Sep 2003 Christian Spirituality      Continued from previous issue By George A Lane SJ

Continue from ...... Introduction Protest and Renunciation in the East Flight from the world A factor that contributed to the "flight from the world" notions was the belief of some that God could not be found among men. The Abbot Marcus asked the Abbot Arsenius, "Wherefore do you flee from us; and the old man said, 'God knows that I love you, but I cannot be with God and with men - a thousand and a thousand thousand angelic powers have one will, but men have many. Therefore, I cannot send God from me and come and be with men.'" The corrupt and corroding city of man at this time was another factor that prompted the withdrawal to the city of God in the desert. The Empire was decaying; and what remedy could heal the weakened manhood, bad finance, and lowered ideals that were working their inevitable destruction on organized society? Withdrawal seemed a quite plausible solution. But the ideals of monasticism are still operative today. Dom Hubert Van Zeller points out that it is "not in outward activities that the strength of monasticism lies. The direct contribution is not and never has been the main thing. The main thing has been the indirect contribution made by prayer and penance ... the monk who loves God perfectly is fulfilling every obligation which in Christian charity he owes to his neighbour." Now there is always need for protest, renunciation, and solitude. The question that we must ask is, what form should protest, renunciation, and solitude take today? In conclusion we have to ask some difficult questions of early Eastern monasticism. Is this not an aristocratic spirituality, an elitist movement for a few? The monks seemed to be a breed set apart in favoured conditions in an isolated environment. Can anyone afford the luxury of an elitist spirituality today? And does Christ preach an elitist spirituality in the Gospel? It seems not. There is also the problem of what we might call the essentialist view of man, man made up of distinct component parts with mind warring against the flesh. With such a view one might go off to the desert to fight himself, to conquer the flesh definitively. But such a person will usually find that he is his own worst enemy. He creates more problems in isolation than he ever would have found in contact with other people. Not only does one run the risk of exposing himself to greater conflict that he would have found among people, but the problems will have been of his own making. And then in face of the social difficulties of the time, perhaps it was easier to abandon the sinking ship of the Church rather than try to guide it into port. The contemporary question, however, which we must ask ourselves is how can we preserve the ideals of protest and renunciation of this way of life and sift out the ideals and customs which have come down to us and are not suited to our age or mentality.

- To Be Continued -