Ascending the Heights—An Introduction to Christian Monasticism
PREFACE TO THE FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN MONASTICISM
ASCENDING THE HEIGHTS—AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM
By William Edmund Fahey, Ph.D.
THE heart of the White Mountains lies in the Franconia Notch, near the center of New Hampshire—location of the fabled “Old Man” of the Granite State. Three connected mountains offer the best views of the region: Little Haystack, Mount Lincoln, and Mount Lafayette. Each summit near or above 5,000 feet affords a distinct but related vantage point for observing the fundamental character of the Appalachian chain as it moves dramatically through New England. Which of the three mountains presents the best view is difficult to say, and although there are higher peaks and more dramatic scenery elsewhere, as an introduction to the White Mountains and the region, the three taken together remain unsurpassed.
This volume is not unlike a simple handbook introducing hikers to the Franconia region: its pages concentrate on three superlative heights, which will provide novices with an essential first viewing of Christian monasticism. St. Antony of the Desert, St. Benedict of Nursia, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux rise above other figures of Catholic history. To travel with them and to seek a view upon the heights of their personal holiness and wisdom is to secure passage into the rich and complex world of monasticism. Like an introduction to the Franconia region that focuses solely on Haystack, Lincoln, and Lafayette, and therefore not on the Pemigewasset River, the Flume George, or Boise Rock, this introduction to Christian monasticism is selective. Despite all the appeal of other features, it will remain selective so as to provide a focused exploration.
By nature, all introductions must be selective and provide a succinct guide to the key features of a subject. Again, this book provides an introduction to Christian monasticism. It speaks nothing of Hindu Sannyasa or Buddhist Sangha. It does not offer a response to the question of why Muslim culture discourages monasticism. It does not unearth the roots of monasticism in Ancient Israel—whether through the Nazirites, Essenes, or Theraputae. St. Pachomius is not allowed a place amongst the founders discussed here, nor St. Basil or St. Augustine. The exotic practices of Stylites and Dendrites, the traditions of the Copts and the ancient Irish, and much else is kept for other guides.
This guide introduces its readers to three men and three works. The Life of St. Antony, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride are offered as a simple and short path to the essence of Christian monasticism. St. Antony is presented as monasticism’s foremost founder, St. Benedict as its greatest law-giver, and St. Bernard as its greatest mystic. Taken together, these men and these writings will allow the reader to ascend the heights of Christian monasticism and arrive at certain vantage points which may suggest later forays, but should suffice in themselves. The words of the editor are designed merely to provide assistance in the reading of the primary text and encouragement for future journeys.
Our words “monk” and “monasticism” are derived from a very old set of Greek words: monachos anachoretes—a person who stepped aside from the rest of society. In the Hellenistic world, the concept originally applied to those who would not participate with the political system, pay taxes, or bow to social pressure. In time, the Greek expression was applied to a specific spiritual concept in the Aramaic language: ihidaya. Ihidaya described someone dedicated to spiritual perfection who elected to seek this perfection by the voluntary rejection of the common human inclinations and social customs related to the desire for wealth, power, and bodily pleasure. To be a “monk,” of its very nature, was and remains about both social withdrawal and spiritual perfection. Yet it is gravely mistaken to believe that the essence of monasticism was or is withdrawal or separatism. This confusion reverses the ends and the means of monasticism and contributes to the mistaken notion (held by believers, critics, and seekers) that monasticism is a rejection of the world, a scorning of life, or a sign of social and psychological vulnerability. Monasticism, as the literature will indicate, is one of the most demanding states of life in which a human can place himself, and it is a way of being whose attention and activity is ordered towards, not away from.
The silence and solitude depicted in monastic biographies and rules made a theatre for contemplation and action, not a hideaway from conflict or responsibility. If anything, responsibility and conflict came to the fore in the monastic life. It was for true freedom that monks clapped on the iron practices of obedience and restraint. The intellect and the will came under rigorous self-discipline, not because the monk rejected the world or his fellow man, but because he sought out a superlative opportunity for uniting his thoughts, words, affections, and actions to the divine will and mind of God and he sought to do so freely and with love. This required some specialized knowledge and, more importantly, considerable mental resolve, fitness and stamina, regular training, and constant struggle. It should not, therefore, come as a surprise that the language of monasticism is so richly analogous to military or athletic language. The vigor of monastic concepts and words is akin to that found in the Old Testament Prophets or the writings of St. Paul. Only a virile and heroic language could begin to approach the interior world experienced by the monks. Only an elaborate, but also agonistic, imagery could sustain the ideas monastic writers were trying to express. The literature of monasticism is at once muscular and poetic, rhetorical and systematic.
