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The Created World in Early Christian Monastic

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The Created World in Early Christian Monastic ONTOLOGICAL ECOLOGY: THE CREATED WORLD IN EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTIC SPIRITUALITY Thesis Submitted to The College of Arts and Sciences of the UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Master of Arts in Theological Studies By Scott Charles Howland UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON Dayton, Ohio August 2017 ONTOLOGICAL ECOLOGY: THE CREATED WORLD IN EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTIC SPIRITUALITY Name: Howland, Scott Charles APPROVED BY: ___________________________ Fr. Silviu Bunta Associate Professor Faculty Advisor ___________________________ William Johnston, Ph.D. Associate Professor Reader ___________________________ D. Michael Cox, Ph.D. Lecturer Reader ________________________ Daniel Speed Thompson, Ph.D. Department of Religious Studies Chair ii ABSTRACT ONTOLOGICAL ECOLOGY: THE CREATED WORLD IN EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTIC SPIRITUALITY Name: Howland, Scott Charles University of Dayton Advisor: Fr. Silviu Bunta This thesis analyzes the ability of early Christian monastic spirituality to contribute fruitful theological principles and spiritual practices to the contemporary Christian response to climate change. To accomplish this task this thesis analyzes the threefold spiritual vision (i.e. liturgical, ascetical, and mystical) of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of fourth century Egypt. “Eco-theology” has followed the well-established trends of western theology and ethics, and with few exceptions, supports its conclusions with ethical arguments that use reason and natural law; these ethical systems tend to shy away from the various spiritual (i.e. liturgical, ascetic, and mystical) aspects of theology. This polarization in favor of strict ethical arguments transforms the Christian response to climate change into a mere moral obligation; however, the Christian’s love and care for the created world is not just a moral obligation, but an ontological necessity. This thesis explores two major areas of interest in relation to the Desert Fathers and Mothers: (1) the iii liturgical (i.e. Baptism, Eucharist, and Confession), ascetical (i.e. fasting, prayer, and stability), and mystical (i.e. visions of the divine light and deification) traditions that form the threefold, yet singular, spiritual vision of early Christian monasticism; and (2) the manner in which this spiritual life is related to the numerous interactions between monastics and the created world that are portrayed in early Christian monastic literature. The intent of this thesis is not to reject or replace the work that has been accomplished in the modern field of ecotheology, but rather to add an alternative “voice” in the Christian conversation on the dignity of the created world. The ethical arguments made by eco- ethicists have produced much fruit in recent years, and those accomplishments are not to be overlooked; technological advancements, international trade/business agreements, and grassroots movements are essential to the short-term initiatives to repair the damage that has been done to our common home. For these short-term solutions to have a lasting impact, however, it is imperative that human beings make a radical shift in the way that they understand their relationship with the created world — this shift must be one toward an ontological understanding of the relationship between humanity and the rest of the created world. This shift must be accomplished through a revitalization of early Christian monastic spirituality among Christians today — lay and religious alike. iv PREFACE The inherent relationship between theological practice and environmental studies first came to my attention when I attended a conference on Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si, which was held at the University of Dayton. One of the presentations at this conference was given by Dr. Douglas Christie, author of The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology. His presentation urged me to think more about the manner in which we relate to the created world, and motivated me to develop my own research on the relationship between ecology and the practice of religion. The specific topic of this thesis was developed from my reading of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers, in which I found numerous interactions between monks of fourth-century Egypt and the created world that exhibited an immense love and care for creation. As the world faces many complex ecological issues today, it occurred to me that such stories provide useful lessons that may aid our contemporary Christian response to climate change. What follows here is an attempt to bridge two worlds, to bring together the ancient traditions of Christian monasticism and the moral challenges of the twenty-first century, so that the former may illuminate the latter and provide Christians today with tools to aid them in their response to global climate change. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii PREFACE ........................................................................................................................... v INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 A Tradition of Love ............................................................................................ 1 An Ontological Ecology ..................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER I THE THEOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF EARLY CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM ................................................................................................................ 7 The Origin, Nature, and Destination of the Human Person ................................ 7 Sin, Salvation, and the Naturalness of the Holy ............................................... 11 CHAPTER II THE SPIRITUALITY OF THE DESERT FATHERS AND MOTHERS .............................................................................................................. 20 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 20 Three Churches, One Liturgy ........................................................................... 21 The Liturgical Practices of the Desert .............................................................. 27 A Life of Asceticism ......................................................................................... 45 Mysticism in the Desert .................................................................................... 53 Living as Creation ............................................................................................. 57 vi CHAPTER III BUILDING AN ONTOLOGICAL ECOLOGY ...................................... 61 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 61 A Universal Vocation ....................................................................................... 62 Living a Life of Liturgy, Asceticism, and Mysticism ....................................... 66 CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 84 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................. 89 vii INTRODUCTION A Tradition of Love The desert fathers and mothers of fourth-century Egypt are some of the most well- known spiritual masters of the Christian tradition. The corpus of literature that has been passed down by the disciples of these holy men and women has become popular spiritual reading for Christians around the world. The early Egyptian monks did not only bequeath the Christian tradition with accounts of their lives, but also with a spirituality that has flourished for centuries. A common theme that appears in these accounts of early Christian monastic life can be derived from the manner in which the desert fathers and mothers related to the environment in which they lived. It is a common misconception to assume, based upon the harsh ascetic lifestyle of these desert elders, that they understood the physical world as “evil” and something to be rejected. One of the core elements of this early monastic spiritual tradition is the understanding that God created the world and that everything in it is good — there can be no created matter that is inherently evil, for God’s divinity is present in all matter. Early Christian monastics understood that their lives must not aim to reject the material world as if it were evil, but that they must relate to the material world with the highest degree of prudence possible. In this way, these men and women sought to harmonize their temporal lives on earth with the eternal and divine 1 life of Paradise — the life for which all of creation was originally intended before sin entered into the world. Throughout Christian history, monks from around the world have continued to exemplify the human-environment relationships that were typical of the desert fathers and mothers. Abba Yafkerena-Egzie, an anchorite from Ethiopia, was known to weep over the death of earthworms;1 there are accounts of another monk, Elder Isidore — the spiritual father of the famous Russian mathematician, theologian, and martyr, Pavel Florensky — who saved uprooted weeds from the monastery garden by placing them in jars of water;2 Abba Macarius once killed a mosquito that landed on his foot, and out of remorse he spent six months completely naked among the legions of mosquitoes
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