Learning the Eastern Mind: the Fathers and Mothers

A Life Apart:
Fathers and Mothers of the Desert

“It is a picture familiar enough in the Middle Ages; the three parts of society, those who fight, those who labour and those who pray, all working in their different ways for the life of the kingdom. Prayer was a great action to be fulfilled in the body politic; the monks were like trees, purifying the atmosphere by their presence” (The Lives of the Desert Fathers, 12).

“God is the life of all free beings. He is the salvation of all, of believers or unbelievers, of the just or the unjust, of the pious or the impious, of those freed from passions or those caught up in them, of monks or those living in the world, of the educated or the illiterate, of the healthy or the sick, of the young or of the very old. He is like the outpouring of the light, the glimpses of the sun, or the changes of the weather, which are the same for everyone without exception” Sr. Benedicta Ward.

When I was a kid, like many in my generation, I was a Star Wars geek. I confess I was one of the ones who waited in line opening night to see Revenge of the Sith in May of '05. As I kid, I rememeber being fascinated by the Jedi. Here were heroes who could move things with a swoop of the hand and crush tracheas with their minds. Here were what we might call ‘spiritual masters’ of a science fiction sort.

Looking around at the religious traditions of the world, I found many a spiritual master. There are the Sufis of the Muslim tradition and monks in Buddhism and Jainism. There are even spiritual masters who talk of the mystical reading of Torah and Talmud in the Jewish Traditions.

Here I discovered were the mystics of the world. Those who levitated and did the things that Jedi do.

I wonder, I thought, is there such a thing as a spiritual master in Christianity? Do we have a history of mystics, ascetics, and spiritual athletes who embody the desire of Jesus to ‘find a solitary place’ by himself? Are there those who walk in the power and spirit of Elijah and John the Baptist? Surely the deserts that produced Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Elijah and the prophets, John the Baptist and the apostle Paul, also had something to say to the spiritual descendants of these mighty people of faith and prayer?

Well, the answer is ‘yes.’ The desert formed names that you may or may not be familiar with. Antony the Great, St. Basil. St. Macrina, St. Mary of Egypt. St. Athanasius, St. Isaac the Syrian, and so many others whose names only God knows.

The first thing I want you to do as we undertake this study is to suspend your concept of justification and salvation. Not that it is not important, but these Christians of the desert have no notion of the forensic or juridical idea of salvation that we do. In fact, the big questions in period of the Reformation: questions about justification, propitiation and predestination do not plague the Eastern Christian mind as they do the Western Protestant mind. Decide on your own the merits and weaknesses of Eastern Christianity, just wait until you have some understanding of where they are coming from before you dismiss it out of hand.

Geography
Early Christian monasticism was an Eastern movement. It flourished primarily in the deserts of Palestine and Egypt as well as portions of Greece and Eastern Europe. In fact, Christianity itself is an Eastern rather than Western religion.

History and Cultural Situation
We know that the third and fourth centuries saw thousands of Christians in the regions of Egypt, Syria and Palestine flee to the deserts to sell themselves out to prayer and spiritual discipline. Was this a reaction to the rapid spread of worldliness that the Church experienced post-Constantine, or was the situation as Kallistos Ware describes it, ‘Christian monasticism first emerged as a distinct movement in the early fourth century,’ he says, ‘but it was not so much an innovation as a fresh expression of the ascetic spirit present in Christianity from the start.’

I am no anthropologist, (an anthropologist would say that the situation was more complex), but for our purpose, let’s make two assumptions:

1. Christianity changed when Constantine took the throne and Christianity was no longer a persecuted movement.

2. Early monasticism was a dynamic organism, not a tightly structured organization. (It was also more interactive with the world than we might think)

Let’s look at these two points:
1. Christianity changed when Constantine took the throne and Christianity was no longer a persecuted movement.

That seems like a painfully obvious statement. But we don’t want to be simplistic about it and color the situation by saying that Constantinian Christianity was apostate, a time when ‘power and paganism ruled the church;’ nor to we want to over-romanticize the rule of Constantine or even the monastics.

