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Reglas para
visitar los Monasterios
Los Monjes son personas que han
sido llamadas a abandonar el mundo para vivir una Vida
Angélica. Por esta razón, los laicos deben
visitar los monasterios regularmente, para moldear y
acrecentar su propia vida espiritual alrededor de aquellos
que representan el modelo de dedicación espiritual.
Los monjes que verdaderamente se dedican a una vida de
oración representan el verdadero propósito de
nuestra vida en la tierra: amar a Dios y a nuestro
prójimo. Después de poco tiempo, en
ésta atmósfera, el laico es capáz de
separarse a si mismo del agitado paso de su vida diaria y
recobrar una perspectiva más balanceada de la vida.
Muchos monasterios Ortodoxos son
tradicionalmente muy pequeños - y especialmente en
nuestros días - muy a menudo los monjes se encuentran
con la dificultad de balancear la vida de oración con
las necesidades y distracciones introducidas por sus
huéspedes. Para conservar este delicado balance, han
sido desarrolladas a través de los siglos, las
siguientes guias para asegurar que los visitantes no
interrumpan la vida espiritual de los monjes, a los que
visitan.
Estas reglas se aplican de igual
manera en los monasterios masculinos como en los
femeninos.
1.- Cuando se llega a un Monasterio
o Skiti, el Abad o Abadesa son saludados de la misma manera
en que se debe saludar a un Sacerdote. El Abad no siempre es
necesariamente un "Hieromonje" es decir Sacerdote, pero se
le saluda y se le trata con la misma reverencia y respeto. A
todos los Monjes en la Iglesia Ortodoxa se les llama y se
dirige a ellos como "Padre" tengan o no el rango del
Sacerdocio; y formalmente se dirige a ellos (por escrito o
en discursos) como "el Monje..(y el nombre sin el
apellido)". Si tienen el rango del Sacerdocio son llamados
formalmente como "Hieromonje" o "Hierodiácono" si es
el caso. Algunas veces se dirige formalmente a los monjes
por su rango; por ejemplo, "Monje Rasofóros...
(nombre)", "Monje Stavrofóros..."
2.- Tal vez usted pueda saludar a
los monjes o monjas del monasterio cuando se encuentre con
ellos, pero no debe presionarlos a conversación
alguna. Especialmente no se debe conversar con los novicios.
Conversación y preguntas deben ser dirigidas al Abad
o Abadesa ,- si es que están disponibles- o a la
persona designada para encargarse de los huéspedes.
En algunos monasterios los monjes deben pedir una
bendición para hablar con los visitantes.Esta es la
parte más importante del aprendizaje de los monjes,
la obediencia; por lo tanto su silencio no debe ser
considerado por el visitante como frialdad o
rudeza.
3.- Normalmente los visitantes son
llevados a la Iglesia o Capilla para venerar los sagrados
Iconos, al ingresar al Monasterio o Skiti, y antes de hacer
cualquier otra cosa. Algunos monasterios conservan las
Capillas como áreas restringidas para los laicos. Los
laicos deben respetar estas divisiones y no irrumpir en
estas áreas reservadas.
4.- La totalidad del territorio que
abarque el monasterio debe ser tratado con la misma piedad
como si se estuviera dentro de la Iglesia. A los
niños no se les permite deambular libremente, deben
estar tranquilos y cerca de sus padres.
5.- Hay áreas privadas en las
que los laicos no deben pasar a menos que sean invitados.
Dependiendo de si es un monasterio masculino o femenino,
algunas áreas quedan restringidas para ambos sexos.
Bajo ninguna circunstancia un hombre puede entrar en las
celdas de las monjas y de la misma manera ninguna mujer
puede entrar en las celdas de los monjes.
6.- Cuando se es invitado a comer a
la "Trapeza" (refectorio), se debe abstener de toda
conversación durante la comida, a menos que se
indique lo contrario por el Abad o Abadesa. En muchos
monasterios a las mujeres no se les permite comer con los
monjes, y comen en un lugar separado. Esto es aplicable
también a los hombres que visitan un monasterio
femenino. Durante la comida en la Trapeza (refectorio), los
visitantes deben seguir la guia del Abad o Abadesa durante
el tiempo que dure la comida; esto incluye estar de pie
frente a su asiento durante la bendición, esperar a
que el Abad se siente, antes de que nosotros lo hagamos;
esperar a que el Abad empiece a comer antes que nosotros, y
esperar a que el Abad tome su bebida antes que nosotros
(esto normalmente se indica con el toque de una campana
pequeña o una pequeña bendición). Al
final de la comida, se debe levantar cuando el Abad se ponga
de pie, aunque usted no haya terminado sus alimentos, y
unicamente puede seguir comiendo si le invitan a hacerlo.
