Life in the World & Monasticism

The Christian life is the same for everyone independent of where one lives. 'Dying' to the world and 'remembering God' continuously are such hard labours that some people choose to follow the way to the union with God without the distractions of the daily life in the 'worldly' occupations. Withdrawing to a monastery or a convent does not change any of the difficulties or make this work easier; the novices carry the sins in their soul and in their body wherever they go.

Our energy is limited and used up in many ways. One common 'leak' is the expenditure of energy through thoughts, feelings, sensations and tensions and further imaginings connected with these. After all - this is all part of human nature, 'old Adam and Eve'. The 'sins of the soul' and the body can only be purified by the Lord sitting on his throne. Our struggle is to beat this 'legion' and prepare the way for the 'real I' or the 'Spirit'.

Going to reclusion can be seen as an attempt to lessen the impact of the world and coming into a situation where one is reminded all the time of 'the only thing necessary' - the remembrance of God and the union with Him. About Orthodox Christian Monasticism Bishop Alexander Miloant writes "Orthodox monasticism has always been associated with stillness or silence, which is seen primarily as an internal rather than an external state. External silence is sought in order to attain inner stillness of mind more easily".

The monasteries that have oral instruction at a high level have always been difficult to find. If anything, they are today even more difficult to find. The tradition of the "Startzi", the elders of the Slavic and Athonite monasteries, are not to be found in all monasteries; neither were they available in all the monasteries earlier.

Orthodox Christianity has been called "The World's Best Kept Secret". The main reason for this is language in many different aspects. The writings have been available for well over a thousand years in different languages like Syriac, Greek and Russian. However, only in the latter part of the 20^th century a larger selection of this literature has been translated into English. Some of these translations were made from the Russian version of the Philokalia by E. Kadloubovsky and G. E. H. Palmer (three works published in the early fifties), who both had their association with P. D. Ouspensky. In this way one of the most 'unorthodox' teacher of Christian tradition, G. I. Gurdjieff, through the inspiration via his best known pupil, Ouspensky, had a strong influence on the transmission of the Orthodox message into the West.

Another 'language difficulty' is that it is impossible to approach a spiritual father, a Staretz, for instructions if he does not speak your language; his language might be Greek or Russian. Still another reason for the difficulty is a direct result of the forms Christianity has taken in the West - the Eastern teachings are so different, that a considerable openness is necessary on the part of a Western person to understand what the Eastern mystics said and thought.

The Russian Orthodox Monasticism has jealously guarded their communities against what they call the sinful influences coming from the 'World'. This clash has always been there, but a definite opening towards the rest of the World has at least (and at last) become possible after the fall of the Soviet rule. However, the outside influences need to be kept at bay simply to maintain the special conditions in the Monasteries.

A Word about Self-Gathering

Self-gathering is the Orthodox inner work described by Saint Theophan the Recluse in his main book "The Path of Salvation". According to Saint Theophan there are three elements in self-gathering.

First: the gathering of the mind in the heart, called attention.

Second: to be alert in the body, called vigilance.

Third: to come to the senses, called soberness.

To be self-gathered you descend within your heart with the help of these three elements. When you are within, the work is to remain there as long as you are conscious. When you are outside, you repeat the self-gathering and go on renewing it as it is not something that continues without the effort. When you have gathered yourself, you are within; missing even one of the elements puts you outside. In fact St. Theophan writes: "...the ascetic labourer is in a minute-by-minute struggle...Therefore he is in a state of perpetual beginning..."

Self-gathering is the method that makes further work possible. It is the preparatory work that can lead to the death of the tyrant that keeps the 'real I', 'the Spirit', in prison. The death of this tyrant (old Adam and Eve) can eventually make the new birth possible.

The Quest for Freedom

The way to freedom goes through slavery. At some point we have to come under the will of another, someone, who we trust, 'a teacher', even if we do not always agree. Monasteries provide a focus and an opportunity to come under another will, the Will of God and that of the Spiritual Father, the Staretz. In the absence of a Staretz the Will of God is available, all the time, just as much in the world as in the monasteries.

What about my Freedom then?

The idea I have had from my childhood of freedom is based on the routines of the daily life and living; it is a very strange idea. According to this idea, which puts demands on me to earn money, look after the home and family, do cooking, cleaning and other household duties, freedom is simply the time when these duties leave me time 'to be free'. This means that my freedom has been limited mainly to the evenings and weekends, holiday and feasts. It is clear that this is not what is meant by freedom! Freedom is more like living every day as it was a holiday, Friday or other feast, like Christmas; to have Christmas every day.

All 'Good News' are connected with the ultimate Truth and with each other. For some time I have tried to find out how to serve. I was startled one day when my daughter, then 14, one day said: "I think it is very nice that you do the cooking. If you could learn how to also serve it in a nice way it would certainly taste a lot better!" The questions that are ringing in me out of this simple shock are: Who do I serve? Do I serve myself? What has selfishness to do with the difficulties in serving others? Is all of it connected with love? Is patience one aspect of love? What is patience? What has all this to do with freedom?

What is clear is that freedom is not dependent on the outside or on what I am doing at any time: it is more an inner activity. The Prayer of the Heart has a close connection with this freedom.

© Reijo Oksanen 2007