When
discussing Christian history, one always comes to the inception of the monastic
movement. The monastic movement, which
continues to this day, has far reaching influence on the Christian faith, even
though the majority of Christians still think to choose such a life is more
than a little odd. Nothing in the
Christian faith is more odd than the beginnings of the monastic movement,
namely the Desert Fathers and the way in which they chose to live and lead their
lives. Shelley reminds us of this genesis.
“The first form of monasticism was the lonely hermit. The word ‘hermit’ comes from the Greek word
for ‘desert’ and is a reminder that the monastic flight from the world began in
Egypt, where a short journey either east or west from the narrow ribbon of Nile
fertility would put the monk in a rigorous desert” (Shelley, 2008, pg.
118).
This movement to the desert was a
profound moment in the church. These
Christians went from a struggling, rough day-to-day life to now being pampered
by the empire at large. Constantine the
Emperor instead of persecuting Christians, became one and also became highly
involved with the church and her affairs.
Many men felt that the Christian life was supposed to be about struggle,
that this ultimate struggle is what made the disciples great. With the loss of struggle, there were all
kinds of evil waiting to get into the church.
So some fled to the desert, into a forced, self-inflicted struggle where
they would be forced to wrestle with the forces of darkness alone and in the
dangerous terrain of the desert.
To emphasize this point, Shelley states:
“The hermit often fled, then, not so much from the world as from the world in
the church” (Shelley, 2008, pg. 118).
What a bold way of life! These
men were of course seen as crazy men and much of the majority sought to ignore
them, but there was still a mystifying air about these men. Choosing to live in the desert, choosing to
struggle for daily sustenance was something rarely done. So, as we will see many people flocked to see
these men, some desired to join but very few ended up living in this manner.
Before we delve deeper into the lives of
these desert fathers, I personally must confess my own intrigue at these men
and I can’t help but see how we in Western, American Christianity look a lot
like the Roman Christians under Constantine.
We BEG for a President who is so like-minded as us that we would even
seek to raise up a cult leader just so our “Christian Ideals” are met in our
country. I struggle deeply with the false
face of many Christians in our church culture.
I struggle with seeing our churches so overrun with culture that we
forget the power of God living within us by the indwelling spirit. I wrestle with how to change such moods, and
actions of Christians so in a way I can see why these men fled to the desert.
I personally like the comforts of
shelter, food and football that I would not likely leave all of that and flee
to the desert but I can surely understand the rationale. Seeing the church, the Bride of Christ turn
in their scars for political favors was probably disorienting at best and
maddening at worst. Before this reading
of these men, I was inclined to write them off as lunatics who were to
fanatical about their faith. Now however, I see a deeper reasoning for their
eccentricity. They were mourning a
season in the life of the church in the West.
The church in the West would never be the same, true, honest, persecuted
church it once was. It would now see
corruption, political correctness as well as political scheming. In some way, I believe the desert fathers
foresaw some of this and ran into the desert.
What was it about struggle that was so
attractive to these men? Sittser reminds
us: “They believed that struggle is normal, necessary and even healthy in the
spiritual life” (Sittser, 2007, pg. 74).
Struggle was in fact the essence of their flight to the desert. It was
to struggle: with themselves, with the devil, with God and with the elements
they found themselves living within.
These men believed that we shouldn’t flee struggle; “Rather, we should
embrace it as one aspect of our calling to discipleship, for the goal of life
in this world is not ease, prosperity and success but intimacy with God,
maturity of character, and influence in the world” (Sittser, 2007, pg. 74).
That last quote continues to hit me
right in the gut. The faith of these men
was just off the charts, how often is the Christian western message about the
very things they were against? Such
things as ease, prosperity and success are main sermon driving messages that
many preachers put together willy-nilly from the Scriptures! Yet, these men purposefully walked away from
even the temptation of those things to seek the better things: intimacy with
God, maturity of character and influence!
I confess that I’ve been doing my own introspection through this
reading, I’ve been looking at my “Christians goals” and even though I may not
seek them consciously, I know I seek the wrong things in practice and living.
The devotional life of these men was of
the charts. In particular one man, who
stands out to me, is St. Antony. Antony
heard a passage of Scripture that called him to sell all he had and give it to
the poor, which he did in increments.