Normalmente cuando el Abad se levanta, la comida finaliza; y
comienzan las oraciones de agradecimiento después de
la comida.
7.- En muchos monasterios tienen
casas de huespedes (Xenona) para los visitantes, normalmente
afuera del monasterio. Algunos monasterios no aprueban que
los visitantes pernocten dentro del monasterio. Si usted
esta de visita en un monasterio o en la casa de huespedes,
debe asistir a todos los oficios que le sea permitido estar.
(Algunas comunidades monasticas no permiten el acceso a
ningun oficio a laicos, porque puede ser motivo de
distracción para los monjes. De cualquier manera
usted debe determinar con el Abad o su representante a que
oficios puede asistir) Si usted esta permaneciendo en el
monasterio y quiere salir de el por cualquier
razón,como para salir de caminata, debe pedir
bendición para esto. Naturalmente los cigarrilos no
se pueden fumar en ninguna parte del monasterio o casa de
huéspedes. En los monasterios Ortodoxos nunca se come
carne, por lo tanto si se esta en la casa de
huéspedes y tiene oportunidad de preparar sus propios
alimentos, no debe preparar nada que contenga carne. Cuando
usted deja la casa de huéspedes debe dejar la
habitación en las mismas condiciones en que la
encontró, los monasterios no son hoteles o sitios
para vacacionar, por lo tanto no hay empleados que se
encarguen limpiar o arreglar lo que dejan los
huéspedes.
8.- Cuando se visita un monasterio,
aunque sea por poco tiempo, se debe llevar siempre un
regalo, tales como aceite de oliva, velas, dulces, frutas o
vegetales, brandy, etc.
9.- En el Día de Fiesta del
monasterio, uno debe congratularse con un pequeño
regalo. El Día de Fiesta del monasterio es de extrema
importancia para la vida espiritual del monasterio, y de
grandes bendiciones para aquellos que visitan el monasterio
o Iglesia en este día. Por influencia Protestante y
el declive de la piedad en la Iglesia Romana en
América, los conversos que provienen de estas
Iglesias, son generalmente frios en su veneración a
los Santos. Se olvidan completamente de los Días de
Fiesta, así como de su Santo Patrón (el cual
debe ser celebrado con gran festividad, mucho mas que los
cumpleaños) y de aquellos que se celebran en
Monasterios e Iglesias parroquiales. La Iglesia Ortodoxa
nunca ha perdido la percepción de la gran
interacción, entre nuestro mundo fisico de los
sentidos, y el mundo espiritual de los Santos. De esta
manera, aquellos creyentes piadosos que se sacrifican y
hacen viajes para visitar Monasterios, Santuarios, o
Iglesias en su Día de Fiesta, de acuerdo a la
Tradición de la Iglesia, reciben grandes
bendiciones.
10.- Uno de los principales
objetivos espirituales de cualquiera que visita un
Monasterio, es buscar la confesión. Las mujeres en
algunos casos pueden buscar el auxilio espiritual - desde
la perspectiva monástica - de una Madre espiritual
(sin embargo la Oración de Absolución
solamente puede ser dicha por un Sacerdote). De hecho en
Grecia no es desconocido el hecho de que incluso hombres,
buscan especialmente el consejo de piadosas Monjas o
Abadesas. Hay grandes ejemplos de personas influenciadas y
dirigidas por una Madre espiritual; San Serafín de
Sarov es un ejemplo, el fué persuadido y bendecido
por una "Gerondisa"(Anciana, Madre espiritual), para tomar
la Vida Angélica.
Cuando uno se confiesa en un
Monasterio, debe asegurarse de que, mientras ha estado
orando tranquilamente y colectando sus pensamientos durante
su visita al Monasterio o Skiti, los Monjes o Monjas han
estado asistiendo a su ciclo completo de Oficios Divinos,
rezando Cánones (regla privada de Oración),
preparando alimentos, trabajando en obras que sostengan sus
comunidades, y encargandose de otros asuntos importantes. Su
Confesión debe, en consecuencia no ser motivo de
conversaciones ociosas, o demasiado extensas o charlas
indiscretas. Haga breve su Confesión, concisa y
contrita; y siga los consejos que le han sido dados al pie
de la letra. También debe adaptar su programa al de
los Monjes, y no presionarlos para la Confesión en un
tiempo específico.
