Mount Athos on 60 Minutes, 4/24/2011

Part 1:


Part 2:

St Bridget of Kildare

Her name is also spelled Brigit or Bridget; she is considered, equally with St Patrick (March 17), patroness of Ireland. She was born in Ulster of a noble Irish family which had been converted by St Patrick. She was uncommonly beautiful, and her father planned to marry her to the King of Ulster. But at the age of sixteen she asked her Lord Jesus Christ to make her unattractive, so that no one would marry her and she could devote herself to Him alone. Soon she lost an eye and was allowed to enter a monastery. On the day that she took monastic vows, she was miraculously healed and her original beauty restored.
  Near Dublin she built herself a cell under an oak tree, which was called Kill-dara, or Cell of the Oak. Soon seven other young women joined her and established the monastery of Kill-dara, which in time became the cathedral city of Kildare. The monastery grew rapidly and became a double monastery with both men's and women's settlements, with the Abbess ranking above the Abbot; from it several other monasteries were planted throughout Ireland. (Combined men's and women's monastic communities are virtually unknown in the east, but were common in the golden age of the Irish Church).
  The Saint predicted the day of her death and fell asleep in peace in 524, leaving a monastic Rule to govern all the monasteries under her care. During the Middle Ages her veneration spread throughout Europe.

From Holy Trinity Church, Baltimore

St. Tikhon’s Monastery

St. Tikhon’s Monastery

Venerable Pachomius the Great, Founder of Coenobitic Monasticism

St Pachomius the Great was both a model of desert dwelling, and with Sts Anthony the Great (January 17), Macarius the Great (January 19), and Euthymius the Great (January 20), a founder of the cenobitic monastic life in Egypt.

St Pachomius was born in the third century in the Thebaid (Upper Egypt). His parents were pagans who gave him an excellent secular education. From his youth he had a good character, and he was prudent and sensible.

When Pachomius reached the age of twenty, he was called up to serve in the army of the emperor Constantine (apparently, in the year 315). They put the new conscripts in a city prison guarded by soldiers. The local Christians fed the soldiers and took care of them.

When the young man learned that these people acted this way because of their love for God, fulfilling His commandment to love their neighbor, this made a deep impression upon his pure soul. Pachomius vowed to become a Christian. Pachomius returned from the army after the victory, received holy Baptism, moved to the lonely settlement of Shenesit, and began to lead a strict ascetic life. Realizing the need for spiritual guidance, he turned to the desert-dweller Palamon. He was accepted by the Elder, and he began to follow the example of his instructor in monastic struggles.

Once, after ten years of asceticism, St Pachomius made his way through the desert, and halted at the ruins of the former village of Tabennisi. Here he heard a Voice ordering him to start a monastery at this place. Pachomius told the Elder Palamon of this, and they both regarded the words as a command from God.

They went to Tabennisi and built a small monastic cell. The holy Elder Palamon blessed the foundations of the monastery and predicted its future glory. But soon Palamon departed to the Lord. An angel of God then appeared to St Pachomius in the form of a schemamonk and gave him a Rule of monastic life. Soon his older brother John came and settled there with him.

St Pachomius endured many temptations and assaults from the Enemy of the race of man, but he resisted all temptations by his prayer and endurance.

Gradually, followers began to gather around St Pachomius. Their teacher impressed everyone by his love for work, which enabled him to accomplish all kinds of monastic tasks. He cultivated a garden, he conversed with those seeking guidance, and he tended to the sick.

St Pachomius introduced a monastic Rule of cenobitic life, giving everyone the same food and attire. The monks of the monastery fulfilled the obediences assigned them for the common good of the monastery. Among the various obediences was copying books. The monks were not allowed to possess their own money nor to accept anything from their relatives. St Pachomius considered that an obedience fulfilled with zeal was greater than fasting or prayer. He also demanded from the monks an exact observance of the monastic Rule, and he chastized slackers.

His sister Maria came to see St Pachomius, but the strict ascetic refused to see her. Through the gate keeper, he blessed her to enter upon the path of monastic life, promising his help with this. Maria wept, but did as her brother had ordered. The Tabennisi monks built her a hut on the opposite side of the River Nile. Nuns also began to gather around Maria. Soon a women's monastery was formed with a strict monastic Rule provided by St Pachomius.

The number of monks at the monastery grew quickly, and it became necessary to build seven more monasteries in the vicinity. The number of monks reached 7,000, all under the guidance of St Pachomius, who visited all the monasteries and administered them. At the same time St Pachomius remained a deeply humble monk, who was always ready to comply with and accept the words of each brother.

