The business of the monastery was strictly and efficiently regulated. Each week the domus had to furnish an account of production to the higumenos. Materials and tools were distributed at a central point and work was done in the domus. Tools were kept for a week, and redistributed at the end of the week. Work was distributed every evening for the following day. There was an annual shakeup in the distribution of jobs. Not only were the jobs redistributed, and the officers changed, but also sins and public penances were remitted, and monks were supposed also to make up all quarrels and start afresh from scratch.
Regularity: Whereas for the hermit the great thing is individual generosity in prayer, solitude, compunction and penance, for the cenobite external regularity becomes very important. The life is built on it. Prayer life is integrated in the regular exercises. Trumpets announce the hours of prayer. As soon as the trumpet sounds, the monk drops everything and praying mentally (this is insisted on), starts for the place of prayer. Great emphasis is placed on punctuality, on doing everything together and in order. The Pachomian monastery had an air of strict military discipline.
Penances: A regular system of penances protected the framework of regularity, penances for tardiness, for losing things, etc. (One had to go three days without the lost article before it was replaced.) Those who were late had to stand in a place apart. If one left garments out on the line to dry for three days, he was penanced. Penance was prescribed for one who did not immediately make known the flight of one of the brethren. Laziness and idleness were severely reproved. The monk had to keep occupied with work or prayer or both. There were severe penances for taking objects assigned to others, or from the common store.
Prompt and universal obedience were emphasized at all times. Independent activities were reproved, even in the smallest things. There were severe reprimands for those who argued with superiors. The monk should not presume to go out in a boat without permission, to cut his hair or that of another unless appointed for the job, to work on his own, etc. Yet at the same time there was much room for individuality in the spiritual life. The spiritual life was not strictly regimented. Individuals could arrange their meals according to inspirations of grace, fast more or less as their conscience dictated (with approval of a director)—some ate at None, some ate in the evening only, etc. This was easy since there was not much cooked food, and most ate only bread and raw vegetables, olives, fruits. Nothing was to be preferred to the work of God.
Community life: silence was insisted upon—also a certain recollection and solitude. The monks were discouraged from being intimate with one another, and were told to keep to themselves (had to stay always one cubit apart at least, and not go for walks together). There were disputations (conferences) twice a week by [the] Praepositus1 [and] penances for sleeping at them. The monks discussed among themselves what was said at them. Great emphasis is placed on charity and meekness in community and there is much legislation to curb disobedient, rebellious, or discontented monks. Even those who sit around with sour expressions are admonished.
Guests: There was a certain latitude in visiting one’s relatives or being visited by them. One could go home for special occasions, with a companion. One received visitors also with a companion (as in orders of nuns today). One could eat food brought by guests, but when they left, the extra food had to be turned in for the sick. Clerical visitors came to choir with the monks.
Novices: The formation of the new monks was given special care. We can see [in Pachomius] the sources of St. Benedict’s chapter on the reception of novices. They were to be kept waiting at the gate a few days: a postulancy in which they are taught the Our Father and a few psalms. His motives are tested to see whether he is entering out of fear of punishment for crime or for some other trouble, whether he can really renounce his family and possessions, and if he is potentially a man of prayer. As part of his formation the postulant is taught to read and write, and it is prescribed that he have classes at Prime, Tierce, and Sext if necessary:
Also, one unwilling to read will be compelled to do so, and there will be no one at all within the monastery who has not learned his letters and memorized some of the scriptures.
It is said that they had to know by heart the Psalms and the New Testament before fully becoming monks. When it is decided that he is good material, he is taught the other rules and observances at the gate, still. And this preparation (novitiate) goes on for some time. Finally, the gatekeeper brings him in to the community, he is stripped of secular clothes and vested in monastic habit and joins the monks.
The detailed picture of Pachomian cenobitism may seem a little fearsome. It is misleading, seen only from the outside.
The spirit of St. Pachomius was not simply one of military efficiency, but of deep Christian charity. Charity was first and foremost in the cenobitic life. However, when one legislated for such a big monastic organization, and created such a complex system for the monks, there was always grave danger of it becoming a machine, a big business, or an army outfit. The danger for hermits is individualism and anarchy. The danger for cenobites is excessive organisation, totalitarianism, and mechanical routine. In either case, the only remedy is fidelity to grace, close union with the Holy Spirit Who breathes the divine life into souls and informs rules and regulations with the “breath of life” without which they are only empty forms. This is the hermit’s own responsibility. In the cenobium, the responsibility rests first of all with superiors, but the subject too must be careful not to let himself become merely a passive cog in a machine. A monastery must be an organism, not just an organization.
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1 Superior of the local monastery. The connotation in Latin is most like “commander,” also military.
LECTURE 6
St. Basil of Caesarea
St. Basil came to Egypt as a critic of the anchorites and a reformer of the cenobitic life.
