The Prologue
TRANSLATION AND COMMENTARY
THE PROLOGUE
The Prologue to the Holy Rule begins here.1
Hearken here, my son, to the precepts of thy master2 and incline the ear of thy heart; accept the admonitions of thy loving father with a will and put them into practice (cf. Prov. iv,
20 & vi, 20), that by the labor of obedience3 thou mayest return to him from whom thou hast departed through the sloth of dis obedience. My word, then, now directs itself to thee, whoever thou art that hast renounced the promptings of thy own will and hast taken up the strong and glorious weapons of obedience
(so to speak), in order to do service in the army of the Lord Christ, the true King.
1 This artistically built up foreword to the Rule is a fatherly but manfully eloquent summons to the pursuit of monastic virtue and the following of Christ. It leads up to the fundamental ideas and duties inculcated by the Holy Rule, in particular to those of the monastic life. One may think of St. Benedict himself or of the super ior of the monastery as the speaker. It is quite possible that the prologue at one time, even in the time of St. Benedict, served as an allocution to the candidates and monks at a ceremony of monastic profession. Simular eloquent invitations to the practice of monastic virtue are to be found in the literature of Lerins (cf.
PL, i, 833-839); and the Holy Rule (cf. HR, chap, v, comment 2). From the very oldest monastic writings should be cited the wonderful "Testament" of the dying Abbot Horsiesi (f c. 380), the second successor of Pachomius, which was surely soon thereafter translated from the Coptic into Greek and later on (c. 404) into Latin by St. Jerome. Horsiesi addresses with equal unction and impressive ness the superiors (the "firsts" and "seconds" in authority at his cloisters and houses) and monks, admonishing them to be faithful in fulfilling the ordinances left them by their father Pachomius (cf. HR, chap, ii. Excursus II).
2 The figure of Christ as the dominant and central personality of the cloister (coenobium) enters early here into the purview of the monk. He is the Master
(Preceptor) of the monk, his Father, Trainer, Lord, King and General of the army, and Judge. The monk is Christ's disciple, son, servant, soldier, and workman.
The abbot but functions in his stead.
3 The attitude that is decisive in all this is the monk's obedience. It is also his achievement. It consists, negatively speaking, in a painful renunciation of his in herent right to self-determination - positively considered, in a joyful oblation of his whole self to Christ. Of course, the unattained and unattainable prototype of obedience is the Lord himself, who by his submission to his heavenly Father once entered into glory over the terrors and anguish of the Passion (cf. Phil, ii, 8 ff).
The prototype of human disobedience was Adam, who by his refusal to obey lost paradise for the human race and plunged it into bodily and spiritual ruin, while the Lord's obedience brought it eternal salvation again (cf. Rom. v, 19). Humble obedience, not haughty self-exaltation, is the indispensable prerequisite for a re turn to paradise. Obedience it is that opens the gates of Heaven. In fact, the
First of all, as often as thou art about to begin a good work, beseech the Lord in earnest prayer that he may bring it to completion1 and that he who has so graciously enrolled us in the number of his true sons may not at all be grieved by our evil conduct. Consequently, we must at all times serve him with the talents he has given us, so that he may not, like an angry father one day disinherit his sons, nor yet like a dread lord, furious on account of our wicked deeds, deliver us up to eternal chastisement as worthless servants, who would not follow him to glory.
Let us, then, arise once for all, since the Scriptures, too, rouse us up, saying: "It is now the hour for us to rise from sleep" (Rom. xiii, 11). And let us open our eyes to the divine light and listen with an attentive ear to what the divine voice exhorts us, crying to us daily: "Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts"2 (Fs. xciv, 8); and again: "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches" (Mat. xi, 15 & Apoc. ii, 7). And what does he say?
"Come, my sons, hearken to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Ps. xxxiii, 12). "Run while you have the light," that is, life, "that the darkness," that is, death, "may not overtake you"
(cf. John xii, 35).
Among the multitudes of men, the Lord seeks his work man, calls to him, and says to him again: "Who is the man that desireth life: who loveth to see good days" (Ps. xxxi, 13)? If great boon of the Incarnation was made possible by that lowly response of Mary:
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done unto me according to thy word"
(Luke i, 38). If, according to old-monastic tradition, the whole life of a monk is toil and hardship, obedience is so in particular. But without obedience the monk will never get back to him who is his final goal. It was a byword among the Desert
Fathers that "the Lord demands nothing so much from those who enter religious life as the labor of obedience" (Leben tier Voter V, xiv, 15). The phrase. "Labor of obedience," takes us back also to Lerins, to Abbot Faustus (f c. 500) in the foreward to his work, "The Gift of Grace."
1 This reference in the Rule could also point to Lerins. Following old-monastic tradition, two factors are operative in every good work, free will, which begins it and divine grace which carries it to a meritorious end. However, St. Augustine, whose doctrine was confirmed by the Synod of Orange in 529 and later by the Church at Rome, ascribes also the beginning of every good work to the operation of divine grace (cf. HR, chap, vii. Excursus Ill).