Severe and strict towards himself, St Pachomius had great kindness and condescension toward the deficiencies of spiritually immature monks. One of the monks was eager for martyrdom, but St Pachomius turned him from this desire and instructed him to fulfill his monastic obedience, taming his pride, and training him in humility.

Once, a monk did not heed his advice and left the monastery. He was set upon by brigands, who threatened him with death and forced him to offer sacrifice to the pagan gods. Filled with despair, the monk returned to the monastery. St Pachomius ordered him to pray intensely night and day, keep a strict fast and live in complete solitude. The monk followed his advice, and this saved his soul from despair.

The saint taught his spiritual children to avoid judging others, and he himself feared to judge anyone even in thought.

St Pachomius cared for the sick monks with special love. He visited them, he cheered the disheartened, he urged them to be thankful to God, and put their hope in His holy will. He relaxed the fasting rule for the sick, if this would help them recover their health. Once, in the saint's absence, the cook did not prepare any cooked food for the monks, assuming that the brethren loved to fast. Instead of fulfilling his obedience, the cook plaited 500 mats, something which St Pachomius had not told him to do. In punishment for his disobedience, all the mats prepared by the cook were burned.

St Pachomius always taught the monks to rely only upon God's help and mercy. It happened that there was a shortage of grain at the monastery. The saint spent the whole night in prayer, and in the morning a large quantity of bread was sent to the monastery from the city, at no charge. The Lord granted St Pachomius the gift of wonderworking and healing the sick.

The Lord revealed to him the future of monasticism. The saint learned that future monks would not have such zeal in their struggles as the first generation had, and they would not have experienced guides. Prostrating himself upon the ground, St Pachomius wept bitterly, calling out to the Lord and imploring mercy for them. He heard a Voice answer, "Pachomius, be mindful of the mercy of God. The monks of the future shall receive a reward, since they too shall have occasion to suffer the life burdensome for the monk."

Toward the end of his life St Pachomius fell ill from a pestilence that afflicted the region. His closest disciple, St Theodore (May 17), tended to him with filial love. St Pachomius died around the year 348 at the age of fifty-three, and was buried on a hill near the monastery.

(from oca.org)

From the Little Mountain

Holy Cross Hermitage, WV

St Benedict of Nursia

The Monk Benedict, founder of the western monastic order of the Benedictines, was born in the Italian city of Nursia in the year 480. At 14 years of age the saint was sent off by his parents for studies at Rome, but vexed at the immorality there surrounding him, he decided to devote himself to a different sort of life. At first Saint Benedict settled near the church of the holy Apostle Peter in the village of Effedum, but news about his ascetic life compelled him to go farther into the mountains. There he encountered the hermit Romanus, who tonsured him into monasticism and directed him to a remote cave for a domicile. From time to time the hermit would bring the saint food. For three years in total solitude the saint waged an harsh struggle with temptations and conquered them. People soon began to gather to him, thirsting to live under his guidance. The number of disciples grew so much, that the saint divided them into twelve communities. Each community was comprised of twelve monks and was a separate skete-monastery. And to each skete the saint gave an hegumen-abbot from among his experienced disciples. With the Monk Benedict remained only the new-made monks for instruction.

The strict monastic-rule, established by Saint Benedict for the monks, was not taken to heart by everyone, and the monk more than once became the victim of abuse and vexation. Finally he settled in Campagna and on Mount Cassino he founded the Monte Cassino monastery, which for a long time was a centre of theological education for the Western Church. At the monastery was created a remarkable library. And at this monastery the Monk Benedict wrote his ustav-rule, based on the experience of life of the Eastern wilderness-dwellers and the precepts of the Monk John Cassian the Roman (Comm. 29 February). The monastic-rule was accepted afterwards by many of the Western monasteries (by the year 1595 it had come out in more than 100 editions). The rule prescribed for monks an absolute renunciation of personal possessions, unconditional obedience and constant work. It was considered the duty of older monks to teach children and to copy out ancient manuscripts. This helped to preserve many memorable writings, belonging to the first centuries of Christianity. Every new postulant was required to live as a novice-obedient over the course of a year, to learn the monastic rule and to become acclimated to monastic life. Every deed required a blessing. The head of this common-life monastery is the hegumen-abbot, having all the fulness of power. He discerns, teaches and explains. The hegumen solicits the advice of the elders and the experienced brethren, but he personally makes the decision. The fulfilling of the monastic-rule is strictly binding for everyone and is regarded as an important step, nigh to perfection.

