Beginners (servi) must start with fear. Proficients (mercenarii) are moved by hope of reward. The Perfect (filii) believing that all which belongs to their Father belongs to them, are perfected in the image and likeness of God. Here we love God as He has loved us. Just as He has saved us out of pure love for us, so we receive His grace out of pure love for Him. He uses expressions which are basic in the mystical theology of the Fathers: “through the indissoluble grace of love” (suggesting perfect and inviolable union with God by love); “to receive the image and likeness of the Father” (distinction between image and likeness—perfect likeness, perfect union, perfect charity—pure love without admixture of any other motive). Why this love for love’s sake is perfection:
1) It does not depend on the opinions of others, or their favor.
2) It purifies the heart of all interior evil inclinations and thoughts. Where there is perfect love of good for its own sake, all that is contrary to it is detested summo horrore “with the greatest horror”—and this not out of fear of punishment or hope of reward, but simply because of the opposition between evil and good.
3) In this case there is more perfect freedom and spontaneity in good. One is not motivated by an outside force, but by the good itself, which has become so to speak part of one’s own being.
4) Hence there is perfect stability in the good, and therefore peace.
5) Man is then his own judge (implication that he is no longer in need of a judge). He can judge and guide himself because he is perfectly united with God Who is Love—“Love, and do what you will,” says St. Augustine. This must be properly understood.
Cassian says:
Carrying about his conscience with him everywhere and always, as a witness not only of his acts but also of his thoughts, he strives most intently to please it, which he knows he cannot cheat, nor deceive, nor evade.
Love of good for God’s sake alone, merely to please Him: this is perfection. And this is, in fact, the traditional teaching of the Church and of the saints, down through the ages.
The twelfth Conference is on chastity; it specifically deals with the problem [of] whether it is possible for one to be so perfect in chastity that he can avoid all motions of fleshly concupiscence. Chaeremon says that it is possible, but not by our own efforts. Yet he prescribes great mortifications in order to attain it: fasts, solitude, silence, vigils, etc. This is what leads to the problem that is discussed in the thirteenth Conference, on free will and grace. For Germanus cannot understand how it is possible that man should have to make so many efforts, and yet the victory should be attributed to God’s grace.
It is to be noticed that the error on free will and grace comes in this context—the struggle for “perfect” chastity, which preoccupied the Desert Fathers. This should teach us to avoid their extremism. It is for us, with St. Paul, to learn the lesson that God’s grace is sufficient, and that holiness demands the acceptance of our human frailty and the willingness to face trial with patience. This is a way of realism and of humility.
Abbot Pinufius
Pinufius was an old friend of Cassian and Germanus. In the days when they had shared a cell (hut) together at Bethlehem, Pinufius had run away from Egypt because, having been ordained and appointed abbot of a great cenobium, “he thought that he was already receiving his reward in the human praise of his virtues that was spread far and wide.” Fearing thus to lose his eternal reward, he fled first to Tabenna, preferring to conceal himself in the great community rather than live as a solitary in the desert. He presented himself as a postulant in secular clothes and spent many days “in tears” at the gate, throwing himself at the feet of all and asking their prayers. Having been admitted to be tried, he was placed under obedience to a young monk—spent three years here in great humility and obedience, but was recognized. Pinufius attributed this discovery to the devil, and escaped again, this time taking ship to Palestine where he lived with Cassian and Germanus.
In the fourth book of the Instituta, Cassian reports an address given by Pinufius to a novice making profession in his monastery at Panephysis. It is a summary (breviarium) of the whole way of monastic perfection. Pinufius first of all stresses that renunciation is essential to the monastic state. The monk lives under the sign of the cross. By his renunciation, Christ lives in him. The monastic life is a continual carrying of the Cross. And the Cross of the monk is spiritual, the fear of the Lord which restrains his desires and his own will. Then come the following points:
1) The beginning of salvation and wisdom is the fear of the Lord;
2) This brings forth compunction of heart;
3) Which leads us to strip ourselves of everything for love of God;
4) This in turn brings about humility;
5) When we are humble, then we mortify our wills;
6) This enables us to get free from vice and practice virtue;
7) This leads to purity of heart which is the perfection of charity.