Shortly after selling all of his things and handing his sister over to
the care of friends, he set off to the wilderness to seek God. He met an Abba (or father) where he began his
way of life in what he called “the discipline” –which was the main driving
force of these desert fathers and the core of their devotional life. It included “such acetic exercises as vigils,
fasting, celibacy, poverty and solitude” (Sittser, 2007, pg. 76).
Antony delved deep into the life of the
desert followers, memorized scriptures and learned how to work with his hands
in order to provide for his physical needs.
The craziest part of Antony’s journey is when he secluded himself in the
desert for 20 years in almost total isolation.
Athanasius’s account of Antony, which Sittser records much of continues
to share how Antony was tempted several different ways in life but his
persistent working out “the discipline” allowed him to prevail. His life is an incredible example of the
desert fathers, their struggles, and the purpose for their struggles. The way in which they lived then set up (as
earlier eluded to) the monastic movement.
Monks who desired a separate life, but
no one so extreme as the desert set up monasteries where they could practice
much of “the discipline” as known by the desert fathers but in a more communal
way. Pachomius, a former soldier
“instituted the first Christian monastery.
Instead of permitting the monks to live singly or in groups of hermits,
each a law to himself, Pachomius established a regulated common life, in which
monks ate, labored and worshiped” (Shelley, 2008, pg. 119).
This development from the desert to the
monastery did amazing things for those who desired “the discipline”, especially
for women. The desert for women was much
to dangerous, but this allowed women to be dedicated to God in their own way in
a common life as well as men. Although,
even the monastic life is uncommon to the normal Christian believer, these
early beginnings did much for our way of life even now as Christians. Sittser points to the rhythms in which these
men and women lived. He wisely stated: “Monastic rhythm strikes a balance
between two activities-prayer and work--- which constitute the basic purpose
for which humans were created” (Sittser, 2007, pg. 97). This has a profound impact for us because we
as humans are created to worship God and to work, all the while integrating God
into all aspects of life. Where as with
the desert fathers, this concept was hard to grasp [that of integrating God
into normal life] the monastic movement embedded this living theology of
integration, which we as Christians today should be grateful for.
Several great Christian leaders played
roles, big and small in the monastic movement. Augustine himself started a
small group of monastic believers and helped to set rules down for community
living, because he believed that community is where maturity is best fostered
(Sittser, 2007, pg. 105). Saint Benedict
(c. 480-550) also had a huge and long lasting impression on the monastic movement
where we even today have Benedictine monks.
A book that profoundly opened my eyes to
monastic living interestingly enough was a fantasy novel by Stephen R. Lawhead
titled: Byzantium which follows the life of a monk named Aidan; Lawhead had
always done amazing research and so his pictures of monastic life are deep,
intrinsic and correct. Now, through this
reading of the desert fathers and the monks I am sure of it. Their lives are intriguing to me because it is
more attainable than the desert fathers. The inception for them to live separate
came out of the same anxiousness that haunted the desert fathers. Yet it is more bearable due to it being done
in community and not complete isolation.
Granted there is isolation built into the very foundations of monastic
living, yet there is a brotherhood or sisterhood that is formed by these folks
that is incredible and encouraging. Too
often, I think many Christians think of these men and women as a bit loony for
choosing such a life, yet I agree with Sittser when he says: “…it is easy for
us to dismiss him [meaning the desert father Antony], ridicule him and even
call him crazy, which would only have the unfortunate consequence of depriving
us of an opportunity to learn from this unique man” (Sittser, 2007, pg. 78). I think he’s right not only of Antony but of
all the desert fathers and those who choose the monastic life. We have tons to learn from them, tons to
glean from them and more to gain from studying them than ignoring them.
As stated before, I think we suffer in
the West from much of the same pains in our churches to day as they did then.
Too much political living, too much worry about stuff and not enough worry
about our relationship with God and our influence for Him in this world. Learning from these men and women has done a
great deal to reinforce in my heart that I worry too much about silly thing
that people, even I could live without. I ignore many things in this life that
as a Christian I should be about.
References
Shelley,
Bruce L. (2008). Church History in Plain Language, 3rd Edition. Thomas
Nelson Publishing, Nashville, TN.
Sittser, Gerald L. (2007). Water from a Deep Well: Christian
Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries. InterVarsity Press,
Downers Grove, IL.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 Wheaton: Standard
Bible Society.
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