|
THE SCRIPTURAL BASIS
AND
MEANING OF ORTHODOX
CHRISTIAN MONASTICS
by Most Rev Archbishop Lazar Puhalo
FOREWORD
Our publication, "The Canadian Orthodox Missionary," received
many letters to the editor concerning monasticism. From them, we learned
the degree to which monasticism is misunderstood in North America,
by both sectarians and Orthodox people alike. As a result of these
letters, we decided to add this subject to our series POINT OF
FAITH.
In this series, Archbishop Lazar offers an answer and guidance on
points of the Orthodox Christian faith about which questions have been
raised.
In answering the questions raised about Orthodox Christian Monasticism,
we have reprinted the preamble to the Spiritual Constitution of
the Monastery of All Saints of North America. This constitution
was given to the monastery by Vladika Lazar when the monastery was
founded twenty five years ago. In setting out the reasons for the founding
of this Canadian Orthodox Monastery, Vladika Lazar also gave an explanation
of the monastic life, and provided the Scriptural and patristic basis
upon which Orthodox Christian monasticism is founded.
THE ROLE OF ORTHODOX
CHRISTIAN MONASTICS
"Monasticism is the barometer of Church
life. The height or decline of the spiritual life of the Church in
each epoch is defined by the conditions of monasticism in that period.
Developing this concept, we realize that the relative height of the
monastic ideal in each local [National Orthodox] church will show
us how it's children live and by what spirit they breathe at a given
time."(1)
 his dictum is
not new, but has always been well understood in the Orthodox Christian
Church, and it has been expressed from the depth of the Church's consciousness
of Herself from very ancient times.
Let us look briefly at monasticism and the essentials of the struggle
toward the attainment of Christ's ideal.
It is said that when the embassy of Grand Prince Vladimir of Rus'
arrived in Constantinople and attended the Divine Liturgy at the great
church, The Cathedral of the Divine Wisdom, the ambassadors thought
they had entered heaven. Indeed, Orthodox Christian divine worship
is an image of heaven. But the ancient Rus' found an ikon of heavenly
things not only in the Divine Liturgy, but in almost every aspect of
the spiritual life of the Byzantines. One of the spiritual manifestations
of the Orthodox Christian world which impressed itself most deeply
upon the mind of Rus' was monasticism and the ascetic life.
Having seen in Byzantium the ikon of heavenly things, conveyed by
the Apostolic tradition and the holy Scripture, the newer Orthodox
nations strove to imitate that image in every way. The fact that monasticism
should have begun in the Slavic lands soon after the acceptance of
Christianity there is not without significance. Moreover, it is not
surprising that in Canada, we base the foundation of Canadian Orthodoxy
firmly in Canadian Orthodox monasticism. Monasticism is the endeavour
to imitate and become truly like heavenly beings, for monks to strive
in every way to become like the original Adam, like the angels themselves.
But monasticism is in no way separated from the lives of the people
in general. In fact, monks only fulfil in a more concentrated and intense
way what is required of all Orthodox Christians. The layman in the
world, being burdened with worldly cares, cannot fulfil the ideal of
Christ so fully as can the ascetic whose entire being is dedicated
to it.
