Monasticism is accepted for one purpose, but for different reasons. There are three types of vocation to monasticism:
The first calling is directly from God.
The second calling is through people.
The third calling is out of need.
The first calling is characterized by divine inspiration. The human heart is irresistibly drawn to the love of God, to strict fulfillment of God’s commandments, to true repentance. The mind is constantly busy either with prayer or thinking about God. This man is, as it were, not of this world: everything earthly does not interest him, he strives only for the heavenly, therefore he simply and naturally comes to monasticism. Difficulties of life for
he does not exist, for his joy and happiness are in them. He himself is looking for them.
A person called to monasticism through people is not so ardent and zealous in the matter of his salvation. There is a split in his soul: his soul is attached to God, but he has not completely withdrawn from the worldly world. He is connected to him by blood ties, so he feels the difficulties of monastic life with all the acuteness and strength. The struggle with the world, the flesh and the devil, the struggle with passions is truly difficult for him and life is difficult.
The third calling is when a person turns to God and goes to a monastery because of disasters that have befallen him: danger to life, loss of loved ones, relatives, deprivation of all property, betrayal of the bride or groom, and for other reasons. Monastic life for him it can be just as difficult and difficult as for those going to the monastery for a second calling.
But they say: “The beginning is not dear, but the end is dear,” that is, it is not the beginning of the path that determines salvation, but the end of the path and its completion. The Holy Fathers do not belittle any kind of calling, because there are known cases when those called out of need also achieved spiritual and moral perfection.
In order to achieve the goal of true monasticism - moral improvement of oneself and the closest union with God, a monk must conscientiously fulfill those special rules of his internal and external behavior that the monastic title requires of him. Otherwise, you can live in a monastery, wear the clothes and title of a monk, but in soul be lower than a layman.
For a true monk, everything is different in comparison with his past life worldly: a different mind, different feelings, different rules, different aspirations. Silence is his delight. Prayer is spiritual contemplation. The Word of God is the food of his soul. The temple is the only refuge. The monastery fence is the limit, beyond which nothing else exists for him. He renounced his family, friends, acquaintances, property, his will, his life, and everything worldly. He is dead to the world, but alive to God. He has one concern, one extreme desire: pleasing God with his life, fulfilling his monastic vows. He loves all people, but avoids them because they separate him from God. He does not walk around other people’s cells unnecessarily, and if someone comes to his cell for the sake of idle talk, he humbly asks: “Shall we glorify the Lord together in prayer? " For his joy and delight is unceasing prayer. He does not allow his conscience to convict him even in the slightest. He rejects even the most innocent joys and consolations, because he knows: only sorrow and hardship, fasting and poverty are the working tools of monastic life. The more he constrains himself, the more compulsions he makes on himself, the sooner he will be freed from passions and the more reliable his salvation will be. He also knows that it is easier to remain silent than in a conversation not to say an extra word, for which he will have to give an answer on the day of judgment (Matthew 12:36), therefore he gives the shortest answers to the questioners or explains himself with signs, and leaves the idle talker without saying anything. words and pretending that his teeth or head hurt, or something else is preventing him from speaking. In his dealings with everyone, he is meek, affectionate and friendly; on his face there is not even a shadow of despondency or sadness; his gaze is bright, his gaze expresses peace of mind, peace and joy, for he truly considers himself the happiest person, since the Lord vouchsafed him monastic life, leading to salvation and eternal bliss. He rejoices when illness and sorrow come; He does not complain about those who offended him and does not reduce his love for his enemies, and love for his spiritual father is strengthened even more through reproofs, admonitions and difficult trials, because he understands well that all this helps him to climb the ladder of virtues faster and more reliably.
But such zealous monks, unfortunately, are few in number. Most ascetics experience the great difficulties of monastic life, for it is immediately impossible to free themselves from passions without special help from above. We need a long, persistent struggle against them. It is this struggle that makes the life of a monk difficult and difficult.
The main mistake of monks is forgetting their vows. They uttered the words of vows with their tongue, but did not bring them to the heart and mind, did not feel them, and these words were quickly forgotten. The man put on new (monastic) clothes, but in his soul he remained what he was. The monk forgot that he had entered the way of the cross, forgot that he promised the Lord to follow Him along thorny path, forgot... I forgot about everything! The flesh, with the same strength, requires food, sleep and rest; passions torment, sick pride is hurt by every offensive word and glance of others. It seems to Inok that the whole world has rebelled against him. Something new is revealed to his gaze... It seems to him that he has found himself among the worst, most vicious people, who have nothing on their minds but to hurt him, to annoy him, to poison his life. So the demon fights the newcomer (not everyone, of course!) in order to frighten him and return him to the world.
If a monk is prudent and prayerfully turns to God for help, the Lord reveals to him the machinations of the enemy and he becomes wiser and more skillful from the misfortunes he has experienced, and if the monk relies on his own strength, then the outcome of the struggle is very sad, to the point that he everything holy becomes intolerable and he rebels not only against the spiritual father, but also against God Himself. Such cases, thank God, are rare, but they do occur.
It is not for nothing that monastic feat is called the science of sciences and the art of arts.

Look at the novices! Everyone approaches obedience differently.
For some, any obedience, even the most difficult, is joy!
For others, obedience is hard work.
For others, even the easiest obedience is an unbearable burden.

The former have a calm facial expression, an open gaze, an occasional smile on their face, confidence and speed in their movements, even treatment of everyone, and unconditional obedience. Their whole appearance seems to say: what I was looking for, I found. I'm happy!
For the latter (and these are the majority) - their whole life is a struggle. There is no need to say much about them: these are bloodless martyrs, struggling to the point of sweat and blood in the fight against the world, the flesh and the devil.
Still others have a restless expression on their face, a shifting gaze, frowning eyebrows, various grimaces on their faces, revealing their spiritual passions; clenched teeth, conscious slowness or nervous speed in movements, constant irritability and grumbling towards brothers and spiritual father. Their appearance seems to say: how wrong I was! I didn’t measure up my strength and now I’m dying. What to do?.. And so they begin to look for a way out... They begin to cheat, lie and completely fall under the power of evil forces. Demons make them an instrument of their machinations... They take out their anger on their brothers, especially on the pious.
By the grace of God there are few such novices.

The question inevitably arises: why is life easy and joyful for some, while others are exhausted in a difficult, bloody struggle? Everyone would like to walk along the path of salvation with joy and cheerfulness. So what's the secret? What is the formula that helps people resolve difficult life issues, helps them find joy and peace?
Alas, there is no secret and everyone knows the formula. We meet it in the Gospel and often hear about it in church, but the trouble is that we do not see everything we look at, and we do not understand everything we hear.
This is the most holy formula that the Lord Jesus Christ left us: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
It is not for nothing that there are such sayings: “Without humility there is no salvation” and “No condemnation - salvation without labor.”
The wording is different, but the meaning is the same, because out of conceit and pride we condemn others and painfully perceive ridicule, reproaches, lies, etc.
The sorrows of the righteous are also varied; it is the evil force that takes revenge on them for their good deeds.
affairs. But the Lord never allows temptations and sorrows beyond human strength. Out of His love for us sinners, He allows us to suffer here temporarily in order to save us from suffering in eternal life, and to crown the righteous with eternal glory.
"My son! Do not neglect the punishment of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord punishes whomever he loves; he beats every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12:5-6).
How comforting it is for us to hear these words! This means that sorrow is a sign of God’s favor towards us.
Not a single saint ascended to heaven without sorrows. Without achievement there is no reward. If we want to live forever with Christ, then we must live on earth as disembodied Angels who do not experience death (sin), or lie down on the cross and crucify our passions and lusts, our will and everything that interferes with our resurrection.
Some, after courageously resisting temptations and complacently enduring sorrows, suddenly become embarrassed, become despondent, and sometimes even cowardly give up the feat. It seems to them that the Lord has completely abandoned them. There is no light, no consolation. Only sorrows, suffering, trials and temptations... It seems to them that that’s all, death...
What to do in such cases? Despair? - No no! God forbid! We must cry out: “My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46). We must pray for forgiveness of sins, for mercy, and patiently await the end of temptations, illnesses, and sorrows. You can pray to God in your own words and ask for everything that serves to save the soul, and at the end add: “But not as I want, but as You will, Lord. Thy will be done! and unfeignedly submit to the will of God.
For the complacent enduring of sorrows and illnesses, the Lord forgives many sins and sends abundant grace. It is then that the mystery of our salvation takes place. Crusaders become like Christ when they remain firm and unshakable in their faith, ready to drink the cup of suffering to the dregs.
The Holy Apostle John the Theologian writes in his Revelation: “These, clothed in white robes... these are the ones who came out of great tribulation;.. For this reason they now remain before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He who sits on the throne he will dwell in them; They shall hunger no more and thirst no more, neither shall the sun beat down on them nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will feed them and lead them to living fountains of water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Rev. 7, 13-17).

The bell marked midnight. In the twilight resounding with prayers, people rush to the choir, silently stepping on the floor. The monk's long day begins. Hour by hour, it will proceed in the rhythm of Matins and morning services, the first, third, sixth and ninth canonical hours, Vespers and Compline.

It is impossible to determine exactly how the monk used time. First of all, because information about the Middle Ages in this regard is very approximate, and the era itself, in comparison with ours, was less sensitive to the passage of time and did not give it of great importance. Then, because the daily routine was different in different monastic orders and congregations, both in time and in space. And, finally, because in the same monastery the time of day varied depending on the time of year and the church circle of worship. Many different examples can be given, but we will limit ourselves to the fact that, following the book of Father Cousin, we will consider the routine typical of the Cluny Order during the equinox period, that is, for the first half of April - the beginning of Easter time, as well as the daily routine for the second half of September.

Approximately half past midnight (on average) All-night vigil (with matins).

Around 2.30 They go back to bed.

About 4 a.m. Matins and services after matins.

About 4.30 They go back to bed.

Around 5.45 to 6 o'clock Final rise (at sunrise), toilet.

Around 6.30 First canonical hour.

Chapter (monastery meeting):

• · liturgical part: prayers, the second part of the first hour, reading a chapter from the charter or the Gospel for today with comments by the abbot, or, in the absence of the latter, the prior;
• · administrative part: a report from the monastery officials, a message from the abbot about current affairs;
• · disciplinary part: accusation of monks who violated discipline once in a week: they repent themselves, and their brothers accuse them - this is the accusatory chapter.

Around 7.30 Morning Mass, at which the monastic brethren are present in full.

From 8.15 to 9 a.m. Individual prayers are the usual time from All Saints' Day to Easter and from Easter to September 13.

From 9 a.m. to 10.30 a.m. Third hour, followed by monastery mass.

From 10.45 to 11.30 Work.

Around 11.30 Sixth hour.

Around 12.00 Meal.

From 12.45 to 13.45 Midday rest.

From 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Ninth hour.

From 14.30 to 16.15 In summer, work in the garden, in winter, and also in bad weather- in the premises of the monastery, in particular in the scriptorium.

From 16.30 to 17.15 Vespers.

From 17.30 to 17.50 Light dinner, except on fasting days.

About 6 p.m. Compline.

Around 18.45 They go to bed.

After Compline in winter, one monk had to walk around the premises with a burning lantern in his hands so that he would be recognized. He had to sequentially check all the buildings, the reception room, choirs, pantry, refectory, infirmary and close the entrance gates to prevent arson and entry of thieves, and also to prevent the brothers from going out anywhere...

Sleep, daytime rest, awakening

Among the Carthusians, sleep duration ranges from 6 hours 20 minutes at the summer solstice to 9 hours at the end of September. As September passes, it is reduced to 6 hours 45 minutes, to increase again to 7 hours 45 minutes at the end of October, and shortened again to 6 hours 20 minutes from 2 November. Thus, the maximum time for sleep is allocated at the end of September, and the minimum at Easter, while the average annual sleep duration of a monk is 7 hours 10 minutes.

According to the Cartesians, it is not enough to allocate any specific time for sleep within one day, as we do. It is optimal, especially for monasticism, to set the required duration of sleep depending on the different seasons.

In addition to the desire to mortify one’s flesh, there are other reasons that undoubtedly influence the monks’ daily routine. In the Middle Ages, people woke up at sunrise and even earlier. Anyone who wanted to lead a right life had to get up very early, at an hour when everyone else was still sleeping. In addition, the monks have always had a special affinity for the night hours and the first dawn - the predawn twilight. St. Bernard praises the hours of wakefulness in coolness and silence, when pure and free prayer easily ascends to Heaven, when the spirit is bright, and perfect peace reigns in the world.

In the monastery, sources of artificial lighting were rare. Like peasants, monks preferred to work in daylight.

Monks are supposed to pray when no one else is praying, they are supposed to sing eternal glory, thereby protecting the world with a true spiritual shield. One day, the ship of King Philip Augustus was caught at sea by a storm, and the king ordered everyone to pray, declaring: “If we manage to hold out until the hour when Matins begins in the monasteries, we will be saved, for the monks will begin the service and replace us in prayer.”

