who, to escape the persecution of the Arian

heretics, had fled for refuge to Rome as the safest haven of their

communion--it was from these that she [Marcella] learned of the life of the

blessed Anthony, then still living, and of the monasteries in the Thebaid,

founded by Pachomius, and of the discipline of virgins and widows. Nor was

she ashamed to profess what she knew was pleasing to Christ. Many years

after her example was followed first by Sophronia and then by others. The

revered Paula enjoyed Marcella's friendship, and it was in her cell that

Eustochium, that ornament of virginity, was trained.





(e) Augustine, Confessiones, VIII, ch. 6. (MSL, 32:755.)





The extension of monasticism in the West.





Upon a certain day there came to the house to see Alypius and me,

Pontitianus, a countryman of ours, in so far as he was an African, who

held high office in the Emperor's court. What he wanted with us I know

not. We sat down to talk together, and upon the table before us, used for

games, he noticed by chance a book; he took it up, opened it, and,

contrary to his expectations, found it to be the Apostle Paul, for he

imagined it to be one of those books the teaching of which was wearing me

out. At this he looked up at me smilingly, and expressed his delight and

wonder that he so unexpectedly found this book, and this only, before my

eyes. For he was both a Christian and baptized, and in constant and daily

prayers he often prostrated himself before Thee our God in the Church.

When, then, I had told him that I bestowed much pains upon these writings,

a conversation ensued on his speaking of Anthony, the Egyptian monk, whose

name was in high repute among Thy servants, though up to that time

unfamiliar to us. When he came to know this he lingered on that topic,

imparting to us who were ignorant a knowledge of this man so eminent, and

marvelling at our ignorance. But we were amazed, hearing Thy wonderful

works most fully manifested in times so recent, and almost in our own,

wrought in the true faith and the Catholic Church. We all wondered--we that

they were so great, and he that we had never heard of them.



From this his conversation turned to the companies in the monasteries, and

their manners so fragrant unto Thee, and of the fruitful deserts of the

wilderness, of which we knew nothing. And there was a monastery at Milan

full of good brethren, without the walls of the city, under the care of

Ambrose, and we were ignorant of it. He went on with his relation, and we

listened intently and in silence. He then related to us how on a certain

afternoon, at Treves, when the Emperor was taken up with seeing the

Circensian games, he and three others, his comrades, went out for a walk

in the gardens close to the city walls, and there, as they chanced to walk

two and two, one strolled away with him, while the other two went by

themselves; and these in their ramblings came upon a certain cottage where

dwelt some of Thy servants, "poor in spirit," of whom "is the kingdom of

heaven," and they found there a book in which was written the life of

Anthony. This one of them began to read, marvel at, and be inflamed by it;

and in the reading to meditate on embracing such a life, and giving up his

worldly employments to serve Thee. Then Pontitianus, and he that had

walked with him through other parts of the garden, came in search of them

to the same place, and, having found them, advised them to return as the

day had declined. But the other two, setting their affections upon

heavenly things, remained in the cottage. And both of them had affianced

brides who also, when they heard of this, dedicated their virginity to

God.





(f) Sulpicius Severus, Life of St. Martin of Tours, ch. 10. (MSL,

20:166.)





Monasticism in Gaul.





St. Martin, bishop of Tours, was born 316, became bishop of Tours

in 371, and died 396. He was the most considerable figure in the

Church life of Gaul at that time. Sulpicius Severus was his

disciple and enthusiastic biographer. For John Cassian and his

works on monasticism, see PNF, ser. II, vol. XI.





And now having entered upon the episcopal office, it is beyond my power to

set forth how well and how much he [Martin] performed. For he remained

with the utmost constancy the same as he had been before. In his heart

there was the same humility and in his garments the same simplicity; and

so full of dignity and courtesy, he maintained the dignity of a bishop,

yet so as not to lay aside the objects and virtues of a monk. Accordingly

he made use for some time of the cell connected with the church; but

afterward, when he felt it impossible to tolerate the disturbance of the

numbers of those visiting it, he established a monastery for himself about

two miles outside the city. This spot was so secret and retired that he

did not desire the solitude of a hermit. For, on one side, it was

surrounded by a precipitous rock of a lofty mountain; while the river

Loire has shut in the rest of the plain by a bend extending back for a

distance. The place could be approached by only one passage, and that very

narrow. Here, then, he possessed a cell constructed of wood; many also of

the brethren had, in the same manner, fashioned retreats for themselves,

but most of them had formed these out of the rock of the overhanging

mountain, hollowed out into caves. There were altogether eighty disciples,

who were being disciplined after the example of the saintly master. No one

there had anything which was called his own; all things were possessed in

common. It was not allowed either to buy or sell anything, as is the

custom amongst most monks. No art was practised there except that of

transcribers, and even to this the more youthful were assigned, while the

elders spent their time in prayer. Rarely did any of them go beyond the

cell unless when they assembled at the place of prayer. They all took

their food together after the hour of fasting was past. No one used wine

except when illness compelled him. Most of them were dressed in garments

of camel's hair. Any dress approaching softness was there deemed criminal,

and this must be thought the more remarkable because many among them were

such as are deemed of noble rank, who though very differently brought up

had forced themselves down to this degree of humility and patience, and we

have seen many of these afterward as bishops. For what city or church

could there be that would not desire to have its priest from the monastery

of Martin?



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