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This article is printed with the generous blessing and permission of the publishers of Divine Ascent. It is from the Fall 2000 issue.
On Monasticism
A Conversation between Orthodox Christians, A Layman and a Monk1
By St. Ignatiy Brianchaninov
The Layman: Father, I am fortunate to know someone like you to whom I can open my heart and from whom I can hear a sincere word. I desire from the depth of my soul to belong fully to the Orthodox Church and to follow her dogmatic and moral tradition. So I’m seeking to understand all of the subjects of the tradition. Errors in understanding lead to errors in action. Therefore, in the present conversation, please do not refuse to explain to me the significance of monasticism in Christ’s Church.
The Monk: May God bless your desire. All good comes from exact and correct understanding. All misfortunes come from false understandings. This opinion belongs to the Gospel. In the Gospel, truth is offered as the original cause of salvation, while falsehood is pointed to as the original cause of destruction.2 Why do you wish to speak today about monasticism?
The Layman: In my circle, talk about monasticism often arises, along with current opinions about it. My acquaintances almost always turn to me as someone who knows many spiritual persons, and they desire my opinion. I would like to get precise information for my neighbors.
Monasticism and Church: Establishments of God
The Monk: I do not know to what degree I am capable of satisfying you, but I wish to be honest with you and put forth that which I have come to know from reading Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers, from conversations with monks who merit esteem and trust for their lives, and finally from my own observations and experiences. As the basis of our conversation, laying down a cornerstone for the foundation of the building, I will say monasticism is an establishment of God.
The Layman: Imagine! In society I’ve never heard the concept that monasticism is an establishment of God.
The Monk: I know. That is why in worldly society, when conversation about monasticism starts up, one will say, "It seems to me thus," and the other will say, "But it seems to me thus," while another would say, "Well, I would do it this way," and another, "I would do it that way." One can hear thousands of contradictory opinions and statements pronounced by people who have no understanding of monasticism whatsoever, but who are ready to write the rules for monasticism and to direct it according to their own most wise judgement without any advice whatsoever. Some people even repeat blasphemies which were pronounced against monasticism by Protestants and atheists. The heart is seized with a feeling of sorrow and fear from such exclamations and judgments, in which ignorance tramples with its hooves on the most precious pearls of the divine tradition and what has been instituted.
The Layman: Precisely! Ignorance is the cause of this as you have said, Father.
The Monk: Do not think that ignorance is an evil which is insignificant. The Holy Fathers call ignorance a great primary evil which breeds evil in the fullness of abundance. Ven. Father Mark the Ascetic says that ignorance is the first main giant of evil.3 Ignorance does not know its own ignorance. Ignorance is satisfied with its own knowledge, as another Father said.4 Ignorance is capable of doing much evil without suspecting in the slightest that it is doing evil. I say this with sympathy towards men who do not understand the worth of man. I say it to Christians who do not know Christianity and who are acting against themselves from their ignorance. Do not think I have the intention of hiding human abuses and weaknesses in monasticism. No. The censuring and rejecting of human abuses serves as a sign of reverence toward what was established by God in due holiness, this institution granted by God and placed at the disposal of men.
The Layman: This last thought, too, is a new one for me. I have never looked at monasticism from this point of view and have never encountered this view in others.
The Monk: What I have said relates not only to monasticism, but to the whole Church, both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament Church. The Old Testament Church was founded by God and committed to its workers, the Jewish people. This has been depicted by the Lord in the parable about the vineyard.5 The Gospel and all of Holy Scripture make clear that the New Testament Church was founded by the God-Man but commended to another people formed out of all the nations—the Christians.6 The Jews had to give an account to God for their keeping of the gift of God, for their governing and disposition of the gift of God. As their conduct proved to be in violation of the law, they were removed—after they had voluntarily removed themselves in spirit—and were subjected to punishment. In a like manner, an account will be demanded from Christians of how they have made use, in general, of the divine institution, the New Testament Church, and also the particular institutions within it, such as monasticism.
The Layman: Is it possible to see in Holy Scripture the fate of the New Testament Church on earth?
The Monk: Holy Scripture testifies that Christians, like Jews, will gradually begin to grow cold towards the candid teaching of God. They will begin to live without attention to the renewal of human nature by the God-Man. They will forget about eternity. All of their attention will be turned to their earthly life. In this temperament and frame of mind, they will be occupied with the development of their situation on earth, as if it were eternal, and with the development of their own fallen nature for the satisfaction of all of the injured and mutilated demands and desires of the soul and body. One must understand that for such an orientation, the Redeemer, who redeemed man for blessed eternity, is alien. For such an orientation the apostasy from Christianity is natural. The apostasy will begin in accordance to the prophecy of scripture.7 Monasticism will take part in the weakening of Christianity, for a member of a body cannot help but take part in a weakness which has infected the whole body. The holy monks of ancient times foretold this by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit Who dwelt in them.8 When Christianity diminishes to the extreme on earth, then the life of the world will come to an end.9
The Layman: What is the significance of monasticism in Christ’s Church?
