Monasticism interiorized

[Antony Solomon]

Paul Evdokimov writes, in The Struggle with God:


“You are not of this world, you are in the world.” These words of the Lord recommend a very special ministry, that of being a sign, a reference to “the wholly other”. Formerly it was realized differently. At present it seems to show itself above the “desert” and the “city”, for it is called to surpass every form in order to express itself everywhere and in all circumstances. The West has regarded monasticism and the lay state as two forms of life; one responding to the counsels, the other, to the precepts of the Gospel [c.f. Kenneth Kirk, The Vision of God]. The unique absolute is then broken. On one side, the perfect advance; on the other, the weak stand, living by half measures. Certain ascetics justified conjugal life only because it brings forth virgins and peoples convents. The fundamentally homogeneous character of Eastern spirituality ignores the difference between “the precepts” and “the evangelical counsels”. It is in its total requirement that the Gospel addresses itself to all and everyone…. St. Nil thought all monastic practices were required of people of the world. As St. John Chrysostom said: “Those who live in the world, even though married, ought to resemble the monks in everything else. You are entirely mistaken if you think that there are some things required of seculars, and others for monks... they will have the same account to render.” Prayer, fasting, the reading of Scripture and ascetic discipline are imposed on all by the same prescription. St. Theodore of Studium in his letter to a Byzantine dignitary drew up the program of monastic life and specified: “Do not believe that this list is of value only for a monk and not entirely and equally for a lay person.”… St. Tikhon of Zadonsk wrote in the same vein to ecclesiastical authorities: “Do not be in a hurry to multiply the monks. The black habit does not save. The one who wears a white habit and has the spirit of obedience, humility, and purity, he is a true monk of interiorized monasticism.”
As formerly, martyrdom was transmitted to the monastic institution, so likewise today, it seems, monasticism creates a certain receptivity in the universal priesthood of the laity. The testimony of the Christian faith in the framework of the modern world postulates the universal vocation of interiorized monasticism.


I would appreciate some wisdom on this matter, particularly on how to void that great bugbear of the Christian life in the West, legalism.

Antony

[Peter Farrington]

Hi Antony

This is a very interesting subject, and I am loosely interested in and involved with some evangelicals who are looking to develop what they are calling a 'secular monasticism' but by which they mean this interiorising of the monastic way.

I have often said to them that in fact the Orthodox, certainly the Coptic Orthodox whose tradition I know best, offer to all faithful Christians a way of life which is a form of interiorised monasticism lived in the world.

For myself, even before I became Orthodox, I benefited from the advice of others, especially clergy, who keep ones feet on the ground. In your own situation I would advise the same course, find some one or two guides that you trust and run things past them. Don't try and do page 275 of the book when you haven't finished page 1! Don't mistake ascetic effort for spirituality. Go slow and root things into your life, rather than try and do everything at once and rapidly fail and fall into despair, or succeed and fall into pride. Develop a simple rule of prayer, again with advice if possible, and work at praying that with attention and as a routine, even if is only a short form of prayer, rather than find every prayer possible on the internet and try to pray all 37 hours worth in the 24 hours you have available each day. And practice the Jesus Prayer. I mean make it a regular companion.

I hope some of this helps. Over the 13 years since I became Orthodox and for the years of investigating beforehand this sort of advice helped me.

Peter

[Rick H.]

Dear Peter, Dear Antony,

Thanks very much Peter for your post! It is helpful to me. And, once again your pastoral and evangelistic gifts are showing ;) You meet both me and Antony right where we are and speak from the point of view of one who has been there. Very good, thank you.

Antony, in the Evdokimov quote we see:




You are entirely mistaken if you think that there are some things required of seculars, and others for monks...



and I bring this up because there is such a critical point being addressed here, one that Hans Küng has written of, in a very illuminating way. But, possibly, in an attempt to not take this thread all over the place, I will hold off here . . . in fact, just as Evdokimov speaks of this issue above and it is developed by Küng, this could possibly be an outstanding topic for a new thread. Hmm . . . possibly, "An American monasticism?"

Regarding the issue of legalism that you raise, it has been my experience that the only way this can possibly be avoided is, as Schmemann has pointed to, in the form of "the journey of the Church into the dimension of the Kingdom." Otherwise I have found we are at the mercy of the old deluder and cannot not find a participation in that 'great bugbear' and ourselves become a causality of the evoking of the dreaded 'humpty dumpty clause' (in which case one's only hope is to just dismiss what is going on, or at least know when it is best to just clam up). A time to speak and a time to remain silent, as the tired Preacher of Ecclesiastes has said.

Thanks for this contribution Antony, and thanks again to you Peter for playing your part--much appreciated here.


[. . .] "the universal vocation of interiorized monasticism?"

Hmm . . . (to be continued . . .) :)



In Christ,
Rick

[Antony Solomon]

And of course we must be careful what we mean by interiorize. An East German Lutheran Pastor, who survived where Bonhoeffer and others didn't, lived and worked in communism, and coined the phrase interior immigration, for that response of Christians who hid themselves away, psychologically, and acted like everyone else. That is the other extreme one can fall to.

Thank you for the advice Peter; as bilbo Baggins reminds us, the road starts right outside our door, with one step at a time. It is so easy to fall into that, I want it now, mentality!

Rick, I like Küng, especially his On Being a Christian. One of those great 'challenging' books!

[Steve Lewis]

Hey Antony!

Good to see you here. I just signed up here after I saw your posting on that other board.

I'm not sure if this has anything directly to do with the question, but the word "interiorized" jumped out at me. I've been reading "Beginning to Pray" by Anthony Bloom and I read this:


"I am not saying that we must become introspective. I don't mean that we must go inward in the way one does in psychoanalysis or psychology. It is not a journey into my own inwardness, it is a journey through my own self, in order to emerge from the deepest level of self into the place where He is, the point at which God and I meet."

I always thought it was a journey to interiority/introspection when I was reading a ton of Nietzsche (obviously not the best way to do things).

Steve

[Antony Solomon]

Hey Antony!

Good to see you here. I just signed up here after I saw your posting on that other board.

I'm not sure if this has anything directly to do with the question, but the word "interiorized" jumped out at me. I've been reading "Beginning to Pray" by Anthony Bloom and I read this:


I always thought it was a journey to interiority/introspection when I was reading a ton of Nietzsche (obviously not the best way to do things).

Steve

Hi Steve, good to see you here. Whipartist/Ben is here too.

It's related, I guess, in that for both things, we must go in and through ourselves to come out to God and our neighbour. Imagine the Litany Against Fear, from Dune, but re-written with 'Ego' in place of 'fear' (or something like that). We can't run away from it - and it would be a mistake to think that the Anchorites and Monks thought they could: we must face it, recognise it, and go through it.