Again, the common images and attitudes towards monasticism in our era should not distract us. It is true that the monk stands alone at times; the monk does embrace solitude, but the student of monasticism must ask with sympathy, “why?” The answer can be heard clearly in the rallying cry of that first monastic age: because the good life means preferring nothing to Christ, seeking nothing but His pleasure, His worship, His Justice, and His companionship. This quest was made possible by the monk’s unshakeable confidence in His mercy. Yet as readers of these texts will see, this solitary focus on Christ did not mean that the monk sought to be a lonely individual or that loneliness was essential to monastic life. It is potentially misleading to see in monasticism the birth of some value such as individualism—or the birth of western culture itself for that matter. Such things may be derived from the monastic endeavor; they were not, however, its aim. Finally, monks do not view creation, society, or mankind as evils. The monk simply loves what is highest and best. All creation is understood in light of the one great desire: union with God. For Christian monks, this did not and does not demand a rejection of creation, only an ordering of love, desire, thought, and action. An attentive reader will see that the texts contained in this volume demonstrate that the ordering of these things often freed the monk for a greater service to others. As Pope Benedict XVI states at the conclusion of his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, “Those who draw near to God do not withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them.” What is more, they show to all a path to the very heights of wisdom and peace. For that reason, they remain for all a subject for admiration and imitation.
Further Reading
The literature available on western monasticism is voluminous. The following recommendations are offered so that readers may deepen their interest in and love for the subject. It is the editor’s opinion that primary sources are usually best (hence this volume as a starting point), but often readers seek a more systematic presentation of monastic spirituality or a unified narrative of monasticism over time.
General Introductions and Histories (works specific to the authors and orders discussed in this volume follow in the subsequent chapters):
Charles-Forbes-René, Comte de Montalembert, The Monks of the West, 2 vols. (Boston: Thomas B. Noonan & Co, 1860). Montalembert’s book is widely ignored due to its strong tinge of Romanticism. Yet this monumental work, written over the course of several decades, bears witness to how a worldly man could return to the Christian heart of European culture and find personal consolation. The work is detailed, thoroughly documented, and exquisitely written.
C. H. Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism: Forms of Religious Life in Western Europe in the Middle Ages (London: Longman, 1984). In this volume, Lawrence provides an excellent scholarly narrative history of monasticism.
Jean Leclercq, O.S.B., Alone with God, trans. E. McCabe (New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 1961). Dom Leclercq turns his attention in this work to the emermetical side of monasticism, that is, a systematic introduction to the spirituality and life of the hermit.
Thomas Merton, O.S.C.O, The Silent Life (London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1957). One of the most influential Cistercian writers of the modern period offers a succinct work that goes to the center of the monastic experience and monastic spirituality, while providing a historical survey of the entire monastic movement in the West. The prologue and epilogue deliver a profound challenge to the anti-spiritual assumptions of the modern world.
M. Raymond, O.S.C.O., The Silent Spires Speak (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing, 1966). Fr. Raymond was a contemporary of Thomas Merton, but today is little-known. This volume is a dialogue between a jaded College student and a Trappist monk, suggesting that monasticism offers to the world an essential clarity on the place of contemplation in everyone’s life.
Hubert Van Zeller, O.S.B., Approach to Monasticism (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1960). Zeller presents what remains one of the most sober assessments of what monasticism as practiced really demands and what sort of person it will not tolerate.
Benedict XVI, Church Fathers, 2 vols. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2008 & 2010). In these volumes, one will find addresses on the individuals at the center of this anthology: St. Athanasius, St. Benedict, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Bernard.
The literature on Lectio Divina—the slow and contemplative reading and enacting of Sacred Scripture—is overwhelming. Three books must suffice:
Michael Casey, O.S.C.O., Sacred Reading—The Ancient Art of Lectio Divina (Liguori, MO: Liguori Publications, 1995).
Tim Gray, Praying Scripture for a Change: An Introduction to Lectio Divina (Boulder, CO: Ascension Press, 2009).
Mario Masini, Lectio Divina (New York: St. Pauls/Alba House, 1988).
An important aspect of monasticism has always been its influence on art and culture. Readers of monastic works could receive a false impression that monks are so “otherworldly” that they have no interest in architecture or art or the material world. The following three books are fine correctives to such a view. Monks have long provided Christians with an example of how to appreciate and act upon the priority of the spiritual above the material, while still recognizing the goodness of creation and the human (and more than human) capacity for creativity found amongst all men:
Sacheverell Sitwill, Monks, Nuns, and Monasteries (New York: Holt, Rinehard & Winston, 1965).
Peter Fergusson, Architecture of Solitude (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984).
Terryl N. Kinder, Cistercian Europe: Architecture of Contemplation (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 2002).