Saint Benedict was vouchsafed of the Lord the gift of foresight and wonderworking. He healed many by his prayers. The monk foretold his end beforehand. The sister of Saint Benedict, Saint Scholastica, likewise became famed for her strict ascetic life and was ennumerated to the ranks of the Saints.

Courtesy of Holy Trinity Church

The Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas

St Gregory Palamas was a fourteenth century Athonite monk and defender of hesychasm. On the Second Sunday of Great Lent, the Church remembers him and his defense of the Faith.

The following is from the GOA:

On the Second Sunday of Lent the Orthodox Church commemorates our Holy Father Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica, the Wonderworker. The feast day of Saint Gregory Palamas is November 14, however, he is commemorated on this Sunday as the condemnation of his enemies and the vindication of his teachings by the Church in the 14th century was acclaimed as a second triumph of Orthodoxy.

Our holy Father Gregory was born in Constantinople in 1296 of aristocratic parents who had emigrated from Asia Minor in the face of the Turkish invasion, and were attached to the court of the pious Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus (1282-1328). Despite his official duties, Gregory's father led a life of fervent prayer. Sometimes as he sat in the Senate, he would be so deep in prayer as to be unaware of the Emperor addressing him.

[Gregory] was instructed by the most highly reputed masters of secular learning [but] the young man's real interest lay only with the things of God. He associated with monks of renown in the city and found a spiritual father in Theoleptus of Philadelphia, who instructed him in the way of holy sobriety and of prayer of the heart.

About the year 1316, Gregory decided to abandon the vanities of the world. His mother, two sisters, two brothers and a great many of his servants entered upon the monastic life with him. He and his two brothers went on foot to the holy Mountain of Athos, where they settled near the Monastery of Vatopedi under the direction of the Elder Nicodemus, who came from Mount Auxentius.

[Gregory's] conduct in the cenobitic life was beyond reproach, and the brethren admired his zeal for putting into practice all the holy evangelic virtues. He lived with such abstinence as to appear unburdened by the flesh to the extent of being able to go three months without sleep.

In 1326, Gregory was ordained a priest, having understood in a vision that this was indeed the will of God. He then departed to found a hermitage in the area of Beroea, where he practiced an even stricter ascesis than before. For five days of the week he remained alone, fasting, keeping vigil and praying with abundant tears. He only appeared on Saturdays and Sundays to serve the Divine Liturgy, share a fraternal meal, and converse on some spiritual subject with his companions in the ascetic life. He continued thus to rise up in contemplation and to enter into closer union with God in his heart.

At that time, Barlaam, a monk from Calabria, won a great name for himself as a speculative thinker in Constantinople. He was particularly fond of expounding the mystical writings of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite, which he interpreted in an entirely philosophical way, making knowledge of God the object of cold reason and not of experience. When this refined humanist learned of the methods of prayer of some simple monks of his acquaintance, who allowed a place to the sensory element in spiritual life, he was scandalized. He took occasion to calumniate then and to accuse them of heresy. The hesychast monks appealed to Gregory who then wrote several polemical treatises in which he answered the accusations of Barlaam by locating monastic spirituality in a dogmatic synthesis.

Saint Gregory's brilliant answer to Barlaam was first accepted by the authorities of Mount Athos in the Hagiorite Tome and then adopted by the Church, which condemned Barlaam (and with him the philosophical humanism that would soon inspire the European Renaissance), during the course of two Councils at the Church of Saint Sophia in 1341.

Orthodox Commemoration of the Sunday of Saint Gregory Palamas
The feast day of Saint Gregory Palamas is November 14, the day of his repose, however the Orthodox Church commemorates the Saint on the Second Sunday of Lent. As a Sunday of Great Lent, the commemoration is celebrated with the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great, which is preceded by a Matins (Orthros) service. A Great Vespers is conducted on Saturday evening.

Hymns of the Feast
Apolytikion (Plagal of Fourth Tone)
Light of Orthodoxy, pillar and teacher of the Church, adornment of monastics, invincible champion of theologian, O Gregory, wonderworker, boast of Thessalonica, herald of grace: ever pray that our souls be saved.

Kontakion (Plagal of Fourth Tone)
With one accord, we praise you as the sacred and divine vessel of wisdom and clear trumpet of theology, O our righteous Father Gregory of divine speech. As a mind that stands now before the Primal Mind, do you ever guide aright and lead our mind to Him, that we all may cry: Hail, O herald of grace divine.

For More:
Mt Athos

Farmers find monastery beneath Israeli soil

(CNN) -- After a group of Israeli farmers sought last year to expand their property in the hills near Jerusalem, they discovered an archeological gem beneath the dirt.