THE MEANING OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM,
AND ITS SCRIPTURAL BASE
he monastic struggle
is directed at nothing less than a spiritual life in image of Adam
before the fall. Our holy father St John of Damascus portrays this
condition for us:
"God our Father did not intend us to be burdened with care and
troubled about many things, nor to take thought about or make provisions
for our own life. But this finally became Adam's destiny. Before
the fall, Adam and Eve were both naked and were not ashamed. For
God meant that we should be thus free from passions. Yea, He meant
us further to be free from care and to have but one work to perform:
to sing, as do the angels, the praises of the Creator, and to delight
in contemplation of Him, and to cast all our care on Him. This is
what the prophet David proclaimed to us when he said, `cast thy care
upon the Lord and He will sustain thee.' And again in the Gospels,
Christ taught His disciples, `take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, nor for your body, what ye shall put on.' And further,
`Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all these things shall be added
unto you.' And to Martha He said, `Martha, Martha, thou art care
laden and troubled about many things: but one thing is needful; and
Mary hath chosen that better part, which shall not be taken away
from her,' meaning, clearly, sitting at His feet and listening to
His words."(2)
The monastic life, and the life of the hesychast especially, is an
intensified striving toward these goals to which we are called and
which are clearly and profoundly proclaimed in the Cherubic Hymn of
the Divine Liturgy: "Let us who mystically represent the Cherubim,
and who chant the thrice-holy hymn to the Life-creating Trinity lay
aside all earthly cares, that we may receive the King of all, Who now
comes invisibly upborne by the angelic hosts." To set aside all worldly
cares and burdens and to strive for a spiritual life so free of passions
that one is like unto an angel, and so free from fleshly concerns that
one's being is entirely occupied with the chanting of hymns to the
Creator: this is the aim of the true monk. Monastic saints, who have
reached this goal of passionlessness, are called in Slavonic by a special
appellative -- prepodobny -- which means "first likeness," or "first
image," signifying one who has attained to the "original likeness" of
Adam before the fall.
Monasticism is that channel which God has established in the Holy
Church for the sake of those whom He has called to fulfil that higher
calling, which Apostle Paul describes in the Bible:
"But to the unmarried and the widows, I declare that it is well
[expedient and wholesome](3) for
them to remain single even as I do" and again, "My desire is to have
you free from all anxiety and distressing care. The unmarried man
is anxious about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord;
but the married man is anxious about worldly matters, how he may
please his wife. And he is drawn in diverging directions and he is
distracted. And the unmarried woman is concerned about the things
of the Lord, how she may be wholly consecrated in body and spirit:
but the married woman has her cares in earthly affairs, how she may
please her husband" (1Cor.7:8-34).
Our Saviour Himself expresses this teaching in a parable:
"...and there are eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs
for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to understand
this, let him understand it" (Mt.19:12).
"From henceforth," our Saviour declares, "the kingdom
of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." (Mt.11:
12). This violence is precisely the warfare against the passions,
which are common to fallen man and which Satan uses in his struggle
against our souls. This violence is the Unseen Warfare which
St Nikodemos the Hagiorite describes.(4) The
means of conducting the warfare, and the very essence of true Orthodox
Christian monasticism, is hesychasm.
There is a certain basic vocabulary which is prerequisite to the
understanding of monasticism in particular, and the Orthodox Christian
spiritual life in general.
HESYCHASM
"Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him,
as all truth is in Jesus, strip yourselves of your former nature
which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt
through lusts and desires which spring from delusions; and be constantly
in the spirit of your mind; and put on the new nature created in
God's image, in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph.4:21-24).
hese words of
the holy Apostle seem to be a most apt description of the essence of
hesychasm; for hesychasm is a whole battle strategy against the passions
of fallen nature which separate us from unity with our Creator. It
is, in fact, the strategy which has come down to us from the ancient
fathers, and thus we call it "patristic monasticism" and accept it
as the criterion of Orthodox Christian monasticism. Essentially, hesychasm(5) is
a process of interior cleansing, of uprooting passions from within
the depths of the soul, of purifying the heart, and of guarding the
mind in order to prevent the re-entry of sinful thoughts which feed
the passions and lead to actual sin. The practice of unceasing prayer
-- which the Scripture demands of us (1Thes.5:17) is
fulfilled by the use of the Jesus Prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son
of God, have mercy on me a sinner", developed under the guidance
of an elder. The Jesus Prayer fulfilled in consultation with an elder
is the central weapon in this interior struggle.
To understand this, we must look at the soul as a fallow field in
which we are called to create a garden of salvation. This field is
overgrown with tares (the passions). The sower, the parable says, sowed
life-giving seeds. But some fell amongst the tares, and when they tried
to grow up, they were choked off. Still, the Sower broadcasts these
seeds all our lifetime, and when we see that the young sprouts are
being choked off by the tares, we ought to understand that it is necessary
to weed the garden of our soul so that the next season's planting can
bear fruit. This is interior work. It begins with the guarding of the
mind so that thoughts will not interfere with our work in the garden.