The Monk: Monks are those Christians who have left, as far as possible, all earthly occupations for the sake of the occupation of prayer, that virtue which is higher than all virtues, in order by means of it, to be united with God. As the Apostle said, "He who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit with the Lord."10 Since prayer borrows its strength from all the other virtues and all the teachings of Christ, monks must have a special diligence towards fulfilling the Gospel commandments, adding to the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments, which are obligatory for all Christians, the fulfillment of two counsels of Christ: poverty and of virginity.11 Monks strive for a way of life like the way of life of the God-Man on earth: and for this reason the holy monks are called prepodobny [lit. "most like" (Christ), venerable].
The Layman: Why did monasticism move far from the cities and towns?
The Monk: This transfer occurred at the same time that the podvig [ascetic act] of martyrdom came to an end, when not only the chosen ones accepted Christianity by a special call, with the decision to accept the greatest misfortune and death, but when all people accepted it as the ruling faith protected and spread by the government. Christianity became universal but did not preserve its former self-renunciation. The Christians in cities and towns began to give themselves up to many earthly cares—pleasures of the flesh, common amusements and other weakenings; the first confessors of the faith were strangers to these earthly cares, considering them to be a rejection of Christ in spirit. The wilderness presented itself as the natural refuge and harbor, untroubled by temptation, for those Christians who wished to preserve and develop Christianity in themselves with all of its strength. St. Isaac the Syrian says, "The wilderness is beneficial for both the weak and the strong. For the first, the withdrawal from what is material does not allow the passions to be inflamed and to grow. While for the strong, when they are outside of what is material, they attain to the point of warfare with evil spirits."12
For example, St Basil the Great and St. Dimitri of Rostov describe the reason for the departure of St. Gordius into the wilderness thus: "Gordius fled from the noise of the cities, from the cries of the merchants. He fled from the glorification of the princes, from the judgements of those who bought, of those who sold, of those who slander, of those who lie, of those who speak shamefully. He fled from the games, jesting and joking of the cities, himself having pure ears, pure eyes, and above all a purified heart, able to see God, and vouchsafed divine revelations, the learning of the great mysteries, not from men, but by acquiring the great teacher of truth, the Spirit."13
At the time of the transfer of monasticism into the wilderness, special garb appeared, completely separating monks from laymen. During the time of the persecutions, both clergy and monks used, for the most part, common clothing. This hid them from the persecutors.
Teaching by Word and Teaching by Life
The Layman: The high teaching which St. Gordius was vouchsafed is the exclusive property of very few people. In modern times14 the Christian faith is taught satisfactorily and in detail in the seminaries, while the higher teaching about it is taught in the spiritual academies.
The Monk: There is the greatest difference between the teaching which is taught in the spiritual schools and the teaching which ought to be taught in monasteries, although the object of both teachings is the same: Christianity. When Savior of the world sent out His Holy Apostles to preach to all the world, He commanded them to teach all people faith in the true God and the way of life according to His commandments. He said, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you."15
The teaching of the faith must precede baptism. The teaching of the way of life according to the commandments must follow baptism. The first teaching is theoretical; the second is practical. Concerning the first, the Holy Apostle Paul said, "I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."16 Concerning the second teaching he said, "…Christ in you, the hope of glory, Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus."17 God has given two teachings about Himself: the teaching by word, which is accepted by faith, and teaching by life, which is accepted by acting according to the commandments of the Gospel. The first teaching can be likened to the foundation of the building, while the second is likened to the building itself, which is raised on this foundation. Just as it is impossible to build a building without a foundation, so also the foundation for it cannot serve for anything unless a building is built on it. Faith without works is dead.18
The Holy Apostle Paul depicts the necessity of the first teaching thus: "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. How shall they believe in Him in Whom they have not heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher?"19 Here, exactly, is the beginning of catechistic teaching. To those entering into Christianity, the Apostles and their successors presented the fundamental teaching of Christianity concerning God, concerning the God-Man, concerning man and his significance in time and in eternity, concerning the mysteries, concerning the blessedness of paradise and the torments of hell,20 and concerning the other things which constitute fundamental dogmatic Christian teaching—uniting to it also the theoretical teaching according to the way of life of the Gospel commandments.21 Here is the beginning of dogmatic and moral theology, this most exalted holy science.
From the very times of the Apostles, heretical teaching began to arise in Christ’s Church, that is, teaching about divine revelation which came from the falsely-named "reason" of man. In the revealed teaching of God there is no place for human reasoning: from the alpha to the omega everything is God’s.
The Holy Universal Church has striven to preserve the priceless spiritual treasure entrusted to her—the revealed teaching of God. The Church has censured all of her obvious enemies: idolaters, pagans, philosophers, and Jews, and has repulsed their attacks. She has censured her inner enemies, the heretics, has refuted their teachings, has cast them out of her bosom, and has cautioned her own children against them.