Another feature of monastic life that can amaze our contemporaries is the time of the meal: eating food is allowed no earlier than noon. And some versions of the daily routine of the Benedictine monks of the 10th century provided for one single meal of food during the day: in winter - at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and during Lent - at 6 o'clock in the evening. It’s not hard to imagine what a test this was for people who had been on their feet since two o’clock in the morning. It becomes clear why the French words “diner” - “lunch, dinner”, “dejeuner” - “breakfast” literally mean “break the fast” - “rompre le jeune”.

In summer, the routine includes two meals: lunch at noon and light dinner around 5–6 p.m., canceled on fasting days.

Other characteristic The routine of monastic life: busy all day, there is not a single free minute, although the monks wisely alternate between hours of great stress and hours of rest. The unstable in spirit simply had no time left for idle dreams and despondency.

All old statutes allowed a day's rest. This is explained by the brevity of the monks’ sleep at night, the fatigue of wakefulness and work, as well as the heat (we must not forget that the Benedictine Rule was compiled in Italy). "Siesta" in the summer lasted on average from one to one and a half and even two hours. It was done differently in different monasteries.

Initially, the Carthusians rested on benches in the interior of the monastery. Daytime rest was provided mainly for the elderly and sickly monks. Then it was decided that the siesta was allowed “out of compassion for human weakness,” as one Cartesian text says. It was prescribed to go to bed at a strictly established time - immediately after Compline; it was not allowed to stay awake without the special permission of the elder (for fear of going too far in mortifying one’s flesh). After Matins, the fathers did not go to bed again, with the exception of the days of bloodletting, which we will talk about later. They were required to wear a belt, not removing it even while sleeping. This belt served as a reminder of the Gospel call: “Let your loins be girded” and testified to the readiness of the monks at any moment to rise according to the word of God, on the one hand, and on the other, hinted at the observance of the monastic vow of chastity. Those who did not want to rest in the afternoon could read, edit manuscripts, or even practice monastic chants, but on the condition that they would not disturb others.

If a monk did not get out of bed at the first sound of the bell (“without delay,” as St. Benedict wrote), this was considered a misdemeanor, which was considered at the accusing chapter. Going back to sleep was out of the question! The monk had to constantly move, with a lantern in his hands, looking for the one who, in violation of the order, continued to sleep. When one was found, a lantern was placed at his feet, and finally, the awakened sleeper, in turn, was obliged to walk around the entire monastery with a lantern in his hands until he found another offender. So, you had to get up quickly and under no circumstances be late for morning. It was said that one night Peter Nolansky, the founder of the Mercedarian Order, overslept. “Hastily putting on his clothes, he headed along the dark corridors to the choir. And what was his surprise when he saw a bright light there, and instead of the monks who did not wake up with the sound of the bell, angels in white, sitting on the church benches. The place of the general master The Order was occupied by the Blessed Virgin herself with an open book in her hands" (D. Eme-Azam).

Gyges, the wise mentor of the Carthusians, said that before lying down, you need to choose some subject for reflection and, thinking about it, fall asleep in order to avoid unnecessary dreams. “In this way,” he adds, “your night will be as bright as day, and this night, its illumination that will dawn on you, will be a consolation for you. You will sleep peacefully, you will rest in peace and quiet, you will wake up without difficulty, you you will get up easily and easily return to the subject of your thoughts, from which you did not manage to move away during the night.”

What if, despite everything, the monk does not fall asleep? What if he is sick and doesn't sleep? "You can sing prayers; but it will be better if you refrain from doing so." As for the bed, Eliot tells one of those pious legends that were taught to the laymen of that time. St. Guillaume of Vercel, founder of the congregation of Monte Virgino, was once the victim of slander. The courtiers of the king of Naples and Sicily accused him of hypocrisy and, in order to demonstrate that “his heart is full of passions and vices,” they sent a courtesan to him. The libertine promised the courtiers to seduce the monk. The saint pretended that he would give in to her wishes, but “on the condition that she would lie with him in the same bed in which he himself sleeps... She was very surprised... when she entered the room of the alleged seduction and saw only a bed there , filled with hot coals, on which the saint rested, inviting her to lie down next to her." (As we see, saints resort to very curious means in order not to fall into temptation.) The courtesan was so amazed by what she saw that she immediately converted to the Christian faith, sold her property and brought all the money to the saint. Guillaume, who founded for them convent in Venosa, and made her the abbess herself. This woman's repentance, her severity and virtues brought her posthumous fame. This is Blessed Agnes de Venosa.

To live poor is to live freely

The word "poverty" is very ambiguous: a poor person in the United States can be considered a rich person in Asia. What did it mean to be poorer than the peasants in the Middle Ages? In any case, poverty did not mean complete need, placing a person in complete physical and moral dependence on others. Poverty was more opposed to power than to wealth.

In essence, the ideal of poverty is the ideal of freedom, independence, renunciation of the desire to appropriate other people's property, which was expressed in peacemaking, voluntary pacifism of those who did not want to enter into a vicious circle of violence (pilgrims, monks, clergy, penitents).

In reality, this problem was not a simple one, and therefore it gave rise to countless interpretations and disputes. Initially, poverty served as a logical consequence of “complete renunciation, which was the main thing in the calling to a perfect life; it meant leaving everything, but not in the sense of becoming poor, but in order to lead a detached life” (J. Leclerc).

Since the 12th century, the ideal of poverty, “voluntary poverty,” as written in a Dominican text of 1220, had “a special attraction, sometimes even disastrous... It was among heretics, among the orthodox humiliates, among the Catholic poor, but it was with the advent of St. Francis, this ideal experienced a real flowering" (M. D. Knowles). Since then, “life in poverty has become the implementation of asceticism, which in itself was a blessing” (J. Leclerc). (In the 1950s we saw the virtues of life in poverty being discovered by the children of the wealthiest classes of the world. rich country in the world.)

But how, in a society that is developing and despises, even suppresses, the lower classes, adhere to this “preferred image of Christian holiness and redemption” (P. Wicker), which is poverty? What should you do to live poorly?

The monks of the Cluny Order, true to the formula: “poor monk, rich monastery,” transferred to the monastery buildings all the luxury they denied themselves. And on this path, magnificently glorifying God, they soon reached the extreme.

To be poor - didn't it mean walking barefoot and in rags, as St. Dominic, humbly knocking on every door with an outstretched hand, “communicating with God and talking about God with himself or with his neighbors,” giving at the end of the year, as the Dominicans taught, to the poor and the church all that was not used? Commitment to the ideal of poverty (as well as knowledge of people) will lead mendicant monks to beg in kind - taking only food, clothing and, remarkably, books - so that money does not taint their poverty.

The poverty of the Cistercians was not poverty or deprivation, it embodied the acceptance of communal life with all the corresponding consequences: a complete renunciation of everything personal, including earthly goods, detachment. And the poverty of the Franciscans is an “act of pure love,” more mystical than ascetic. The Premonstrants observed poverty less strictly than the Cistercians, and praised it less ardently than the Franciscans. The crusader is “poor in earthly riches, but rich in poverty,” for his only wealth is Christ.

Among the Carthusians, poverty was determined by expediency. “You need clothing,” wrote their teacher of the law, “to protect yourself from the cold, but not for the sake of ostentation. Likewise, food is to satisfy hunger, and not to please the belly... Do not indulge the whims of your own flesh (this is where wisdom lies, measure, discretio* [A separate chapter will be devoted to the concept of discretio (Editor’s note)]... but only provide the flesh with what it needs.”

The Brigittines figured out what they would need for the year, and on the day after the Feast of All Saints they distributed everything they had in excess, in their opinion: “both food and money,” neglecting the reserve for a rainy day, that is, not considering chance at all.

The Granmontans, in order to avoid getting rich, sold their surplus cheaper than usual. Since they did not allow themselves to collect donations and beg for alms, they could only hope that God would not abandon them. Of course, they took a risk in doing so. But how else can you live in poverty? And how can you not become rich while living poor?

There are countless cautionary tales about the ideal of poverty. Odon, abbot of Cluny, seeing how one monk did not allow a beggar to enter the monastery, made him a suggestion and said to the poor man: “When he appears before the gates of Paradise, reward him in the same way.” The same Odon, having met an old, emaciated peasant, put him on his horse and took his bag, “filled with stale bread and rotten onions that emitted a stench.” To one of his monks, who could not hide his disgust, Odon said: “You cannot stand the smell of poverty.”

Chastity

The concepts of “life of holiness” and “chastity” are synonymous. Canonical sources say little about it, since it is an obvious thing. Sometimes we talk about “chaste”, “the virtue of abstinence”, and purity. The vow of chastity itself appears during the period of monastic reforms of the 11th-12th centuries, and the theory of the three vows - only in the 13th century.

Was the vow of chastity observed by everyone at all times? To believe that this was so, one can only forget that we are talking about living men and women, although when reading the chronicles one gets the impression that violations of this vow happened much less frequently than outbreaks of violence, cases of escape from the monastery, manifestations of greed, neglect of everyday life. responsibilities.

It is not so much about the struggle with temptation, for the outcome of this struggle is always unclear, but about how to move away from the cause of temptation, because, according to the Granmontans, even if the skillful David, the wise Solomon and the mighty Samson were caught in the snare of women, which of the mere mortals can he resist their charms? It is not without reason that in the absence of a woman, the evil one uses her image to tempt a man; who can resist when she is nearby? In order to maintain integrity, the sage flees. Napoleon used to say that it was out of love.

And St. Bernard argued that chastity turns a person into an angel. Ontologically, a person is not transformed, remaining himself, but in contrast to the angels, whose chastity is a natural state, human chastity can only be the fruit of the daring efforts of virtue. The learned scholastic from Clairvaux knew people well, and therefore made the clarification that chastity without mercy is nothing. He extended what he said about mercy to other virtues, in particular to humility, which, according to him, is much more praiseworthy than virginity, for humility is a commandment, while chastity is only advice (and is it always heard!).

According to the collection of customs of Einschem, a monk can get rid of the lusts of the flesh by calling on the following “spiritual benefits” to help: charter, silence, fasting, seclusion in a monastery, modest behavior, brotherly love and compassion, respect for elders, diligent reading and prayer, remembrance of the past mistakes, about death, fear of the fire of purgatory and hell. Without respect for these “multiple and strong connections,” monastic life loses its purity. Silence “buries” empty and idle words, fasting subdues bad desires, and seclusion keeps one from talking on the city streets. Remembering mistakes made in the past to a certain extent prevents future mistakes, fear of purgatory eliminates minor sins, and fear of hell eliminates “criminal” sins.

Life in Prayer

Prayer, in combination with other religious manifestations - contemplation, inner silence, silence, revelation, the sacrament of sacrifice - allows a person to enter into communication with God. Prayer as an expression of fear or remorse, gullibility, a cry of hope or gratitude is a means for the person praying either to get closer to God or to understand how the face of God, despite all efforts, remains distant, “deep, unclear, impersonal” (A.-M . Besnard).

Prayer is an action that can lead either to pure contemplation, centered on “the knowledge of God, on the awareness of earthly exile, on the detachment of silence, on spiritual participation,” which is the mysticism of love; or to activity that finds expression in messages to people, in wisdom, in fraternal exchange - and then this is the mysticism of the common meal (M. de Certeau).

These men of fire and iron, which were the monks of the Middle Ages, daily demonstrated their faith in prayer, in those “standard models of prayer” that were served in the liturgy, as well as in choral singing, and in gestures: bows, prostrations, raising of hands, prostrate, kneeling... All this is the special language of the monk, with the help of which he expresses his state “with all his might,” that is, with his whole being.

An era like ours, which has so many desacralizing factors, can hardly understand the state of the spirit of monasticism in those bright and luminous centuries, which in many respects were the Middle Ages.

What might a monk feel as he prays or celebrates Mass in the pre-dawn twilight of Clairvaux or Alcobas? We will probably be able to at least faintly and approximately understand the emotions of this person, living on a more elevated and rich spiritual level, if we remember the feeling of light that fills us with first love, creative inspiration, philosophical thoughts, composing music, the joy of motherhood, the poetry of words, contemplation of beauty, sacrificial impulses of heroism, everything that is worthy of being called “secular prayers.”

Throughout this book we will be introduced to the life of the monks, organized and scheduled with the greatest care from the moment of awakening to going to bed. Codes of rules and customs scrupulously regulate the smallest facts of everyday life: how to greet the abbot, how to take bread and hold a glass. However, due to the abundance of these details, one should not lose sight of the fact that the life of the monks was built not for the sake of working in the fields, giving alms or copying manuscripts, but solely for the sake of prayer. Their life is prayer. Indeed, to say: “they prayed” means to communicate the most important thing about the lives of these thousands of people who, for centuries, subordinated their lives to the sole purpose of praying as best they could. Fasting and abstinence, awakenings at night, interrupted sleep, testing by cold, mortification of the flesh out of obedience, chastity, detailed behavior, excellent self-control - all this acquires its full and complete meaning only in the light of this one goal: to spend life in prayer. And all this in itself is prayer, the prayerful anticipation of the whole life.

