Historical and Philosophical Roots of Benedictine Spirituality
These reflections were authored by Br. Jerome Hughes of St Mary's Monastery near Boston, but his teacher was Br. Patrick Creamer, late of St. Leo's Abbey in Florida. These pages are dedicated to the memory of Br. Patrick Creamer, OSB. Please say a prayer for him.
I have copyright permission to include the readings themselves and have done so.
My purpose in writing this page is to give readers a look at the historical, philosophical, and biblical foundations of monasticism up to the Rule of St. Benedict. Each paragraph in this page could be expanded into a page of at least equal length. I hope you find this page enjoyable and edifying.
Monasticism as a whole was at least two hundred years old by the time St. Benedict wrote his Rule. Its exact origins are uncertain, but they do not seem to predate the Decian persecutions of the mid third century. Monasticism is not mentioned in Eusebius' Church History, but was quite widespread by the end of the fourth century.
One of the foundations of monasticism is asceticism. It is grounded both on the teachings of Jesus and the writings of St. Paul. Ascesis, from which we get the word "Asceticism", initially referred primarily to athletic training. In the writings of some of the early patristics, it became used to refer to the practice of piety, spiritual exercises, and austerity.
There were certainly ascetics before there were monastics, but they practiced their asceticism in the context of their church and families. One of the marks of monasticism is a separation from the surrounding culture.
There were also movements similar to monasticism in Egypt and the Near East prior to its arrival in early Christianity. For example, the Katachoi associated with the Temple of Serapis in Memphis, the Essenes of Kirbat Qumran, the Therepeutae who lived on a hill near Alexandria in Egypt and other places in and outside of Egypt, and the Neo-Pythagoreans of Greece. Of the three groups, the therepeutae appear to be closest. There is considerable disagreement over how close these groups are to Christian monasticism and also over how much of an influence these groups may have had on Christian monasticism, if any.
Ascetic practices existed in other religions and cultures that had extensive contact with the Near East. For example, the Hindus, Buddhists, and Manicheans. In spite of some apparent similarities, there is no direct evidence even here of a causal connection between them and monasticism.
In spite of the similarities and analogues with practices found in other religions and cultures in Asia Minor at the time of its inception, Christian monasticism's origins are decidedly Christian. Its biblical roots are with the example of Jesus' life and teachings and the writings of St. Paul. Its sociological roots lie in the changed relationship between Christianity and the surrounding culture that took place with the Edict of Milan in 313.
Now that martyrdom was not an option, the monastic replaced the martyr as the hero of the church. Some people have argued that the hardships encountered by fugitives fleeing the persecutions may have provided an impetus to some of the ascetic practices of the early monastics. that is a disputed point. After all, at least one of the early monastics, St. Anthony of Egypt, deliberately travelled to Alexandria during the Decian persecutions seeking martyrdom. This process of replacement was far from instant.
The first stage of this process was the equasion of virgins with martyrs. Origen, for example, interpreted the thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and hundredfold increases of the Parable of the Sower as referring to Widows, Virgins, and Martyrs, respectively. Both Methodius of Olumpus and St. Athanasius would later equate virgins with martyrs in terms of the value of their faith and testimony.
Once this equasion was made, the next step was to equate monastic profession with a second baptism. After all, if monks were virgins and virgins were martyrs and martyrs were people who had undergone a second baptism by virtue of their martyrdom, then monks were people who had undergone a second baptism by virtue of their monastic profession. It is hard to determine what role this equasion made in the spread of fourth century monasticism.
Another impetus for the developement of Monasticism was the radical change in status that the Church experienced during the course of the 4th century. At the beginning of the century, the Church was a persecuted minority often in opposition to the State. At the end of the centuy, Christianity was the State Religion. That is no small change.
The political dominance of Christianity led to an influx of secular values into the worldview of the church. This led to perceptions of laxity. For people who wanted to make a complete commitment of themselves to God, Monasticism became the new martyrdom.