Hence, with the passage of time, theology was expressed with greater breadth; it became necessary to learn it in schools. The broadest and most ancient school was in Alexandria. It flowered especially in the second and third centuries after the birth of Christ. The teachings which were at enmity to the divine teaching constantly increased and arose in different forms, so in the schools a systematic exposition of the heresies became necessary. The West, which deviated from the East by falling into heresy, accepted pagan erudition and life. From this time, teachings which were hostile to the Orthodox Church—teachings which were most cunningly designed, most impudent, deformed, and blasphemous—increased without measure.
Spiritual schools became essential for the Orthodox Church, as essential as the breath of life. Judge for yourself. One must adeptly present to an Orthodox Christian—and especially to that person who is preparing to be a pastor—both the true teaching of the Orthodox Church and all of its victorious warfare with its secret and obvious enemies, with those who are hidden and those who are open, a warfare which has lasted for eighteen centuries, evermore intensified. One must present the delusions of Arius, Macedonius, Nestorius, Eutyches, of iconoclasts, of papism, of Protestantism with its innumerable offshoots crowned by atheism and the newest philosophy. One must present a satisfactory refutation of all of these teachings.
The learning of theology required a short time in the beginning of Christianity, but now it requires a long time. Before, it could be taught in lessons which were given in the church of God, in the temple itself. Now, a systematic teaching through a course of several years is necessary.
To gain this teaching in its full extent is the very goal of our spiritual seminaries and academies. They teach knowledge about Christianity which is fundamental, introductory, as St. Mark the Ascetic calls it.22 They teach it to youth who have still not entered into the service of society, who are preparing for this service only theoretically, who are not yet acquainted with the knowledge which is communicated by the experience of life.
Upon the theoretical knowledge of the faith must be built knowledge which is actual, living, and full of grace. To acquire this knowledge, earthly life has been given to man. The Christian living in the world according to the commandments of the Gospel will, without fail, be given the wealth of knowledge which is not only the knowledge of experience but also, to a certain degree, the knowledge of grace. Incomparably more enriched with this knowledge must be the person who, having abandoned all earthly cares, uses all of his time, all of his strength of body and soul, for pleasing God, that is, the monk. It is he who is called in the Gospel he that hath the commandments of the Lord, because the commandments of the Lord constitute all of his possessions. "He who hath My commandments," said the Savior of the world, "and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. And he that loveth Me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself unto him."23
For this reason the most zealous Christians of all the ages, having finished their education in the schools, entered, and are still entering, monasticism for the acquiring of that education which is gained through monasticism. Who were the great teachers of the Church of all times? Monks. Who explained the Church’s teaching with exactness? Who preserved the Church’s tradition for posterity? Who censured and trampled on heresies? Monks. Who with their own blood sealed the Orthodox confession of the faith? Monks.
This is very natural. Christians who are living in the midst of the world, who are tangled in the world’s ties, who are occupied with various cares, both voluntary and involuntary, cannot set aside much time, cannot consecrate all of their love to God. "He who is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: but he that is married careth for the things that are of the world."24 He who is married cannot constantly and intensely cleave to the Lord by means of prayer which is removed from everything earthly and cannot be united "unto the Word in one Spirit."25 This is possible and natural for the monk. For personal Christian advancement there is no need of human erudition, which is necessary for the teachers of the Church. Many illiterate Christians, among others, the Ven. Anthony the Great, entered monasticism and attained Christian perfection, overflowed with spiritual light to their contemporaries—by their examples, by their oral teaching, and by their grace-filled gifts. "Who," says St. John of the Ladder "among those living in the world was a worker of miracles, who raised the dead, who expelled demons? No one. All of this is the honor of monks whom the world cannot contain."26
The Layman: But not all monks attain such a high state. Not all of them fulfill such an assignment. Very few do.
The Monk: Those monks who lead a life in accordance with the monastic rules acquire grace without fail according to the promise of God. The promise of God cannot help but be fulfilled because of the very nature of the Word of God and the commandments of the Gospel, the nature of communicating to practitioners the Spirit of God. On the other hand, those monks who disdain the divinely given institution of monasticism, who lead a life which is self-willed, distracted, pleasure-loving, and world-loving, are deprived of spiritual success. A similar thing happens with all Christians. Those Christians who lead a life that is Christian are saved, while those who have the name of Christian, but lead a life that is pagan, perish. In earlier times there were many more saints among monks and many more who were being saved among Christians than there are now. The reason for this is the general weakening in faith and morality. But even now there are true monks and true Christians.
I will repeat to you: there are monks who are unworthy of their name and of their calling, but this is an abuse of the divine institution. What God has established does not cease to be a divine institution in spite of the abuses of it by men. So also, Christianity is not deprived of its great merit for the reason that some or many Christians are leading a way of life which is contrary to the teaching of Christ.
Concerning Christianity, and likewise monasticism, one must judge according to true Christians and true monks. This is not easy. Piety and virtue, like chaste maidens, are always veiled in obscurity, protected in cells, as under the cover of a cloth veil. On the contrary, harlots try to appear in full view, half-naked. Often the elevated life of a monk is revealed only at his death or after his death. Often a monk who is a partaker of the grace of God is showered by the world with slander and abuse because of the hatred of the world towards the Spirit of God.27 The success itself of such monks has various degrees because, as has been said above, monastic solitude, being beneficial for strong Christians in one regard, is beneficial for the weak for another reason. One must understand that the number of the second, that is the weak, has always been greater than the number of the first.