This, so to speak, is the organization of prayer in time: the day, the annual cycle of worship, life and death.

The organization of prayer in space - a monastery, a church, a refectory - also invariably strives to make faith present, visible, embodied, creative, and thus ensure the fullness of prayer and spiritual life, their constancy and continuity. It is this presence and action that alone can explain the miracle that has been repeated a thousand times over the centuries in architectural forms, in the lush beauty of monasteries in all corners of medieval Europe, in all monastic orders, from the richest to the mendicant. And everywhere this beauty will exude faith.

But was this life of prayer really practiced day after day by all the monks without exception? It would be naive to think so. The long days of endless prayer typical of the Cluny Order were no doubt punctuated by moments of fatigue and distraction. It is likely that for some monks the most beautiful services were reduced to only “corpses of gestures” and “ghosts of words,” to quote these strong expressions of Romano Guardini. It is precisely in order to avoid the “fading” of prayer that the sequence of the service changes daily. And also, in order to enliven and nourish the prayer of each and every one, the actions of the participants in the liturgy are consistent with each other, and all this for the sake of that living unity, without which the monastic community would become hell.

But it cannot be that everyone, without exception, perfectly and consistently does everything that is required, for which future monks were prepared during their probationary period. Statutory regulations, reports of visitors (inspectors) indicate that human weaknesses could also manifest themselves in this area. In the monastery, a monk is punished if he stood absent-mindedly during the service, was out of tune when singing, or was late. Monks are forbidden to slow down their chanting (no doubt this is an attempt to delay the work).

Rabelais jokingly said of Brother Jean the Teethbreaker that he was “an excellent speeder of the clock, a hastener of services and a shortener of all-night vigils.” And it seems that such monks were found in real abbeys, as eloquently evidenced by the insistence with which the rule books describe the ideal rhythm of worship.

Chronicles and collections clearly demonstrate that even the best of the best had their weaknesses, that spiritual life did not flow in its entirety continuously and daily even in the most strict abbeys, even in the first stages of zealous zeal in building monasteries, even among saints, which very often there were monks.

Singing

The Cistercians were careful that the psalms were not sung too hastily. Others went to the opposite extreme and sang, hastily swallowing the words. Guy de Cherlier, disciple of St. Bernard, compiled a treatise “On Singing,” in which he advised the monks to sing “energetically and purely, in full voice, as befits both in sound and expression.” At the same time, he recommends that the newly elected abbot sing Veni Creator* [Come, Creator (lat.).] in memory of his predecessor with a “moderate” voice, “exuding repentance and contrition of heart” rather than the beauty of singing.

Chapter of Indictment

In the presence of all the brethren, each of the monks repents of their sins and violations of the rules. This meeting is called the indicting chapter. Among people whose lives are carefully regulated, where, in principle, everyone makes maximum demands on themselves, blaming themselves for every little thing, without forgiving themselves for anything, there are many sins. If a person has weak nerves, he may fall into a state called “morbid indecision,” such a monk is paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake and thoughts that he is doing wrong.

For the rest, remembering your sins, according to St. Augustine, "in the spirit of mercy and love for people and hatred of sin" becomes the responsibility of other monks. In itself, delatio - “accusation” had not yet acquired the pejorative meaning that would appear later, it was mandatory (in Einschem punishment was provided for those who did not bear the “accusation” of themselves), and the very making of the accusation was supposed to revive the memory of others. On the other hand, a special monk “scout” was busy recording the omissions and sins of the brethren, so that later he could announce them at the chapter.

Currently, the practice of accusatory chapters is gradually being eliminated. It is believed that “the chapter can be easily used to satisfy not very noble spontaneous impulses.” I readily believe this. Moreover, by focusing attention on small and insignificant violations, the practice of these chapters illuminated purely external rules of conduct, dulling sensitivity to more serious offenses in relation to the Christian spirit and the rules of monastic community.

Collections of customs describe the ceremony of announcing sins and indicate its place and time. For example, after reading a passage from the charter, this “mirror of perfection,” the abbot says: “If someone has something to say, let him speak.” A monk emerges from the ranks of the brethren and falls on his face. The abbot asks: "For what reason?" The culprit stands up and answers: “Because of my sin, dom* [a form of address to a person of clergy (Ed. Note).] abbot." This is followed by a statement of the circumstances under which the offense was committed (for example, the monk was late for the temple or, as stated in the collection of customs of Einschem, left the found thing with him for at least one day, because thereby he stained himself with the sin of theft). The punishment must be determined by the elder, whose duties include publicly admonishing the offender. At least, one can hope that in this way three goals are achieved: the first is to show the transgressor mercy and compassion of the brethren, which is a necessary condition for monastic community. The second is to strengthen the cohesion of the brethren, relentlessly fighting against any manifestation of weakness and tearing out by the roots the “thorns of temptation,” as the Benedictine Rule says (XIII, 27), which stipulates that everyone must express their grievances to each other and make peace with their “offenders” before sunset. The third is to keep each monk in a state of extreme spiritual composure, not allowing him to forget about humility.

Sinful thoughts hidden in the depths of the soul are not expressed in the presence of the accusing chapter, but are reported to the elder in confession.

Here is a wonderful story featuring famous characters: God, sly, Abbot, which condemns a minor sin: the monk dozed off at matins.

Abbot: My son, bow your head when they sing "Glory".

Sly: He will not bow his head until he breaks these bonds of sin (referring to the monk's sin, which turned him into a servant of the devil).

Abbot: Lord, do not let this lost sheep perish, deliver it from the shackles of sin and enemies.

God: I will deliver my slave from the shackles of sin, and you (abbot) punish the sinner.

Repentance and Discipline

In all these cases, the offender repents of his sins. Let us note that initially the word “repentance” meant “repentance,” “turning (to God),” “moving away from sin,” but not atonement for one’s guilt. The word “discipline” has also undergone a similar evolution. It comes from the word “disciple” (discipulos) - the one who is taught. And in the beginning it meant "teaching"; then - the subject being taught (“my discipline,” says the teacher); then - the means necessary to teach and guide people (after this they started talking about legal, family, school discipline, etc.), then - the observance by members of a certain group of the rules and customs accepted in this group.

And from here the word evolved in a different direction: it began to mean a set of punishments for a monk who violated discipline. And among these punishments, one began to be called by this very word - “discipline”. We are talking about rods or whips made of ropes or small chains that were used by monks to kill the flesh or to punish the offender. Everyone knows Tartuffe’s remark: “Laurent, tidy up my hair shirt and discipline,” that is, the whip.

This very “discipline,” which at first was used voluntarily, turned into an additional means of punishment, corresponding to the morals of that era, and subsequently became an ordinary instrument for mortification, provided for by the charter, but depending on the will of the abbot. An unhealthy addiction to flagellation, one might say, is the result of the “democratization” of this “discipline.”

In the future, we will turn to the “Criminal Code” of the monks, namely to the chapter devoted to governance issues. Now we will only note how unfair it is to judge the degree and quality of compliance with the charter based on reading only inspection reports and collections of customs. What was the percentage of minor and major offenses, the “crime index,” in that community, which was subject to the most severe discipline and in different eras numbered from several tens to thousands of people? Even if we had exact figures, it would still be difficult to assess the real pathos of monastic life in those distant centuries. After all, so many factors could come into play and increase the punishment for sins: the abbot turned out to be strict and picky, or it was the abbot who became lenient with age, and a possible illness aggravated fatigue, or the age itself had an influence... .....

As a result, we can agree with Jacques Urlier that, with the exception of some serious, difficult cases that turned into scandals, even in the most troubled times, the number and severity of sins committed by monks is invariably significantly lower in comparison with the crimes of the laity. For centuries, monasticism was the moral elite in the eyes of all other segments of the population.

There is nothing unusual in this fact. The voluntariness of joining a monastery, loyalty to one’s obligations (I use this word, which is more understandable to our contemporaries, instead of the wonderful old word “vow”), commitment (albeit sometimes weak) to a regulated life, constant control by the “small group”, which continuously surrounded, enveloped each of its members, an ardent reverence that inspired the people of that era, who, it should be recalled, had an inherent fear of the underworld - all this, undoubtedly, explained the high morality of the behavior and actions of monasticism, and not only from fear of punishment. “A commendable life,” the Carthusians said about a monk who lived his life worthily. And this formulation applies to the vast majority of those who lived their lives in obedience to the rule and in obedience to their abbot.

Mortification of the flesh

Some examples of both individual and collective practice of mortification, mandated by statute and custom, still continue to be of interest. And the example of the feat of some ascetics, for all their heroism, or perhaps precisely because of this heroism, is always worthy of imitation.

And this example, as it should be noted, especially struck the imagination of the rude, distrustful and simple minds. He was followed by people whose bodies and souls from childhood were accustomed to fasting, patiently overcoming adversity, cold and hunger, incurable diseases, and the countless vicissitudes of social life.

That is why the devout faith of the monks often led to extremes of piety, to the behavior of dervishes, to actions in which masochism was partly visible.

Let us not dwell on the spiked rods or the hot coals on which one lies in order to conquer the “passions.” Or reciting the entire Psalter by heart with arms outstretched crosswise (crucis vigilia), so that among the Irish monks who practiced this, the very word “figill” eventually came to mean “prayer.” But what can we say about the grave pit, where every day after the canonical third hour the abbot and monks of the Brigittine order throw a handful of earth in order to always remember the approach of death? Or about the coffin, which was placed at the entrance to their temple for the same purpose? This order had something to rely on. Its founder, St. Brigid of Sweden (14th century) - the only Swedish saint - "shed drop by drop on her body hot wax, in order to thus remember the suffering of the Son of God" (Elio). Of course, it should be recognized that there is a considerable difference between drops of hot wax and Calvary. For us, the main thing is to understand what strange exercises the desire to mortify their flesh can lead people to.

Among the Vallombrosans there are novices* [those who are preparing to take monastic vows. (Editor's note)] had to clean out the pigsty with their bare hands. Making a vow, they lay prostrate on the floor for three days in their vestments, motionless and maintaining “strict silence.” This is precisely the charter, the fruit of collective experience, and not individual imagination. But the result is the same.

Another aspect of the monastic faith and the careful observance of the rules generated by it: in the Abbey of Bec, if the transubstantiated wine, the blood of Jesus Christ, was spilled on a stone or on a tree, then it was necessary to scrape off this stain, wash it off, and drink this water. In the same way, you should drink water after washing clothes that have come into contact with this wine.

Faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ at the Divine Liturgy was unusually strong. Calmet talks about a custom that existed in the church even in his time: parishioners who received communion were given a piece of bread and a sip of wine so that not a single particle of the holy communion would fall out of their mouths and would be washed down.

Confession

By the middle of the 11th century, confession still retained some of the features of the ancient sacrament, namely, openness to the spiritual father, a form of public repentance, a ritual of reconciliation with neighbors and with oneself without the intervention of a priest.

In the 12th century, confession was enriched by the fact that religious life became more internal, connected with the flowering of the individual personality. Confession meant eschatological anticipation Last Judgment and at the same time glorifying God, confessing one’s sins before Him - before the One Sinless One. In the second half of the 12th century and in the 13th century, confession became mandatory, which gave rise to a formal attitude towards it. At the same time, a speculative doctrine of the sacrament of confession was developed, which determined the subject of confession itself, the frequency of its performance, the procedure for conducting it, the priest who can accept this or that confession, etc. In monastic orders, confession was considered a duty. Visitors and chapters supervised strict adherence to its rules.

"Everyday"

What did the Carthusian do outside of the work that was most important in his eyes - that is, outside of worship and private prayer? He ran the household, kept the fire going, was engaged in intellectual and artistic activities: he copied manuscripts, colored engravings, compared copies with originals, and bound books. For the sake of maintaining health, in order to be physically able to fulfill his spiritual duties, the monk also worked physically: “he worked in the garden, planed, chopped wood”... Preparing firewood was a traditional occupation in Chartreuse: they took on this work when they had tired eyes, pain or fatigue from sitting in one place for a long time caused the need to “unwind,” as they used to say in the 18th century. It was also necessary to “avoid interest in physical work - to keep yourself from attachment to physical work: the less you are attached to it and the more you see entertainment in it, the more you maintain your freedom.”

In the feudal world, the important question was whether to walk or ride a horse. In addition, in some orders there were quite a lot of monks of noble birth. Walking was appropriate for commoners, and riding a donkey, like the Trinitarian Mathurins, or a mule, like the Carmelites, meant showing greater humility. Pope Honorius III allowed monks to ride on horseback in 1256. “Is it permissible for monks to ride horses, is this in accordance with the rules and dignity?” - asked the visitors to Cluny. And the answer was affirmative: “Of course.”

But everything was not so clear and understandable. The same visitors to the monastery (in 1291) mention one monk who had a horse and constantly rode around on it. The order instructed the abbot to take it away from the monk.

A text quoted by Monge and dating from 1407 speaks of a road along which the monks (the Carthusians of Dijon) “may walk and ride day and night, whenever they please,” an expression which in itself produces a very amusing impression .