This martyrdom was to be practiced through withdrawal from the world. There were precedents in pagan philosophy for this withdrawal, but it was usually just a withdrawal into the self for the sake of contemplation and inner peace. These examples did not inspire or have an influence on Christian asceticism. It received its impetus from the example of Jesus in the Gospels. Quite often, He withdraws into the desert or to a mountain to be by Himself. So it is the withdrawl of Christ and not the withdrawl of the Philosophers that inspired the early monastics and anchorites.
It is not certain who the first anchorite was. The earliest mentioned by Eusebius was an early third-century Bishop of Jerusalem called Narcissus. St Anthony, Abba Anthony to Coptic Christians, is often called the first hermit. That, however, is in dispute. It may have been a certain Paul of Thebes. Regardless of who was first, Anthony of Egypt was the most famous of the very early ascetics and his example was widely emulated.
Previous ascetics had stayed close to their family or village of origin. St. Anthony's innovation was to have left his family and community and gone further afield. some monastic or at least monastic-like communities already existed at the time, as he gave his sister into the care of a community of pious women.
During the course of his ascetic life, he lived in several places between the Nile and the Red Sea. He established a couple monasteries, at least one of which is still in existence nearly 17 centuries later. Other settlements of hermits and anchorites were in Nitria and Scetis in Egypt. Some of these monastic communities also still exist.
The arrangements were not standardised. Some people lived singly, others in small groups, and still others lived in small communities of a couple hundred. some of the cells were very basic huts. Others were fairly elaborate multiroom houses that included a courtyard and maybe a well as well. There was no noviciate or vows. Usually a newcomer would seek out an older monk, live with him and learn from his example.
Monastic life started in Palestine and Syria at roughly the same time and developed along similar lines. the extent to which Syrian and Palestinian eremeticism was influenced by Egyptian Eremeticism is a disputed point.
Cenobitic monasticism seems to have started witn Pachomius. He was explicitly trying to create a Christian community as portrayed in the Book of Acts. Pachomius was inspired to build a house in a deserted village around 320AD. he was joined by others and eventually a new community was set up in another deserted village nearby. When Pachomius died in 346, there were 11 such communities, including two for women. They all lived under a common Rule, and had superiors in charge of each community.
The next major figure in the early history of monasticism is St. Basil of Cesarea (330-379). There was some sort of monasticism going on in Asia Minor prior to Basil's time. If the regional Council of Gangres (340AD) is a reliable indicator, it was extreme in ways that would later be identified as heresies.
Once St. Basil finished his education, he became an ascetic himself, and spent time in private Biblical study and reflection. The fruit of this study and reflection is his The Moral Rules. To St. Basil, the monastic life is the Christian life lived fully.
According to Gregory Nazianzen, Basil found a way to reconcile both the eremetic and cenobitic forms of monastic life by having them both live in the same overall community. That allowed them to be physically close together but still distinct.
St. Basil insisted on both prayer and work. Not only that, he insisted that the trades chosen by the commnity would allow it to remain in tranquility. That would allow for quite a wide range of trades and crafts as well as farming. It is important to keep in mind that his goal, like Pachomius before him, was reform of the church, not to set up a separate community.
As he rewrote it over the years, St. Basil's Asceticon morphs from a program of ecclesial reform into a Rule for cenobitic monastic communities. Many of the details St. Basil deals with would later be dealt with in the Rule of St. Benedict. The Asceticon was not just a laundry list of regulations, like the Pachomian Rule, but it also included rational explanations for various aspects of monastic life.
The next major figures to discuss in relation to the growth of early monasticism are Origen (186AD to 255AD) and a later commentator on his work, Evagrius Ponticus. Origen was the first person to make and extensive and thoroughgoing synthesis of Greek ideas and Christian Revelation.
Origen's theory of the spiritual life holds that the initial conversion is when the individual realizes that he is a child of God and that the real world is the interior world. Sin has distorted that image. The spiritual life involves the recovery of that image.
Origen based his ideas on his allegorical interpretation of the Exodus. The idea that the deliverance of Israel from Egypt through the Red Sea represents Baptism was both commonplace and biblical. Philo of Alexandria introduced the idea that some aspects of the Exodus story can be used tropologically to refer to the individual's spiritual developement. Origen united these two approaches to biblical interpretation to form a theory of spiritual developement from its beginnings at baptism to its full maturity when it enters the Promised Land.
