Saturday, October 4, 2008
The First Monks and Monasteries
It was interesting to learn how monks and monasteries came to be. Really the first monks were hermits or desert dwellers. They were people who lived a solitary life in the middle of the desert to gain a deeper knowledge of the universe. At first this sounded weird to me, but then I realized that it is really no different than someone going camping to commune with nature or the early Native Americans going through a rite of passage to find their spirit guide. After Anthony of Alexandria, who became the model of eremitical life, there was a flood of people living as hermits. So many people in fact that they couldn't really live alone anymore. This was hard for me to believe that there wasn't enough space for everyone. Eventually, Pachomius developed rules so that these people could live in small groups in huts. This eventually led to small established communities (monasteries) in which monks could live together under one roof following rules and rituals according the Abbot of their monastery.
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3 comments:
This is how all "new" things develop with a few trying something and as it looks good others fall suit and then more come along and find it necessary to streamline or organize the process to make it work best for more people do so. What would be interesting would be if you could interview the "pioneers" who first lived as hermits and asked them how they like the changes. They probably would say that making these rules for living as hermits changes the concept all together.
Anyway, good post Anita.
It is also interesting to see how this pursuit and study of God and spiritual matters eventually evolved into the different orders and their governing rules. What probably wasn't a bad idea, (but certainly not for everyone)eventually ended up being used by the Catholic church for their purposes. Part of their reason was *good*, but as was written in one of the articles, they were a new weapon for them to use. As far as I can see it, use them they did. The inquisitions are what I have in mind. I can see how human nature would have got in the mix eventually, (even though the various orders seemed to work very hard to get away from it and focus on God) but it is unfortunate that they seemed to want or need the Catholic church's approval so much. Being a part of the Catholic church's program to weed out heretical opposition to their power is a stain on their history.
Great comparison concerning monks...and communal camping. I thought it was strange too, but that was an excellent way to put it.
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