As for games, they were prohibited in monasteries even during moments of rest. It was not even allowed to play chess or backgammon. Only the game of classes (a type of board game with chips) and some other similar games were allowed (among the Templars). But, of course, no bets. Playing dice was regarded in Cluny as a crime, entailing excommunication along with such sins as... sodomy, appeal to a civil court or reference to non-existent debts...

Diversity of customs in monasteries

Contrary to the customs common to almost all, but at the same time in accordance with how it was done in Monte Cassino, the Abbey of Bec did not allow palm branches to be held at worship on the day of the Entry into Jerusalem. temple Holy Mother of God there were candles in their hands, and on Ash Wednesday* [It got its name from a traditional church rite: during prayer in the church, the priest sprinkles ashes on the heads of believers with the words: “Memento homo, quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris” (“Remember, man, that you are dust and you will return to dust"), (editor's note)] (Wednesday of the first week of Lent) ashes were used. Bec Abbey differed from other monasteries of its time in another way: they did not observe the ritual of the Burial of the Shroud on Good Friday, the procession to the Holy Sepulcher, the presentation of the three Marys, the Myrrh-Bearing Women, on Easter morning - all those ceremonies that were held (for a greater impact on parishioners) in Durham, Saint-Vannes, Saint-Ouen, in Germany. Sister M. P. Dickinson, a learned commentator on the collection of customs at Beck Abbey, adds: "The presence of the Body of Christ during the procession in Palm Sunday is not diminished by the abandonment of such customs as Hosanna in the Abbey of Fruttuaria, the Savior in Saint-Vannes, the Holy Sepulcher in Fécamp, generated by the concern for the replacement of spiritual images with reality."

The Abbey of Bec also abandoned the customs adopted in Cluny: for example, on three Easter days a fire was lit in the monastery itself, which was less impressive (but more effective) than the traditional production of fire using beryl (magnifying “glass”), as was done in Cluny.

Other customs were also widespread: for example, from St. Benedict of Anyan, there was a tradition of reading after dinner Miserere * [Have mercy (lat.) – God have mercy on me... - beginning of the 50th Psalm], and this custom has survived to this day. The same saint gave a very definite appearance to the first canonical hour: reading the martyrology, an excerpt from the charter, three prayers - Deus in adjutorium (90th Psalm), Gloria, Kyrie * [God help (Latin); Glory (lat.); Lord have mercy - Kyrie eleison (Greek).], and then followed the accusatory chapter.

Each congregation and each monastery established its own customs, despite the solemn decision-making of general chapters. Variety is inherent in human nature as much as a commitment to regularity. It can be assumed that the monks quite consciously introduced this or that custom into use, as if it best corresponded to the spirit of piety. However, in this kind of search, the line of reason was transgressed, since the accumulation of innovations sometimes overloaded the daily routine and, without a doubt, led from piety to “piety.” For example, sometimes it was necessary to read so many psalms that there was no time left for personal prayer, or reflection, or even a private mass, and the reading of the Psalter itself turned out to be mechanical and soulless. This is what is difficult to come to terms with: in Cluny, in one day, it was customary to read as many psalms as St. Benedict provided for a whole week! Hence the desire of the Cistercians, Premonstratensians, Carthusians, Vallombrosans and some others to once again find the path to reflection, to “thinking through” the Divine Law, to inner silence.

And also the path to the daily and private mass, which was usually celebrated from the 11th century, but had not yet become common to everyone even by the 13th century. It often happened that communion was celebrated as an alternative to the mass. In any case, in the 10th century the Statutory Concord (Regularis Concordia) called on monks to take communion daily. Cistercian regulations prescribed that monks who were not priests should receive communion once a week (on Sundays), and lay brothers seven times a year. Even those who were not priests communed with the Blood and Body of the Lord, when “the priest officiating either gives a few drops of the Holy Blood to drink with a golden straw, or immerses the Body of the Lord in a chalice.” The Eucharist truly occupies an extremely important place in the spiritual life of the monastery: a dying person, having received unction and receiving the dying communion, participates in the Eucharist every subsequent day while he is alive.

Everything is needed to create a monastery

The most erroneous is the idea of ​​the daily life of monks as something immense and oppressive, mechanically monotonous in the drag of days.

Even if all Franciscans (or Trappists, or Dominicans) represent a kind of “semblance of a family” as children of the same parents, they are still individuals, each individually, and most often - pronounced individuals with their own weaknesses and strengths. For neither charter nor obedience can ever turn people into robots. Each person is unique both physically and spiritually. Therefore, the monastery unites a huge variety of human types. To best describe this, I will quote the lines of a letter from the Dominican to whom my book is dedicated. He cites, first of all, the words of the Trappist abbot:

“The Abbey resembles an orchestra, and it has everything: violins that sound in harmony, wind instruments that suddenly intrude into the general melody; there is a saxophone, and in the corner one of the younger ones holds a musical triangle, asking why it is needed... In The abbey has its own lazy person, a grouch, a neat person, an absent-minded person, zealous in piety, ready to be deceived, a flatterer, a scholar, a jack of all trades, an enthusiast (somewhat naive, even a simpleton, but so nice), a whiner. There is a difficult monk who needs something. so that they are dealt with separately, and who, under various pretexts, goes to Paul or Jacques to “talk.” There is a grumbler, an unusually helpful one; there is the most devoted and the most inept, upset when they don’t ask him for help; and the Father Superior is forced to endure this in order to avoid the worst, and this psycho hardly serves the common good; there is a young singer (with a beautiful voice) who has yet to suppress his poorly restrained desire for power... There is an incorrigible laggard, there is a hot-tempered one, there is one. always pouty... Misunderstandings happen, and sometimes in the silence the spirit of darkness whispers that father so-and-so desired you. There is someone who is indignant at everything that goes beyond the norm, and expresses his indignation too clearly. There is someone who (“with good intentions”) hides some tool or book so that he can use it himself. There is a bungler who doesn’t put anything in its place.”

This sketch, this living sketch, dates back to recent times; however, there is every reason to believe that this is also true for the medieval period. My correspondent, with many years of experience and a philosophical mind, adds:

“Everyone in the monastery has his own strangeness, shortcoming, repeated mistakes, “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor. 12:7). This may be noticeable, or it may be kept secret, but sometimes it lasts a lifetime... Leaving aside the intimate aspect life together“, he concludes, “we can say that there are common trials, common patience, common joy. Everything that is found in a long life together."

This will allow us to understand a little better what it is everyday life people gathered under one roof, in one abbey. This is life together, which forces the monk to patiently endure in silence the oddities, shortcomings, sins of weakness of each and everyone - everything that constantly returns and intensifies throughout life. This is also “everyday life, lived in everyday life,” and one of the sides of that “battle” that a monk must wage every moment with himself, with his impatience, his indignation, his outbursts of anger, his exhaustion! So that the carnal man with passions, with earthly attachments and weaknesses, with everything that hinders spiritual ascent in all its fullness, dies within himself. For the sake of achieving “death in oneself.”

Silence and body language

Silence is not everywhere and not always necessary. For example, among the Gilbertines, blacksmiths can talk in the refectory, but they are unlikely to be allowed to break the silence in the forge. However, in general, the tendency towards silence and the desire to observe it are present everywhere. In rare charters and collections of customs there is no chapter devoted to silence. Only prayer appeal to God (opus Dei) opens his mouth, and the sound of voices only acquires more meaning. Otherwise, “closed lips are a condition for peace of the heart.” "Silence is the mother of all Virtues." But if it is necessary to speak, then this should be done without any pride. Of course, any jokes and indecent stories are condemned everywhere.

Collections of customs require the most complete silence in the temple, in the refectory, in the bedroom, in the internal galleries of the monastery. After Compline there is silence, which even today remains one of the most touching moments of the day in the monastery. Even such actions as cutting hair, bloodletting, washing, baking prosphoras must be performed in complete silence, as if there were not a single brother in the room, as the Master’s charter states. The Bec Abbey text emphasizes that the silence should be such that one cannot even hear the creak of the copyist's pen. “So that no one reads (in the Middle Ages they read, quietly pronouncing the words out loud) and does not sing, if only silently... And so that everyone repeats the psalms to himself.” Was this instruction followed? It's hard to know and also hard to believe. In any case, visitors to Cluny noted that in the four main places where silence was required, it was not always observed.

Living together involves verbal communication. And in order not to disturb the silence of the monastery, they used either a wooden tablet covered with wax (the monks wore it on their belts) or sign language.

Three collections of customs: Bernard of Cluny, Ulrich and William of Girsau (all dating back to the 11th century) tell us of such a language. These little dictionaries are quite funny, first of all, because they show which objects or dishes were most commonly used and which characters are most famous, and, in addition, also because the symbolism of these gestures is so naive and ingenuous that it causes an involuntary smile.

In Cluny, there were 35 gestures for describing food, 37 for people, 22 for clothing, 20 for worship, etc. Would you like a couple of examples? Here is the symbol for milk: the monk puts his little finger in his mouth, as children do. Simple bread: draw a circle with your thumb, pressing the other two fingers to this finger. Pie: a cross is depicted on the palm, because the pie is divided into parts. There are also signs that allow you to recognize what this bread is made of - rye, wheat or oats; the same thing about wine: whether it is with herbs, spices or honey, white or red. The same gesture is used to denote a trout and a woman: run your finger from one eyebrow to the other. This gesture resembles a woman's headband. But what does trout have to do with it? The fact is that she is feminine (like other fish, by the way)! The same sign served to designate the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Sign language was not uniform in all monastic orders. Thus, the gestures of Cluny are as incomprehensible to the Granmontans as an alien foreign language is to us. In Cluny they said "mustard" while pressing the first phalanx of the little finger to thumb, and the Granmontans squeezed their noses with their fingers and raised them; other monks stirred with the fingers of one hand in the other hand, collected in a handful, which indicated the sauce being prepared by the cook. Among the Converses* [The Converses (“converts”) took part of the monastic vows, but did not take monastic vows, and lived separately from the brethren. The vow of obedience obliged the converts to work as long as the abbot required. (Editor's note)] had its own sign language, which mainly described various agricultural works. We are assured that the sign language did not contain any humorous signs or frivolous meanings. Innocent souls may believe this, but was there a need to express something like this? This makes you think.

But, be that as it may, the fact that the monks speak with their hands for a long time made an impression on society, which saw something sacred here. The society was no less amazed than the juggler from Notre Dame, who said the following in the words of the poet:

If you come to this order,

You will find such great people:

Only signs are made to one another

And they don’t say a word with their lips,

And it’s true, quite, undoubtedly,

They don't say differently.

Measuring time

The Benedictine Rule carefully divides the monk's day into specific parts. Punctuality is the main virtue, and any, even the slightest, deviation from this requirement must be announced at the indictment chapter. Unlike the villagers, the monks attached greater importance to the counting of time. But how to do this in the absence of a watch?

The first requirement of the Teacher's charter prescribes getting up in winter before the rooster crows, and in the summer - just at the moment when the rooster crows. Mercenaries and landsknechts also measured time. They also resorted to the help of heavenly bodies. We have a very interesting collection of “Monastery Star Clocks” (Horologium stellate monasticum). It recommends being in a certain place in the monastery garden, a few steps from a juniper bush, from where you can see two or three windows of the dormitory. When this or that star appears, the time comes to either ring the bell and wake up the monks, or light the lamps in the church, or immediately wake up the monks, starting with the abbot, respectfully addressing the abbot: “Lord, open my mouth,” and, as Calmet reports by pulling his feet! However, it is clear that this method of determining the time of day was very inaccurate. They also resorted to other, however, equally unreliable means: they observed the length of the shadow, which either increased or decreased; recited psalms (provided the monks did not chant too quickly); they used a burning candle and, of course, a clepsydra or water clock; hourglasses, sun dials, on which the Latin saying was usually written: “Non numero horas nisi serenas,” which had a double meaning: “I count only the hours of daylight” or “I count only the light (happy) hours.”

And as a result, all this turned out to be that “Brother Jacques” never rang on time for matins...

Such misunderstandings often occurred, judging by the fact that in Cluny they asked the question: what should be done if, due to the negligence of the “alarm clock” monk, the brethren were awakened too early? “Everyone should remain in bed until,” the text says, “until it becomes possible to read in the light of day.”

Then mechanical water and hourglasses were invented. One of the letters sent from the Carthusian monastery in Porte around 1150 reports a clock that was wound "at the moment when one could begin to read." This clock showed the time until 18.30 - daytime, and there were 10 hours left for the night. In total, a day according to this clock lasted 28 and a half hours. And in fact, in those centuries they habitually used “clocks” of various durations, nevertheless they were all called hours. Thus, the Cartesian hour corresponded to approximately 50 minutes of the modern hour, although such a comparison is somewhat bold.

Herbert of Aurignac, who later became pope under the name of Sylvester II (died in 1003), most likely improved the water clock: he allegedly invented a clock that was “regulated according to the movement of the heavenly bodies.” However, it is doubtful that this is exactly a modern clock with weights, mechanism, balance and movement. Such modern watches will appear only in the 13th century, when time became equivalent to money for city merchants.