In the early fourth century, the Emperor became a Christian, making the times of persecution an unfortunate memory. Christianity became legal, and within a few generations it became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Not everything about Constantinian Christianity was or is bad. The doctrines of the faith were solidified. The canon of the New Testament was made official, church order was put in place, beautiful structures were built for worship.

But when you go from a faith that is a life or death decision to the faith of an Empire, then the cost of discipleship is cheapened, and the spiritual lives of Christians becomes lax. Again, I do not want to be simplistic or Hollywood about this. Hollywood has a way of making medieval Christianity into one corruption after another. Christianity has always been a big movement that is both East and West, it is a worldwide phenomena, not a monolithic organization.

Still there were many who remembered the persecutions and the power of the church in those days and compared that with a church that had fallen into what one writer calls ‘routinization.’

In the East and the West, one became a Christian during the persecution era after a catechumenate process of formation and self-denial that lasted three years. One became a Christian after persecution often simply by being born—the closest thing to self-denial being Lent and other penitential occasions. The three years of intense training were reserved for priests, the strict regimen of study and formation was reduced to the 40 days before Pascha (Easter), though to be fair there was some rigor and challenge to post-Constantinian catechmenate as well. Obviously, though, the stakes were not as high.

Faithful Christians in the East looked at the opulence of some clergy and the lack of true discipleship among many of church-goers. Then they looked back to the life of Jesus and the lives of the martyrs and wondered why there was such a huge disconnect. These radical faithful decided to go back, if not to give their blood like the martyrs, to give their lives in obedience to Christ, denying the pleasures and comforts of the world. These radical ones came to be known as monks and nuns, desert fathers and mothers. Some were hermits, others lived in community, most lived a combination of both.

Why? They saw in the life of Christ and his followers those who had nothing yet possessed the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus had no wife, no possessions and ‘nowhere to lay his head.’ Jesus lived a life of faithful obedience and prayer—so then should those who follow him. Pelikan says, ‘All three virtues vowed by the monk—poverty, chastity, and obedience—were based on Christ as pattern and embodiment.’

He also states, “These monastic athletes, as one scholar has put it, ‘were not only fleeing from the world in every sense of the word, they were fleeing from the worldly church.’ The monasticism of the fourth and fifth centuries was a protest, in the name of the authentic teaching of Jesus, against an almost inevitable byproduct of the Constantinian settlement, the secularization of the church.”

Briefly, this is the world the desert fathers and mothers found themselves.

2. Early monasticism was a dynamic organism, not a tightly structured organization. (It was also more interactive with the world than we might think)

When we think of monasticism in the West, we think of a highly organized community that meets in a campus like setting. In the East, and in the era of the desert fathers and mothers, being a monk and a nun was first a spontaneous movement in which men (or women) existed either as hermits or as a loosely connected community. These settlements were called lavras. Today they are also called ‘sketes.’ The fathers and mothers of the desert mostly lived semi-eremetic, that is mostly alone in shacks or caves, coming into contact with other monks or nuns in the chapel or katholikon for reception of the sacrament or for daily prayers.

However, the desert fathers did not live lives of total isolation and without accountability. Key in Eastern monasicism is the role of the gerontas, or elder, sometimes called abba or amma. In Russia, they were called the staretz. These spiritual fathers became the ultimate authorities in monastic communities. In many ways, they embodied Christ himself. A monk was to obey his spiritual father as he would obey Jesus himself.

The spiritual father or mother whether ordained or not, had special insight, what the desert fathers called ‘discrimination.’ This was the ability to discern between works of God and works of Satan. The spiritual father could give wise counsel on whether or not his disciple was being attacked by the logismoi (thoughts) of the devil, and how a monk could control the ‘passions.’

In the Eastern Tradition, the ‘passions’ are not something one is excited about. We think of ‘passion’ and we think of strong desire, or working from the heart. But in the Eastern Tradition, the word ‘passion’ connotes a helplessness or passivity to one’s own sinful nature. So, one who has given in to the ‘passions’ are ‘passive’ in the face of sin and temptation.