11.- Al dejar el Monasterio o Skiti,
el visitante debe de asegurarse de dejar un donativo por la
hospitalidad recibida. La cantidad debe ser determinada por
el tiempo de su estancia (en circunstancias normales la
estancia en Monasterios se limita a tres dias) y el
número de comidas (si usted no las preparo, como
sería normal si se quedara en una casa de
huéspedes). Comunmente la gente olvida el costo de
las cosas, particularmente en invierno, cuando la
calefacción es costosa. De cualquier manera, se debe
dejar por lo menos la mitad del equivalente al costo de una
habitación en un hotel modesto por el mismo tiempo.
No se le debe cobrar nada porque de lo contrario se
violaría la regla monastica de la hospitalidad. No
obstante, debe dejar su donativo con el Abad o Abadesa
aún si él o ella se rehúsan a
recibirlo; pero si todos sus esfuerzos son vanos y no lo
aceptan, dejelo entonces en la caja de las velas en la
Iglesia o Capilla. Recuerde la amonestación de San
Pablo: "Así que, si nosotros hemos sembrado en
ustedes una semilla espiritual, no es mucho pedir que
cosechemos de ustedes algo de lo material".
Orthodox
Monasticism
The innermost spiritual sense of
Orthodox Monasticism is revealed in joyful mourning (gr.
harmolipi). This paradoxical phrase denotes a spiritual
state in which a monk in his prayer grieves for the sins of
the world at at the same time experiences the regenerating
spritual joy of Christ's forgiveness and resurrection. A
monk dies in order to live, he forgets himself in order to
find his real self in God, he becomes ignorant of worldly
knowledge in order to attain real spiritual wisdom which is
given only to the humble ones.
With the development of monasticism
in the Church there appeared a peculiar way of life, which
however did not proclaim a new morality. The Church does not
have one set of moral rules for the laity and another for
monks, nor does it divide the faithful into classes
according to their obligations towards God. The Christian
life is the same for everyone. All Christians have in common
that "their being and name is from Christ". This means that
the true Christian must ground his life and conduct in
Christ, something which is hard to achieve in the
world.
What is difficult in the world is
approached with dedication in the monastic life. In his
spiritual life the monk simply tries to do what every
Christian should try to do: to live according to God's
commandments. The fundamental principles of monasticism are
not different from those of the lives of all the faithful.
This is especially apparent in the history of the early
Church, before monasticism appeared.
In the tradition of the Church there
is a clear preference for celibacy as opposed to the married
state. This stance is not of course hostile to marriage,
which is recognised as a profound mystery, but simply
indicates the practical obstacles marriage puts in the way
of the pursuit of the spiritual life. For this reason, from
the earliest days of Christianity many of the faithful chose
celibacy. Thus Athenagoras the Confessor in the second
century wrote: "You can find many men and women who remain
unmarried all their lives in the hope of coming closer to
God".
From the very beginning the
Christian life has been associated with self denial and
sacrifice: "If any man would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me". Christ calls
on us to give ourselves totally to him: "He who loves father
or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves
son or daughter more than me is not worthy of
me".
Finally, fervent and unceasing
prayer, obedience to the elders of the Church, brotherly
love and humility, as well as all the essential virtues of
the monastic life were cultivated by the members of the
Church from its earliest days.
One cannot deny that the monk and
the married man have different ways of life, but this does
not alter their common responsibility towards God and His
commandments. Every one of us has his own special gift
within the one and indivisible body of Christ's Church.
Every way of life, whether married or solitary, is equally
subject to God's absolute will. Hence no way of life can be
taken as an excuse for ignoring or selectively responding to
Christ's call and His commandments. Both paths demand effort
and determination.
St Chrysostom is particularly
emphatic on this point: "You greatly delude yourself and
err, if you think that one thing is demanded from the layman
and another from the monk; since the difference between them
is in that whether one is married or not, while in
everything else they have the same responsibilities...