For the monks, keeping time was very important, so it is not at all surprising that they contributed to the improvement of clocks. The art of watchmaking, writes Schmitz, had the most zealous guardians in the person of the abbeys and in particular, which is very significant, the Abbey of Foret-Noire. A text from around the year 50, entitled “The Picture of the World,” praises the clock that, day and night, measures the time of “prayers, the regularity of which is so pleasing to God.” The author of the text believes (for that time a very advanced idea) that it would be better to fulfill everything destined for in life, including eating food, “at the appointed hour,” because “then you will live longer.” The invention of this miracle was attributed to Ptolemy:

It was he who first invented

The oldest clock instrument.

Thus, in the 13th century, the idea of ​​regularity was closely connected with monastic life.

This is how the hours pass...

Thus the hours pass, forming into days, and these days continually change in accordance with the changes of the annual divine service. There is nothing more measured and monotonous than monastic life. To become a monk means to abandon the rhythms of our time, to take vows regardless of temporal and intellectual changes.

“Consecrated time,” writes Professor Luigi Lombardi Vallauri in an unusually rich article, “is eternity experienced in time... It is a “weighted” time... In relation to worldly time (to our time), the time of obedience is something quiet, calm , everyday. Since I do not have the future (at least in the sense in which we understand it), I am entirely in the present... I am in no hurry... I literally cannot waste my time.. .

And the time of worship itself is much more a continuation of the significant “times” of a sonata or symphony than a series of measured moments of Newtonian time. This time in which quality prevails over quantity (I emphasize) ... this time ... is the living essence (or "force") of change."

To use a more modern metaphor, I might say that monastic time is to our lives what jazz swing is to the metronome.

The daily life of a monk is not everyday in the banal sense of the word, in the sense of monotony. No, this is a dramatic life in the original sense of the word, that is, actively experienced in various and constantly changing rhythms, which also contain other rhythms, both external and internal. In general, contrary to popular belief, there is nothing further from the notorious “subway - work - sleep” lifestyle than monastic life.

Let's try to penetrate into this life. The first big stage is the mass with night and day canonical hours, the alternation of holidays - saints and the Lord - with their octaves * [an eight-day holiday. (Editor’s note)], “in which greatness and mystery come to life.” This is how the year, the “quadriga of the world,” flows in the rhythm of the seasons, about which Alcuin said that winter is the “expulsion of summer,” spring is the “artist of the earth,” autumn is the “breadbasket of the year.”

Interwoven into the basic rhythm, which contains an almost vegetative image of the continuity of life, are the rhythms of common life: work in different seasons, events that arise in communal life, such as the arrival of pilgrims, travelers, monks; the emergence of novices; ordination of priests; the anniversary of the conversion of this or that monk (a flower in front of the old monk’s cup; the abbot orders a glass of wine to be brought to the one who was “born”; this custom was preserved half a century ago, and all the monks rejoiced at this event in deep silence). Then the course of days of illness, death, burial.

To all this are added, marked by the same events, but, nevertheless, independent movements of the inner life, spiritual warfare - a struggle waged with varying success against the natural weakness of man, against his weaknesses and exhaustion. Attacks of the spirits of darkness, but also hours of joy and light, a time of inner peace even in the struggle itself. The possibility of a universal victory of the collective and individual life of monasticism. But victory is never universal, permanent or guaranteed. And as this life requires efforts that exceed ordinary human strength, more and more preconditions for defeat arise. And the higher the goals set, the harder the fall.

But on the whole, with all the heights and abysses, with the sometimes very heavy burden of communal existence and the demands of obedience, monastic life is joy, complete and perfect joy. You have to be very naive to write with surprise, like that journalist: “In fifteen days I have never noticed a Premonstratensian with obvious signs of melancholy.” And further: “I have never known people more joyful, open, less lonely than these “hermits” in their cells.” I can give evidence from my own experience: everywhere I met the most frank joy, attention to any person, the sweetness of human tenderness. What a relief it is to meet people who are smiling and friendly from the very morning, who do not consider themselves obligated, like many of our contemporaries, to complain at breakfast.

A few more quotes to illustrate my point. Here is an excerpt from the reflections of the Cartesian Gyges: “Woe to him for whom happiness and pleasure have an end and a beginning.” Another passage is beautiful and profound: “Hazelnuts and blackberries are tasty in themselves, but isn’t truth and bread? Therefore, they love truth and peace, and therefore God.” And also the Cartesian ideal, which I would translate as follows: “Flee from the world. Immerse yourself in silence. Manage to achieve peace in your soul.”

This lifestyle is obviously not to everyone's taste. Guio de Provins laments the regime of the monks of Cluny (although Cluny was not the strictest order):

They forced me there, without lying,

So that when I want to sleep,

I would be awake

And when I wanted to eat,

So that the brutal fast can be tolerated.

He is so frightened by the loneliness of the Carthusians that he is even ready to give up heaven if he has to stay there alone:

I would never wish it, I can say that for sure,

To be alone and alone in Paradise.

"In the precious hour of death"…

The Prior, accompanied by several brothers, visits the sick man; if there is even the slightest hope for his healing, then the abbot reads three prayers. When there is no hope for recovery, the brothers say three other prayers, and the patient already knows what to prepare for. He reads the Confiteor, if he is able to speak himself, but if not, then the abbot does it for him. “If the departing soul is ready to be separated from the body” (as the text from Fleury says), then the brothers spread the hair shirt on the ground or on straw, sprinkle it with ashes in a cross shape and transfer the dying person onto it. This custom is widespread (Bek alone is an exception) and is often found even among the laity.

All monks are warned about this with the help of a rattle; it is necessary that the entire monastery immediately gather, immediately abandoning all business and even the liturgy, so that everyone together restrainedly sing “I believe in one God...” (Credo in unium Deum - Symbol of Faith).

The sick person confesses to the abbot or prior, asks forgiveness from all the brethren for all his sins committed before them and before God, prostrates himself before those gathered, if necessary, supported by two brothers, or kisses them in peace. The agony is accompanied by special symbolism: the five wounds of Christ atone for the sins of the dying person, originating from the five senses. St. Edmond of Canterbury, who died in 1240, having taken his dying communion, washed the five wounds of Christ on his crucifix with water and wine, which served him as a consolation during the last hours of his life, and then made the sign of the cross over the water with which he was washed, and reverently drank it. The monk on duty anointed his eyes, ears, nose, lips, hands, soles of his feet, groin, lower back and even his navel as a means of entry for sin. The lower back, that is, the kidneys, was anointed because they are the seat of voluptuousness in men, just as the navel is in women. So, at least, the monks in Canterbury thought. The dying man communed with the Body and Blood of the Lord, fixing his gaze on the cross.

Ancient collections included questions asked of the dying person, such as the following: “Are you glad to die in the Christian faith, in the robes of a monk?” It was dark and yet exciting. If the agony dragged on, the brethren left, leaving one monk to read about the Passion of the Lord near the bed of the dying man. After death, the body was washed with warm water in a hospital room on a stone specially prepared for this (if the dying person was anointed before death, then he was washed only on the third day). The body was washed from head to toe, with the exception of the private parts, which were covered with a shirt. This procedure was performed by monks of the same rank as the deceased. So, the priest was washed by the priests, the converse was washed by the converse (priests had to wash themselves before celebrating Mass).

The hands of the deceased were joined under the kukol* [Kukol or kugel, gugel, is a medieval hood covering the shoulders, turning into a cape; Warm, comfortable clothing, very popular in the 13th-14th centuries, protects well from the cold and also decorates the head like a halo. (Editor's note)], which would later be sewn up, the hood was lowered over the face. Stockings and shoes were put on; Not a single part of the costume should be loose. All clothing was fumigated with incense and sprinkled with holy water. At Bec Abbey, the clothes and shoes worn by the deceased had to be completely new, never worn before. Among the Carthusians, the body of the deceased was placed directly on the ground, wrapped in white fabric made of coarse wool, which served as a shroud: humility after death, as in life. The body was carried into the church by the same monks who washed it. Monge tells of a cart with a rattle for transporting the dead in the Carthusian monastery in Dijon. All the brethren were located around the coffin (in those monasteries where a coffin was provided) or, as among the Trappists, around the board on which the deceased lay. Two candlesticks were lit - one at the head, where the cross was located, and the other at the feet. All the brethren were inseparably present at the tomb, with the exception of the hours of divine services, chapter, meals and sleep, when the designated monks were awake at the bed of the deceased.

Then the body was interred, which was accompanied by various prayers, reading psalms in accordance with a certain service, which was held differently in different orders in accordance with traditions that had developed over the centuries. The Carthusians burn incense over the grave and sprinkle it with holy water. In Einschem, several coals from a censer are thrown into the grave, and a prayer for remission of sins and the Creed are placed on the chest of the deceased. No flowers. Where there is no coffin, the body is buried directly in the ground, as among the Trappists, or under a wooden lid, as among the Carthusians. The abbot is the first to throw three shovels of earth into the grave. Other monks follow his example and chant prayers until the earth completely covers the body. After the burial (the Trappists kneel and pray to God to be merciful to the deceased and forgive his sins), everyone returns to the monastery and takes off their white robes. The candles are extinguished. The bells fall silent. After his death, the Carthusian is awarded a simple wooden cross on his grave, and an anonymous one. The cemetery is overgrown with grass, for is it worth caring about what was dust and has returned to dust? Occasionally, perhaps in one case in fifty, an order canonizes its deceased monk. Abbots have the right to a stone cross on the grave. The Grande Chartreuse cemetery has 23 such crosses, 17 of which have inscriptions indicating the age of the deceased, the year of death and the duration of his abbot's ministry. On the only one of these crosses, in addition to the information mentioned, is inscribed the saying: “Now are dust and ashes” - a reminder of what remains of a person who was so zealous and active during his life. The cross belongs to the house of Le Masson (1675–1703), of all the Carthusian abbots the closest in spirit to Louis XIV.

Scroll of the Dead

The food intended for the deceased monk was given to the poor, these “guardians of Heaven,” as St. said. Odon. This almsgiving continued in Cluny, Ghirsau, Canterbury for thirty days, and in Germany for a year.

Over the course of thirty days, the monks celebrated a memorial service, as well as seven subsequent masses. Each priest celebrated seven masses. The monks, who were not priests, read the Psalter three times. The illiterate - seven Miserere, and if they don’t even know this, then Pater noster * [“Our Father” (Latin).] seven times. That's what they did at Sov-Majer, in any case. Among the Avellanites, the death of a monk meant seven days of fasting on bread and water, seven disciplines, each with a thousand blows, seven hundred bows and thirty readings of the Psalter. If someone died without following this rule, the survivors shared his responsibilities among themselves. For the Carthusians, in this situation, as in others, simplicity and moderation reign: only reading the Psalter twice and thirty personal masses...

"When a Carthusian dies, his death is announced to the entire order, and, according to ancient tradition, the written notice indicates the age of the deceased, if he was over 80 years old, and the duration of his stay in the monastery, if he spent more than 50 years there" (Grand Chartreuse).

Each order was notified of the death of its member. In order not to write up expensive parchment, they were content with one monk reporting this news, moving from monastery to monastery with one copy of the document. Each monastery expressed its condolences, supporting them in writing with some pious statement or stereotypical formulation, sometimes with laudatory verses addressed to the deceased. Sometimes they indulged in personal reflections. Thus, one nun admitted that “out of love” she imprisoned herself in a dark place and sat on dry bread and water. There is a known case when a certain “fast walker” visited 133 monasteries from Spain to Liege and Maastricht. Condolences after so many visits were placed on a huge scroll, the so-called “scroll of the dead,” more than twenty meters long!

Monasticism, the voluntary renunciation of worldly joys, is an act, a way of life, similar to a feat. It is impossible to hide from any problems in a monastery, and those who cannot find their purpose in worldly life, in most cases do not find it in the monastery. The monks do not refuse shelter to anyone, but true monasticism is the lot of strong-willed women and men. Not every person is able to live hourly according to the laws of mercy and love for one’s neighbor, hard work, strictly observe all the commandments of God, and dissolve in Christianity, forgetting about oneself and renouncing everything worldly.

How does the life of nuns work?

Those who are looking for peace and tranquility, trying to get away from problems, hiding behind the walls of the monastery, as a rule, do not know anything about the nuns in the monastery.

Many women believe that nuns pray from early morning until late at night, seeking salvation and remission of the sins of themselves and all humanity, but this is not so. No more than 4-6 hours are allotted daily for reading prayers, and the rest of the time is devoted to performing certain duties, the so-called obediences. For some of the sisters, obedience consists of doing garden work, some work in the kitchen, and some do embroidery, cleaning, or caring for the sick. The nuns produce and grow everything they need for life themselves.

Novices and nuns are not prohibited from seeking medical help. Moreover, each monastery has a sister with a medical education and some experience in this field.

