What
would this monastic aristocracy look like in practice? We may get some idea by looking back at a
couple of very influential monks in the West, St Anthony the Great of Egypt
(+356), who is called the Father of Monks (though monasticism has been in the
Orthodox Church from the beginning; he and others helped give it an organized
life that allowed it to flourish all the more, however. Thus, he is a pillar of both the East and the
West), and St Illtyd of Wales
(reposed early 6th hundredyear). Both
were men of great holiness, so not all monastics will be able to achieve quite
what they did. But overall there will be
a likeness between their lives and the life of all monks and nuns. So let us see how monastics have raised to a
higher plane the good works begun by the gentlemen-planters.
St
Anthony:
All
quotes about St Anthony below are from the Life
of St Anthony (by St Athanasius the Great), http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2811.htm,
accessed 24 Aug. 2016.
Of
his fierce battles with the passions and the demons:
7.
This was Antony's first struggle against the
devil, or rather this victory was the Saviour's work in Antony , 'Who condemned sin in the flesh that
the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit.' But neither did Antony,
although the evil one had fallen, henceforth relax his care and despise him;
nor did the enemy as though conquered cease to lay snares for him. For again he
went round as a lion seeking some occasion against him. But Antony having
learned from the Scriptures
that the devices of the devil are many, zealously continued the
discipline, reckoning that though the devil had not been able to
deceive his heart by bodily pleasure, he would endeavour to ensnare him by
other means. For the demon
loves sin.
Wherefore more and more he repressed the body and kept it in subjection , lest
haply having conquered on one side, he should be dragged down on the other. He
therefore planned to accustom himself to a severer mode of life. And many
marvelled, but he himself used to bear the labour easily; for the eagerness of soul, through the length
of time it had abode in him, had wrought a good habit in him, so that taking
but little initiation from others he showed great zeal in this matter. He
kept vigil to such an extent that he often continued the whole night without
sleep; and this not once but often, to the marvel of others. He ate once a day,
after sunset, sometimes once in two days, and often even in four. His food was
bread and salt,
his drink, water only. Of flesh and wine it is superfluous even to speak, since
no such thing was found with the other earnest men. A rush mat served him to
sleep upon, but for the most part he lay upon the bare ground. He would not
anoint himself with oil, saying it behooved young men to be earnest in training
and not to seek what would enervate the body; but they must accustom it to
labour, mindful of the Apostle's words, 'when I am weak, then am I strong.'
'For,' said he, 'the fibre of the soul is then sound when
the pleasures of the body are diminished.' And he had come to this truly wonderful
conclusion, 'that progress in virtue, and retirement
from the world for the sake of it, ought not to be measured by time, but by
desire and fixity of purpose.' He at least gave no thought to the past, but day
by day, as if he were at the beginning of his discipline, applied greater pains
for advancement, often repeating to himself the saying of Paul :'Forgetting
the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are
before.' He was also mindful of the words spoken by the prophet Elias 1 Kings 18:15,
'the Lord lives before whose presence I stand today.' For he observed that in
saying 'today' the prophet
did not compute the time that had gone by: but daily as though ever commencing
he eagerly endeavoured to make himself fit to appear before God, being pure in heart
and ever ready to submit to His counsel, and to Him alone. And he used to say
to himself that from the life of the great Elias the hermit ought to see his
own as in a mirror.
8.
Thus tightening his hold upon himself, Antony
departed to the tombs, which happened to be at a distance from the village; and
having bid one of his acquaintances to bring him bread at intervals of many
days, he entered one of the tombs, and the other having shut the door on him,
he remained within alone. And when the enemy could not endure it, but was even
fearful that in a short time Antony would fill the desert with the
discipline, coming one night with a multitude of demons, he so cut him with
stripes that he lay on the ground speechless from the excessive pain. For he
affirmed that the torture had been so excessive that no blows inflicted by man
could ever have caused him such torment. But by the Providence of God— for the
Lord never overlooks them that hope in Him— the next day his acquaintance came
bringing him the loaves. And having opened the door and seeing him lying on the
ground as though dead, he lifted him up and carried him to the church in the
village, and laid him upon the ground. And many of his kinsfolk and the
villagers sat around Antony
as round a corpse. But about midnight he came to himself and arose, and when he
saw them all asleep and his comrade alone watching, he motioned with his head
for him to approach, and asked him to carry him again to the tombs without
waking anybody.
9.