Two Paths: Salvation and Perfection
The Layman: After all that you have said, it has become essential to have an exact explanation and proof that monasticism is established by God, though to a significant degree, what you have already said leads to such a conclusion.
The Monk: The Savior of the world pointed out two paths, two forms of life for those that believe in Him: the path which gains salvation and the path which gains perfection. The Lord called the latter path "the following of Him" since this path serves as a most exact expression of the teaching given by the Lord and as the imitation, to the degree possible, of that way of life which the Lord led during His earthly sojourn. The condition of salvation consists in faith in Christ,28 in living according to the commandments of God,29 and in healing by repentance the shortcomings of one’s fulfillment of the commandments.30 Consequently, salvation is available and possible in the midst of the world to all persons in those obligations and forms of service which are not contrary to the Law of God.
Some were called to follow the Lord by the Lord Himself, like the Apostles, but in general the Lord leaves the following of Him to the free will of each person31 as is manifest from all places in the Gospel where the Lord speaks about this subject: "If anyone will come after Me";32 "if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me";33 "if anyone come to Me."34 This is what the Lord said in the beginning of His teaching concerning following and concerning Christian perfection.
To take this way of life upon oneself depends on one’s free will, but the conditions of the way of life have been prescribed already by the Lord. Without these preserving conditions there cannot be a following of the Lord. The conditions of following Him, the path which leads to perfection, the Lord described thus: "If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me";35 "if you wish to be perfect, go sell your property and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven and follow me";36 "having taken up the cross";37 "if anyone come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple."38 [These passages] exactly prescribe those conditions from which the essential vows of monasticism are composed.
Monasticism, as we have seen in its origin, was nothing other that the solitary way of life of Christians who strove for Christian perfection separated from noise. Christians of the very populous, wealthy Alexandria withdrew into the outskirts of the city according to the instruction of the Holy Evangelist Mark. The same instruction is given by the Holy Apostle Paul to all Christians who wish to enter into the closest communion with God.39 St. John of the Ladder relates this calling expressly to monks.40 The above-quoted words of the Lord were understood in the original Church as they are explained here.
St. Athanasius the Great, in his biography of Ven. Anthony the Great, says that when Anthony was a youth he went to church to pray. The Gospel from St. Matthew41 was read on that day, concerning the wealthy man who asked the Lord about salvation and perfection. When the words quoted above were read—"If you wish to be perfect, go sell your belongings…"—Anthony, who in his soul was occupied with the question of what form of life to choose, felt a special feeling for these words and recognized that the Lord Himself had said them to him. Therefore he sold his property at once and entered monasticism.42 Even now these words of the Lord are recognized by the Holy Church as fundamental for monasticism and are always read at the tonsuring into monasticism.43
The locating of monasticism far from habitation, in the wilderness, came to pass from revelation and divine command. Ven. Anthony the Great was called by God to a life in the deep wilderness. Ven. Macarius the Great was commanded by an angel to dwell in the wilderness of Scetis44 and Ven. Pachomius the Great likewise was commanded by an angel to establish a cenobitic monastic community in the wilderness and was given written rules for the way of life of the monks.45 These venerable men were filled with the Holy Spirit, abode constantly in communion with God, and served monasticism as the voice of God, just as Moses served for the Israelites.
The Holy Spirit has constantly—throughout all the ages of Christianity—shone upon monasticism. The teaching of the Holy Spirit, the teaching of Christ, the teaching of God, the teaching of Christ about monasticism, about this science of sciences46 (as the Holy Fathers express it concerning this divine science), was presented in the divinely inspired writings of holy monks with all precision, exactness, and fullness. All of them testify that the establishment of monasticism—this way of life that surpasses nature—was in no way a human work, but rather a divine work. Being a work which surpasses nature, it cannot be a human work—it cannot help but be a divine work.
The Layman: Some people suppose that the original cause of monasticism was the persecutions raised by idolaters against Christians in the first three centuries of the life of Christianity.
The Monk: Carnal wisdom always judges mistakenly about spiritual men. Spiritual men, such as the monks of the first centuries, thirsted for martyrdom and many of them were crowned with the crown of martyrdom, such as the Ven. Martyrs Nikon,47 Julian,48Eudoxia,49 Eugenia,50 Febronia.51 When the struggle for martyrdom in Caesarea of Cappadocia was revealed, the above-mentioned Holy Desert-dweller Gordius went into that city during the time of the civic festival and censured the delusion of idolatry, confessed Christ, and sealed his confession with a martyr’s death. When the Emperor Diocletian raised a cruel persecution of Christians, Ven. Anthony the Great was already a monk and a hermit. When he heard that Christians were being subjected to torments and punishments for confessing Christ, Anthony left his cave and wilderness and hastened to Alexandria to be united with the martyrs, confessed Christ before all the people, and by this deed proved his desire for martyrdom. The author of his life says, "The Venerable one truly became a martyr in his love and in his will. Although he wished to suffer for the name of the Lord, martyrdom was not given to him by the Lord."