GUARDING THE MIND
uarding the mind
is another practice which is best developed under the guidance of an
elder. Sin, allowing passions to be aroused to the level of manifestation,
most often enters the heart through the mind as a result of external
suggestions. One must be ever alert to catch temptations as soon as
they enter the mind so that they do not linger long enough to be committed
either in thought or in deed (cf. Mt. 5:27-28). To explain this more
clearly: everyone knows, in a general sense, what is bad or what is
good, or else one is learning. If a person is alert, he can quickly
recognize that, say covetousness over some person or thing, has appeared
in the mind. Everyone is able to feel the initial thought growing toward
jealousy and hatred. In order to grow, it must have our permission,
it must have, as it were, a safe conduct pass to the heart. If the
temptation is greedy covetousness, then the mind may be guarded by
quickly beginning to repeat the troparion or kontakion to one of the
holy Unmercenaries, or by mentally repeating the prayer, "Holy Martyr
Panteleimon, pray for me." When this is done with faith, the saints
hasten to to the aid of the tempted one. When passions of the flesh
are involved, the hymn "Virgin Theotokos, Rejoice" or "More Honourable
than the Cherubim", when begun as soon as the temptation enters the
mind is most effective, since the praises of the All-pure Virgin cannot
co-habit with thoughts of defilement. The tempted one, however, chooses
which will be the stronger of the two, the praises or the thoughts.
In a word: everyone who is rational can train himself to be alert to
the entry of destructive thoughts into the mind -- though not, perhaps,
infallibly in every case. Concerning how to take action to repel these
thoughts, one ought to consult one's elder. The primary thing is intent.
It is easily possible to entertain the most foul thoughts while at
the same moment repeating prayers. One must have the sincere intent
to guard the mind from destructive thoughts, remembering, above all,
that without Christ one can do nothing.
The mind is something like the door to the temple of the Holy Spirit.(6) The
guard of the door is responsible for discerning whether "deliveries" to
the temple are for its adornment or for its defilement; in this, the
mind resembles a customs official who carefully searches through what
is entering the country, rejecting what is harmful and admitting what
is beneficial. Thus, what enters the mind ought to be searched. Yet,
the guard ought not to hope on his own strength, but rather, as a watch
dog which barks to waken his master when an intruder enters, so one
ought always to call on the Master to repulse the intruding temptation.
Everyone is able to practise this sort of guarding of the mind to
one extent or another. Yet it is evident that the ability must be constantly
built up and strengthened. In the end, the less that comes to the "door" the
easier is the door to guard. The more one withdraws from what is profane
and distracting and enters into an environment of edifying things the
easier is the guarding of the mind (unless one falls into complacency,
for Satan will instantly devise more subtle "deliveries"). This withdrawal
from the spiritually destructive and advancing into the spiritually
profitable and into silence is the basis of hesychasm.
If the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then what is there
that can enter into it which is more edifying than that for which it
is intended? It is most beneficial, then, to enter into the temple
and, as a servant and worshipper, to clean out, to sweep, to dust and
to purify the temple with repentance, confession, soul-searching, heeding
the Holy Scripture, and communicating the Holy Mysteries; and to strive
most diligently in these tasks so that there will be a fulfilment of
the temple, since the Holy Spirit does not co-habit with defilement,
with the filth of pride, with darkness and with the foul odours of
sinful thoughts. Either the one will increase and the other decrease,
or the other will advance and the one withdraw. A "happy medium" will
not be found, and no man is more foolishly deceived than the one who
thinks that he has acquired the Holy Spirit not having first laboured
long and obediently at the cleansing and purifying of the temple. Moreover,
in this matter, one does not stand still: one is either on the way
up or on the way down.
