Church History 13 – To the Desert, ‘Seeking Beatitude in Solitude’

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Constantinople became a hub of energy following the rise of Constantine to power.  Many in the church gravitated to the power source.  Grand churches were built, the liturgy of the church service took on a royal flare, and the masses were flocking to be baptized.  Some, however, did not like the changes they saw in the Christian movement. They fled the city and moved to the desert.

They were ideologues like the band America who sang:

‘After two days in the desert sun
My skin began to turn red
After three days in the desert fun
I was looking at a river bed
And the story it told of a river that flowed
Made me sad to think it was dead 

I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...’

Gonzalez:  The narrow gate of which Jesus had spoken had become so wide that countless multitudes were hurrying past it-some seemingly after privilege and position, without caring to delve too deeply into the meaning of Christian baptism and life under the cross.’

It seems that we are learning that during every period of peace for the Christian church some group or the other was always tinkering with what it meant to be true to the faith. 

Gonzalez:  ‘When the church joins the powers of the world, when luxury and ostentation take hold of Christian altars, when the whole society is intent on turning the narrow path into a wide avenue, how is one to resist the enormous temptations of the times?

And so there was a group of people who fled to the desert in Egypt.  According to Gonzalez, ‘at the very time when churches in large cites were flooded by thousands demanding baptism, there was a veritable exodus of other thousands who sought beatitude in solitude.’

Early in the fourth century then, we learn of the beginnings of the monastic movement. 

Paul and Anthony are credited with being among the first monks.  Their stories were made famous by the likes of Jerome and Athanasius who wrote about them.

While some lived in total seclusion, eventually small desert communities of monks began to form.   Like the Pachomian community described below:

Gonzalez:  ‘The daily life of a Pachomian monk included both work and devotion…For the devotional life, Paul’s injunction to ‘pray without ceasing’ was the model.  Thus, while the bankers kneaded the bread, or the cobblers made shoes, all sang psalms, recited passages of Scripture, prayed either aloud or in silence, meditated on a biblical text, and so forth.’  

And of what they thought while in the desert:  Thomas Merton in The Wisdom of the Desert’ wrote ‘St Anthony is adduced for what is the basic principle of desert life:  that God is the authority and that apart from His manifest will there are few or no principles: “Therefore, whatever you see your soul desire according to God, to that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe.”

The true nature of the exodus to the desert was the ‘seeking.’  Seeking the will of God and seeking ‘salvation.’

Merton:  ‘Those who came to the desert seeking ‘salvation’ asked the elders for a ‘word’ that would help them find it.’

Merton produced a collection of sayings in his book that produced the essence of monastic life which according to him are:  faith, humility, charity, meekness, discretion, self-denial.  But not the least of the qualities of the ‘words of salvation’ is there common sense.’

Merton goes on to say that of his collection of sayings, ‘most of the characters represented in the sayings and stories are of men who are ‘on the way’ to purity of heart rather than men who have fully arrived….These latter were much more inclined to accept the common lot of man who has to struggle all his life to overcome himself.’

There is great value in reflecting on this period of history.  This can be illustrated by a pithy comment from one of my facebook friends this week.  She wrote jokingly about conflict in her home over what to watch on TV.  She wanted to watch the financial news and obsess over the stock market decline.  Her husband wanted to watch one of the ‘World’s Dumbest’ shows.

We can enter fully into the news cycle of the day and be totally consumed by it or are we can disengage completely and be ruled by the forces that be.

Our desert fathers held up an ideal which seen from afar became a beacon of light.  The desert fathers themselves did not publish writings.  It was others, who escaping the noise of the city, came out to the desert and wrote down what they said.

A few sayings from ‘The Wisdom of the Desert:’

‘A Brother asked one of the elders:  How does fear of the Lord get into a man?  And the elder said:  If a man has humility and poverty, and judge not another that is how fear of the Lord gets into him.’

‘An Elder saw a certain one laughing and said to him:  In the presence of the Lord of heaven and earth we must answer for our whole life; and you can laugh?’

‘Abbot Ammonas said that he had spent fourteen years in Scete praying to God day and night to be delivered from anger.’

‘A certain brother inquired of Abbot Pastor, saying:  ‘What shall I do?  I lose my nerve when I am sitting alone at prayer in my cell?  The elder said to him: Despise no one, condemn no one, rebuke on one, God will give you peace and your meditation will be undisturbed.’

The monastic ideal came to be remembered because of the life and wisdom of the Brothers.  A good example to cite is that  of Martin of Tours.  http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/martin.htm

Martin was famous for cutting his cape in half and giving it to a beggar.  He is also said to have had visions from Christ;

‘Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’

Gonzalez:  This episode became so well known, there ever since Martin is usually represented in the act of sharing his cape with the beggar.  This is also the origin of the word ‘chapel’-for centuries later, in a small church, there was a piece of cloth reputed to be a portion of Martin’s cape.  From that piece of cape-capella-the little church came to be called a ‘chapel, ‘and those who served in it, ‘chaplains.’

As his fame grew, Martin reluctantly took a position of Bishop moving back to the city.  But Martin did not engage in all the pomp and privilege.

Gonzalez:  ‘Next to the cathedral, he built a small cell where he devoted all his free time to the monastic life….When Martin died, many were convinced that he was a saint.  His fame and example led many to the conviction that a true bishop ought to be like him.’

‘The ocean is a desert with it's life underground
And a perfect disguise above
Under the cities lies a heart made of ground
But the humans will give no love

You see I've been through the desert on a horse with no name
It felt good to be out of the rain
In the desert you can remember your name
'Cause there ain't no one for to give you no pain
La, la ...’

Sources:

Justo L. Gonzalez from ‘The Story of Christianity, Volume 1, the Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation’

Thomas Merton from ‘The Wisdom of the Desert