His Life Briefly
Basil was born about 329 in Caesarea, Cappadocia. His family was Christian and ascetic. His elder sister Macrina had a vow of virginity; she took part in his education. Later his mother and Macrina retired to country property of theirs called Annesi on the banks of the Iris and began to live the monastic life together with other virgins, and with his younger brother Peter, who acted as [a] kind of cellarer. In 351, at the same time as his sister retired to solitude, Basil went to Athens to study. There he met Gregory Nazianzen, and spoke to him of monastic life. His other brother retired to solitude in 352. Basil travelled to Alexandria, Egypt, Palestine and saw monastic life at first hand. In 358, returning from studies and travels, Basil sells all his goods and retires to [the] banks of the Iris at Annesi to live as a monk. He is joined by Gregory Nazianzen. In 364 he writes Rules, or begins the redaction of them. He kept returning to this work and revising throughout his life. In 365 he was called to Caesarea by Bishop Eusebius, to aid him in the chancery and was ordained priest. In 370, Basil becomes Bishop of Caesarea. He continued ascetic life—longed for monastery—and founded a hospital at Caesarea which he confided to monks (monks in active life now): a “city of charity.”
As bishop, Basil struggled for peace of the Church against Arianism. Athanasius was a Church politician, Basil primarily a theologian. He was in the Nicene-Origenist tradition.1 He hates controversy, strives to bring [the] Church back to simplicity of faith, [and] defends the divinity of [the] Holy Spirit. His theology is oriented to contemplation as much as it is to dogmatic controversy:
Basil’s true greatness becomes apparent only when he is studied in the context of the conflicts of his age and his role is properly understood. As an ecclesiastical politician Basil did not display the rocklike strength of Athanasius; as a theologian he did not possess the harmony and universality of his younger brother, Gregory of Nyssa; as a monk he did not possess the subtle refinement of some of the later mystics. But these things must not be interpreted as moral weaknesses. On the contrary, it was his very devotion to the needs of the hour which compelled him constantly to v
ary his tactics and made it impossible for him to develop his rich talents in peace. He found his work as an ecclesiastical politician so difficult because he was not only wiser and more far-seeing but also more profound and more honest than most of his colleagues. It is thanks to him in the first place that the State Church of the Nicenes, which had been built so quickly, not only celebrated easy victories but retained a real theological life and intellectual freedom.2
(The same can be said of St. Athanasius, but to a lesser degree.) In 379, St. Basil [died].
The Writings of St. Basil
[Basil’s writings are] Dogmatic: Adversus Eunomium; Homilies on Creation etc.; De Spiritu Sancto; De Baptismo. [As with] St. Gregory of Nyssa, we must not separate theology and spirituality in the Greek Fathers.
[They are also] Ascetic and Monastic, generally grouped together as the Asceticon, or Opera Ascetica, books on the following subjects: The Renunciation of the World; Ascetic Discipline; Judgement, and Faith; Letters; and above all the Rules: The Long Rules: Regulae Fusius Tractatae, a kind of spiritual directory for the monastic life; The Short Rules: Regulae Brevius Tractatae, a catechetical series of solutions to cases and problems in the monastic life. (The collection called Ascetical Works of St. Basil in English, in the Fathers of the Church series, contains most of the above [not the Short Rules] and also some homilies on the ascetic life which are very good.)3
[Major topics:]
1) Doctrine on perfection—All Christians are called to perfection and sanctity, by consecration to God and by faithfully carrying out His holy will. But monks above all have given themselves completely to the pursuit of perfection, to seeking God. The characteristic of St. Basil’s doctrine of monastic perfection is that he seeks to be more prudent and discreet than the Fathers of Egypt, to avoid their exaggerations, and to lead all, or at least greater numbers, more safely to God in a wisely regulated monastic life.
Monks act in the interests of charity above all, since perfection consists in charity. Like St. Bernard in De Diligendo Deo, St. Basil gives some of the reasons for loving God. Monastic life is built on gratitude for God’s love. The monastic family life in which the elders are full of fatherly or brotherly concern for the juniors, is the supreme means to perfection in charity. Emphasis is placed on obedience, docility, and humility as the characteristic monastic virtues. But poverty and austerity remain absolutely essential.
2) Prayer is the first duty of the monk—Of very great importance is self-custody and guarding against distraction: “As each kind of mastery demands its own specific and appropriate training, so the discipline for pleasing God in accordance with the Gospel of Christ is practiced by detaching oneself from the cares of the world and by complete withdrawal from its distractions.” The purpose of the life of prayer is not only to glorify God but also to lead the soul to perfect union with Him. However St. Basil speaks little of contemplation. He is primarily an active soul, and his brother Gregory of Nyssa is the contemplative of the family. Note that in the cenobitic tradition the keynote has been given by active, ascetic, organizing, administrating saints like Basil rather than by interior and contemplative saints like Gregory of Nyssa. These appeal more to solitaries.
3) Spiritual progress—St. Basil does not admit of a spiritual life in which everything is static. One does not fly to the monastery and then remain in the same state for the rest of his life. We must grow in perfection.
The monk lives face to face with the truth that sin is the great obstacle between himself and God. Hence his life is first of all a combat against sin, a struggle for liberation from all sin. The only evil is that which depends on our own power. “Evil” which comes from outside ourselves can be turned to good. But sin, which comes from within us, always harms us, is always a true evil. In his teaching on liberation from sin St. Basil resembles and follows the Stoics.