Because all must rise to the same height; and what has
turned the world upside down is that we think only the monk
must live rigorously, while the rest are allowed to live a
life of indolence". Referring to the observance of
particular commandments in the Gospels, he says: "Whoever is
angry with his brother without cause, regardless of whether
he is a layman or a monk, opposes God in the same way. And
whoever looks at a woman lustfully, regardless of his
status, commits the same sin". In general, he observes that
in giving His commandments Christ does not make distinction
between people: "A man is not defined by whether he is a
layman or a monk, but by the way he thinks"
Christ's commandments demand
strictness of life that we often expect only from monks. The
requirements of decent and sober behaviour, the condemnation
of wealth and adoption of frugality, the avoidance of idle
talk and the call to show selfless love are not given only
for monks, but for all the faithful.
Therefore, the rejection of worldly
thinking is the duty not only of monks, but of all
Christians. The faithful must not have a worldly mind, but
sojourn as strangers and travellers with their minds fixed
on God. Their home is not on earth, but in the kingdom of
heaven: "For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the
city which is to come". The Church can be seen as a
community in exodus. The world is its temporary home but the
Church is bound for the kingdom of God. Just as the
Israelites, freed from bondage in Egypt, journeyed towards
Jerusalem through many trials and tribulations, so
Christians, freed from the bondage of sin, journey through
many trials and tribulations towards the kingdom of
heaven.
In the early days this exodus from
the world did not involve a change of place but a change of
the way of life. A man does not reject God and turns towards
the world physicaly but spiritually, because God was and is
everywhere and fulfills everything, so in the same way the
rejection of the world and turning towards God was not
understood in physical sense but as a change of the way of
life. This is especially clear in the lives of the early
Christians. Although they lived in the world they were fully
aware that they did not come from it nor did they belong to
it: "In the world but not of the world". And those who lived
in chastity and poverty, which became later fundamental
principles of the monastic life, did not abandon the world
or take to the mountains.
Physical detachment from the world
helps the soul to reject the worldly way of life. Experience
shows that human salvation is harder to achieve in the
world. As Basil the Great points out, living among men who
do not care for the strict observance of God's commandments
is harmful. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to
answer Christ's call to take up one's cross and follow Him
within the bounds of worldly life. Seeing the multitude of
sinners, one not only fails to see his own sins but also
falls into temptation to believe that he has achieved
something, because we tend to compare ourselves with those
who are worse than we are. Furthermore, the hustle and
bustle of everyday life distracts us from the remembrance of
God. It does not only prevent us from feeling the joy of
intense communion with God, but leads us to contempt and
forgetfulness of the divine will.
This does not mean that detachment
from the world guarantees salvation, but surely does help us
a lot in our spiritual life. When someone devotes himself
wholly to God and His will, nothing can stop him from being
saved. St. Chrysostom's says: "There is no obstacle to a
worker striving for virtue, but men in office, and those who
have a wife and children to look after, and servants to see
to, and those in positions of authority can also take care
to be virtuous".
Saint Simeon the New Theologian
observes: "Living in a city does not prevent us from
carrying out God's commandments if we are zealous, and
silence and solitude are of no benefit if we are slothful
and neglectful". Elsewhere he says that it is possible for
all, not only monks but laymen too, to "eternally and
continuously repent and weep and pray to God, and by these
actions to acquire all the other virtues".
Orthodox monasticism has always been
associated with stillness or silence, which is seen
primarily as an internal rather than an external state.
External silence is sought in order to attain inner
stillness of mind more easily. This stillness is not a kind
of inertia or inaction, but awakening and activation of the
spiritual life. It is intense vigilance and total devotion
to God. Living in a quiet place the monk succeeds in knowing
himself better, fighting his passions more deeply and
purifying his heart more fully, so as to be found worthy of
beholding God.
The father of St Gregory Palamas,
Constantine, lived a life of stillness as a senator and
member of the imperial court in Constantinople. The essence
of this kind of life is detachment from worldly passions and
complete devotion to God. This is why St Gregory Palamas
says that salvation in Christ is possible for all: "The
farmer and the leather worker and the mason and the tailor
and the weaver, and in general all those who earn their
living with their hands and in the sweat of their brow, who
cast out of their souls the desire for wealth, fame and
comfort, are indeed blessed". In the same spirit St Nicolas
Kavasilas observes that it is not necessary for someone to
flee to the desert, eat unusual food, change his dress, ruin
his health or attempt some other such thing in order to
remain devoted to God.
The monastic life, with its physical
withdrawal from the world to the desert, began about the
middle of the third century. This flight of Christians to
the desert was partly caused by the harsh Roman persecutions
of the time. The growth of monasticism, however, which began
in the time of Constantine the Great, was largely due to the
refusal of many Christians to adapt to the more worldly
character of the now established Church, and their desire to
lead a strictly Christian life. Thus monasticism developed
simultaneously in various places in the southeast
Mediterranean, Egypt, Palestine, Sinai, Syria and Cyprus,
and soon after reached Asia Minor and finally Europe. During
the second millennium. however, Mount Athos appeared as the
centre of Orthodox monasticism.