He was carried therefore by the man, and as he was wont, when the door was shut
he was within alone. And he could not stand up on account of the blows, but he prayed as he lay. And
after he had prayed,
he said with a shout, Here am I, Antony;
I flee not from your stripes, for even if you inflict more nothing shall
separate me from the love of Christ. And then he sang,
'though a camp be set against me, my heart shall not be afraid. ' These were
the thoughts and words of this ascetic. But the enemy,
who hates
good, marvelling that after the blows he dared to return, called together his
hounds and burst forth, 'You see,' said he, 'that neither by the spirit of lust nor by blows did we
stay the man, but that he braves us, let us attack him in another fashion.' But
changes of form for evil
are easy for the devil,
so in the night they made such a din that the whole of that place seemed to be
shaken by an earthquake, and the demons as if breaking the
four walls of the dwelling seemed to enter through them, coming in the likeness
of beasts and creeping things. And the place was on a sudden filled with the
forms of lions, bears, leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves,
and each of them was moving according to his nature. The lion was roaring,
wishing to attack, the bull seeming to toss with its horns, the serpent
writhing but unable to approach, and the wolf as it rushed on was restrained;
altogether the noises of the apparitions, with their angry ragings, were
dreadful. But Antony,
stricken and goaded by them, felt bodily pains severer still. He lay watching,
however, with unshaken soul,
groaning from bodily anguish; but his mind was clear, and as in mockery he
said, 'If there had been any power in you, it would have sufficed had one of
you come, but since the Lord has made you weak, you attempt to terrify me by
numbers: and a proof
of your weakness is that you take the shapes of brute beasts.' And again with
boldness he said, 'If you are able, and have received power against me, delay
not to attack; but if you are unable, why trouble me in vain? For faith in our Lord is a
seal and a wall of safety to us.' So after many attempts they gnashed their
teeth upon him, because they were mocking themselves rather than him.
10.
Nor was the Lord then forgetful of Antony's
wrestling, but was at hand to help him. So looking up he saw the roof as it
were opened, and a ray of light descending to him. The demons suddenly vanished,
the pain of his body straightway ceased, and the building was again whole. . . .
Of
his kindness to neighbor and kinship with creation:
50. Antony
then, as it were, moved by God,
loved the place , for this was the spot which he who had spoken with him by the
banks of the river had pointed out. So having first received loaves from his
fellow travellers, he abode in the mountain alone, no one else being with him.
And recognising it as his own home, he remained in that place for the future.
But the Saracens, having seen the earnestness of Antony, purposely used to
journey that way, and joyfully brought him loaves, while now and then the palm
trees also afforded him a poor and frugal relish. But after this, the brethren
learning of the place, like children mindful of their father, took care to send
to him. But when Antony
saw that the bread was the cause
of trouble and hardships to some of them, to spare the monks this, he resolved to
ask some of those who came to bring him a spade, an axe, and a little grain.
And when these were brought, he went over the land round the mountain, and
having found a small plot of suitable ground, tilled it; and having a plentiful
supply of water for watering, he sowed. This doing year by year, he got his bread
from thence, rejoicing that thus he would be troublesome to no one, and because
he kept himself from being a burden to anybody. But after this, seeing again
that people came, he cultivated a few pot-herbs, that he who came to him might
have some slight solace after the labour of that hard journey. At first,
however, the wild beasts in the desert, coming because of
the water, often injured his seeds and husbandry. But he, gently laying hold of
one of them, said to them all, 'Why do you hurt me, when I hurt none of you?
Depart, and in the name of the Lord come not near this spot.' And from that
time forward, as though fearful of his command, they no more came near the
place.
How
he influenced rulers:
81. And the fame of Antony came even unto kings. For Constantine
Augustus, and his sons Constantius and Constans the Augusti wrote letters to
him, as to a father, and begged an answer from him. But he made nothing very
much of the letters, nor did he rejoice at the messages,
but was the same as he had been before the Emperors wrote to him. But when they
brought him the letters he called the monks and said, 'Do not be
astonished if an emperor writes to us, for he is a man; but rather wonder that
God wrote the Law for men and has spoken to us through His
own Son.' And so he was unwilling to receive the letters, saying that he did
not know
how to write an answer to such things. But being urged by the monks because the emperors
were Christians,
and lest they should take offense on the ground that they had been spurned, he
consented that they should be read, and wrote an answer approving them because they
worshipped Christ, and giving them counsel on things pertaining to salvation: 'not to think
much of the present, but rather to remember the judgment that is coming, and to
know that Christ alone was
the true
and Eternal King.' He begged them to be merciful and to give heed to justice and the poor. And
they having received the answer rejoiced. Thus he was dear to all, and all
desired to consider him as a father.
How
he influenced the plain folk:
44. While Antony was thus speaking all rejoiced; in
some the love
of virtue
increased, in others carelessness was thrown aside, the self-conceit of others
was stopped; and all were persuaded to despise the assaults of the Evil One, and marvelled at
the grace
given to Antony from the Lord for the discerning of spirits. So their cells
were in the mountains, like filled with holy bands of men who sang
psalms, loved reading, fasted, prayed, rejoiced in the
hope of things to come, laboured in almsgiving, and preserved love and harmony one with
another. And truly
it was possible, as it were, to behold a land set by itself, filled with piety and justice. For then there
was neither the evil-doer, nor the injured, nor the reproaches of the
tax-gatherer: but instead a multitude of ascetics; and the one
purpose of them all was to aim at virtue. So that any one
beholding the cells again, and seeing such good order among the monks, would lift up his
voice and say, 'How goodly are your dwellings, O Jacob, and your tents, O Israel; as shady glens and
as a garden by a river; as tents which the Lord has pitched, and like cedars
near waters.'
. . .