The starting point in the spiritual ascent is self-knowledge and self-custody: “If, then, we would safely traverse the road of life lying before us, and offer to Christ our body and soul alike free from the shame of wounds, and receive the crown for this victory, we must always and everywhere keep the eyes of our soul wide open, holding in suspicion everything that gives pleasure. We must unhesitatingly pass by such things, without allowing our thoughts to rest in them.”
Then comes resolute entrance into the spiritual combat, the struggle against passion and self-love. St. Basil analyzes the various vices and describes the action of the virtues that oppose them. The early monks were psychologists and observers of human nature. The most important of the virtues is humility because by it we return to our original state. Our natural state is that of sons of God, men made in the image and likeness of God. Humility restores us to our complete dependence on God from whom we have received, and must yet receive, all that we are and all that we have.
The notion of the three divisions of the spiritual life: purgative, illuminative and unitive, is present in St. Basil, but not emphasized.
4) Union with God—is the summit of the spiritual life because he who is fully united to God, and resembles Him most perfectly, gives Him the greatest glory. This means the intellect is filled with God’s truth. And one is able to share that truth with others. The will is filled with His love which unites us closely to God so that no suffering can separate us from Him.
Basilian Cenobitism
Pachomian monasticism was organized, but the spirit remained more individualistic. The Pachomian monastery was not a family, or a real community, but a collection of small groups, cemented together by organization and discipline. St. Basil emphasizes [by contrast] the social and communal heart of the cenobitic life.
The value of the cenobitic life is not to be sought in organization but in love—something deeper and more interior. The monastic community is a family, a body, and the members share in the life and activities of the body. The good of one is the good of all. No one seeks his own good in the monastic community. Each is for all and all are for each. Each helps the other, and in helping others helps himself. Each makes up for what the other lacks. No one has to be complete and self-sufficient; what he has not, another will supply. Nothing is wasted in the monastic life—even spiritually. One who is weak and poor, can still contribute whatever small talent he has, and go on, supported by the others. Thus, the perfect life is accessible to all. The good things of God are easily shared in community, and the sharing increases them. The cenobitic life offers greater protection against the devil. The variety of duties offers scope for various talents and graces—some can take care of guests, of the sick, etc., others are free to devote themselves more exclusively to prayer. In the monastery, there is always the power of living example. The good of the community is the divine will.
Hence in community life the divine will is easy to know and follow. The great enemy is self-will. Everything else in the monastery can be consecrated to God, but not this.
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1 The “Origenist Controversy” will be alluded to many times in these lectures until Lecture 13 where Merton discusses it fully.
2 Hans Von Campenhausen, The Fathers of the Greek Church, trans. Stanley Godman (New York: Pantheon, 1959), 91–92.
3 St. Basil, Ascetical Works, trans. Sister M. Monica Wagner, CSC, Fathers of the Church, vol. 9 (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1950).
LECTURE 7
Other Cappadocian Fathers: The Two Gregories
We ought to pause at least long enough to make the acquaintance of two great monastic theologians, friends and confreres of St. Basil. One of them, Gregory of Nyssa, is the saint’s blood brother. The other is his close friend.
St. Gregory Nazianzen
Gregory was born about 330. He studied with St. Basil in Athens and had also studied at Caesarea (where Origen had taught) and Alexandria—hence an Origenist. In 359 he became a monk with Basil, on the banks of the Iris. He devoted himself to asceticism and study and composed the Philocalia, an anthology of the best passages from Origen (not
to be confused with another Philocalia: Orthodox texts on prayer).1 In 362, he is reluctantly ordained priest but afterwards returns to solitude, but was recalled to active life and supported orthodoxy in the Arian conflict. In 371, he is reluctantly consecrated bishop of Sasimes by Basil, but afterwards regrets it and flees once again to solitude; he enjoyed contemplative life for a while in the monastery of St. Thecla at Selucia. In 379, he consents to take over the Diocese of Constantinople, overrun with Arians. His center is a small semi-private chapel, where he gives discourses and gradually wins over intellectuals and influential people to orthodoxy. The Arians had established a bishop of their own in the see, but Theodosius supported Gregory and had him enthroned and acclaimed in Sancta Sophia. Gregory was acknowledged by the Eastern Council of Constantinople, 381, but then, opposed by Egyptian and Macedonian bishops who came late, he resigned. In 381–383 he administered the vacant diocese of Nazianz and in 381–389 retired to solitude, and died there.
It is clear from this outline that Gregory did not adapt well to the active and episcopal life. Not that he was not a gifted bishop, but he had no flair for politics. He was a truly spiritual man, and a true contemplative. His simplicity made him unfit for politics. He was sensitive and sincere, hence was greatly hurt by betrayals and insincerities of others. Generous and unselfish, he would not fight for his own interests. Although he preferred the contemplative life, he sacrificed that life several times, sincerely desiring to do what seemed to be the will of God. But he was unable to become a “politician” and returned to solitude. His life is a series of repeated failures in the active world, and repeated returns to contemplation. His chief greatness is as a theologian and preacher, inheriting the mystical tradition of Origen.
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