The commonest and safest form of the
monastic life is the coenobitic communion. In the coenobitic
monastery everything is shared: living quarters, food, work,
prayer, common efforts, cares, struggles and achievements.
The leader and spiritual father of the coenobium is the
abbot. The exhortation to the abbot in the Charter of St
Athanasius the Athonite is typical: "Take care that the
brethren have everything in common. No one must own as much
as a needle. Your body and soul shall be your own, and
nothing else. Everything must be shared equally with love
between all your spiritual children, brethren and
fathers".
The coenobium is the ideal Christian
community, where no distinction is drawn between mine and
yours, but everything is designed to cultivate a common
attitude and a spirit of fraternity. In the coenobium the
obedience of every monk to his abbot and his brotherhood,
loving kindness, solidarity and hospitality are of the
greatest importance. As St Theodore of Studium observes, the
whole community of the faithful should in the final analysis
be a coenobitc Church. Thus the monastic coenobium is the
most consistent attempt to achieve this and an image of
Church in small.
In its "fuga mundi", monasticism
underlines the Church's position as an "anti-community"
within the world, and by its intense spiritual asceticism
cultivates its eschatological spirit. The monastic life is
described as "the angelic state", in other words a state of
life that while on earth follows the example of the life in
heaven. Virginity and celibacy come within this framework,
anticipating the condition of souls in the life to come,
where "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are
like angels in heaven".
Many see celibacy as a defining
characteristic of monastic life. This does not mean,
however, that celibacy is the most important aspect of the
monastic life: it simply gives this distinctiveness to this
way of life. All the other obligations, even the other two
monastic vows of obedience and poverty, essentially concern
all the faithful. Needless to say, all this takes on a
special form in the monastic life, but that has no bearing
on the essence of the matter.
All Christians are obliged to keep
the Lord's commandments, but this requires efforts. Fallen
human nature, enslaved by its passions is reluctant to
fulfill this obligation. It seeks pleasure and avoids the
pain involved in fighting the passions and selfishness. The
monastic life is so arranged as to facilitate this work. On
the other hand the worldly life, particularly in our secular
society, makes it harder to be an ascetic. The problem for
the Christian in the world is that he is called upon to
reach the same goal under adverse conditions.
The tonsure, with cutting of hair,
is called a "second baptism". Baptism, however, is one and
the same for all members of the Church. It is participation
in the death and resurrection of Christ. The tonsure does
not repeat, but renews and activates the grace of the
baptism. The monastic vows are essentially not different
from those taken at baptism, with the exception of the vow
of celibacy. Furthermore, hair is also cut during
baptism.
The monastic life points the way to
perfection. However, the whole Church is called to
perfection. All the faithful, both laymen and monks, are
called to become perfect following the divine example: "You,
therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is
perfect". But while the monk affirms the radical nature of
the Christian life, the layman is content to regard it
conventionally. The conventional morality of the layman on
the one hand and the radical morality of the monk on the
other create a dialectical differentiation that takes the
form of a dialectical antithesis.
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. When the monk is exposed to what the world sees as
success- wealth, fame, power, pleasure, good health and many
children, he is destroyed. And when a worldly man finds
himself in the state desired by monks- poverty, humility,
weakness, self restraint, mortifcation and suchlike, he
considers it a disaster. Indeed, in such despair many may
consider hanging themselves, and some have actually done
so".
Of course the comparison here is
between the perfect monk and the very worldly Christian.
However, in more usual circumstances within the Church the
same things will naturally function differently, but this
difference could never reach diametrical opposition. Thus
for example, wealth and fame cannot be seen as equally
destructive for monks and laymen. These things are always
bad for monks, because they conflict with the way of life
the monks have chosen. For 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 justify 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
Himself.
The Christian life does not depend
only on human effort but primarily on God's grace. Ascetic
exercises in all their forms and degrees aim at nothing more
than preparing man to harmonise his will with that of God
and receive the grace of the Holy Spirit. This harmonisation
attains its highest expression and perfection in prayer. "In
true prayer we enter into and dwell in the Divine Being by
the power of the Holy Spirit". This leads man to his
archetype and makes him a true person in the likeness of his
Creator.
