The Rise of Monasticism

Protestants have never really felt comfortable about the concept of monasticism - of organisations of celibates locking themselves away from the world. It has never felt right to the Protestant mind and has no Biblical foundation. Nevertheless, as a system it has involved some very godly men and has, no doubt, played a positive role in the history of Christianity. Unfortunately, it is all too possible to point to the negative effects of the monastic system.

If, as I have suggested, there is no Biblical authority for the monastic movement, how did it come to play such an important role in the mediaeval Church?

The Earliest Monks

Strictly speaking, the word "monk " refers to a solitary life rather than a life in community. The first monks were, indeed, solitary people. They were, in the main, "Hermits". The word Hermit derives from the Greek, eremos, meaning desert. The hermits, believing that by separating themselves from the world and its temptations they could live more holy lives, went into desert or wilderness places to live alone.

This asceticism, foreign as it was to the teachings of Jesus, was beginning to be manifested even in Paul's days and he condemned it as being, in itself, worldly.

Col 2:20-23
Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: "Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

and

I Tim 4:1-3
The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

The strangest of all these ascetics were a group of people known as the "pillar saints" or Stylites. Following the example of a man named Simeon, they built tall pillars and lived on top of these pillars for years. Simeon himself lived for 30 years on a 60 foot pillar. People came from near and far to hear him preach from the top of the pillar.

The more common form of hermit tended to follow the example of Anthony who, in the middle of the 3^rd century, sold all that he had and distributed the money to the poor in obedience to Mark 10:17-27. He then left everything and everybody behind to live in the wilderness. He ate little and drank nothing but water. He decided not to cut, or even comb, his hair except at Easter. He never bathed. How he came to believe that this was God's way is not recorded. Gradually others began to join him and he organised them into a desert community. This was typical of the way in which early monastic communities came into being.

Monastic Communities

Pachomius (292-346) might be called the originator of organised monastic life. He established a monastery at Tabanessi in Egypt which housed up to 3000 monks according to Athanasius. Monastic life seems to have been very popular among the Egyptian Christians in the 4^th century.

At first, monasticism was slower to catch on in the West although it was supported by Athanasius, Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine. One of the more successful leaders of the 4^th century monastic movement in the West was Martin of Tours, in Gaul. Martin had learned about monasticism in the East and introduced it into Gaul. One of his disciples was named Ninian. Ninian, a Scottish missionary, was consecrated Bishop in 394 and returned to Scotland where he founded a church and monastery at Whithorn, on the Solway Firth. This he used as his base for the evangelisation of the Picts and Celts. It has been suggested that it was largely due to this influence that the Celtic Chuch in Britain and Ireland was so strongly monastic.

The most influential monastic movement, however, was probably the order of monks founded by Benedict in 529. The effects of Benedict's work will be discussed in the next article.

(All full biblical quotations in this article are taken from the New International Version and have been inserted into the text using "QuickVerse for Windows" from Parsons Technology.)