Exiles from life lesson 5 church history i

Exiles from life lesson 5 church history i

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  EXILES FROM LIFE THEBEGINNINGS OF MONASTICISM 1
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  EXILES FROM LIFE •The model Christian was no longer the courageous bishop dragged before the wild beasts in a roman arena. He was the lonely hermit in the forsaken Egyptian desert defying the devil. • Edward Gibbon said, “why would anyone want to renounce sex?” Catholics and Protestants disagree over the pros and cons of monasticism. Catholics argue that the church is big enough for both those who strive for spiritual perfection and the weak. Protestants, like Martin Luther says it encourages the idea of two roads to God, a higher and a lower. But there is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ. Matthew 19:12 2
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  MONASTICISM • Monasticism (Greekmonos) means alone or monkhood. is a religious way of life that involves renouncing worldly pursuits to fully devote one's self to spiritual work. The origin of the word is from Ancient Greek, and the idea originally related to Buddhist monks in 550 BC. • In the Catholic, Orthodox, and Coptic Christian traditions, males pursuing a monastic life are generally called monks while female monastic's are called nuns. Both monks and nuns are considered monastic's. The way of addressing monastic's differs between the Christian traditions. For a general rule, in Roman Catholicism, monks and nuns are called brother or sister, while in Orthodox Christianity, they are called father or mother. This is not an absolute rule as their address varies depending on their rank and monastic tradition. Some other religions also include monastic elements, most notably Buddhism, but also Hinduism and Jainism, though the expressions differ considerably. 3
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  THE MONASTIC IDEAL •The first ascetic figure that we can see in the Bible could be John The Baptist. He roamed the Judean desert with crude garb and preaching repent. Monastic life appeal to Christians that wanted to do more. • The first form of monasticism was the hermit this word comes from the Greek word for desert. Anthony of Koma could have possibly been the first, living in the Egyptian desert. The reason why the popularity grew was because of the half hearted Christians that were converted after Constantine began to rule. The church took on a new level of wickedness that virtuous Christians were trying to escape. They were not running from the world, but the church. Revelation 14:1-5 4
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  THE MOVE TOCOMMUNITY LIFE • Around 320 A.D the monastic movement took a step forward. A former soldier named Pachomius instituted the first Christian monastery. • Pachomius brought order to the life of a monk, in which they ate, labored, and worshipped together. It was called coenobitic monasticism from the Greek meaning common life. • This brought monasticism into some system of restraint, to save souls you must bring them together. 1Corinthians 7:7-9 5
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  MONASTIC IDEAL • Themonastic ideal struck Christianity with such power, that during the fourth and fifth centuries it had affected all levels of the Christian population. • Now that the persecution of the church had all but ceased. The monks provided a new level of Christian enthusiasm and end-time piety. • All monks took on a threefold vow: 1. poverty 2. chastity 3. obedience. Because of the monastic lifestyle Jerome (320-420) gave us the Vulgate. The Hebrew Bible translated into Latin. 6
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  THE GENIUS OFTHE WEST • Benedict was born in Nursia, in the late fifth century. He adopted the most extreme form of asceticism and lived as a hermit in a lonely cave. His life was so strict that the monks that chose him as their Abbot tried to poison him. • In 529 A.D he founded the most famous monastery in Europe. The Motherhouse of the Benedictine order. He died in 542 A.D 7
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  BENEDICTINE RULE • Monasticismhas its perils. Many monks lived unworthy of their profession. Benedict said, “these evils were due to the lack of discipline.” • Benedict did not allow any to enter into the full life of service until they had tried for at least one year. During this time the novitiate was free to leave. • Benedict’s most fruitful requirements were regarding labor. “Idleness, he said is hostile to the soul, and therefore brethren should be occupied at fixed times to manual labor, and definite hours for reading.” 8
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  SOME PROS ANDCONS • It is almost impossible to exaggerate the service the monks rendered in the period after the ruin of the old roman civilization and the growth in its place of the new nations of German conquerors. • Christianity was preserved because of the Benedictine monasteries filled the European country sides. Benedictine monasteries provided most of the missionaries of that era in time. • The soul, said the monk, is chained to the flesh as a prisoner to a corpse. That is not a biblical view of human life, and it created a fundamental flaw in monasticism. 9
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