2 With this psalm (xciv), following close upon psalm iii, the Night Office, which we now call Matins, begins the "Work of God" for the day.
thou hearest this and dost answer: "I am he," then the Lord says to thee: "If thou wilt have true and everlasting life (cf.
Matt, xix, 16), keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips that they speak no guile: turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it" (cf. Ps. xxxiii, 14). "And if you do this, my eyes will rest upon you, and my ears be open to your prayers"
(cf. Ps. xxxiii, 16). "And before you call upon me, I will say to you: 'Lo, here I am' " (cf. Is. lviii, 9). What can be more blissful, dear brethren, than this voice of the Lord, who invites us? Behold, in his goodness he shows us the way to life.
Let us, then gird our loins with faith 1 and the practice of good works (cf. Eph. vi, 14ff) and under the guidance of the Gospel walk in his paths, so that they may merit to look upon him who has called us into his kingdom (cf. Thess. ii, 12)1 If we wish to dwell in his tabernacle, that is, in his kingdom, we must hasten by our good conduct, else we shall not arrive there.
But let us ask the Lord and in the words of the prophet say to him: "Lord, who shall dwell in thy tabernacle, or shall rest in thy holy hill" (Ps. xiv, l)?2 After we have asked that question, brethren, let us listen to the Lord as he answers, shows us the way to his tabernacle, and says: "He that walketh without blemish, and worketh justice; he that speaketh truth in his heart,
1 This reference could also be explained in harmony with the teaching at Lerins.
According to Abbot Faustus, the beginnings of faith, the inclination towards faith, faith itself, and the good will really belong to man's doing. For he says: "The servant stretches forth the hand of faith towards his Lord (i.e., divine grace) who calls him and helps him, and he says: 'I believe, Lord, help thou my unbelief
(Mark ix, 23). And thus the two, the strength of the one who draws (i.e., divine grace) and the readiness of the one who believes work together, as when an invalid
(v.g., the weakened will) tries to get up, but his ability to do so is not commensur ate with his will, and he therefore pleads for a helping hand. The will calls for help, because its weakness will not enable it to rise by itself. So the Lord invites such a one as is willing, draws him who desires it, and raises him up who corres ponds with some personal effort" (On Grace, I, 16). But Abbot Faustus, despite all his insistence upon human frailty and the consequent need of the will for the help of divine grace, still clings undeviatingly to the basic principal of Lerins: that the beginnings of a good work, however lamentably weak they may be, must proceed from man. "We read in the Gospel of the Lord saying: 'What wilt thou that I should do to thee' (Mark x, 51)? And again: 'Wilt thou be made whole' (John v, 6)? You see that the boon of a cure was not bestowed upon the recipient unless preceded by the query whether his will desired it . . . The will antecedes the grace" (a.a.O, II, x). But the will to desire it, we are compelled to add, is itself a grace of God.
who hath not used deceit in his tongue; nor hath done evil to his neighbor" (Ps. xiv, 2-3): he that casts that deceitful one, the devil, who whispers wicked things to him, together with his evil suggestions from his heart's sight and brings him to naught
(cf. Ps. xiv, 4), then takes his bad thoughts while they are yet small and dashes them against Christ (cf. Ps. cxxxvi, 9).3 And because such as these fear the Lord, they do not puff themselves up by reason of their good conduct, but, knowing in their hearts that they cannot give themselves credit for the good that is in them but the Lord, they glorify the Lord who worketh in them and say with the prophets:1 "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to thy Name give the glory" (Ps. cxiii, 9). Thus the Apostle
Paul imputed nothing of his preaching to himself when he said:
1 The Eastern monks gave expression to their yearnings for the vision of God (contemplation) with an extraordinarily intense fervor, while the monks of the West were more reserved. Rufinus has the Desert Father John of Lycopolis say: "When we stand with a pure heart before God, free from every remnant of passion, we shall in as far as this is possible, indeed behold God and at prayer fix the eyes of our hearts upon him and see the unseeable spiritually, though not corporally, in purely spiritual but not bodily contemplation'' (History of the Monks i.). Contemplation is a sight of the divine glory, a most intimate union with God, a sharing as it were of the divine nature, without the curtain between the Creator and the creature being taken away. Essentially, however, contemplation, that is, the vision of God, is a gift of the eternal future, but man may grasp it here and now by faith, even though by virtue of the graces inherent in his redemption, he may only sow the seeds of it in the present (cf. 2 Peter i.4). The Lord's promise in the Sermon on the Mount gave old-monastic asceticism a powerful incentive towards arriving at purity of heart (cf. 1 John iii, 2).
2 Psalm xiv, in simple and impressive words, describes the essential content of the monastic pursuit of virtue.
3 This picturesque reference to the expression of dashing one's thoughts against Christ must be ascribed to the Desert Fathers. St. Benedict undoubtedly got it from Cassian (Institutes vi, 13), who drew it from Evagrius Ponticus (f 339), who in turn borrowed it from Origen. In the ninth verse of Psalm cxxxvi, the psalmist pleads with the eternal avenger that the children of Edom, that is, the descendants of the enemies of God, be dashed against the rocks. According to ancient Chris tian beliefs there was an intimate association between evil thoughts and the powers of darkness. It was these latter who awakened evil imaginations in the mind.