A team led by Daniel Ein Mor barely had to scratch the surface before finding the remains of a Byzantine monastery, he told CNN on Wednesday.

The church is believed to have been built in the late fifth or sixth century, and is decorated with "breathtakingly beautiful mosaics," according to a description from the Israel Antiquities Authority, which hired Mor.

Read the rest here.

Monasticism

Question: What do you call a person who answers the call to forsake sin and worldly influence, who renounces selfishness, pride, corruption, vanity, and greed, who strives for union with Christ through prayer and fasting, who is dedicated to a life of repentance, sobriety, frugality, obedience, and who vows to deny himself and take up his cross daily?

Answer: a Christian.

All Christians, not just monastics, are called to an ascetical lifestyle. Asceticism (from the Greek word ἄσκησις, meaning "athlete") is "the crucifixion of the desires of the flesh, through a life of prayer, fasting, and self-denial." Asceticism is the constant struggle to stay focused on Christ, and often requires denying ourselves of things that are otherwise morally neutral, like food or comfort.

All Christians are obliged to keep the Lord's commandments, but this requires efforts. Fallen human nature, enslaved by its passions is reluctant to fulfill this obligation. It seeks pleasure and avoids the pain involved in fighting the passions and selfishness. The monastic life is so arranged as to facilitate this work. On the other hand the worldly life, particularly in our secular society, makes it harder to be an ascetic. The problem for the Christian in the world is that he is called upon to reach the same goal under adverse conditions (Georgios I. Mantzarides).

Monasticism (from the Greek μοναχός, meaning "alone") has been with the Church in one form or another since the very beginning. In fact, I have heard that Christian monasticism traces its roots all the way back to the Nazarite tradition of the ancient Hebrews (see Num 6.1-21). Nazarites made an ascetical vow to abstain from liquor, wine, grapes, and raisins, and to perform other acts of obedience. John the Baptist was apparently a Nazarite (Lk 1.13-15), as was James, the brother of Christ, according to the church historians Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History, II, xxiii, vv.5-6), and Epiphanius:

For James was Joseph's son by Joseph's (first) wife, not Mary, as I have said, and discussed with greater clarity in many other places. And moreover I find that he was of Davidic descent because he was Joseph's son, (and) he was born a nazirite--for he was Joseph's first-born, and hence consecrated. (Panarion, 29.4)

During the Roman persecutions, every Christian was a potential martyr. The Christian lifestyle demanded much of its adherents, and only the most dedicated were likely to tough it out and risk exile, torture, or death for the Faith. When Christianity was legalized in the fourth century, it became very easy to be a Christian. Christianity was suddenly fashionable. Christians were no longer being slaughtered for their beliefs, and the church began to take on a more worldly character. Many devout Christians retreated to the deserts or the mountains to escape the corrupting influence of modern society on the Church. There, they formed communities of fellow ascetics. Three important figures in the establishment of organized Christian monasticism are Saints Anthony, Pachomius, and Theodore.

Christian monasticism spread widely through Europe with the work of such figures as Martin of Tours, John Cassian, Honoratus of Arles, and Benedict of Nursia, who is regarded as the founder of western monasticism. It eventually made its way to the British Isles, where Sts Brigid, Columba, St Davis of Wales, St Augustine of Canterbury and others founded monasteries in Ireland, Ionia (pictured above), Northumbria, England, and Wales.

By the sixteenth century, nearly every town in England had at least one monastery or convent. However, following his break from the Roman Church in 1534, King Henry VIII brought English monasticism to an abrupt and unceremonious end, closing England's monasteries and confiscating their lands and assets.

During the Reformation, the entire Protestant west abandoned monasticism on the grounds that it was an attempt to work one's way to heaven, and therefore was contrary to St Paul's writings, which Protestant scholars felt condemned any reliance on works.

But, according to Father George Florovsky, "to misunderstand St. Paul’s critique of 'works,' to think that St. Paul is speaking of the 'works' commanded by our Lord rather than the Judaic understanding of the works of the 'law' is a misreading of a fundamental nature." In other words, Paul is not saying that good works have no role in our salvation, only that we cannot attain righteousness through works alone.

Father Florovsky goes on to say that, "Luther had a point in considering the specific direction in which the Roman Catholic merit-system had gone as a reference point similar to the Judaic legal system." However, the goal of monasticism, despite whatever the Reformers may have thought, is not the accumulation of points for heaven, but, according to Bishop Hilarion Alfayev of Vienna, is "the imitation of Christ whose way of life as described in the Gospel was altogether monastic. He was not married, was free from earthly bonds, had no roof over His head, travelled from place to place, lived in poverty, fasted, and spent nights in prayer. Monasticism is an attempt to come as close as possible to this ideal. It is the quest for sanctity, a search for God as the ultimate goal, the rejection of everything that binds one to earth and prevents one from ascending to heaven."