“The perfection of Apostolic love is gained through purity of heart.”
The two visitors are very much humbled by all this, and imagining themselves to be at the bottom of the ladder, ask Pinufius to tell them what at least is true compunction so that they can climb the first step. Pinufius praises their humility, tells them they are well advanced, and gives a conference (Conf. 20) on how long one must do penance to satisfy for one’s sins. The answer, in brief, is “until they are completely forgotten”—that is to say until we no longer suffer any temptation or experience any phantasms proceeding from that kind of sin. Should we deliberately call to mind the shame of past sins? Yes, he says, except in the case of sins of the flesh, for “as long as one bends over a sewer and stirs up the filth, one will inevitably be suffocated by the evil smell.”
The Desert of Scete—and Nitria
West of the Nile, near the coast, between the desert of Scete and Nitria, in the uplands, was the desert of the “cells,” famous place of more solitary hermitages. Palladius said there were about 5,000 monks living on the mountain at Nitria, some alone, some in twos. A big church, a common bakery supplies all the monks. Nitria was the first foundation of Abbot Macarius.
Cassian was very eager to get to Scete, the “home of all perfect living.” He found there four churches, therefore four congregations of hermits, each one directed by a priest. Scete is the home of the most experienced and tried hermits: “the most tested fathers.” It is the place where the most erudite and illuminated of the contemplatives are to be found; “they surpassed in perfection and in knowledge all who were in the monasteries of Egypt.” (Conf. 10:2). Cassian spent most of his first seven years here and returned after his visit to Bethlehem for seven years more. The most important of the conferences are those which he based on the teachings of the Fathers at Scete.
Scete was a center of monastic wisdom; here were collected and written the Verba Seniorum (Apothegmata), “Sayings” of the great Desert Fathers from St. Anthony to Arsenius. These were the words of men taught by the Spirit of God. They consist of:
a) Sentences, or “words of salvation” (proverbs);
b) Anecdotes: stories of the Fathers, illustrating a point;
c) Parables: stories of symbolic deeds, or allegorical sayings.
The great theme of all these Verba is salvation. When the Desert Fathers met one another, their greeting was “sotheies” (“Mayest thou be saved”). They travelled together a way of salvation that began with flight from the world.
The monastic life is the work of God, having three divisions: solitude, work, and prayer. Their aim was peace, liberty of spirit, purity of heart, freedom from all desires, living with God alone, like Bessarion who lived “without any more cares than a bird in the heavens . . . no house, no desire to go anywhere, . . . no books, entirely freed from all bodily desires . . . living only on the hope of eternal bliss, resting only in the firmness of his faith . . . going hither and thither persevering in nakedness and cold, or scorched by the fires of the sun, stopping in gorges like a st
rayed traveller or wandering over the far stretching desert as if over the ocean.” This picture of a desert wanderer is idyllic, but represents something of the ideal of the Fathers (except that most of them favored a strict stability in the cell!). Some had disciples, others lived in strict solitude, like Arsenius, thirty-two miles from the nearest cell. About the same time that Cassian visited Scete, or a little later, Palladius also came there. He afterwards wrote the Historia Lausiaca. A few years later, in 395, seven monks of Jerusalem visited the whole of Egypt from south to north and their experiences were described in the Historia Monachorum.
The hermitage of Scete had been founded by St. Macarius about 330. He died about 390 and was still alive when Cassian visited the desert. Cassian refers to him as the “Great Man.” Cassian probably visited Evagrius Ponticus also in the Desert of Scete. Cassian writes nothing of the teaching of these great men, but he has left us portraits of others, upon whose teaching he bases his conferences:
1—Paphnutius “The Buffalo”: He was the priest of Scete. Cassian speaks of Scete as “our monastery” which means he was admitted there for a time as a monk. Paphnutius lived in a cell five miles from the Church, and would not change to a closer one in spite of his great age. He had no spring nearby and had to carry a week’s supply of water when he came back after Mass on Sunday. He would not let a younger brother do this for him. He did this for ninety years. After a brief formation in the cenobium he had hastened to the desert out of love of contemplation. He soon learned to hide himself so well that even the most experienced could not find him, and consequently he received the name of “buffalo” because he could, like that animal, hide himself in the wilderness.