Chiefly for the spiritual father, was the ability to provide wisdom to monks who were in their own battle with Satan and the passions. Eventually, it was not just the monks and nuns who sought the abbas or ammas. The general population would travel miles in the desert to be blessed by a one of these spiritual masters. They would seek counsel and seek healing.

Any questions so far?

Key Personalities
Who were these desert fathers and mothers? And who were influenced by them? The one who is considered the founder of Eastern monasticism was St. Antony the Great. You may have seen him pictured in icons as an elderly but strong saint attacked by demons and wild animals. St. Athanasius, a desert dweller himself, wrote Antony’s biography.

Antony was born in 250 in middle Egypt. In the liturgy at 20 years old, he heard Jesus’ words from Matthew 19:21 which reads, ‘If you would be perfect, sell all you have and give the money to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come follow me.’

Antony obeyed this command of Christ in a literal way and at the age of 20, went to live in the outskirts of his hometown of Coma in the desert. 15 years later, he moved to an abandoned fort at Pispir, and colonies of solitary monks grew up around him. Antony’s life was marked by prayer and ascetic discipline and many, many people were attracted to him and his way of living. He gained a reputation as a healer, exorcist and spiritual master. Though he began as a solitary, within 20 years he was surrounded by monastics and pilgrims. It is said that during his lifetime, the desert became a city filled with monasteries. Tradition says that Antony lived to be 105 and died on Mt. Colzim near the Red Sea. A more detailed account of his life follows this lecture.

Another key figure was Evagrios the Solitary. There is a body of literature that you need to familiarize yourself with called the Philokalia which is a four volume collection of the sayings of the desert fathers. The sayings of Evagrios are many. He was born in 354 at Ibora in Pontus. He was a disciple of the great Cappadocian Fathers who were instrumental in hammering out the Orthodox teaching on the nature of Christ at the council of Niceae. He was never ordained a priest, and moved to a remote desert in Kellia, where he died in 399.

Evagrios spiritual father was St. Makarios of Alexandria, who Tradition says was a successful merchant of fruits and pastries, but who left everything in 355 to be a monk. It is said about Makarios that ‘for seven years he lived on raw vegetables dipped in water with a few crumbs of bread, moistened with drops of oil on feast days.

It is also said that he once spent 20 days and 20 nights without sleep, burnt by the sun in the day, frozen by bitter desert cold cold at night. "My mind dried up because of lack of sleep, and I had a kind of delirium," the hermit admitted. "So I gave in to nature and returned to my cell."
If that was not enough, it is said that he spent six months naked in the marshes, attacked by blood-sucking flies and mosquitoes, in the hope of destroying his last bit of sexual desire. The terrible conditions and attacking insects left him so deformed that when he returned to the monks, they could recognize him only by his voice. It is also said that he had powers of healing.

Another key personality is actually a Western Christian who learned from the desert fathers. His name was St. John Cassian. He was born in Scythia around 360. He knew Latin and was a ‘Roman Christian’ by all counts, but as a young man joined a monastery in Bethlehem, but traveled to Egypt in 385 and stayed there until 399. In 405, he was ordained a priest in Rome and eventually founded monasteries near Marseilles, one for men and one for women. He was able to reflect on the spiritual teaching and instruction he learned from the fathers and monastics in Egypt and wrote two works in Latin called the Conferences and the Institutes, both on prayer and spiritual ascesis.

These are just a few key personalities. There are countless others included in the sayings and stories of the desert fathers that have only first names and whom we know nothing about. Let us look now at some of those sayings and stories. These are not exhaustive and are simply chosen as representations of the desert way.

Stories and Sayings
Again, key to the desert fathers was the conquering of the passions. Here are some quotes:

Amma Theodora said, “Let us strive to enter by the narrow gate. Just as the trees cannot bear fruit if they have not stood before the winter’s storms, so it is with us. This present age is a storm; and it is only through many trials and temptations that we can obtain inheritance in the kingdom of heaven” (Heart of the Desert, 38).