The Lord replaced the harvest of holiness, which the martyrs abundantly accomplished as they confessed Him before the idolaters, with another abundant harvest, which had to be accomplished by monks on the field of another martyrdom. The martyrdoms had scarcely ceased, the blood of Christians had barely stopped flowing on the public squares, when thousands of Christians moved into the wild deserts in order to crucify their flesh with its passions and lusts,52 in order to confess Christ before the face of the rulers of this world, the principalities and powers of malice.53
[It is true that] Ven. Paul of Thebes withdrew into the wilderness to escape the evil intention against his life during the time of the persecution raised by the Emperor Decius. Some withdrew into the wilderness for the same reason. Others withdrew into the wilderness as a consequence of other circumstances, but these are individual cases. One must not form from them a general conclusion concerning the beginning of monasticism.
The original reason for monasticism was not human weakness but the strength of the teaching of Christ. Ven. John the Dwarf says in the forward to his biography of Ven. Paisius the Great: "The eternal heavenly blessings arouse a boundless desire in those persons who hope to receive them. They fill the heart of those who desire them with a certain insatiable divine sweetness, forcing them always to remember the blessedness there, the reward for labors, the radiant celebration of the strugglers. They kindle such a yearning that these men not only despise what is temporal and vain but they do not even spare their own life, being willing, according to the word of the Gospel, to lay down their own beloved soul for the sake of Christ. They love death for Christ more than all pleasures and attractions, but since now there are no persecutors and the desired death is not found quickly, they try to endure it in another manner, laying down for themselves a continuous and violent mortification of their very selves. Every day they endure thousands of pains, struggling in a multitude of different ways—fasting, fighting with invisible demons—constantly forcing their own nature, which is clothed in flesh, to oppose the fleshless enemies."54
The Layman: You are comparing the podvig of monasticism with the podvig of martyrdom.
The Monk: These are one and the same struggle in different forms. Both martyrdom and monasticism are founded on one and the same expression from the Gospel. Both are in no way gotten by men but are given to humanity by the Lord. Neither can be accomplished other than by the almighty help of God, by the action of divine grace. You will be convinced of this if you read the lives of the Ven. Fathers Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, Theodore the Studite, Mary of Egypt, John the Much-Suffering, Nikon the Dry, and other monks whose struggle and suffering were above nature. St. Simeon the New Theologian says of his teacher Simeon the Pious, who was a monk of the monastery of Studium, that he, by his sorrows and bodily sufferings, was like many martyrs.55
Nonpossession and Celibacy
The Layman: My Father, what significance do celibacy and nonpossession have in the monastic struggle? This is something obscure for those who live in the midst of the world, who are laboring for the public good, who give abundant alms, and who perform many good deeds which are directed and approved by the Gospel. Because of insufficient explanation, the monastic life seems to be an idle one that is deprived of activity and benefit.
The Monk: The activity of laymen which you mention, fulfilling the Gospel commandments by actions of the body, are essential for salvation but are insufficient for perfection. Nothing hinders one from being occupied with such activity amidst the cares and obligations of the world. Even earthly success gives one the possibility of doing more good deeds. Thus, the rich man can help his poor brethren greatly by giving gifts. Noblemen can help them by defending them from violence and by representing them in the courts. When doing such activity one must preserve oneself from acting from self,56 like the [self-centered] Pharisee mentioned in the Gospel,57 who in fact did many good deeds but had an incorrect view of his activity. From this he fell into an incorrect presumption concerning himself and concerning his neighbors. His good works became unpleasing to God.
The Apostle says that those who do good deeds must do them "as good stewards of the manifold grace of God."58 Let the rich man give alms from property, not as from his own property, but from that which has been entrusted to him by God. Let the noble do good works from his high position, not as from something that belongs to him, but as something that has been gotten for him by God. Such a view will destroy contempt for the activity of one’s neighbors, even though this activity may be deficient, and then the question about one’s own activity will begin to appear in one’s conscience, just as it was with Righteous Job.59 Have my actions satisfied the requirements of God, or do they contain some greater or lesser insufficiencies? And then, little by little, an understanding about the way of life that is more perfect will begin to form.
You agree that the monastic life seems to be deprived of activity and benefit exactly for those who esteem their own activity highly, that is, in a mistaken manner. The mark of correct Christian activity is humility, but pride and conceit are a sure sign of incorrect activity, according to the teaching of the Lord Himself. The opinion which you mentioned reveals an ignorance of Christianity, a perverted, deformed understanding of it.
The God-Man himself offered Christian perfection to His chosen disciples. Perfection begins where the good works prescribed to those in the world have reached their fullness. Learn Christianity. Find out wherein lies its perfection, and you will understand the significance of monasticism. You will understand all the foolishness of the blasphemous blaming of idleness on monks seeking perfection, striving to fulfill the highest commands of the Gospel which are inaccessible for those living in the world. Those who shower monasticism with reproaches and blasphemies are of necessity also blaspheming the very institution of Christian perfection established by the Lord.
