Orthodox Christian Monasticism Part II The innermost spiritual sense of Orthodox Monasticism is revealed in joyful mourning (gr. harmolipi). This paradoxical phrase denotes a spiritual state in hich a mon! in his prayer grieves for the sins of the orld at at the same time experiences the regenerating spritual joy of Christ"s forgiveness and resurrection. # mon! dies in order to live$ he forgets himself in order to find his real self in %od$ he &ecomes ignorant of orldly !no ledge in order to attain real spiritual isdom hich is given only to the hum&le ones. ('d.) %racanica Monastery$ (osovo)*er&ia$ ) a nun in prayer St Maximus the Confessor, in contrasting the monastic with the worldly life, observes that a layman's successes are a monk's failures, and vice versa: "The achievements of the worldly are failures for monks and the achievements of monks are failures for the worldly! "hen the monk is ex#osed to what the world sees as success$ wealth, fame, #ower, #leasure, good health and many children, he is destroyed! %nd when a worldly man finds himself in the state desired by monks$ #overty, humility, weakness, self restraint, mortifcation and suchlike, he considers it a disaster! &ndeed, in such des#air many may consider hanging themselves, and some have actually done so" '(! )f course the com#arison here is between the #erfect monk and the very worldly Christian! *owever, in more usual circumstances within the Church the same things will naturally function differently, but this difference could never reach diametrical o##osition! Thus for exam#le, wealth and fame cannot be seen as e+ually destructive for monks and laymen! These things are always bad for monks, because they conflict with the way of life the monks have chosen! ,or laymen, however, wealth and fame may be beneficial, even though they involve grave risks! The existence of the family, and of the wider secular society with its various needs and demands, not only -ustify but sometimes make it necessary to accumulate wealth or assume office! Those things that may unite in the world divide in the monastic life! The ultimate unifier is Christ *imself! +i!e a fortress on its centuries long sentry Monastery of *imonopetra Mount #thos ) %reece The Christian life does not de#end only on human effort but #rimarily on .od's grace! %scetic exercises in all their forms and degrees aim at nothing more than #re#aring man to harmonise his will with that of .od and receive the grace of the *oly S#irit! This harmonisation attains its highest ex#ression and #erfection in #rayer! "&n true #rayer we enter into and dwell in the /ivine 0eing by the #ower of the *oly S#irit" ''! This leads man to his archety#e and makes him a true #erson in the likeness of his Creator! The grace of the Christian life is not to be found in its outward forms! &t is not found in ascetic exercises, fasts, vigils and mortification of the flesh! &ndeed, when these excercises are #racticed without discernment they become abhorrent! This re#ulsiveness is no longer confined to their external form but comes to characterise their inner content! They become abhorrent not only because outwardly they a##ear as a denial of life, contem#t for material things or self$abandonment, but also because they mortify the s#irit, encourage #ride and cultivate self -ustification! *er&ian Monastery ,ilandar ) Mount #thos The Christian life is not a denial but an affirmation! &t is not death, but life! %nd it is not only affirmation and life, but the only true affirmation and the only true life! &t is the true affirmation because if goes beyond all #ossibility of denial and the only true life because it con+uers death! The negative a##earance of the Christian life in its outward forms is due #recisely to its attem#t to stand beyond all human denial! Since there is no human affirmation that does not end in denial, and no worldly life that does not end in death, the Church takes its stand and reveals its life after acce#ting every human denial and affirming every form of earthly death! #n Orthodox church on *antorini island$ %reece The #ower of the Christian life lies in the ho#e of resurrection, and the goal of ascetic striving is to #artake in the resurrection! The monastic life, as the angelic and heavenly life lived in time, is the foreknowledge and foretaste of eternal life! &t aim is not to cast off the human element, but clothe oneself with incorru#tibility and immortality: ",or while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed u# by life" '1! There are sighing and tears #roduced by the #resence of sin, as well as the suffering to be free of the #assions and regain a #ure heart! These things demand ascetic struggles, and undoubtedly have a negative form, since