What enters the mind is either harmful or edifying. So the guarding
of the mind depends upon intent and concept and is a much greater task
than just sifting through parcels that arrive at the door. It begins
with the free and open confession of every temptation and of every
thought to the spiritual elder. Together with this is the cutting off
of external enticements and replacing them with spiritual food: reading,
as we said, sacred books, the Divine Scripture, constant prayer and
participation in divine services, for these are the hoes and rakes
of those who wish to create a garden of salvation in the soul. The
finer work is done under obedience to an elder. Prayer is the stamina,
the strength, the plough for every success will be seen to be a direct
gift from God. Obedience is the harrow and the disk. Obedience is the
crop insurance and the tending of the young sprouts once they begin
to grow. Obedience is the protective cultivation against the re-invasion
of the tares.
Frequent communion of the Holy Mysteries is the ultimate weapon which
burns up the tares so that the field of the soul can receive the seed
and bear fruit. Nothing is attained without diligent struggle and whatever
is attained is a gift of God's Grace in response to our volition.
WARFARE
 his term is used to
signify all the deceits, temptations and enticements which the evil-one
uses against us, whether seen or unseen, brazen or finely subtle. The
deceits which Satan uses to rob us of our salvation are tailored to
the individual character, for Satan is a psychologist with thousands
of years of experience -- moreover, he has largely shaped the psychological-emotional
faculties of the fallen man. There may be brazen seductions, or deceits
so subtle and so highly refined that the very intriguingness of the
refinements leads to a fall. The vast experience of, and the revelations
granted to our holy and God-bearing fathers, the ascetic fathers of
the Holy Church, are indispensable to us in this respect. For the danger
of spiritual delusion is ever-present in spiritual warfare. The guidance
of an elder or spiritual father, and obedience to him are absolutely
essential in the matter of spiritual warfare.
DELUSION
 piritual delusion (Gk.
plani; Slav. prelest) is the condition which results from succumbing
to a spiritual deceit of the evil-one, or from spiritual self-deceit.
It is a state that may be attained by those who do not "contend lawfully" in
the contest of spiritual warfare. It can befall an individual or
a whole group of people.
St Gregory of Sinai warns against spiritual delusion in the Philokalia,(7) and
the twentieth century Church father, St Antony (Khrapovitsky), Metropolitan
of Kiev, describes mass spiritual delusion to priests concerning holy
confession:
"Weak faith and carelessness are expressions of irreligiousness
in people. But even a pious person is not immune to spiritual sickness
if he does not have a wise guide -- either a living person or a spiritual
writer. This sickness is called spiritual delusion, or imagining
oneself to be near to God and to the realm of the divine and supernatural.
Even zealous ascetics in monasteries are sometimes subject to this
delusion, but of course, laymen who are zealous in external struggle
undergo it much more frequently. Surpassing their acquaintances in
spiritual struggles of prayer and fasting, they imagine that they
are seers of divine visions, or at least of dreams inspired by grace.
In every event of their lives, they see special, intentional directions
from God or their guardian angel. And then they start imagining that
they are God's elect, and often try to foretell the future. The Holy
Fathers armed themselves against nothing so fiercely as against this
sickness -- spiritual delusion.
"Spiritual delusion endangers a man's soul if it lurks in him
alone; but it is dangerous and imperilling also for the whole of
local church life; if society is seized in its grasp, if it makes
its appearance anywhere as a spiritual epidemic and the life of a
whole..." group of people becomes... "oriented entirely towards it."(8)
The words of St Antony of Kiev further illustrate our own era very
well:
"...anyone can pass himself off as a prophet, provided that he
is not lazy, or ashamed to do so. No matter how much people are disappointed
by his predictions, they will not cease believing in his (special)
knowledge, but will explain the failure of the prophecy by their
own lack of understanding. But the false prophets of Christ will
have honour, glory and every possible gift heaped upon them as before.
Everyone knows how destructive are the consequences of being carried
away by this `khlystism'; it begins with struggles of prayer and
fasting, and ends with shameless dissolution and unimaginable sexual
depravity."(9)
Not all examples of mass spiritual delusion end up in depravity;
some maintain very high examples of external morality. But Satan uses
them to rob people of their salvation in other ways, as in the deceptive Ecumenical
Movement, which appears so laudable on the surface, but which
in fact is eroding faith and sound doctrine in every direction. The
aim of spiritual delusion is to destroy the soul of one person, or
of a whole group of people. Disobedience to the holy Church and her
canons is the surest sign of mass spiritual delusion and false teachers.