For some reason, worldly people believe that nuns are limited in communication, both with the outside world and with each other. This opinion is erroneous - sisters are allowed to communicate with each other and with people who have nothing to do with the monastery and the service of the Lord. But idle talk is not welcome; the conversation always comes down to the canons of Christianity, the commandments of God and serving the Lord. In addition, to convey the laws of Christianity and serve as an example of obedience is one of the main duties and unique purpose of a nun.

Watching television programs of secular literature is not encouraged in the monastery, although both are present here. But newspapers and television are perceived by the inhabitants of the monastery not as entertainment, but as a source of information about what is happening outside the walls of their residence.

How to become nuns

Becoming a nun is not as easy as many people think. After entering the monastery, the girl is given time, at least 1 year, to reflect on her choice and become familiar with the life of nuns. Over the course of this year, she goes from pilgrim to laborer.

Pilgrims are not allowed to share meals, do not attend services, and do not communicate with nuns. If the desire to serve God does not disappear during the period of seclusion, then the girl becomes and receives the right to participate in the life of the monastery on an equal basis with all its inhabitants.

After submitting an application for tonsure, at least 3 years pass before the sacrament of initiation occurs and the girl becomes a true nun.

The editors of the Pravoslavie.Ru website continue to publish diplomas of graduates of Sretensky Theological Seminary, which began several years ago. Diplomas of graduates of previous years: Hieromonk John (Ludishchev), Yuri Filippov, Maxim Yanyshevsky and others, who raised important problems for our time and were written with the use of archival materials, aroused great interest among readers of the site. The series of publications of diplomas of SDS graduates is continued by the work of Hierodeacon Nikon (Gorokhov), a 2009 graduate of the Holy Dormition Pskovo-Pechersk Monastery, “Entering monasticism and leaving it” (scientific supervisor - Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin), dedicated to extremely relevant and topical problems of modern church life. At the same time, the author in his work not only relies on the works of the Church Fathers, canonical decrees and studies on the history of the Church, but also takes into account rich experience elders and confessors of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery, the entire structure of monastic life in it.

There is probably not a single person who does not know or see monks, who does not encounter them in churches, monasteries or in everyday life. Many have monks as relatives, and even more people have confessors or simply acquaintances among monastics. The external side of the monks’ activities, thanks to the media, is quite well known, but some side of their life remains completely unknown to the world. This gives rise to either riddles, or common conjectures, or implausible stories.

The opening of many new monasteries and farmsteads in Russia over the past 20 years has led to the fact that these monasteries began to quickly fill with monks and nuns, which in itself is very gratifying. But, on the other hand, premature tonsures, ill-considered entry into monasticism, the real difficulties of reviving monasteries and an acute shortage of experienced confessors led to the fact that monastic monasteries began to quickly fill with inhabitants who were random and poorly prepared. Many took monastic vows thoughtlessly, without calculating their strength, without testing themselves, without reasoning, trusting in fleeting feelings or the persuasion of strangers, and in general, as it turned out, by mistake. This immediately affected the spiritual level of modern Russian monasteries.

Such omissions were not in vain. Many of the monks began to leave the walls of the monasteries and return to the world, completely neglecting the previously given vows. Unfortunately, this process continues to this day. That is why the purpose of this work, in addition to its historical and canonical aspects, is also to help those entering monasticism determine their path in life, and to remind all those accepting monasticism of the high responsibility that they take upon themselves.

Formation of the monastic tradition

What is monasticism, monk, monastery? Every person has to face these questions. But different people completely different, sometimes opposing, opinions about monasticism are formed. These ideas depend on many factors: on religious beliefs and position in society, on education and upbringing, on everyday and religious experience, etc. In photographs, from the pages of magazines and newspapers, from television and cinema screens, the faces of monks flicker every now and then, on the Internet you can find sites dedicated to monasteries and monastics, and, finally, there is a rich patristic writing, where almost everything is said about monasticism, but the trouble is The problem is that most people don’t have enough time for deep research.

The common man, of course, is content with what the media offers him, and sometimes believes that he already knows everything or almost everything about monasticism. Much less common are thoughtful people who begin to read books and special literature on monasticism. And even rarer are those who research the topic to the end, to the primary sources, to the very basics. Usually these people are either the monks themselves, or specialists in the field of monastic writing, church history and culture.

The Holy Fathers call monasticism the science of sciences. Does this mean that monasticism is some kind of secret knowledge, that is, a special kind of science that is taught in monasteries? Or should this expression be understood allegorically? It all depends on who will speak. If a Protestant theologian talks about monasticism and completely denies its value, then we will hear one judgment, but if a person talks about it, he himself past the path monk, then we will hear something completely different.

When equating monastic work with the highest creativity or with a special kind of science, the holy fathers were not mistaken. Because monastic work relates to the most intimate, most important and beautiful thing that is in a person - to his soul. And not only to the soul, but also to the entire composition of man: the education of the spirit, the purification of the soul and the asceticism of the body.

In a word, to the transformation of the whole person, or, as the holy fathers said, to his “deification.”

Who are monks? If we give a definition based on one name, it will mean: a person living alone. But such a definition does not mean anything, because there are many people who live alone, but, alas, there are no monks. The word "monk" contains more than just the life of a solitary person. Here, for example, is what St. John Climacus says: monks are those who are called to imitate the life of ethereal forces, these are those who in all actions must be guided by the testimony of Holy Scripture, these are those who must constantly force themselves to do every good deed, these are those who must keep their feelings from sinful impressions, and their minds from sinful thoughts.

A monk is a warrior of the Heavenly King who fights on the front line and, one might say, in the vanguard. It is impossible to retreat, to leave the field - especially: behind - God and the Kingdom of Heaven, ahead - hordes of invisible enemies and a mortal battle, the length of the battle is a lifetime, at the beginning - renunciation of the world, in the middle - a feat, at the end - a reward or disgrace.

“Monasticism is the assumption of lifelong torment, the perception of the consciousness of a martyr, which, of course, rejoices in the struggle and is never satisfied with what has been achieved.”

This is what the path of monastic life is. These are just allegories, but in life everything is much simpler and more imperceptible, but at the same time more complex. Real monastic life can be very different from what you can read about in books, and everyone who wants to follow this thorny path should definitely know about this. Most often it happens that modern man who comes to the monastery is shocked by the difference that arises between the ideas that have formed about monasticism in his head and the reality that he actually sees: “People often came to the monastery, shocked by something, who did not get along with

the surrounding world

, tired of life's struggles and hardships, disappointed, looking for consolation, peace and spiritual freedom. But when the monastery gates closed behind them, most often they found neither one nor the other, nor the third. For a person, remaining a person, brought his weaknesses and imperfections with him to the monastery... And in the monasteries life went on as usual, very different from secular life, but not in everything coinciding with the ideals of monastic service.”

It is necessary to say a few words about the reasons for the emergence of monasticism in the Orthodox Church. It is known from church history that monasticism as an institution did not arise immediately after the preaching of the Savior, although it is recognized as indisputable that the institution of virgins, which preceded monasticism, arose simultaneously with the Church itself. « It was in the mouth of the Divine Teacher that words sounded that predicted the phenomenon in the Church that was to appear in the future: . For there are eunuchs who were born like this from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who are castrated from people; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven. He who can contain it, let him contain it" (Matthew 19:12)

Of the three types of eunuchs (people deprived of the ability to bear children) listed by the Savior, the last, in the opinion of the holy fathers, indicates monasticism. Thus, monasticism is that type of people who take upon themselves voluntary virginity (abstinence from marital cohabitation) for the sake of acquiring the Kingdom of Heaven.

Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow in “Rules for the improvement of monastic brotherhoods of Moscow stauropegial monasteries” points to the Holy Scripture as the only and absolute basis for monastic vows:

1. one who takes a vow of obedience and renunciation of his own will and his own wisdom must base it on the word of the Lord: “Then Jesus said to His disciples: If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Matthew . 26: 24.);

2. one who takes a vow of chastity must heed the word of Christ: “He who is able to contain, let him contain” (Matthew 19: 12.) - and the word of the Apostle: “He who is not married cares for the Lord, how he may please the Lord.” (1 Cor. 7:32);

Saint Philaret was not the first to claim that this way of life is based on Holy Scripture. For example, Saint Basil the Great, when he was looking for an example of a perfect gospel life, he concluded that it was actually a monastic life.

Saint Ignatius of Caucasus made the same conclusions: “The fulfillment of the Gospel commandments has always been and is now the essence of monastic work and residence”; “true Christianity and true monasticism lies in the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments. Where this fulfillment does not exist, there is neither Christianity nor monasticism, whatever the appearance." And here are the words of St. Macarius of Optina: “What does monasticism mean? The fulfillment of Christianity, which consists in fulfilling the commandments of God, is also the love of God: if anyone loves Me, he will keep My word (John 14:23), said the Lord.” Or here is the opinion of the rector of the Athonite monastery of Simonopetra, Archimandrite Emilian, our contemporary: “The monastic community is the most vivid embodiment of evangelical perfection, achieved through renunciation of everything, daily erection of one’s cross and following the Lord. First of all, such a community is a search for the Kingdom of God, and everything else will be added from God.”

Tradition of the Orthodox Church includes the holy Forerunner of the Lord John, the holy prophet, among the founders of monasticism Elijah of God, the holy apostle and evangelist John the Theologian, the Most Pure Virgin Mary. For Christians they have been and will be examples of complete dedication to God. But as a mass phenomenon, with its own charters, orders and a very special philosophy of life, monasticism appeared at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th centuries. Until this time, the Church knew only isolated cases of asceticism, when, out of a desire for perfection, some Christians took vows of virginity or voluntary poverty, and some devoted their lives to unceasing prayer or all kinds of abstinence

.

Various reasons contributed to the emergence of monastic communities. Some historians, for example, even name the persecutions themselves that befell the Church by the pagan authorities. In particular, the persecution that began under the Roman Emperor Decius (249-251). It prompted many to flee to desert places, including ascetics. These ascetics who remained to live in the desert began to be called anchorites, or heremits. Soon the persecution ended, and Emperor Constantine the Great came to power in Rome, who declared freedom of religion for all religions on the territory of the Roman Empire (Edict of Milan; 313) and, first of all, for Christians. "After a long struggle with the Church, the empire finally capitulated" . And by the end of the 4th century, Christianity was finally established as

official religion

Roman Empire. But the main impetus for the emergence and development of such a strange and unusual community as monasticism became was not persecution, but just the opposite - the sudden peace and prosperity of the Church. The mass monastic movement arose as a reaction to the secularization of the Church and church society. Many pagans flowed into the Church, which began to be filled with neophytes. If by the arrival of Constantine the Great the number of inhabitants of the empire who professed Christianity, according to modern historians, ranged from 7 to 10% of the total population of the empire, then by the end of the 4th century there were already more than 50%. Many became loyal to Orthodoxy, looking at the emperor, and some came to the Church for selfish (opportunistic) reasons, for a speedy career advancement. The empire, however, continued to live its usual life, which meant that many pagan customs continued to exist. For example, horse racing was often held in stadiums, and theatrical performances in amphitheaters, the authors of which were pagans. Various festivals in honor of numerous pagan gods amused and entertained the population of the empire. .

Kinovia - an ideal Christian hostel

With the massive arrival of pagans in the Church, morals in Christian communities began to decline, and as a reaction to this secularization, the opposite process began to occur - the separation and isolation of communities of ascetics who desired moral perfection. “Ascetics began to move away from cities and villages to desert places and forests”.

This is how the first monasteries and monastic communities began to form. “At its origin, monasticism was not an official church institution, but a spontaneous movement, an impulse, and it was precisely lay movement“,” emphasizes Archpriest Georgy Florovsky in his work “Empire and Desert”

. . It was the laity who longed for the fulfillment of Christian ideals on earth and did not want to put up with the licentiousness of morals within Christian communities; it was they who, by leaving for the desert, wanted to emphasize the idea of ​​the otherworldliness of the Church, relying on the words of the Apostle Paul: “We are not imams of the city that abides here, but we seek the one to come.” (Heb. 13:14). .

The Monk John Cassian the Roman describes the formation of the first cenobitic monasteries from the words of Abba Piammon (in his 18th interview “On the Three Ancient Kinds of Monks,” Chapter 5): “So, the kind of life of the Cenobites began from the time of the apostolic sermon. For such were the whole multitude of believers in Jerusalem.”