But aren't we commanded—I have heard asked—to go and make disciples of all nations? How does one make disciples when one is cloistered in a monastery somewhere in the desert or on an island away from civilization?

It occurred to me recently as I considered this question that, throughout history, the majority of Christian writers, historians, theologians, hymnographers and scholars have, in fact, been monks. When someone reads the Patristic writings, more often than not, one is reading the works of Orthodox monastics: John Chrysostom, Basil the Great, John Climacus, John of Damascus (pictured), Pope Gregory the Great (whose writings, ironically, were very instrumental in steering me away from Roman Catholicism and toward Orthodoxy), Maximus the Confessor, Simeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas. These men, through their witness and insight, have made countless disciples through the centuries. As have monastic missionaries such as Sts Cyril and Methodius, apostles to the Slavs; Sts Juvenal and Innocent, apostles to North America; and St Patrick, apostle to the Irish. These and other monks introduced, and in some cases actually created, a written language for the people they evangelized. Monastic scholars through the centuries preserved, maintained, and meticulously copied and recopied by hand every page of the Scriptures that we take for granted. Theologians and spiritual fathers of modern times, Silouan the Athonite, John Maximovitch, Seraphim Rose have been monastics, and every single Orthodox bishop is a monk first.

Not everyone is called to be an apostle (1Cor 12.27-31). Some are prophets, some are teachers, and some are miracle workers. Historically, monastics have been all of these, and have worked together, as members of the Body, toward "the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."

I have said before—and firmly believe—that there is a difference between making disciples and simply winning converts. Those churches with no history of monasticism are highly successful at filling seats. But are they making disciples? Are they preaching the Gospel unsullied, undiminished, and undistorted?

Let's face it: monastics are simply closer to God than are most ordinary Christians (if you doubt this, spend an hour sometime with a monk and listen carefully to what he has to say), certainly much closer than those of us who are constantly bombarded with worldly influences. Without the input of monastics, I'm not certain the rest of us would have any idea what a disciple even looks like, let alone how to make one. Without every member of the body, including (especially?) monastics, we are "children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive."

So, yes, monastics to in fact make disciples. But they do so by more than simply their spiritual guidance. Monasteries are often buzzing with activity. Some Orthodox monasteries—like St. Paisius Monastery in Arizona and St Isaac Skete in Wisconsin—operate schools. Several have publishing operations, including Dormition Monastery in Michigan and St. Herman of Alaska Monastery in California. Some monastics record and sell liturgical music, some operate gift shops and bookstores. And nearly every monastery has one or more workshops in which they produce iconography, liturgical vestments, wood carvings, candles, mosaics or incense. Every one of these services contributes to the making of disciples.

But what about community? So often the Orthodox Church presses on the need for our active participation in the church community. What about these hermits and recluses that we hear about? This seclusion, more often than not, is temporary (consider St Paul, who spent three years in isolation in Arabia before beginning his ministry: Gal 1.17-18), and in any case is the exception rather than the norm. But even these hermit saints are effective at making disciples. Consider St Seraphim of Sarov, who lived in near complete seclusion in the forest for fifteen years, and St Mary of Egypt, who spent forty-seven years alone in the desert outside Jerusalem. These are but two of many examples of ascetics who, by their example of humility, repentance, patience, obedience, and through their prayers, are making disciples even to this day! Read the lives of these Saints, and you'll know what I mean.

Are monastics perfect? Certainly not! Nor are monasteries without their share of problems. But according to one nun, "monasteries are not meant to be Utopias. They are arenas where men, having accepted the fact of their fallen state, work to be healed of the evil in their own hearts." They are also places where people are committed, and more able than anywhere else, to accept and follow Christ's call to asceticism:

Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (Mt. 6:31)

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mt. 16:24-26)

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it (Mt 19.12).

Jesus said unto him, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me" (Mt 19.21).

And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life (Mt. 19:29).

And Jesus answering said unto them, "The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Lk. 20:34-36; cf. 1Co 7.8-9, 32-35, 39-40).


Recommended reading:
Orthodox Christian Monasticism
The Ascetic Ideal and the New Testament
Orthodox Christian Monasticism
Prayer and monasticism in orthodox tradition (Alfeyev)
The Gospel Call to Monasticism
Monasticism
The Development of Monasticism
St. Seraphim of Sarov's Conversation With Nicholas Motovilov