The Layman: I agree. I agree. Explain to me with clarity the significance of nonpossession and celibacy in the path to Christian perfection.
The Monk: Their significance is of unusual importance. I will try as far as I am able to make this understandable for you. The person who has distributed his property to the poor in order to prove his complete submission to the Savior and to completely follow Him, who has become poor in order to subject himself to those deprivations which are joined with poverty and which abundantly gain humility—that person destroys in this action all of his hope in the world, and he concentrates it all in God. His heart moves from earth to heaven,60 and he begins to walk upon the waters of the sea of life. He has placed his care on the Lord Who, after commanding His closest disciples to distribute their property61 and to put aside their cares for their bodily needs, promised those seeking the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness that all these needs would be met by the providence of the Heavenly Father.62
Various sorrows are allowed to come to the servants of God, sorrows in which the providence of God for them is, as it were, hidden and the influence of the world acquires a special force. This is essential in order for them to learn living faith in God, which from experience constantly grows and is strengthened. Experiences unmask the unbelief which lives in fallen nature. Experiences unmask the apostasy and renunciation of God which lives in fallen nature: for when the smallest weakening of one’s surveillance over the heart occurs, the heart strives by sad blindness to place its hope on itself, on the world, on things, and it departs from hoping in God.63 It seems that from this short explanation it becomes obvious that abandoning property raises the struggler for Christ to the highest spiritual state which separates him from brethren living in the midst of the world, and this cannot be known by them from experience. However, this exalted state is at the same time a state of constant suffering of the body for all of fallen nature: the Lord called it the cross.
In the spiritual sense, the effect of the celibate life is similar to the effect of poverty. The striving to overcome the characteristics of one’s nature, although fallen, raises one to such podvig as those who have not experienced it cannot imagine. The renunciation of one’s nature is perfected by this podvig, supplementing the crucifixion and the cross which were gained by the poverty of renouncing one’s possessions. This struggle of the celibate life leads one down into the depth of humility; it leads one to living faith, it leads one to a state of grace. With this podvig—as is apparent from the lives of the Ven. Fathers Anthony the Great, John the Much-Suffering and others—the fallen spirits, who are trying to keep a person in the domain of the fall, come to the help of fallen nature. But corresponding to the difficulty of the warfare, the victory is very fruitful.64 The victory is gained, and it is followed by the renewal of one’s nature from the appearance in the heart of what is called by the Holy Fathers "spiritual feeling."65 Our human nature remains, but our perception is changed by tasting the light:66 thus paper soaked in oil no longer absorbs water, not because the nature of the paper has changed, but because of its absorption of another matter which does not have a physical affinity for water.
The Layman: Now many people assert that the celibate life is unnatural to man, that it is impossible for him, that closing the lawful door to human nature only compels nature to seek an unlawful door.
The Monk: It is natural for every person to judge according to his own experiences. What is unknown and unexperienced seems to be impossible, but what is known and experienced seems to be possible for everyone. The Holy Fathers who wrote on this subject agree that the celibate life is unnatural for fallen nature, but that it was natural for man before his fall,67 that after the renewal of nature the capacity for virginity and the celibate life has been restored, that virginity and the celibate life are considered higher than marriage, although the married life itself is elevated to a much higher state than it had before.68 The God-Man led a virginal life. His Most Holy Mother was and remained the Virgin. The Holy Apostles John the Theologian, Paul, Barnabas, and without doubt many others, were virgins. In early Christianity, there appeared whole companies of virgin men and women.
This ascetic feat was extremely rare before the renewal of nature by the Redeemer. By means of the Redeemer the good will of God was poured out on men, as the angels rightly praised,69 and it satisfied men with a great variety of gifts of grace. The abundance of grace in Christians is vividly depicted in the passage from the Typicon which ought to be read by the priest to newly-weds at the end of the marriage service. "The great field of the Church of the great master, God, is cultivated in a threefold manner. In a threefold manner is it adorned with the harvest and the fruits. The first portion of this field is cultivated by those who have come to love virginity and who preserve it incorrupt to the end of their life. This portion brings fruits of virtues a hundredfold to the storehouse of the Lord. The second portion of the field is cultivated by those who preserve widowhood, and it brings forth fruits sixtyfold. The third portion is cultivated by the life of the married. If they live their life piously in the fear of God then the field brings forth fruit thirtyfold. On the same field various fruits with their different divisions are to be found, but all of them are blessed and praised in accordance with what has been ordained for them. The divinely wise Ambrose says, ‘Let us preach virginity in order not to reject the widows, and let us honor the widows in order to preserve marriage and its honor.’"70
The Layman: How can a Christian know whether he is capable or incapable of a celibate life? In my opinion this question must be very difficult for every person who intends to enter monastic life.