St. John Cassian said, “Just as for some people the belly is a god, so for others, is money...how is it that this sickness can so pervert a man that he ends up as an idolater? It is because he now fixes his intellect on the love, not of God, but of the images of men stamped on gold. A monk darkened by such thoughts and launched on the downward path can no longer be obedient.” Cassian says that this monk will think of money so much that he will wish to leave the monastery. Neither God’s presence, nor the salvation of his soul will keep him in the monastery, and “he concludes, he will perish if he does not leave it.”

St. Mark the Ascetic said, “He who entangles himself with the passions while trying to overcome them is like a man who tries to put out fire with straw...Sin is a blazing fire. The less fuel you give to it, the faster it dies down; the more you feed it, the more it burns...From a pleasure-loving heart arise unhealthy thoughts and words; and from the smoke of fire, we recognize the fuel...when you first become involved in something evil, don’t say, ‘it will not overpower me.’ For to the extent that you are involved you have already been overpowered by it.”

Spiritual warfare is also important for the desert fathers. Satan was not to be ignored nor underestimated. He was key in putting logismoi (thoughts) of temptation in the minds of the monks.

But the monk was not left alone to conquer evil. The Holy Spirit also takes an important role in the thinking of the desert fathers. St. Didachos of Photiki, who lived from 400 to 486 in northern Greece said, “Only the Holy Spirit can purify the [mind and spirit], for unless a greater power comes and overthrows the despoiler, what he has taken captive will never be set free. In every way, therefore, and especially through peace of soul, we must make ourselves a dwelling-place for the Holy Spirit. Then we shall have a lamp of spiritual knowledge burning always within us; and when it is shining constantly in the inner shrine of the soul, not only will the [mind and heart] perceive all the dark and bitter attacks of demons, but these attacks will be greatly weakened when exposed for what they are by that glorious and holy light.”

Elsewhere he says,
“For someone who is not at close grips with his enemy uses arrows against him, attacking him from a distance. In the same way, when, because of the presence of grace, Satan can lurk no longer in the mind of those pursuing the spiritual way, he lurks in the body and exploits its humors, so that through its proclivities he may seduce the soul.”
(Philokalia, V1)

Many of the sayings and stories of the desert fathers are gems. Through them are great teachings and wisdom on the ultimate virtue of the desert fathers and mothers, the virtue of humility.

For example, of Abba Macarius of Egypt it is said, “They said of Abba Macarius the Great, that he became, as it were, a god upon this earth; because, just as God protects the world, so Abba Macarius would cover the faults he saw, as though he did not see them, and those he heard, as though he did not hear them” (Heart of the Desert, 27).

“Abba Zacharias drew his hood off his head, put it under his feet, and trampled on it. Then he said to Abba Moses: ‘if one does not allow others to treat him in this way, then one cannot become a monk” (HOD, 29).

“A brother said to Abba Theodore: ‘Speak a word to me, for I am perishing.’ Sorrowfully, the old man said to him: ‘I am myself in danger. So what can I say to you?”

One of my favorite stories is told by St. John Cassian. [Philokalia, 105]

The ultimate quote from St. Isaac of Ninevah, who lived as a bishop in the 7th century, but whose heart was trained in the desert:
“Let yourself be persecuted, but do not persecute others.
Be crucified, but do not crucify others.
Be slandered, but do not slander others.
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep: such is the sign of purity.
Suffer with the sick.
Be afflicted with sinners.
Exult with those who repent.
Be the friend of all, but in your spirit remain alone. Be a partaker of the sufferings of all, but keep your body distant from all.
Rebuke no one, revile no one, not even those who live very wickedly.
Spread your cloak over those who fall into sin, each and every one, and shield them.
And if you cannot take the fault on yourself and accept punishment in their place,
do not destroy their character.
What is a merciful heart? It is a heart on fire for the whole of creation, for humanity, for the birds, for the animals, for demons, and for all that exists. By the recollection of them the eyes of a merciful person pour forth tears in abundance. By the strong and vehement mercy that grips such a person’s heart, and by such great compassion, the heart is humbled and one cannot bear to hear or to see any injury or slight sorrow in any in creation. For this reason, such a person offers up tearful prayer continually even for irrational beasts, for the enemies of the truth, and for those who harm her or him, that they be protected and receive mercy.”


