DESERT CHRISTIANIITY

(Athanasius, Life of Antony; Current scholarship; Forgiveness; Finding Identity in God; Growing a Self or Soul; Jesus Prayer or Prayer of the Heart)

Outline

1. Athanasius was one of the foremost theologians and bishops of the 4th century Church. A. As Bishop of Alexandria, he opposed the heresy called Arianism. B. His The Life of Antony is one of the earliest and greatest classics of Christian asceticism. C. He had political and ecclesiastical reasons for writing it. D. Athanasius also wrote On the Incarnation (De incarnacione). Jesus is the Logos, the Word, who in-forms human beings. Something of the divine nature is imparted. “The Word became man that we might become divine.” 2. The Apophthegmata (Sayings of the Desert Fathers) are primary texts for understanding the desert tradition. It is important to recognize that they are historical texts (not just wisdom sayings). A. They were edited numerous times, taking their final form in the 6th century. B. The goals of the editors were hagiographic (creating saints) and apologetic (building up the Church and its doctrine). C. Douglas Burton-Christie’s work, The Word in the Desert. 1. Pay attention to the material, social world out of which the texts arose. 2. Realize that, with regard to them, spirituality must include issues of class, gender, race, and economic inequality. D. Peter Brown’s The Cult of the Saints: the church created saints and their holy places for political and ecclesiastical reasons. E. Palladius’ Lausiac History and Rufinus’ Historia monachorum F. Pervasive influence of the desert tradition: Celtic spirituality; hermits (like Richard Rolle) and anchorites (like Julian of Norwich); Ignatius of Loyola gathers and codifies ancient monastic principles; Dietrich Bonhoeffer insisted on ascetic practice for distinguishing between “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” (Discipleship) G. In the ancient world, the practice of religious leadership depended on a prior practice of the presence of God (Jesus Prayer and Prayer of the Heart) and practice of holiness (apatheia, agape, embodying scripture, focus on the sacraments) through ascetic practices (fasting, vigils, etc.). George Demacopolous, Five Models of Spiritual Direction in the Ancient Church. H. Ascetic practices create a new personal and communal identity. Margaret Miles, Practicing Christianity. "When people are hungry, they stretch out toward something; while they are stretching, they are enlarged; while they are enlarged, they become capacious, and when they have become capacious enough, they will be filled in due time." (Augustine,On the Usefulness of Fasting, 1) I. Vow of Stability: fundamental decision to be where and who I am. . “Go. Sit in your cell and give your body in pledge to the walls.” You have to promise yourself to yourself and to your actual environment, as if you were settling a proposal of marriage.” Rowan Williams, Where God Happens. J Women in the Desert. Not a good deal is known. Some were spiritually directed by bishops; others not. Some were very independent figures, women of real spiritual weight and authority (Amma Syncletica, Macrina).

3. Roberta Bondi is a serious scholar who approaches the texts in special ways. A. Memorize them. B. Use them to grow a soul. C. Use them in pastoral counseling. D. Her article: “Becoming Bearers of Reconciliation,” Weavings, Vol. 5, No. 1. E. John Patton develops a similar argument, based on Heinz Kohut’s self psychology, in Is Human Forgiveness Possible? F. It is necessary to grow a soul in order to forgive; you can’t forgive when your soul has been annihilated..

3. Abba Alonius, “If a [person] does not say in his [or her] heart, in the world there is only myself and God, [that person] will not gain peace.” “All acts of forgiveness…stem from our knowing that our most fundamental identity does not come from others at all but from God.” (Bondi)

4. The discovery of our own soul and its wholeness in God concerns our communities, not just ourselves. Moreover, it has bearing on our ability to lead others.

5. Abba Poemen’s brethren said to him, “let us leave this place, for the monasteries here worry us and we are losing our souls; even the little children who cry do not let us have interior peace.” Abba Poemen said to them, “Is it because of the voices of angels that you wish to go away from here?”

Peace (apatheia) is a disposition of the heart. It does not mean “resting tranquilly in God’s hands while the anguish of everyday life passes by without leaving any traces.”

6. A brother going to market asked Abba Poemen, “How do you advise me to behave?” The old man said to him, “Make friends with anyone who tries to bully you and sell your produce in peace.” “Peace is God’s gift to us, but it is a gift to be shared for the reconciliation of the world.”

7. The passions prevent us from growing a soul. Evagrius of Ponticus’ “Eight Evil Thoughts”: gluttony, impurity, avarice, sadness, anger, acedia, vainglory, and last of all, pride.

8. Perfectionism, judgmentalism, and despair.

9. A soldier asked Abba Mios if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things he said, “Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?” He replied, “No, I mend it and use it again.” The old man said to him, “If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about {God’s} creature?”

10. There was another holy man living the solitary life in the desert. The demons pressed in upon him, surrounded him for a period of two weeks, tossing him up in the air and letting him fall on a mattress. Yet in no wise were they able to cause him to leave off his ardent prayer. (Evagrius Ponticus, Chapters on Prayer, Ch. 111)

11. A brother said to Abba Anthony, “Pray for me.” The old man said to him, “I will have no mercy upon you, nor will God have any, if you yourself do not make an effort and if you do not pray to God.” We must make an effort to seek our true identity in God and ask for it with persistence.

12. Need for scripture reading, introspection, and action that is consonant with one’s praying.

11. Thomas Merton on the importance of the spiritual director, the abba or amma. Idea that the spiritual father actually engenders the Holy Spirit in the disciple.

12. Importance of refusing to collude, either internally or externally, with those persons, institutions, influences, and actions that would destroy our soul, our identity in God. This is the foundation of Christian discernment.

13. If a [person’s} deeds are not in harmony with his [or her] prayer, [that person] labors in vain. The brother said, “What is this harmony between practice and prayer?” The old man said, “We should no longer do those things against which we pray.”

14. Thomas Merton, “The Spiritual Father in the Desert Tradition,” Cistercian Studies, III, 4, 1968. A. Not the theoria (=contemplation) of the Greeks, but hesychia, quies (=tranquility)

B. fuge (=flee), tace (=be silent), quiesce (=become tranquil)

15. The Jesus Prayer or Prayer of the Heart.