The Monk: He is capable who chooses to be.71 Just as in the undefiled condition of man, it was left to him to use his free will whether to abide in this condition or whether to depart from it; so also, after the renewal of nature, it is left to his free will whether to appropriate to himself renewed nature in all of its full development or whether to make use of it only to a certain degree—that degree which is necessary for salvation—or whether to abide in the condition of the fall and to develop in himself the fallen nature.
Renewal of nature is a gift of the Redeemer. For this reason every Gospel virtue is chosen by one’s good free choice, but it is given by Christ to the person who chooses it as a gift. One’s choice is proven by forcing oneself to the virtue while the virtue is asked for of God by intense and patient prayer. All of the Gospel virtues are uncharacteristic, not natural to the fallen nature. To all of them the struggler must force himself. He must ask for all of them from God with humility united with tearful, heartfelt prayer.72
Just like the other Gospel virtues, the celibate life is chosen by one’s free will. By warfare with the impulses of fallen nature, and by the reining in of one’s body by ascetic struggles, the sincerity of one’s choice is proven. The gift of purity is asked for of God by recognizing the incapability of fallen nature for purity73 and by most ardent prayer filled with contrition.74 The gift is sent down by the overshadowing of divine grace which changes and renews nature. Blessed Theophylact the Bulgarian who explains in this manner the capability of man for the celibate life,75 concludes his explanation with the following words of the Lord: "Every one that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth."76
Examine those lives of saints which have a description of their struggle against fallen nature. You will see that all the saints came from an ordinary state in which man is incapable of celibate life. After intense warfare against the desires and attractions of fallen nature, they came from that state to a state in which celibacy is natural. You will see that their main armament was weeping and prayer. You will see that not only did virgins put themselves aside from the necessity of marriage, and widows from a second marriage, but even the most debauched people who were completely full of passions, who had stained themselves with transgressions and were tangled by chains with sinful habits, flew up to incorrupt purity and holiness.
I repeat to you, in the New Testament Church thousands and thousands of virginal men and women, undefiled widowed men and women, and adulterers and harlots who were changed into vessels of chastity and of grace irrefutably prove that the struggle of chastity is not only not impossible, but it is even not so difficult as it seems to theorists who are judging without experiential knowledge, without the knowledge that is gained by the moral tradition of the Church. To theorists who judge and make conclusions I will say openly: out of their own debauchery, out of a blind and stubborn prejudice, out of hatred toward monasticism and in general towards Orthodox Christianity, "Prejudice does not see clearly, but hatred is completely blind."77
Monasticism: Best to Enter when Young
The Layman: In the opinion of many people, an important means for diminishing scandals would be the laying down of a law which would forbid young people from entering a monastery. That is, young people in whom scandals and temptations from outside have an especially strong effect and in whom the passions are still seething. This law would allow monastic life only to persons of mature or elderly age.
The Monk: This measure which externally seems so wise, which according to the theory of carnal wisdom ought to preserve and elevate monasticism is, in actuality, nothing other than a powerful, decisive measure to destroy monasticism. Monasticism is the science of sciences. In it, theory and practice go hand in hand. This path in all of its extent is sanctified by the Gospel. By this path, from our outer deeds, with the help of the heavenly light, persons pass over to self-knowledge. The correctness of self-knowledge gained by the Gospel is undisputedly proven by inner experiences. And being proven, it convincingly proves the truth of the Gospel. The science of sciences, monasticism, gains for one—let us express ourselves with the language of the learned of this world—the science of sciences gains for one the most exact, deep, and lofty understandings in experiential psychology and theology, that is, an actual living knowledge of man and God as far as this knowledge is accessible to man. When one comes to the human sciences one must come with fresh capabilities, with complete receptiveness, and with energy of the soul that has not been wasted: all the more essential are these for the successful learning of the science of sciences—monasticism.
Warfare with nature stands before the monk. The very best age for entering into this warfare is that of youth, not yet chained by habits. In youth the free will has much freedom! Experience testifies that the best monks are those that entered monasticism in tender youth. The majority of monks of our time are those who entered monasticism in their youth. Very few of a mature age enter. And those who come in old age are very rare. Those entering the monastery in mature or declining years very often cannot bear the monastic life and return to the world, not even understanding what monasticism means. In those who persist in the monastic life, one only observes external piety and exact fulfillment of the external monastic rule, so pleasing and fully satisfying for laymen. The substance of monasticism is not in the older novice. It is found only rarely, as an exception to the rule.