Conclusion
The Fathers and Mothers of the Desert experienced a depth in their relationship with Christ and were full of the Holy Spirit—so much so that people would visit monks and nuns for all kinds of healing, and there are records of Monastics levitating in prayer and hearing the direct voice of Christ. What was their secret? It really is simple. Deny yourself and pray—like Jesus did.

How does prayer renew the church? I overheard a conversation at a parish (certainly not mine) where there was a big concern about finances. One person said, ‘boy we really need to commit this to prayer,’ and the other person remarked, ‘we’d better do a whole lot more than that!’

There is a sense in which prayer is a waste of time. There is a sense that there are better things we could be doing with our time. I remember in a seminary course small group I raised the idea of requiring all seminarians to spend time in a monastic setting, to which someone replied, ‘I don’t have time for that, there is too much ministry to do!’

For the desert fathers and mothers, prayer and ascesis were the most important things in life. Evagrious the solitary says,

“Pray with the gift of tears, so that through sorrowing you may tame what is savage in your soul...Prayer is the flower of gentleness and of freedom from anger. Prayer is the fruit of joy and thankfulness. Prayer is the remedy for gloom and despondency. ‘Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor...deny yourself, taking up your cross.’ You will then be free from distraction when you pray. If you wish to pray as you should, deny yourself all the time, and when any kind of affliction troubles you, meditate on prayer.’

The way of the desert and prayer was a way for these radical disciples of the early church to live out Christ’s life of simplicity. It was also a way of entering into a most blessed and deep communion with Christ himself.

The Rule of St. Benedictine, written centuries later, but with the same ethos of the desert fathers states‘[do not] value anything more highly than the love of Christ.’

The monk and nuns of the desert are the picture of Christ and his early followers. In lives of holiness and prayer, the world is changed.

In the Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky wrote, through the mouth of the holy elder Father Zosima,

“How surprised men would be if I were to say that from these meek monks, who yearn for solitary prayer, the salvation of Russia will perhaps come once more! For they are in truth made ready in peace and quiet for the day and the hour, the month of the year. Meanwhile, in their solitude, they keep the image of Christ fair and undefiled, in the purity of God’s truth, from the times of the fathers of old, the apostles and martyrs.”

Key questions:
Why was the world-view of the desert fathers so different from our own?

Why was their practice of faith so different?

What can we learn from these masters of the faith?

Appendix: Book 1: The Life of St. Anthony the Great
as told by St. Athanasius

When Anthony was called, he had been studying the book of Acts. He was drawn to the early church, who sold everything they had and put the money at the apostles feet. He also heard in the liturgy Jesus command to the rich young ruler to sell everything and follow him. So, Anthony did. He sold everything and gave it to the poor. His sister, who was give to his charge when his parents died, he committed to a company of ‘virgin’s,’ who were the early nuns. In the early 3rd centuries, monasteries were not common and ‘each who wished to attend to his soul exercised himself alone not far from his village.’

In the early days of Anthony’s renunciation of the world, he went from place to place ‘working with his hands,’ spending the money he earned on bread for himself and giving the rest to the poor. In his wanderings he encountered many ‘devout men’ who he learned the virtues from.