88. For this was the wonderful thing in Antony's discipline,
that, as I said before, having the gift of discerning spirits, he recognised
their movements, and was not ignorant whither any one
of them turned his energy and made his attack. And not only was he not deceived
by them himself, but cheering those who were troubled with doubts, he taught
them how to defeat their plans, telling them of the weakness and craft of those
who possessed them. Thus each one, as though prepared by him for battle, came
down from the mountain, braving the designs of the devil and his demons. How many maidens
who had suitors, having but seen Antony
from afar, remained maidens for Christ's sake. And people
came also from foreign parts to him, and like all others, having got some
benefit, returned, as though set forward by a father. And certainly when he
died, all as having been bereft of a father, consoled themselves solely by
their remembrances of him, preserving at the same time his counsel and advice.
St
Illtyd:
In
the life of St Illtyd, one of the great saints of Wales whose influence
together with that of other Welsh Orthodox Christians helped evangelize Wales,
Cornwall, Ireland, and Brittany and later along with the Roman Orthodox
missionaries helped to enlighten the heathen English, we see some of the same aspects
of plantation life mentioned above as well as others: education in the classics, communal life,
poetry, Christian piety, and so on.
. . . St. Illtyd is referred to in many
sources as a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre (possibly a distant relative),
who instructed and trained him either during one of his two visits to Britain
or (which is less probable) in Gaul,
where Illtyd came to gain experience in monastic life. St. Illtyd later became
a monk and was ordained to the priesthood by Germanus, together with a number
of other future saints. In the following years he founded many churches,
monasteries and schools in Wales,
the most famous of which was the monastery in Llantwit, named Llanilltud Fawr
in Welsh, or Llantwit Major in English, literally meaning “the great church of Illtud”.
It
was an angel who more than once directed Illtyd to the location of this
monastery—in a beautiful wooded valley. The monastery was situated in Glamorgan
in the south-east of Wales
and today it is in the Vale of Glamorgan county borough. Illtyd became the
first abbot of the monastery and ruled it for many years. Most of the saints of
that period came from it. Hundreds of monks lived in Llantwit Major simultaneously
and one early source says that at various points altogether some 3,000 brethren
led the ascetic life there under the holy abbot Illtyd. Monastic life in this
great center flourished until the Norman Conquest, and it
gained fame for teaching Greek, Latin, theology, philosophy, grammar, poetry,
rhetoric and mathematics. Indeed, it was one of the finest educational centers
in Western Europe at that time and possibly the first center on such a scale in
Britain.
At the monastic church under St. Illtyd prayer never ceased—100 monks prayed
and held vigil inside the church day and night.
St. Illtyd was venerated in his lifetime as a great
wonderworker on whom the Lord also bestowed the ability to foresee future
events. As was the case with many other Celtic saints who imitated the
Egyptian, Syrian and Palestinian desert fathers, Illtyd led a severe ascetic
life. It was recorded that the man of God used to go deep into cold water at
night and to repeat the Lord’s Prayer there till the morning. As his life
reads, the holy abbot of Llantwit devoted his time to manual work, fasting,
abstinence, watching, kneeling and praying. He fed the hungry, clothed the
naked, healed the sick and visited prisoners. He was filled with hospitality,
compassion and humility, and he had no pride in spite of his numerous talents.
It was said that solitude was dear to his heart and he spent almost three years
absolutely alone in a secluded cave in prayer.
Among
the disciples of St. Illtyd we can mention such illustrious early Church
Fathers of Wales as St. David of Mynyw, St. Samson of Dol, St. Gildas the Wise,
St. Tudwal, St. Paul Aurelian, and St. Maglorius. Many of his disciples later
moved to enlighten Brittany and other Celtic
regions like Devon and Cornwall.
The great abbot-bishop St. Deiniol
of Bangor can
also be regarded as one of his disciples. A large number of spiritual children
of Illtyd were to become celebrated teachers and missionaries. A multitude of
young men from all over Wales,
south-west England, Brittany and other regions of France, flocked to his monastery to
study and live a holy life, with several princes among them. According to some
sources (though it is not always chronologically correct), among close friends
and spiritual companions, or perhaps rather spiritual descendants, of this
great saint of God were such important figures as St. Cadoc (with whom Illtyd
led the ascetic life in seclusion for some time) and Dyfryg (Dubricius). The
noted bard of that era, named Taliesin, reputedly went there as well.
The Life of St. Samson, mentioned above, describes
St. Illtyd as “the most prominent teacher of the Britons and of the whole of Britain.” This
is a very important testimony and indeed the influence of this saint greatly
contributed to the formation of monastic life, culture, education and learning
in the Wales
of that era. St. Illtyd closely communicated with wild animals. Thus, once he
rescued a stag from King Meirchion who was hunting it. This stag became tame
and even delivered timber for the saint on a cart in order to build his church. . . .
Source:
Dmitry Lapa, ‘Venerable Illtyd, Abbot of Llantwit Major in Wales and the
Teacher of the Welsh’, http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/87874.htm,
accessed 22 Nov. 2015
Holy
Saints Anthony and Illtyd, pray for us wretched sinners at the South!
(From
https://oca.org/saints/lives/2015/01/17/100216-venerable-and-god-bearing-father-anthony-the-great)
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