Through them such phantasies penetrated into the very recesses of a man's heart to plunge him into perdition. Wherefore the Desert Fathers were unceasing in their warnings against evil thoughts and the imps of Satan (cf. HR, chap, xvi,
Excursus 111 and chap, iv. The Instruments of Good Works #50).
' This passage shows how strongly the old monachism stressed the crucial neces sity of divine grace. An optimistic trust in their own moral powers and, though they did not lose sight of their human frailties, a firm confidence in the help of God's grace were characteristic of the old monks. A deep consciousness of man's spiritual wretchedness and moral misery constantly reminded them that they must practice humility and seek the help of God in humble and fervent prayer.
"By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. xv, 10). And again he says: "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (2
Cor. xv, 17).
And for that reason the Lord in the Gospel says: "Every one that heareth these my words shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock: the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock" (cf. Matt, vii, 24-25).
After the Lord has thus concluded his exhortation,2 he waits,3 in order that we may put his admonitions into practice.
And for this reason the days of our lives are lengthened as it were for an amnesty, so that we may amend our evil ways. As the Apostle says: "Knowest thou not that the longsuffering of God would lead thee to repentance" (cf. Rom. ii, 4)? For he says: "I will not the death of the sinner but that he be converted and live" (Ez. xxxiii, 11).
Thus, brethren, we have made inquires of the Lord con cerning the dwellers in his tabernacle: and we have heard what are the conditions for dwelling there:—but (we shall only live there) if we fulfill the obligations of a dweller.
Consequently, we must arm ourselves, both body and soul, for our service in the army (of Christ)—in other words, for the holy obedience necessary to fulfill it. And in order that we may do what our nature is less able to accomplish, the Lord permits our asking him to grant us the help of his grace.1 So if we wish to escape the chastisement of Hell and attain to ever lasting life, then we must now, while there is still time and we dwell in these bodies of ours, and also while we have the op portunity, fulfill all this in our lives, namely, in the light, and 2 With this simile of a house founded upon a rock, the Sermon on the Mount comes to a close.
3 This passage, again, could point to Lerins. Abbot Faustus speaks in a similar vein: God "waits" until we make a beginning. That it deals with an old-monastic presentation of the subject is clear. For example, from what St. Jerome (t 420) says: "Great is the goodness of God in that he 'waits' until we have turned away from our sins" (On Isaias xxx, 18). Our work is to begin the task; God's work is to complete it" (contra Pelag. iii, 1). Cf. also comment #1, page 69.
1 This passage, also, can be understood in the sense in which Lerins viewed the doctrine on grace. Nature, that is, the free will is able at least to start the good work (cf. also comment #1, page 67).
hasten to do what will profit us eternally.
Let us, then, institute a (bondman's) school of the Lord's service.2 With its establishment, we hope to enact nothing harsh or burdensome. However, if at times, when firmness and a good reason—for the correction of faults or the preservation of charity—demand it, the discipline may be more severe, do not forthwith shrink from the way of salvation, which must needs be entered by a narrow gate (cf. Mat. vii, 14). As we proceed, however, in the course of our (monastic) life and faith, our hearts will be opened wide,* and we shall with ineffable sweet ness of love run in the way of God's commandments, so that we shall never again wander away from his guidance, but persever ing under his leadership in the monastery until death (cf. Acts iv, 12),1 we shall with patience share in the sufferings of Christ, in order that we may in this way eventually enter into his king dom (cf. 1 Peter iv, 13).
The Prologue ends here.
2 The word "school" at the time of St. Benedict meant the place where, for example, master and disciple met, also where the different bodies of laborers, serfs
(servants), soldiers, etc., gathered in units for the purpose of working out the organizational ends of their various groups; and, finally, the work and efforts expended towards the attainment of their common goals. The head of the "school", whose members pledged themselves to observe the common rules (constitution and by-laws), was the master (magister). St. Benedict already knew of the word in that meaning from monastic tradition. Thus to Cassian the cloister was a "school for beginners" (Institutes iii, 1; xviii. 16; & xix, 2). Abbot Faustus purposely called his monastery at Lerins "the school of Christ" and "The Academy" (Ringsschule — arena or stadium) (On Abbot Maximus: cf. Letter to Rusticus #1;
Pseudo Eucherius. Homily #4). The crown of everlasting life will be won by means of an energetic observance of monastic discipline. St. Benedict gave expression to the unique character of his monastic concept through the meaningful word, "school," which also served as the key to the prologue. The "labor of obedience" was the first duty of the disciple. In the mind of Caesarius, the common refectory, the dormitory, and the place of recreation constituted the "school."
* (We have used here the phrase, "opened wide," rather than the customary word, "enlarged." The phrase was recalled to mind by the story of an old medieval monastery, over the entrance of which were inscribed the words: Porta patet, at cor magis! Freely translated, the pithy legend can be made to read: "The door is ever ajar, but our hearts are open as wide as ever." The translator)
1 The first Church of Jerusalem, the prototype of the monastic Church, appears here for the first time in the monk's religious picture.