Some say monasticism in the Church originated from a negative reaction to the Christianization of the Roman Empire. It’s believable that some people responded this way, and many Egyptians avoided conscription in the Roman army by force who had moved to the desert regions. But the one-minded spirit to serve God alone, outside of married life, has been represented by the Old Testament prophets, St. John the Forerunner, and late Jewish groups such as the Essenes and Nazarenes who “labored for virtue” like Christians. Any person who desires to seek wisdom and its ultimate source is like a monk in heart. Just as there is the royal priesthood of holy believers, there are many who, whether married or not, understand that Wisdom, the Logos, the Incarnate Son of God has always been with mankind as a guide toward the Truth that alone can “set us free.” Our nature is made good and still is good in each of us; but our gnomic will constantly wanders off, and confuses various goods in the world with the Good.To gain a higher degree of self-control in an environment best suited for achieving that goal, monks in Egypt and Palestine flourished and spread different types of monasticism to Italy, Britain, France, Syria, Constantinople, Russia and many other places. Monasticism seeks to live the straight path in a way that relies on the source of all good, Goodness Itself. Although we belong to each other in sharing one human nature, we don’t seem to be a one-size fits all situation when we discuss each person’s individual spiritual pursuit of righteousness and wisdom. Some may need more solitary time like in the sketes of the Egyptian desert and the forests of northern Russia, others more communal situations like the cenobitic monasteries or in a city accompanied by many books. Other topics mentioned is the development of the scriptorium and monastic eldership.
The sapiential literature of the Old Testament can be understood as fulfilled in the pursuit of discernment and perception and wisdom among the monastic communities of the Church as well as among the married Christians representing wisdom in the royal priesthood, because holiness and wisdom are one – upheld by the glory of the virtues produced in the Church and as a wonderful work of Christ. For this reason, Syrian monks called themselves “the sons of the covenant” because the Old Testament wasn’t separate, but continuous with the life of Christ. With the same inclination of our gnomic or knowledgeable will to miss the mark, lacking discernment in thought and action, Christians living in the world can become too worldly just as monks can become too rigidly monkish. Some groups of monks began to develop “extreme individualism.” The Council of Gangra declared that monks who disdained marriage along with other very strict standards of living, as if imposed on all Christians, were condemned. Examples of extreme austerity can be seen in the monasticism of Cappadocia at times. But a Cappadocian father, St. Basil the Great taught the more “ecclesiastic” understanding of monasticism situated in and originating from the Church, not an outside force imposed on or added as an appendage to the ecclesial structure. Desert monasticism was characteristic of Syria-Palestine, Egypt while urban monasticism developed in Rome, Constantinople, Cappadocia. And the real jewel of knowledge that monastics have given us is that distractions follow us everywhere we go. There are sheep and goats in the pastures of our heart. Theodore the Studite from the well-known and influential Stoudios monastery of Byzantium speaks to monks saying, “I believe God will accept you and your good intention [will] if you remain the same even after moving from the most silent places to noisy and populous ones, from desert to city.” The changeable man is tossed by vices and lack of discernment, but the wise are calm even in the midst of storms, as our scriptures teach in the Wisdom of Solomon and Proverbs.
Canonical structure or the framework of rules is important for regulating the life of any Christian, especially monastic communities. Basil’s Rules, although having no word “monk” mentioned, outlines how Christians who dedicate themselves to attaining perfection can live best. It was mentioned in the chapter that monasticism isn’t an authority or standard set above the Church. The life free of many distractions was very much supported by the Roman government and culture, and so the Byzantines allowed for monasteries to become epicenters of classical and theological learning and libraries. The hot pursuit of virtue, wisdom, and righteousness, the union with God combined with the preservation of wisdom literature and theological and liturgical texts – an immense gift from God. Because Constantinople’s government supported monasticism for the most part of its history, around 100,000 monks at one time lived in Byzantium, and 76 monasteries in the city of Constantinople. And contrary to the opinion of some Roman Catholic friends who argue that the eastern Christians had a penchant for heresy deep in their psychology, which requires that the doctrine of papal supremacy is true, it is no coincidence that heresies had to come out of the Hellenistic East. The Greek Bible, the Septuagint, compiled by Hellenistic Jews, is the oldest, most authoritative version of the Bible still used by the Orthodox Church. The Greek language along with the Greek and Jewish communities, often intermarrying and exchanging ideas, are closest to the apostolic teaching and writing, and so they are best able to handle such difficulties and nuances in interpreting the scriptures. If these heresies had spread from any other area of the inhabited world, who could have resolved them with such authority and power and clarity? Most of the patriarchates are located in the eastern Mediterranean and Asian side of the world; so, that also makes it logistically and culturally easier to convene and discuss theological and ecclesial issues so much so that even the Pope had the custom of sending his legates across the sea to Constantinople. Out of the good providence of God the ecumenical councils and monasticism with rich abundant literary resources grew out of a larger Mediterranean world that was once very integrated compared to today.
Ascetical and monastic literature wasn’t always Roman. St. Isaac the Syrian (7th c.) lived in the Persian Empire. Also Jacob Aphrahat (4th c.) and St. Ephraim the Syrian (4th c.) were not Greek or Roman but belonged to the Assyrian or Syriac tradition of Christianity.
So, the next few chapters discuss the Baptism of the Slavs and Late Byzantium and the Great Schism that broke up a widespread common culture and tradition, that may have been more an idealization than a reality. Rome and Constantinople with the other patriarchates of the East finally parted ways, and new idea of “East and West” would rise in the popular minds of later thinkers and nations.