ASCETICS: SPIRITUAL ATHLETES
 postle Paul often
likens the Christian struggler to an athlete, and this is essentially
the meaning of the term ascetic: one who trains and disciplines himself
as in athletic training to compete in the arena of spiritual warfare
for the crown of salvation.
The athlete who has trained to contest for sensual pleasures has
developed his spiritual and sensual "physique", his nervous system
and muscular tone quite differently from one who has trained to contest
for the crown of salvation. In the first instance, Satan has been the
trainer. Having drilled us in carnality and sensuality, he triggers
certain immoral desires or passions within our hearts and souls by
means of various suggestions -- various enticements, thoughts, direct
seduction or mental tricks. However, a carnal minded person usually
tempts himself. One who reads or watches pornography, for example,
is in reality just committing spiritual suicide. If the carnal man
desires to change to the godly contest, it is as if a runner desired
to become a wrestler. It is necessary for him to completely re-work
his muscle tone, to completely retrain his nervous reactions, etc.,
for the running ability serves only that wrestler who, through cowardice,
will desire to flee from his opponent. So also in the case of the struggle
for moral perfection. The passions, the former training, must be totally
weeded out.
The struggle begins with the open confession to the elder of all
those things which serve to trigger the passions, and a careful avoidance
of those things. Muscles which are not exercised become flabby and
eventually atrophy. The guarding of the mind is a primary weapon, for
the instant the triggering enticement enters the mind, it is still
only a suggestions and can be cut off, gradually breaking down the
training process. Carnal training can only be conquered by the successful
weeding of the garden of the soul, for if the temptation no longer
triggers a reaction -- no longer finds a willing cooperation with passions
or immoral desires -- it will cease to become manifested as sin. Here
again, nothing is attained without diligent struggle. Whoever struggles
greatly with the most humility, comes nearest to the martyr's crown,
having truly "crucified the flesh with its passions" (Gal.5:
24). But note well that the Apostle warns: "Except
an athlete contend lawfully, he will not receive the crown even if
he wins the race" (2Tm.2:5)
STRUGGLE (ASKESIS)
 n its narrower
sense, askesis (slav. podvig) is usually rendered "struggle." Its
more complete, and spiritually correct, meaning is this: to contest
lawfully as a spiritual athlete, for the salvation of the soul, and
for spiritual growth and development. It means that form of lawful
spiritual contest which a Christian has embarked on as the means to "work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil.2:12).
For monastics, hesychasm is the primary struggle. It is the one taught
by the ancient fathers: it is the basis of patristic monasticism.
For the person living in the world, the struggle of raising a Christian
family constitutes the major spiritual struggle -- for there are but
two channels of salvation: monasticism and marriage; and only a person
especially called by God and sanctified to it will find an alternative.
It is important to remember that obedience is as much a prerequisite
for the married person as for the monk.
ELDERSHIP
"Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?" (Ps.24:3)
n truth, the
path of salvation is up a very steep mountain, and it is fraught with
treacherous enemies and dangers of every sort. How difficult this path
is was made plain by Christ Himself. When He made known the difficulty
of salvation, one of His disciples asked in astonishment, "Who, then,
can be saved?" "With man," our Saviour replied, "this is impossible" (Mt.19:25-26);
and so it is, in a very real sense of the word -- for man. But lest
any despair, He continues, "But with God, all things are possible." For
this reason, God has ordained that no man climb the mountain alone,
having created the Church even before the creation of man.