The Monk Piammon believes that the formation of cenobitic monasteries was modeled on the first Christian community that arose in Jerusalem during the time of the apostles. He says that over time, after the death of the apostles, gradually the first zeal among Christians began to disappear, and it was replaced by coldness and indifference, but not everyone wanted to be like that. Those who wanted to live according to the Gospel and not make any concessions to the world, gradually began to move further and further into deserted places and form hostels similar to the early Christian community. Communities of such zealous Christians began to be called konovii, and their inhabitants - konovites

The ideas of the emergence of such communities as the “early Christian community” and the “strict cenobitic monastery” were absolutely the same, because the life of all members of the community was built exclusively on the Gospel commandments, but the historical origin of the cenovites was somewhat different from that of the early Christian community. However, we can assume that both were the result of God’s Providence. In all three named areas, monasticism arose independently of each other, but Egyptian monasticism is considered the oldest. The founder of Egyptian monasticism is considered Venerable Anthony the Great . As early as 285, he withdrew into the depths of the desert to Mount Colisma. In Thebaid, he “founded the monastery of Pisper and a number of other monastic settlements, which continue to exist after his blessed death.” Another strong center of monastic life formed in the Nitrian desert. Its true founder should be considered the Venerable Ammonius of Nitria, who came to this place around 320. Not far from the Nitrian Mountain there was a desert called “Cells”, where Macarius of Alexandria (city) labored, and even further from the Nitrian Mountain there was the “Skeet” desert, founded by the Monk Macarius the Great (of Egypt) in 330. Around the same time (c. 323-324) Venerable Pachomius the Great founded the first communal monastery in a place called Tavennisi, on the banks of the Nile River, in its middle course. In Palestine the founders of monasticism were.

Venerable Chariton the Confessor . - builder of the Faran Lavra (330s) and St. Hilarion the Great - builder of the Lavra at Mayum (338). In Syria -

Venerable James of Nizibia

and his student

When monasticism greatly increased in number and became a massive new phenomenon in the Roman Empire, then the imperial administration had a need to regulate the lives of such a large number of people (the inhabitants of many Egyptian monasteries numbered in the thousands), living according to different laws than the majority of the inhabitants of the Empire lived.

These laws began to appear from the pens of emperors, but this began to happen much later - somewhere in the 6th century.

Initially, the monastics themselves began to develop certain rules, which they considered necessary to maintain order in their ever-increasing ranks. With name St. Anthony The Great is bound by the rules developed by the monk for his monks and the so-called “Spiritual Instructions.” They were first published in 1646 by the Western scientist Abraham of Angelen. For this work, the author chose from these

those rules

which relate to entering (and leaving) monasticism. For example, canon XV, as edited by Abraham of Angelenos, states the following: “If temptation occurs because of any young man who has not yet put on the monastic robe, then do not put on him; he should be thrown out of the monastery.” The expression (“do not clothe”) is addressed to the abbot of the monastery, who alone has the power to admit or refuse admission to the monastery. The abbot had every right to expel from the monastery those who gave rise to temptation. Since the moral level of monasticism at that time was very high, the requirements for candidates were very high.

In the monastery of St. Anthony, the monks wore their own special attire, which distinguished them from the laity. “They put it on when entering the monastery as monks who had irrevocably renounced the world and forever decided to connect their lives with the monastery. They were deprived of their monastic attire when, for one reason or another, they had to return to the world." Such simple rules

receptions to the monastery of the Monk Anthony existed first in oral tradition or in oral tradition, and then, after the death of the founder of monasticism, they were committed to writing and came down to us.

Consent to be accepted into the ranks of the monastery brethren was determined by the abbot solely according to his own conviction as to whether the famous person was capable of leading an ascetic lifestyle or not. From the life of St. Paul the Simple, one can see how easy the test was during admission to the monastery under St. Anthony.

“Antony did all this in order to test Paul’s patience and obedience. And he did not grumble at all about this, but with zeal and diligence he carried out all the commands of Anthony. Finally, Anthony became convinced of Paul’s ability to live in the desert and said to him: “Now you have already become a monk in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Paul began to asceticize not far from the Monk Anthony. He did not pronounce any solemn vows. No hair cutting, no solemn vows, no solemn renunciation of the world, no change of name and dress were required of the first monks. All that was needed was firm determination, confirmed by deeds. The very first difference between monks and clergy and laity was, of course, their way of life. Very soon differences in clothing appeared. . The Arabic version of the life says in this place that Palamon tested Pachomius for three months before putting him in monastic robes (τό σχήμα τών μοναχών).”

It is difficult to say exactly what this clothing was, but one must think that Saint Pachomius, when he became the abbot of many monasteries, took as a model for the clothing of monks the clothes in which Abba Palamon himself dressed him.

Among the first to compile written rules of monastic life were St. Pachomius the Great and St. Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. These rules formed the basis of almost all subsequent monastic regulations. They have reached our time. And already in them we see how the issues of entering monasticism are resolved and how leaving it is sharply condemned.

If earlier, before the formation of the strict cenovic structure of monasteries, anyone could consider himself a monk if he lived in solitude and worked in piety, then with the emergence of community life, rituals appeared indicating that this or that person, entering the monastic brotherhood, pledged to lead another Lifestyle. In order to somehow indicate this otherness, signs were established by which the life of a monk differed from life in the world. Firstly, these were internal regulations, which were called monastic vows, and secondly, external differences were also accepted (in clothing, food and behavior), distinguishing monks from the laity: //theolcom.ru/doc/sacradoc/4_08_Polskov. pdf. Savva, Archbishop Tverskoy and Kashinsky

. A collection of opinions and reviews of Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna, on educational and church-state issues. St. Petersburg, 1885. T. 3. P. 419. Sagarda N.I.

Lectures on patrolology of the 1st–4th centuries. M., 2004. P. 639. Ignatius (Brianchaninov)

, St. Collection of creations: In 6 volumes. T.4. An offering to modern monasticism. M., 2004. P. 71. Macarius of Optina,

Rev. Soulful teachings / Comp. archim. John (Zakharchenko). M., 2006. P. 330. Emilian

, archim. Words and instructions. M., 2006. P. 205. “This is quite clear to me from the fact that even the image of monastic life was unknown to the divine and holy apostles” (Rules of the Saints Ecumenical Councils

with interpretations. Tutaev, 2001. Part 1. P. 698). “All these hermits and even their communities, due to their small numbers and lack of popularity, for the most part did not completely break with the previous way of life and did not influence the development of worship” ( Skaballanovich

“Before the Monk Anthony, hermits were not uncommon, but they labored near their villages, so that the monk did not yet know the great desert” (Ibid. p. 198).

Florovsky G., prot. Dogma and history. M., 1998. P. 262.

“Social life in the Roman Empire, full of pagan memories and customs, was especially dangerous for the salvation of the soul, therefore the zealots of Christian perfection retired to the desert and there founded a new community, completely Christian” ( Sidorov A.I. At the origins of the culture of holiness. Orthodox monasticism and asceticism in research and monuments: Monuments of ancient church ascetic and monastic writing. M., 2002. P.16).

Suvorov N. Church law course. Yaroslavl, 1890. T. 2. P. 366.

Florovsky G., prot. Dogma and history. P. 276.

“They... due to the severity of their lonely and solitary life, were called monks, living together. From this it followed that, based on their joint residence, they were called Cenobites, and their cells and residence were called Cenobites" ( John Cassian the Roman, Rev. Scriptures. M., 1993. P. 498).

“Monasticism spread throughout the ancient Christian world from one common root, which is Egyptian monasticism” (see: Palmov N. Consecration into monasticism. Orders of monastic vows in the Greek Church. Kyiv, 1914) .

“In its homeland, in Egypt, monasticism arose first in the form of hermitic asceticism, and then appeared in the form of communal asceticism. Representatives of hermit monasticism were Rev. Pavel of Thebes and Rev. Anthony the Great" (See: Ibid.).

Sidorov A.I. At the origins of the culture of holiness. P. 17.

Right there. P. 18.

Right there. P. 19.

“The main founder of monastic life in the West was St. Benedict, Count of Nursia, who founded many monasteries, of which one, under the name of Monte Cassino, near Naples, was considered as the founder monastery and drew up the charter of the monastic community" ( Suvorov N. Church law course. P. 367) .

“They lived among the rest of the members of the Church, without any special rights and obligations assigned to them by the Church and considering their lives only with those strict moral requirements that they set for themselves” (Ibid. p. 366) .

“Once it appeared, asceticism could not help but develop and grow not only in volume, but also in degree and strength” ( Skaballanovich M. Explanatory Typikon. P. 201) .

“This mountain was already densely populated by monks, for Palladium counts them as approx. 5000"; “in the city of Oxyrhynchus there were 20,000 nuns, in the city of Antinoe there were 12 women’s monasteries”; “this monastery, not mentioned in Greek sources, by the time of Shenoute’s death (466) had become one of the most famous and populous in Egypt: it had more than 2,000 inhabitants” ( Nikodim (Milos), ep. Orthodox church law. St. Petersburg, 1897. P. 652) .

With the emergence of monasticism, a special way of life appeared in the Church. However, this does not mean that a new ethics will be created at the same time. The Church does not have a separate ethics for the laity and a separate one for the monastics, and similarly does not distinguish between these two categories of people in relation to their obligations to God. The Christian life is common to everyone. The common attribute of all Christians is to “be and be called Christ’s.” That is, they trace their existence and name to Christ. This means that only one who relies on Christ in his life and behavior can be called a real and genuine Christian. However, doing this while living in the world seems difficult.

View of the Athos Peninsula from the top of Mount Athos. Photo by Pavel Ryskov.

In monasticism an attempt is made to accomplish with special diligence what is difficult to accomplish in the world. A monk strives in spiritual life for the same goals that any believer should strive for, namely: to live in accordance with the commandments of God. The basic principles of monasticism, in fact, coincide with the basic principles of life of all believers. And this becomes more noticeable in the first centuries of the history of the Church, even before the emergence of the institution of monasticism.

In addition, the Christian life was from the very beginning associated with self-denial and sacrifice: “If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Christ demands complete self-sacrifice from a person: “Whoever loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and whoever loves a son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”

Finally, from the very beginning, members of the Church improved in fervent and unceasing prayer, obedience to the shepherds of the Church, love and submission of themselves to others, as well as all the basic monastic virtues in general.

Of course, a monk and one who lives in marriage lead two different lifestyles. But this in no way affects their overall responsibility before God and the fulfillment of His commandments. In the one and indivisible body of the Church of Christ, everyone has their own special gift. Every way of life, whether married or monastic, is equally dependent on the absolute will of God. Therefore, one cannot perceive any way of life as an excuse to neglect or selectively respond to the call of Christ or to neglect or selectively fulfill His commandments. In both cases, asceticism and an ascetic attitude are required.

On this point, Saint John Chrysostom is especially categorical, who says: “You are very mistaken and deceived if you think that something different is required from a layman, and another from a monk; the difference between them is that one marries and the other does not, but in everything else they are subject to the same responsibility... All people should ascend to the same height; This is precisely what has distorted the entire universe, that we think that only the monastic needs greater severity of life, while others can live carelessly.” Speaking about the observance of specific Gospel commandments, he notes that he who is angry with his brother in vain, whether he is a layman or a monk, equally offends God, and he who looks at a woman with lust, whether he is one or the other, is equally guilty. Here the holy father notes that a layman is less excusable in this passion. And in general, according to the saint’s remark, Christ, when giving the commandments, did not distinguish between people: “he does not give the name of either a layman or a monk: such a distinction was introduced by the human mind.”

The commandments of Christ require a strict life, which we often attribute only to monks, from all believers. The requirement of decent behavior, chastity, condemnation of wealth and advice to be unassuming, avoidance of idle talk and an indication of sacrificial love are addressed not only to monks, but to all believers.

Finally, renunciation of worldly ways of thinking is the responsibility not only of monks, but of all Christians. Believers should not think about worldly things, but live like strangers and strangers, with their minds directed towards God. The homeland is not on earth, but in the heavenly kingdom: “for we do not have a permanent city here, but we are looking for the future.” can be characterized as a society of origin, and the world is the place of its temporary residence. Its purpose is the Kingdom of God. Like the Israelites, who, freed from Egypt, went to Jerusalem, encountering many difficulties and undergoing many trials along the way, Christians, freed from slavery to sin, march through many difficulties and trials to the heavenly kingdom.

This exodus from the world took place primarily not in the sense of a change of place, but in the sense of a change in lifestyle. Just as the departure from God and turning to the world was not a change in “place”, but in the “way of life,” because it was and continues to be everywhere and fill everything, so turning away from the world and turning to God is understood primarily as a change way of life, not place of residence. This is especially well reflected in the life of Christians in the first centuries. While in the world, they were fully aware that they were not of the world and did not belong to it: “in the world, but not of the world.” And those who also lived in virginity and non-covetousness, which later became the fundamental principles of monastic life, did not leave human society and did not retire to the mountains.

Removal from the world in the sense of a change of place occurs in order to facilitate removal in the sense of a change in lifestyle. Experience teaches that it is more difficult for a person to be saved in the world. As St. Basil the Great notes, it is harmful to live in society with people who are fearless and contemptuous of the obligation to strictly fulfill the commandments. Yes, and responding to the call of Christ - to take up your cross and follow Him - while living in the world, is more difficult, if not impossible, to fulfill. Looking at the multitude of people living lawlessly, such a person not only does not realize his sins and does not repent of them, but, on the contrary, through comparing himself with the worst, he acquires some kind of dreamy concept of his own merits. And then the turmoil and worries of worldly life distract a person from remembering God, and not only do not allow him to feel the joy of communication with God, but also lead to neglect and oblivion of the will of God.