Let us pass over to the instruction which is given to us by the Holy Church. Wisdom says, with the wisdom that is given by God, "My son gather chastisement from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thine old age. Come unto her as one that ploweth and soweth and wait for her good fruits."78 "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and walk in the ways of thy heart blameless, but not in the sight of thine eyes."79 "I loved her [wisdom] and sought her out from my youth. I desired to make her my spouse, and I was a lover of her beauty. In that she is conversant with God, she magnifieth her nobility: yea, the Lord of all things Himself loved her. For she is privy to the mysteries of the knowledge of God, and a lover of His works."80
These expressions of Holy Scripture are applied by the Holy Fathers to the science of sciences—monastic life, and by the way, it is clear for all that they relate not to that wisdom that is taught according to the principles of the world and the ruler of the world. In its fortieth rule, the Sixth Ecumenical Council said that it is extremely saving to cleave to God by means of abandoning worldly things; however, it commanded that tonsuring be performed with all due care and not before the age of ten years, when the mental faculties had developed sufficiently. From the lives of the holy monks it is apparent that the majority enter the monastery around the age of twenty. The Holy Fathers recognized the later years of one’s life as an unfit time to enter the monastic life. Unfit for this life is old age! Maturity gets stronger in habits, in the forms of thoughts, dulling its capabilities! The youthful podvig is uncharacteristic of it! Ven Anthony the Great originally refused to accept the sixty-year old Paul the Simple into monasticism, telling him that he was incapable of the monastic life because of his age. Many Fathers even entered the monastery in their childhood and reached high spiritual success on account of the wholeness of their will, their undefiled state, their direct striving for good, and their receptiveness, so characteristic of childhood.81
Special thanks to Nicolas Custer and Vicky Bolts for their help on the editing and translation of this article.
Notes
1 Italics in this article are the author’s.
2 John 8:32, 44
3 Letter to Nicolas the Solitary, Philokalia, Vol. 1
4 St. Peter of Damascus, Bk. 1, Philokalia, Vol. 3
5 Matthew 21:33
6 Ephesians 1: 22-23, 2: 10-11 and other places
7 2 Thess. 2:3
8 Alphabetical Patericon and Ever-memorable Tale of Abba Ischyrion
9 Luke 18:8
10 1 Cor. 6: 17, St. Mark the Ascetic, Homily 4: "He that is joined into the Lord is one spirit with the Lord."
11 Ven. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourse 1
12 Homily 55
13 Suffering of Holy Martyr Gordius, The Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Jan.3
14 Ed. St. Ignatiy organized his Complete Works according to the major stages of his monastic life. As the present article was written shortly after a visit to Optina Hermitage in 1856, it is found near the end of Volume 1, which covers the period 1833 to 1857, St. Ignatiy’s years as superior of the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Hermitage near St. Petersburg.
15 Matt. 28:19-20
16 Acts 20:20-1
17 Col. 1:27-8
18 James 2:26
19 Rom. 10:14 & 17
20 Heb 6:1-2
21 Heb. Chs. 11-13
22 Homily 4
23 John 14:21
24 1 Cor. 7:32-3
25 1 Cor. 6:17
26 The Ladder, Step 2:9
27 John 15: 18-9
28 John 3:36, 17:3
29 Matt. 19:17, Mark 10:19
30 Luke 13:3,5
31 Ven. Dorotheos of Gaza, Discourse 1
32 Matt. 16:24
33 Matt. 19:21
34 Luke 14:26
35 Matt. 16:24
36 Matt. 19:21
37 Mark 10:21
38 Luke 14:26,27, 33
39 2 Cor. 6: 16-18. "For you are the church of the living God. As God said, I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them, and I shall be God to them, and they shall be my people. Therefore go ye out form the midst of them and be ye separate, says the lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and I will be to you a Father, and you shall be to me sons and daughters, said the Lord Almighty."
40 The Ladder, Step 2:9
41 Matt. 19:21
42 Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, "Life of Ven. Anthony the Great," Jan. 17
43 Book of Needs, "The Order of the Lesser Schema"
44 Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, Jan. 19
45 Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, May 15
46 Ven. John Cassian, On Discernment, Philokalia, Vol. 4 (Russian Edition)
47 Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, March 23
48 Ibid. January 8
49 Ibid. March 1
50 Ibid. December 24
51 Ibid. June 25
52 Gal. 5:24
53 Eph 6:12
54 Great Collection of the Lives of the Saints, June 19
55 Homily 2
56 According to the explanation of Blessed Theophyact of Bulgaria
57 Luke: 18:9-12
58 I Peter 4:10
59 Job 1:5
60 Matt. 16:21
61 Luke 12:23
62 Matt. 6:24-33
63 Matt. 14:22 & 33
64 The Ladder, Step 4:43
65 Ven. Macarius of Egypt, Conversation 7, para. 5
66 St. Isaac the Syrian, Hom. 43 & 48 (Russian Ed.)
67 Gen. 2:55
68 Eph. 5:32
69 Luke 2:4
70 Book of Needs, Order of Matrimony
71 Blagovestnik, Math. 19: 12
72 Ven. Macarius the Great, Homily 1, paragraph 13
73 Ven. John Cassian, Book IV, paragraph 5
74 Ven. Barsanuphius the Great, Answer 255
75 Matt. 19: 12
76 Blagovestnik, Matt. 7: 8
77 From a letter of Ven Isidore of Pelusius to St. Cyril of Alexandria
78 Sirach 6:18-19
79 Ecc. 11:9
80 Wisdom of Solomon 8:2-4
81 Such were the Ven Sabbas the Sanctified (December 5), Simeon of Wonderful Mountain (May 24