Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
Today we ask the question: How did monasticism begin and why is monasticism such an essential part of the Orthodox tradition? For us to be able to begin answering this question, let us take a step back and look at history.
Now for those of you who have studied history, you have seen how in the first couple of centuries after the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Church and those who were faithful underwent a tremendous amount of persecution. Those who were persecuted would offer their lives to the Church literally in the form of martyrdom. Now as you know, the word martyrdom, or μαρτυρία (martyría), literally means to be able to be a witness and this is exactly what the Church did. For several centuries, under the empire which persecuted them, Christians would offer their lives and would shed their blood for the sake of the faith, for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the sake of the Church, and they would do this constantly until a certain point in time in the early 4 th century, specifically in the year 313 where a new emperor arises, a righteous emperor by the name of Constantine. And Constantine is a man whose heart God touched in order for him to be able to work with the Church and we see that in the year 313, this new emperor by the name of Constantine creates an edict in which Christianity is not only acceptable but he begins to abolish the notion of persecution against Christians.
So what happens? At this moment, there is a shift and the shift happens because earlier on in the centuries, people would offer their blood, people would offer their lives at a literal fashion and lining up in the streets, declaring that they were Christian willingly accepting death. But now that persecution had died down, what was a Christian to do? How was a Christian going to offer his life to the Church? And this is the question that led many to the notion of monasticism.
So now we just saw this idea of how it is there was a shift. Now the shift was gradual and while it was happening, that persecution began to die down, there arose a movement in which people wanted to still offer their lives for the Church for the faith and here we see the rising of a character that is extremely important in history, and very specifically in Christian history, whose name is St. Anthony the Great.
In the early 4 th century, this young man walks into a church and hears the reading of the Bible and with a simple verse his entire life is flipped upside down and he decides that he wants to offer himself as a sacrifice to the Church and offer himself as a sacrifice to God. And despite the fact that he never sheds his blood, St. Anthony the Great, the founder of monasticism,
becomes the first person to introduce this idea that I can offer myself as a sacrifice by offering my will, my mind, my body, my entire life for the sake of living an ascetic relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. And through the person of St. Anthony the Great, many are attracted to come to the desert of Scetis and to come to the desert where he has begun founding this idea of the monastic life.
Now we know that St Anthony was not alone; with him was the great St. Paul the Hermit. After him also came St. Pachomius of Alexandria. St. Pachomius the Great begins to take this idea of an ascetic personal life in the desert and then he takes it to another level, through the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ to him, that he is to create communities in these deserts so people can come together and recognize the Lord Jesus Christ in a monastic and ascetic movement but within small communities. And suddenly we see, in the late 4 th century and the beginning of the 5 th century, an explosion of beautiful different communities that will exist within the deserts of Egypt where you see the entire monastic movement beginning to flourish.
Now it does not end there. Despite the fact that it began in Egypt, we see such people as the great St. Basil of Caesarea who comes to Egypt and who observes what is happening and because he himself was always inclined to the ascetic personal relationship with Christ, he takes what he sees in Egypt and he brings it back to his home and there he begins also the monastic movement. And today, we see that monasticism has flourished from the small deserts of Egypt to the great globe we have today where thousands and thousands, if not millions, of people within history, both men and women, have offered themselves as living sacrifices where they offer their will, their mind and their entire life to our Lord Jesus Christ. We are now blessed to have hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns who fill the globe and through them the Church is sustained because they pray for the faithful day in and day out.
Now let us not make the mistake of thinking that those who are called to monasticism are people who have fled the world because they are too weak. On the contrary, the true belief of the Orthodox Church is that those who are called to monasticism are those who are capable of enduring much temptation. And those who are called to monasticism live a life that is filled with struggles despite the fact that they are separated from the world. To understand this, let us read from the readings that are read in the actual ordination of the Coptic Orthodox Church when it comes to the rites of the ordination of a monk. Let us read together from the Book of Sirach, chapter 2:
'' 1 Son, when you apply yourself to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation. 2 Humble your heart and persevere. Incline your ear, and accept the words of understanding. And you should not hurry away in the time of distress. 3 Endure steadfastly for God. Join yourself to God, and persevere, so that your life may increase in the very end.'' (Sirach 2:1-3) - [Catholic Public Domain Version]
This notion of perseverance is one that is crucial for us to understand. Those who are called to monasticism are those who again could not offer their lives with blood as martyrs so instead they offered their will and their life. Perseverance is very much present and we believe, in the Orthodox faith, that those who are monastics are sustained by the Holy Spirit. Again to understand this, let us quote St. Anthony the Great. St. Anthony the Great says the following and this is read in the catechesis of the rites of ordination within the Coptic Church. St. Anthony says:
“The Spirit that comes down upon the Holy Baptism, the same comes down on the form of monasticism and purifies him who becomes a monk.” (St. Anthony the Great)
We therefore see once again this notion of a calling and a sanctification. So my beloved, what we have learned today is that monasticism began with a need for every Christian soul to cry out to its Creator and to say: I want to be united to You and I want to offer myself to You. In the early Church, many had the opportunity to offer their lives in the shedding of blood and monasticism today offers every living soul the possibility of offering its life yet again, but without the necessity of shedding blood.
Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And to God be the glory now and forever unto the ages of all ages. Amen.