Paphnutius gives the third Conference on the “Three Renunciations.” This deals with “three kinds of vocation”: 1) In which one is called directly by God, as was St. Anthony; 2) In which one is inspired by the example of holy souls, or by their teaching; 3) In which one is driven by necessity, by fear of death, or of damnation, by the loss of dear ones or of money, etc. Even though this third is the weakest kind of vocation, it has resulted in men becoming great saints.
After the three vocations, he goes on to the three renunciations: 1) Giving up all our possessions; 2) Giving up our former habits and way of life; 3) Turning our minds away from all that is passing, and living for eternal goods.
2—Abbot Daniel: gives the fourth Conference on the struggle between flesh and spirit. He was Paphnutius’s deacon. Equal to the others in virtue, he outshone them by his humility, and because of this had been chosen deacon. Paphnutius planned that Daniel should succeed him as the priest of Scete. Indeed, he was ordained priest, but never exercised any other function than that of deacon as long as Paphnutius was alive. In the end, Daniel died before Paphnutius and never got to exercise his priestly order. The conference on the conflict between flesh and spirit is really about distractions and trials that make the interior life difficult.
3—Abbot Serenus: They are invited to a “banquet” with this Desert Father (“a most sumptuous repast”—Conf. 8). The “banquet” of Abbot Serenus consisted of bread, dipped in sauce, salt; three olives each; five chick peas. “To eat more would be a sin in the desert.” (Ordinary regime—2 lbs. of bread daily, of which some might be set aside for guests.) Abbot Serenus is eminent for his chastity, never troubled at all by the flesh even in sleep. He had worked for this by prayers day and night and fasts and vigils.
He gives Conference 7 on distractions and the temptations of the devil, and 8 on the different orders of angelic spirits. Conference 7 stresses the importance of controlling one’s thoughts, which requires effort and “great sorrow of heart.” We have the grace of God to help us reject all evil thoughts. Devils cannot force the inmost sanctuary of the will, but can only tell how their suggestions are received by observing outward signs.
4—Abbot Theonas: who had been married, according to the desire of his parents, while still young, had brought gifts as a layman to Abbot John. The latter had addressed to him a strong exhortation, saying “if you give away the tithes of your goods, you are fulfilling the perfection of the Old Law. But if you seek evangelical perfection, you must give away all that you have and follow Christ.” Theonas tries to persuade his wife to leave the world so that he also can become a monk, and when she refuses, he believes himself inspired by God to run away to the desert anyway. Cassian hastens to say this is not a general rule, but that it was justified in this particular case. Theonas gives them three conferences. The first (Conf. 21) is on the lack of fasting during Paschal Time. Cassian is curious to know why the monks of Egypt are so careful not to fast in Paschal Time, and why they pray standing up, and avoid kneeling during that season while so many in Syria continued fasting etc.
The second conference of Theonas is on Nocturnal Illusions (Conf. 22). It was given in response to the question why those who fast are often more tempted by the lust of the flesh than others who keep a less strict fast. He offers three explanations: 1) Perhaps gluttony of the past has an influence; 2) Perhaps the soul has not guarded purity of heart; 3) The envy of the devil tries to disturb souls who are striving to be fervent. A modern observer might add another answer—somewhat akin to this third, that the trouble might be caused by nervous and mental strain. Those who give themselves to asceticism with inordinate tension must expect their systems to take its revenge.