Within the Church, moreover, God has called and placed guides --
holy fathers who have left God-inspired writings, spiritual fathers
and elders, so that even within the Church no one climbs up alone --
indeed, no one can. A person who climbs a mountain alone, if he slips
and falls, will have no one to sustain him, and so he will fall either
to his death, or at least to critical injuries. If a group of climbers
sets out on a strange mountain, they, being roped together, may be
able to uplift one another; yet if they climb without an experienced
guide, they may all become lost or, taking a wrong direction, come
to a dangerous precipice and the whole party may fall. But if the climbers
set out as God decrees, under the leadership of an experienced guide
who knows well the path, then they, being bound together with a line,
will be able to hold a fallen co-climber, and the guide will set him
upright on the path again. All together, they will be drawn up the
mountain by the guide, helping and uplifting one another, fearing above
all to disobey the guide, lest they fall into some precipice or knock
a co-climber off the path and, the line becoming severed, one or both
perish, for "if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into
the ditch" (Mt.15:14). Let everyone see to it,
therefore, that they are not led by the "blind," but by one who "sees."
This, in a simplistic way, is the nature of a monastery and of its
elder. For the brotherhood of a monastery is bound together by the
love of Christ God, and the love for God and neighbour. The greater
the love, the stronger the bond and the more secure the life-line.
By means of this love, if a brother falls, the other brothers sustain
and uphold him, and the elder can rescue him and set him on the path
again. For a person to perish under such circumstances, it is necessary
for him wilfully to sever this bond, this climber's life-line, to cut
himself off from the elder and from the brothers. In such a condition,
he is certain to perish. As the brotherhood ascends in this way, the
elder -- the guide -- draws the whole brotherhood upward and the brothers
themselves, growing in love and obedience, draw one another upward,
the stronger lifting the weaker, the faster climbers encouraging and
speeding on the more sluggish by example and love.
Eldership is guiding climbers up the mountain of salvation, rescuing
lost climbers, saving those injured by falls, and weeping over those
who have perished -- all the while, struggling to bring himself safely
to the peak. And no one can do this unless Christ calls him to it and
gives him the Grace to fulfil it.
Eldership is probably the most difficult struggle of Christian life.
For in a very direct way, it entails the responsibility before God
for human souls. It is also probably the very first "struggle," for
the apostles bore the eldership of the entire Church and Christ Himself
is the Great Elder and the complete pattern for eldership -- first
in Eden, on Sinai, and more clearly in the Incarnation.
Satan is the trainer of the athlete who wishes to contest for sensuality
and perdition. God has given us the elder as the trainer of those who
wish to contest for spirituality and salvation.
Eldership is a very great and deep subject and requires much care.
We can best learn to understand it by reading the lives of the saints,
and especially the paterikons. God bestows spiritual gifts for eldership
only upon those persons who have struggled for a long time in exceptional
obedience, or upon some rare individuals whom He fore-knows. Such a
person has been given sufficient control over his or her own passions
to hear undistractedly the most intimate thoughts of the spiritual
children, and upon the greater elders, the Grace of discernment and
even direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit has been bestowed.
The spiritual child, on the other hand, must be obedient to the elder,
within the limits of spiritual life, and in all things which are lawful
and not contrary to the faith or morals of the Church.(10) The
names teach the relationship: one who is still a child must obey and
learn from one who is spiritually mature. The parent shepherds and
nourishes and teaches the child, and the child who accepts all these
benefits and makes the most profitable use of them has the truer understanding
of the Scripture, and will surely save his soul.
1. An old Orthodox Christian aphorism.
2. Exposition of the Orthodox Faith, ch.
11. The Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers, Vol.9, p.29-30, Eerdmans edition.
3. The quotation is from the "Amplified N.T.",
and the brackets provide the full meaning of the word used in the Greek.
4. His book titled UNSEEN WARFARE is available
in several languages.
5. (Literally: silence) Hesychasm is
an active silence which may be variously defined as "inner work," or "inner
peace." It is both and considerably more. The term itself reflects
the inner peace which comes from obtaining control over the passions.
6. What? know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are
not your own? (1Cor.6:19; Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1Cor.3:16)
7. see Writings From the Philokalia, Book
1, p. 80, Faber edition.
8. ON CONFESSION, translated by C. Birchall. Published
by Holy Trinity Monastery, Jordanville, N.Y., 1975.
9. op.cit.
10. Obedience is not "blind obedience." One is
obliged to depart from an elder or a monastery in which heresy is being
taught, or in which one's soul is endangered. |