Satan’s initial temptations
Anthony was attacked by the devil all of his life but his earliest days alone were marked by the most intense attacks. Sometimes the devil appeared as a woman, once as a young boy to place thoughts of fornication in Anthony’s mind. Or, the devil would remind Anthony of the property he left behind, his sister and her care, friends, money, fame, the delights of the table and ‘other relaxations of life.’ Satan would remind Anthony of ‘the hardness of virtue, and how great is the labour therof; suggesting that the body is weak, and time is long.’ But the devil’s temptations were useless under Anthony’s faith. St. Athanasius says, ‘So all these things turned to the confusion of the adversary; for he who was thought to be like God was now mocked by a youth; and he who gloried over flesh and blood was now defeated by a man clad in the flesh.’

Anthony’s ascetic discipline under these attacks (and to conquer himself) was intense. He often did not sleep, ate only bread, salt and water once a day and sometimes fasted completely for up to four days at a time.

The Tombs
After the initial ‘mastering’ of himself, Anthony sought solitudes among the tombs. He asked a friend to lock him in a tomb and there was attacked most intensely by the devil and his minions. St. Athanasius says, ‘and coming one night with a throng of demons, [Satan] so scourged him that he lay on the ground speechless from the pain.’ Fortunately, Anthony’s friend found him and took him to the village church to recover. When Anthony awoke from his ordeal, he asked his friend to take him back to the tombs. The devil attacked again in the form of wild animals. St. Athanasius writes, “the demons seemed to rush through [the walls] in the guise of beasts and creeping things, and the place was at once filled with the forms of lions, bears, leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions and wolves...And the noise of all the visions was terrible, and their fury cruel. Anthony, beaten and goaded by them, felt keener bodily pain. Nevertheless he lay fearless and more alert in spirit. He groaned with the soreness of his body, but in mind he was cool, and said jestingly, ‘If you had any power in you, it would have been enough that just one of you should come; but the Lord has taken your strength away, and that is why you try to frighten me if possible by your numbers. It is a sign of your helplessness that you have taken the shapes of brutes.’”
The attacks subsided and eventually a beam of light was sent from the Lord and the demons disappeared, as did Anthony’s physical pain. Anthony asked the Lord, ‘Where were you? Why did you not show yourself from the beginning, to end my suffering?’ And a voice came to him: ‘I was here, Anthony, but I waited to see your resistence. Therefore since you have endured and not yielded, I will always be your helper, and I will make you renowned everywhere.’ This happened when Anthony was about 35 years old.

The Fort
Anthony found an abandoned fort which was to be his home for 20 years. He kept six months worth of bread and only ate twice a year. People on the outside of the fort thought there were men fighting with Anthony and heard shrieking and piteous cries. Once they heard, ‘Stand off from our domain. What have you to do with the desert? You cannot stand our contrivings.’

But Anthony was unmoved by the attacks. People would knock on the door and he would calmly tell them not to fear but to ‘sign yourselves and go away bravely, and leave [the demons] to make fools of themselves.’ St. Athanasius writes, ‘His friends used to come constantly, expecting to find him dead; but they heard him singing, ‘Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered...’

‘Public’ Minsistry
After the 20 years, St. Athanasius writes, “Many longed and sought to copy his holy life, and some of his friends came and forcibly broke down the door and removed it; and Anthony came forth as from a holy of holies, filled with heavenly secrets and possessed by the Spirit of God...Through him the Lord healed many of those present who were suffering from bodily ills and freed others from evil spirits. And the Lord gave Anthony grace in speech, so that he comforted many in sorrow; others who were at strife he made friends; charging all not to prefer anything in the world to the love of Christ...And so from that time there were monasteries in the mountains, and the desert was peopled with monks, who went forth from their own and became citizens of the kingdom of Heaven.”

Later in his work on St. Anthony, St. Athanasius records these words of the devil:
“I now have no place, no weapon, no city. Everywhere are Christians, and now the desert too is grown full of monks.”

I close with the words of St. Anthony:
“For what profit is it to posses these things that we cannot take with us? Why not rather posses those things which we can take with us–prudence, justice, temperance, fortitude, understanding, charity, love of the poor, gentleness, hospitality? For if we gain these possessions we shall find them going beforehand, to make a welcome for us there in the land of the meek.”