This does not mean that escape from the world guarantees a person’s salvation, but it is a positive and auxiliary factor. When a person completely cleaves to God and follows His will, nothing can prevent his salvation. Saint John Chrysostom notes the following on this occasion: “Nothing prevents anyone who wants to be sober from acquiring virtue, but he is allowed to wear a mantle, and a belt, and have a wife, and have care for children, and take care of servants, and, having laid the foundation of virtue, stick very closely to it.” And the Monk Simeon the New Theologian notes that “even the center of the city does not prevent us from fulfilling the commandments of God if we are diligent and sober, and if we are careless and carefree, then neither solitude nor withdrawal from the world helps.” Elsewhere, he again says that it is possible for everyone: not only monks, but also laymen “to constantly and consistently repent, cry and pray to God, and through such actions to acquire all other virtues.”

At the top of Mount Athos. Photo by Egor Apenko.

Christian monasticism from the very beginning was associated with silence, which is understood, first of all, as internal state. And external silence is necessary for an easier and more perfect achievement of the internal. Silence is not inaction and idleness, but wakefulness and active spiritual activity. This is intense wakefulness and complete clinging to God. By retiring to places where outer silence reigns and visiting himself there, the monk gets to know himself better, fights his passions more decisively and more fully purifies his heart in order to be able to get closer to God and see Him.

Monastic life with departure from the world in the sense of a change of place and removal into the desert began around the middle of the third century. The flight of Christians into the desert during this period was also caused by the cruel persecution of the Romans. The development of monasticism, noted since the era of Constantine the Great, is explained mainly by the refusal of many believers to adapt to the beginning of the secularization of the Church and their desire to live the Christian life more consistently. Thus, monasticism simultaneously appears in different areas of the south-eastern Mediterranean, in Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria, Cyprus and very soon reaches Asia Minor and, finally, Europe. However, in the second millennium the center Orthodox monasticism became Holy Mount Athos.

Monasticism on Athos in its development repeated in general outline development of eastern monasticism. Today, this place, where desert and communal monasticism meets, preserves all the basic forms that Christian monasticism has revealed throughout its long history.

The most familiar and safe way of monastic life is communal. Today all twenty monasteries of Holy Mount Athos are communal. In a community monastery, everything is common: shelter, food, work, prayer, labor, worries, struggle and exploits. The leader and spiritual father of the cenobitic monks is the abbot. The exhortation to the abbot, present in the Rule of St. Athanasius of Athos, is characteristic: “Make sure that everything that the brethren have is common and indivisible, and no one possesses anything separately, down to the needle, but let it be divided equally in love among all your spiritual children, brothers and fathers.” The monastic community represents an ideal Christian society, where there is no distinction between “mine” and “yours,” but everything is aimed at developing a common way of thinking and a fraternal spirit. In the first place in a communal monastery is the subordination of each member to the abbot and the brotherhood, brotherly love, mutual assistance and hospitality. As the monk notes, the entire community of the faithful should in fact become one communal community. After all, this is precisely what the communal spirit of the Orthodox Church prescribes. The monastic community represents the most consistent attempt to realize it.

Kathismas, cells, kalivas, monasteries and hesychastiriums depend on twenty Athonite monasteries. In these institutions subordinate to monasteries, monastic life has a more hesychast orientation.

Kathismas are associated directly with the monasteries and are used by the brethren of the monastery for greater silence. A few brotherhoods live in cells and kalivas, which are small monastic settlements. They indulge in silence, remain in obedience to their elder and support their existence by doing agriculture and handicrafts.

On Holy Mount Athos there are twelve hermitages, which are also dependent on monasteries. In the monasteries, which can be considered corresponding to the most ancient laurels, there is a common temple - Kyriakon and general management carried out by a dike. And a silent life reigns in them, deeply permeated with a communal spirit. The monastery's kalivas usually do not receive guests; this is the business of the dikey and his closest assistants.

And finally, life in hesychastics is characterized by complete silence. They are located in secluded places of the Athos Peninsula and, above all, in its more southern tip. Initially, hermits formed the core around which the first monastic communities were formed. But even after communal monasticism was formed, hermits continued to exist in the body of the Church, mainly as charismatic personalities. However, cenobitic monasteries and monastic communities became places of training for hermits. With its 41st rule, the Council of Trulla established as a condition for removal to the desert a minimum three-year stay in the monastery. And today, the hermits of Svyatogorsk, before completely abandoning themselves to silent desert life, live for several years in monasteries or in cells and kalivas as novices to the elders.

By escaping from the world, monasticism emphasizes the position of the Church as an “anti-society” in the world, and through pronounced spiritual asceticism it cultivates its eschatological attitude. Monastic life is called the “angelic life,” that is, a life that on earth follows the heavenly life as a model. This also includes virginity or celibacy. It prefigures the state of people in the future life, where “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but remain like the Angels of God in heaven.”

Many consider celibacy to be the main sign of monastic life. This opinion also conveys the idea that existed in the Church from the very beginning about the identity of Christian life and the fact that the Gospel commandments are addressed to everyone without exception. However, this does not mean that celibacy is the most important element of monastic life. Simply what constitutes a feature of monastic life and consists, in essence, of celibacy. All other vows, even the other two monastic vows: obedience and non-covetousness, essentially concern all believers. Naturally, it goes without saying that within the framework of monastic life all this takes on a special form. But that doesn't get to the point.

The exact fulfillment of God's commandments is the common responsibility of all Christians. But this requires asceticism. Fallen human nature is not ready to take on this responsibility, because it is enslaved by passions. It seeks sensual pleasures and avoids the suffering that is required to combat passions and selfishness. Monastic life is structured in such a way as to facilitate the exercise of asceticism. And, on the contrary, worldly life, especially in a modern secular society, makes it difficult to practice asceticism. The disadvantage of the Christian living in the world is that he is called to achieve the same goal while in an unfavorable secular environment.

Monastic tonsure is called “second baptism.” However, baptism is one and common for all members of the Church. This is participation in the death and resurrection of Christ. Monastic tonsure does not repeat, but renews and makes it possible to better understand one baptism. And the vows that are given at tonsure, in essence, do not differ from those that are given at baptism, except, of course, the vow of celibacy. After all, tonsure is performed during baptism.

Monastic life is an indicator of perfection. However, everything is called to perfection. All believers, laymen and monks, are called to perfection according to the example of God: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” But while monastic life is consistent with the radicalism of Christian life, secular life is content with the usual approach to it. Thus, the formal morality of Christians living in the world, on the one hand, and the radical morality of monks, on the other, create a dialectical difference that takes on the appearance of a dialectical contradiction.

Contrasting monastic life with worldly life, St. Maximus the Confessor notes that the successes of the laity are failures for monks, just as the successes of monks are failures for the laity: “The successes of worldly people are disasters for monks, and the successes of monks are disasters for worldly people. The successes of the laity consist in wealth, fame, strength, pleasures, obesity, having many children and similar things, into which a monk perishes. The successes of a monk are non-covetousness, dishonor, powerlessness, abstinence, suffering, deprivation, and the like; Having involuntarily been exposed to something, a peace-lover considers it a great misfortune, and is often close to the danger of throwing a noose around his neck, and some have done so.” .

Of course, this contrast is drawn between the perfect monk and the secular Christian. Naturally, in an ordinary church situation the same things happen differently. However, this difference cannot reach extremes. Thus, for example, it cannot be said that wealth or fame are equally destructive for both monks and lay people. In any case, they have a negative effect on monks, because they conflict with their chosen way of life. For the laity, they can act positively, although they are accompanied by serious dangers. The existence of the family, as well as, more generally, secular society with his various needs is not only justified, but sometimes forced to accumulate money and occupy high positions. What can help unite secular society divides the monastic community. Ultimately, the ultimate unifying factor is Christ himself.

Christian life is built not only on the basis of human efforts, but, above all, on the grace of God. Namely: asceticism in all its forms and manifestations sets as its goal nothing more than preparing a person to harmonize his will with the will of God and accept the grace of the Holy Spirit. This agreement reaches its highest expression and perfection in prayer. “Through true prayer our entry into the Divine Being is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit.” brings a person to his archetype and makes him a true personality like his Creator.

The grace of Christian life is not in its external patterns: neither in asceticism, nor in fasting, nor in vigil, nor in suffering. And when they also acquire an independent existence and are perceived on their own, they become disgusting. And their disgusting character is no longer limited to their external form, but penetrates into their internal content. They do not become disgusting only because outwardly they look like a denial of life, contempt for material goods or self-denial, but also because they kill the spirit, support egoism and develop self-justification.

The Christian life is not a denial, but a state. This is not death, but life. And this is not just a state and life, but the only true state and the only true life. This is the only true state because it goes beyond any possibility of denial. And this is the only true life, because it leaves death behind. The negation that Christian life manifests in its external forms is due precisely to its desire to stand outside of any accusation of lies on the part of people. Since there is no human condition that does not end in negation, since any earthly life ends in death, he creates his position and manifests his life by accepting any human negation and agreeing with any type of earthly death.

The dynamic of the Christian life is in the hope of resurrection. And the purpose of asceticism is to participate in the resurrection. Monastic life, like angelic or heavenly life, which is found in history, precedes and anticipates eternal life, which destroys corruption. She does not strive to put off the human principle, but to put on incorruptibility and immortality: “for we, being in this hut, groan under a burden, because we do not want to be put off, but to be clothed, so that the mortal may be swallowed up with life.”

The presence of sin causes a groan. The pain remains about liberation from passions and restoration of purity of heart. This requires asceticism. But this is necessarily clothed in a negative form, because it is aimed at destruction. It is tiring and painful because it is associated with conditions and habits that have become our second nature. However, thanks to this destruction, this self-purification, man makes room for the manifestation and action of God's grace. If the heart is not cleansed, then God will not appear.

Monks “watch the place.” They choose self-restraint in space in order to improve there in the spiritual freedom that Christ offered. They focus on the area of ​​death in order to live more intensely in anticipation of new life. They come to terms with the space where a person perishes, who decays in time, they feel this space as their own body, transform it into and orient it towards the Kingdom of God.

The monk's path to perfection occurs in stages and is associated with successive renunciations, which come down to three. The first renunciation is accomplished through complete abandonment of the world. This is not limited to just the things of the world, but also includes people and parents. The second renunciation consists of abandoning personal will, and the third is liberation from vanity, which is identified with liberation from the power of the world.

These successive renunciations do not have a negative, but a positive meaning. They are necessary for the full disclosure of man and his perfection as a person “in the image and likeness” of God. When a person frees himself from the world and from himself, he expands limitlessly. Becomes a true personality that “contains” all of humanity in itself according to the example of Christ. After all, this is precisely why, on a moral level, a Christian is called to love all people, even his enemies. And then God Himself comes to him and dwells in him, and man in this case acquires the fullness of divine-human existence. This is the greatness of the human personality and it explains the superhuman feats that are required of it to achieve perfection.

Monastic life is a path of constant spiritual ascent. While the world moves in a horizontal direction, and believers, with all their worldly obligations and worries, try to stay within the institutional framework of the church tradition along this path, monasticism turns in a different direction - vertical. It pushes aside the ordinary and seeks the absolute. It takes flight or exodus from the world in order to directly reach the Kingdom of God. But this is the goal of the Church.

In the tradition of the Church, this path is symbolically depicted as a staircase leading to heaven. Not everyone manages to reach the top of this spiritual ladder. Many are in its first stages. Others rise higher. And finally, there are those who break down and fall from a more or less high level. But the most important thing here is not the level at which a person is, but the efforts he makes to constantly rise. It should be noted that this ascent is carried out with ever-increasing humility, that is, constantly descending lower and lower. “Keep your mind in hell and do not despair,” so said God to the Monk Silouan of Athos. When a person descends into the hell of his inner struggle, having God within himself, then he rises and becomes complete.

At the top of the spiritual ladder there are “fools for Christ’s sake,” as the Apostle Paul called himself and the other apostles, or “fools for Christ’s sake,” who “for the love of Christ pretend to be mad and mock all the vanity of the world.” The search for human glory, as Christ says, hinders faith in God. Only when a person gives up vanity can he overcome the world and cleave to God.

In the life of monks, a Christian sees an example of people who took the Christian faith seriously and voluntarily committed themselves to follow the path to which Christ calls every person. Not all of them achieved perfection. However, everyone made an effort and ascended to some level. Not everyone has the same talents. But everyone worked as good and faithful slaves. They are not always cited as role models, especially by the laity. But this example is a precious pointer to the path to perfection, which is common to all and has as its pinnacle the perfection of God.

Thanks to asceticism and prayer, Athonite monasticism has unlimited horizons for improvement and true reward for man. As a model of Christian society, Athonite monasticism, with its structure, enriches the lives of believers and strengthens them in spiritual deeds. Its presence, as “the city on the top of the mountain,” is of fundamental importance to the Church and the whole world. Namely, modern postmodern society, which is experiencing decay and disorder in its midst, can find in Holy Mount Athos both the spirit and the forces that will lead to unity and the acquisition of meaning in human life.