With the development of Monasticism during the fourth century and thereafter, many monastics became involved with the various heresies, especially those concerning the Christological dogma. Most of the monastics were the defenders of the Orthodox faith. Still, Eutyches, an archimandrite from Constantinople, headed the heresy of monophysitism. On the Orthodox side, St. Maximos the Confessor (c. 580-662) played an important role in defeating the heresies of monothelitism and monoenergism. The Sixth Ecumenical Council (680) condemned monothelitism and reestablished the doctrine of Chalcedon. During the time of the iconoclastic controversy, the Studite monks, led by St. Theodore the Studite (759-826), played a very important role. In addition to organizing his monastery, the Studion, on the basis of the cenobitic principles of St. Pachomios and St. Basil, St. Theodore also wrote his three Antirrhetics against iconoclasm.
After the
condemnation of the iconoclasts, monasticism thrived even more. Many
representatives of the Byzantine aristocracy became monks. Monks were men of
letters; clergy received their education in the monasteries. Bishops,
metropolitans, and patriarchs were taken from their ranks; monks were involved
with the church affairs, at times for the good of the church, at times creating
trouble. Monasteries existed in almost every diocese, with the Bishop as their
head, planting a cross in their foundations. Since 879, the right was given to
the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople of planting a cross in monasteries
that were under the jurisdiction of other dioceses throughout the empire. They
were called "Patriarchal Stavropighiac Monasteries." This right
exists to our days.
With the Arab
conquest of Syria, Palestine and Egypt (during the 7th century), new centers
for monasteries were sought and founded, among which were Mount Olympus in
Bithynia and the Holy Mount Athos.
During the entire
Byzantine period, the monks took an active part in the life of the Church in
general. Still, spirituality was their strength. Concerning this tension in
Christian anthropology, two schools of thought were represented; that of
Evagrios ponticus (d. 399), who followed a Platonic and Origenistic doctrine
pertaining to the "mind," thus de-emphasizing the importance of the
human body and becoming dualistic, and St. Makarios of Egypt (or, better, the
writings attributed to him), present a more Christian, holistic anthropology;
for in this theology man is a psycho-physical entity, and, as such, being a
destined to deification. "Prayer of the mind," in the Evagrian
spirituality, becomes "prayer of the heart" in the Macarian
spirituality. The two schools of thought with the two different anthropologies
continue to find representatives throughout the history of the Church.
Saint Symeon, the
New Theologian (949-1022), marks an important development in monastic
spirituality. A disciple of a Studite monk, he left the Studion to join the
small monastery of St. Mamas in Constantinople, were he was ordained a priest
and became the abbot. He wrote several works, among which are the fifty-eight
hymns of "Divine Love," in which he stresses that the Christian faith
is a conscious experience of God. St. Symeon is the exponent of an intensive
sacramental life, which leads to this personal conscious experience, as we can
see in his Hymns. In this he is a predecessor of Hesychasm, which also shares
this personal experience of God in conjunction with intensive sacramental life.
Finally, the
spirituality of Hesychasm, as enunciated in the theology of St. Gregory Palamas
(1296-1359), is of paramount importance not only in the life of monasticism,
but also in the life of the entire Church. An Anthonite monk, St. Gregory took
it upon himself to defend the holy Hesychasts of the Holy Mountain in their
ways of praying and experiencing the presence of God the "uncreated
light" that they contemplated. Barlaam the Calabrian had led the attack
against the pious monks and their psycho physical method of prayer, and accused
them of "gross materialism," Messalianism, calling them "navel-souls"
(omphalopsychoi) and "navel-watchers" (omphaloskopoi).
The hesychastic
method of prayer consists of regulating one's breathing with the recitation of
the "Jesus prayer": "O Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have
mercy on me, a sinner." The prayer is repeated constantly until it
descends from the lips and minds into one's heart. At the end of the process,
the peace of Christ is poured into the heart of the worshipper, and the light
itself of Christ shines upon him and around him. This light, as that of the
Holy Transfiguration of Christ, may also be seen by our physical eyes.
After the fall of
Constantinople, the number of idiorrythmic monasteries continued to grow, a
fact which brought a further decline to monastic life. The 16th century was the
lowest ebb. In reaction to this problem, many of the monks themselves,
especially on the Holy Mountain, left the main monasteries and turned to
idiorrhythmic ones, establishing Sketai (dependencies) of the main monasteries,
with a more rigorous typikon (order). Also, Patriarchs Jeremy II of
Constantinople, Silvester of Alexandria, and Sophronios of Jerusalem led the
attack against idiorrhythmic monasticism, thus managing to counteract its spread.
Cenobitic monasticism prevailed for a while, but the tide soon went in its
original direction. Many monasteries of the Holy Mountain, including the mother
monastery, the Great Lavra, became idiorrhythmic. Today an idiorrhythmic
monastery may become cenobitic but not the other way round. Hopefully, this
will guarantee that organized monastic life will finally prevail, according to
the Basilian ideal of monasticism.
Monasticism played
an important role under the Ottoman Empire, as well. The monks not only kept
the faith alive, but they also kept the Greek culture and literature alive. Not
only did the education of clergy continue at the monasteries, but the
monasteries became the "clandestine school" (Krypho Scholeio) for all
the Greeks under Turkish occupation. The monks thus prevented the Christian
nations under Turkish occupation from being assimilated to them, and thereby
became the natural leaders of national ("ethnic") resistance against
the oppressors. It is no accident that the Greek Revolution started in 1821 at
a monastery in the Peloponnesos, Aghia Lavra, with Metropolitan Germanos of Old
Patras raising the banner of revolution and blessing the arms of the Greek
freedom fighters.
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