Origen also introduced some distinctions that have influenced spiritual writing ever since. for example, he introduced the distinction between action and contemplation. For Origen, "action" is the ascetic combat against vices whereas "contemplation" is the intellectual assimilation of truths. This is not the same as the modern distinction between the "active" and "contemplative" monastic life.
Another distinction he introduced was a division of the spiritual life into three stages: the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive. Origen bases this division on his analysis of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. According to Origen, Proverbs deals with rules for a moral life. This is what he calls the "purgative" stage. Ecclesiastes deals with physical reality. this is what he calls the "Illuminative" stage. The Song of Songs is an invitation to concentrate on the eternal and invisible world. that is the "unitive" stage.
The soul then oscillates between the two aspects of contemplative and active while it ascends through these three stages. Of the many fourth century monks who commented on and elaborated upon Origen's works, the most influential was Evagrius Ponticus (AD345-399). Evagrius took Origen's ideas, combined them with some Middle Platonism, and developed them in new ways. Evagrius' works were condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople in AD543.
Monasticism started passing to the latin West by the mid fourth century. The exact causes for thhis are many. One of the major factors was Athanasius of Alexandria's Life of Anthony. This biography contained a positive view of Egyptian monasticism and was very popular in its Latin translation in the West.
But it would be unfair to suggest that monasticism was solely an eastern phenomenon that had simply been imported into the latin West. There seems to have been some indigenous monasticism in the West as well.
The practice of asceticism certainly existed in the West. There are reports of virgins, widows, and others practicing an ascetic life as early as the second century. Monastic forms of life existed in Italy, North Africa, France, Spain and the British Isles prior to the mid fourth century. Documentary evidence is scarce, making it difficult to trace their origins and history.
Saints Jerome and Ambrose are the major sources of primary-source documentation of italian asceticism and monasticism. Jerome points to the examples of a couple ladies of noble birth who adopted an ascetic lifestyle of varying degrees. St. Ambrose himself gave up his wealth and property when he became bishop. Not only that, there were functioning monasteries of both sexes in Italy by the 380's. The eremetic and cenobitic life was also practiced on some of the islands surrounding Italy.
Saint Martin of Tours is often regarded as the West's first monk. This is inaccurate. There were many ascetics and hermits before him. Martin, however, was its earliest major proponent in what used to be called Gaul. Most of his influence was in Western Gaul. In the eastern part of the old roman province, especially the Rhone Valley, monasticism was influenced by the Monastery of Lerins.
Another important figure in the history of gallican monasticism was John Cassian. He was not native to Gaul, having most likely come from the balkans. He is best known for two works, his Conferences and his Institutes. These two books would become second in influence over subsequent monastic thought only to the Rule of St. Benedict.
Cassian's Institutes consist of twelve books. The first four books deal with the monastic practices of fifth century Egypt. The remaining eight books deal with the Eight Primary Vices. In doing so, he follows Evagrius' lead. What Evagrius called the Eight Vices would later become known as the Seven Deadly Sins. The Conferences are a collection of 24 books of "conferences". These books distill the wisdom and advice he received from various ascetics while he and his friend Germanus toured the Egyptian deserts. Both these sets of books were extremely influential in the later developement of Christian monasticism.
this brings us up to the time of St. Benedict. I hope you found this brief historical overview useful. With a document this short, I can only hit the high points of the high points. Here are some suggested readings if you would like further information.
Fry, Timothy, OSB, et al. Editors. RB1980: The Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with Notes. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1981. 627 pages, paperback. ISBN: 0-8146-1211-3
Louth, Andrew. The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981. 215 pages, paperback. ISBN: 0-19-82668-5
Stewart, Columba, OSB. Prayer and Community: The Benedictine Tradition. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1998. 136 pages, paperback. ISBN: 1-57075-219-2
Tugwell, Simon, O.P.. Ways of Imperfection. Springfield, Illinois: Templegate Publishers. 238 pages, paperback. ISBN: 0-87423-164-9