they aim at humility! They are exhausting and #ainful, because they are concerned with states and habits that have become second nature! &t is however #recisely through this abasement, self #urification, that man clears the way for .od's grace to a##ear and to act within his heart! .od does not manifest *imself to an im#ure heart! A call to pray Monks are the "guardians"! They choose to constrain their bodily needs in order to attain the s#iritual freedom offered by Christ! They tie themselves down in death's realm in order to ex#erience more intensely the ho#e of the life to come! They reconcile themselves with s#ace, where man is worn down and annihilated, feel it as their body, transform it into the Church and orientate it towards the kingdom of .od! The monk's -ourney to #erfection is gradual and is connected with successive renunciations, which can be summarised in three! The first renunciation involves com#letely abandoning the world! This is not limited to things, but includes #eo#le and #arents! The second is renunciation of the individual will, and the third is freedom from #ride, which is identified with liberation from the sway of the world '2! *t. -aum Monastery at Ochid +a!e$ ./0 Macedonia These successive renunciations have a #ositive, not a negative meaning! They #ermit a man to fully o#en u# and be #erfected "in the image and likeness" of .od! "hen man is freed from the world and from himself, he ex#ands without limits! *e becomes a true #erson, which "encloses" within himself the whole of humanity as Christ himself does! That is why, on the moral #lane, the Christian is called u#on to love all human beings, even his enemies! Then .od *imself comes and dwells within him, and the man arrives to the fullness of his theanthro#ic being '3! *ere we can see the greatness of the human #erson, and can understand the su#erhuman struggles needed for his #erfection! The life of monasticism is life of #er#etual s#iritual ascent! "hile the world goes on its earthbound way, and the faithful with their obligations and distractions of the world try to stay within the institutional limits of the church tradition, monasticism goes to other direction and soars! &t re-ects any kind of com#romise and seeks the absolute! &t launches itself from this world and heads for the kingdom of .od! This is in essence the goal of the Church itself! The ladder of divine ascent &n Church tradition this #ath is #ictured as a ladder leading to heaven! 4ot everyone manages to reach the to# of this s#iritual ladder! Many are to be found on the first rungs! )thers rise higher! There are also those who fall from a higher or a lower rung! The im#ortant thing is not the height reached, but the unceasing struggle to rise ever higher! Most im#ortant of all, this ascent is achieved through ever increasing humility, that is through ever increasing descent! "5ee# thy mind in hell, and des#air not", was the word of .od to Saint Silouan of Mount %thos! "hen man descends into the hell of his inner struggle having .od within him, then he is lifted u# and finds the fullness of being '6! The mon!s al ays sought seclusion from the orld Ostrog Monastery in Montenegro %t the to# of this s#iritual ladder are the "fools for Christ's sake", as the %#ostle 7aul calls himself and the other a#ostles '8, or "the fools for Christ's sake", who "#lay the madman for the love of Christ and mock the vanity of the world" '9, Seeking after glory among men, says Christ, obstructs belief in .od ':! )nly when man re-ects #ride can he defeat the world and devote himself to .od 1;! &n the lives of monks the Christian sees exam#les of men who took their Christian faith seriously and committed themselves to the #ath which everyone is called by Christ to follow! 4ot all of them attained #erfection, but they all tried, and all rose to a certain height! 4ot all #ossessed the same talent, but all strove as good and faithful servants! They are not held u# as exam#les to be imiated, es#ecially by laymen! They are however valuable sign#osts on the road to #erfection, which is common for all and has its climax in the #erfectness of .od! .eorgios &! Mant<arides 7rofessor of the Theological School %ristotle =niversity of Thessaloniki >abridged text from the book &mages of %thos by monk Chariton? OT,'0 +I-(* )@T*)/)A M)4%ST&C&SM The S#iritual *eart of the Church M)4%ST&C B&,C &4 T*C C%STC@4 )@T*)/)A C*=@C* 7anayiotis Christou @e#rinted from "The )rthodox Cthos", Studies in )rthodoxy vol! (, Cd! by %!D!7hili##ou Mount %thos the monastic %cro#olis of the )rthodox "orld )@T*)/)A M)4%STC@&CS %4/ M)4%ST&C&SM .reek )rthodox Monastery of St! Catherine $ S&4%& >8th century? M)4%C*)S!4CT $ % "eb Site /evoted to )rthodox Monasticism Medieval