This leads into the next conference of Theonas (Conf. 23)—“On Willing Good and Doing Evil.” The problem is raised by St. Paul in Romans 7, “It is not what I wish that I do, but what I hate that I do . . . ” etc. (vss. 15-25). This text has been much misused by heretics. Theonas begins by making it clear that this does not apply to deliberate sins. The words are spoken by St. Paul, who was a saint and full of every virtue. The “good” that he desires and which he cannot have at will must be something higher than virtue. It is theoria, the perfect purity of heart which belongs to pure charity and contemplation. The goodness he aspires to is the goodness of God dwelling in us, by comparison with which goodness our virtues are as filthy rags (Isa. 64). The purity he aspires to is that of the Gospel, compared with which the virtues of the Law are as nothing. The burden Theonas complains of is the burden of a self laden with illusion and falsity due to original sin—often even our good intentions are full of hidden evil. The souls to be pitied are not the ones who feel this—it is a salutary suffering, but the souls that cannot feel it and think everything is perfect with them. At the same time we must not be pushed into discouragement and sadness. So in these words, according to Theonas, Paul is saying that in spite of all his efforts and virtues, he laments the fact that he cannot always contemplate God in purity of heart, but is troubled and disturbed by his nature, in temptations, trials and indeliberate or semi-deliberate sins.
The problem of this Conference is, in fact, the problem of distractions, and of indeliberate weakness and faults. The saints, Theonas reminds us, have a very acute sense of sin and suffer much from these imperfections. But the view of their miseries produces in them true humility. They realize that they cannot do the impossible, that they will undoubtedly be left with their faults and sins until the end of their days, but for the grace of God which alone can deliver them from “the body of this death.” Hence, accepting their faults, their limitations, in true humility, they rely no more on their own powers but prostrate themselves before God in humble prayer. Hence they eat their “spiritual bread” (which is Christ) in the sweat of their brow. And thus they share the common lot of men. They must truly recognize themselves as sinners, like the rest of men. In a beautiful eucharistic passage which closes the conference, Theonas reproves the presumption of those who only communicate once a year, with the implication that communion is only for those who are most pure and perfect saints. Hence they believe themselves worthy, once a year. But it is much better to receive the Lord each Sunday conscious of our needs and miseries, going to Communion as to the necessary medicine for our frailties. Hence, here too we see great emphasis o
n humility, on trust in God’s mercy, and above all on love for the Blessed Eucharist, the source of sanctity. This is important because it is something often overlooked in the spirituality of the Desert Fathers.
Other Fathers, about whom Cassian gives us fewer details, are Abbot Moses, Abbot Isaac, Abbot Abraham, on mortification; also Abbot Theodore, who lives in the desert of the Cells, [a] plateau between Nitria and Scete, who discusses with them the problem of the death of the Palestinian hermits, killed in the desert of Juda by Saracens. His reply is that there is no problem if living by faith, we have the true idea of good and evil. Death is no evil to the Christian, since Christ has overcome death. What is good, is to do the will of God. What is evil is to disobey God. In between come things that are neither absolutely good or evil in themselves, and whose value depends on how we use them. Life and death are among these. In this conference (Conf. 6) he also takes up other questions, such as stability, temptations, the value of trials, and making good use of suffering and temptation.
The Origenist Conflict
During the time of Cassian’s journey to Egypt, the Origenist conflict arose. It is important in the history of monastic spirituality for it marks the end of the great age of Egyptian monasticism. Origenism, as condemned by the Church, consists chiefly of errors flowing from Origen’s teaching on the preexistence of souls—and the apocatastasis (or a final settlement when all, even the damned, return to God); also his Trinitarian errors. In 393, Palestinian monks—the severe ones—start a great storm over Origen. They present themselves at the cell of St. Jerome and demand that Origen be condemned. St. Jerome repudiated all taint of Origenist teaching in his own writings, though retaining great respect for Origen. Jerome’s friend Rufinus refused to sign up with the attackers of Origen. Then Epiphanius of Salamina came to Jerusalem, and thinking he detected Origenist opinions in the talk of the Bishop of Jerusalem, had a violent argument with him, and went off to St. Jerome, who broke with the Bishop of Jerusalem. Rufinus, Jerome’s friend, on the contrary sided with the bishop. Bitter conflict between Rufinus and Jerome then developed.
A Course in Desert Spirituality Page 11