The grace of the Christian life is
not to be found in its outward forms. It is not found in
ascetic exercises, fasts, vigils and mortification of the
flesh. Indeed, when these excercises are practiced without
discernment they become abhorrent. This repulsiveness is no
longer confined to their external form but comes to
characterise their inner content. They become abhorrent not
only because outwardly they appear as a denial of life,
contempt for material things or self-abandonment, but also
because they mortify the spirit, encourage pride and
cultivate self justification.
The Christian life is not a denial
but an affirmation. It is not death, but life. And it is not
only affirmation and life, but the only true affirmation and
the only true life. It is the true affirmation because if
goes beyond all possibility of denial and the only true life
because it conquers death. The negative appearance of the
Christian life in its outward forms is due precisely to its
attempt 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 accepting every human
denial and affirming every form of earthly death.
The power of the Christian life lies
in the hope of resurrection, and the goal of ascetic
striving is to partake in the resurrection. The monastic
life, as the angelic and heavenly life lived in time, is the
foreknowledge and foretaste of eternal life. It aim is not
to cast off the human element, but clothe oneself with
incorruptibility and immortality: "For 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 up by life". There are
sighing and tears produced by the presence of sin, as well
as the suffering to be free of the passions and regain a
pure heart. These things demand ascetic struggles, and
undoubtedly have a negative form, since they aim at
humility. They are exhausting and painful, because they are
concerned with states and habits that have become second
nature. It is however precisely through this abasement, self
purification, that man clears the way for God's grace to
appear and to act within his heart. God does not manifest
Himself to an impure heart.
Monks are the "guardians". They
choose to constrain their bodily needs in order to attain
the spiritual freedom offered by Christ. They tie themselves
down in death's realm in order to experience more intensely
the hope of the life to come. They reconcile themselves with
space, where man is worn down and annihilated, feel it as
their body, transform it into the Church and orientate it
towards the kingdom of God.
The monk's journey to perfection is
gradual and is connected with successive renunciations,
which can be summarised in three. The first renunciation
involves completely abandoning the world. This is not
limited to things, but includes people and parents. The
second is renunciation of the individual will, and the third
is freedom from pride, which is identified with liberation
from the sway of the world.
These successive renunciations have
a positive, not a negative meaning. They permit a man to
fully open up and be perfected "in the image and likeness"
of God. When man is freed from the world and from himself,
he expands without limits. He becomes a true person, which
"encloses" within himself the whole of humanity as Christ
himself does. That is why, on the moral plane, the Christian
is called upon to love all human beings, even his enemies.
Then God Himself comes and dwells within him, and the man
arrives to the fullness of his theanthropic being. Here we
can see the greatness of the human person, and can
understand the superhuman struggles needed for his
perfection.
The life of monasticism is life of
perpetual spiritual ascent. While 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. It rejects any kind of
compromise and seeks the absolute. It launches itself from
this world and heads for the kingdom of God. This is in
essence the goal of the Church itself.
In Church tradition this path is
pictured as a ladder leading to heaven. Not everyone manages
to reach the top of this spiritual ladder. Many are to be
found on the first rungs. Others rise higher. There are also
those who fall from a higher or a lower rung. The important
thing is not the height reached, but the unceasing struggle
to rise ever higher. Most important of all, this ascent is
achieved through ever increasing humility, that is through
ever increasing descent. "Keep thy mind in hell, and despair
not", was the word of God to Saint Silouan of Mount Athos.
When man descends into the hell of his inner struggle having
God within him, then he is lifted up and finds the fullness
of being.
At the top of this spiritual ladder
are the "fools for Christ's sake", as the Apostle Paul calls
himself and the other apostles, or "the fools for Christ's
sake", who "play the madman for the love of Christ and mock
the vanity of the world", Seeking after glory among men,
says Christ, obstructs belief in God. Only when man rejects
pride can he defeat the world and devote himself to
God.
In the lives of monks the Christian
sees examples of men who took their Christian faith
seriously and committed themselves to the path which
everyone is called by Christ to follow. Not all of them
attained perfection, but they all tried, and all rose to a
certain height. Not all possessed the same talent, but all
strove as good and faithful servants. They are not held up
as examples to be imiated, especially by laymen. They are
however valuable signposts on the road to perfection, which
is common for all and has its climax in the perfectness of
God.
Georgios I. Mantzarides Professor of
the Theological School Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
(abridged text from the book Images of Athos by monk
Chariton)
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