“True Christianity and true monasticism consists in the practice of the commandments of the Gospel. Where this practice is absent, there is neither Christianity nor monasticism, whatever the outward appearance may be.” – The Arena (An Offering to Contemporary Monasticism)
Monasticism is not specifically Christian, yet Christian monasticism has existed since the beginnings of Christianity. Christian monasticism is an ancient tradition dating back to the first century, established in the undivided Church, and belonging to the Christian East and West alike.
Christian monasticism has been considered a microcosm of the Church and a symbolic synthesis of Christianity. It has been the barometer of the spiritual life of the Mystical Body of Christ, and a reference point for all the baptized––a perpetual reminder of what is essential and has primacy in the life of every Christian: to seek Christ and to put nothing ahead of His love. “Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and his justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
The influence of this inspired movement has been so great that its quality of life and measure of stature have been equated with those of the Church as a whole: in the state that monastics existed, so existed the Church. Thus, as the Church is the “soul” of society, so monastics are the “soul” of the Church.
Monastics manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Though their conversation and communion with God is hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the monastic––whether through private intercession or public example––is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because He is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One.
In this sense, monasticism––where God’s call is total––has served in preserving the purity and vitality of the early Church we read about in the New Testament and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, and the vigilance of the Age of Martyrs, when Christianity was literally a matter of life and death, and the giving of one’s life was the defining mark of one’s faith in Jesus Christ and fidelity to the His teachings.
In fact, when the Church secured its temporal status––with free access to the pursuits and pleasures of this world––many Christians fled to the desert to be with God in the wilderness, and to perpetuate this imitation of the life and passion of Christ through spiritual warfare and a martyrdom of spirit. For these Christians were more fearful of a peace that might be gratifying to the senses than they had ever been of the persecution of tyrants. Thus it is no longer the pagan world that fights to eliminate the martyr; it is the monastic that takes up the attack and eliminates the world from his being.
MONASTICISM