Most
young people don’t know how to discover their calling in the life. Whether to
dedicate themselves to monasticism or select the marriage path. Some have the
feeling that monasticism is a more superior choice than marriage and that marriage
represents a lower situation. Others believe that any young man who chooses to
become a monk is a coward who avoids the responsibilities of citizenship.
Bishop of
Nafpaktos, Hierotheos provides a warm insight and a clear view of the essence
of both marriage and monastic life, based on the teaching of the Eastern Church
Fathers. “Both marriage and monasticism are powerful symbolic ways of straining
toward the ultimate goal of love. Celibacy and marriage are not contrasted with
each other; instead, both are compared to and directed to God’s love”.
Monasticism and Married Life
Orthodox
spirituality is accessible to all people; responding to its message is not
associated with special groups of people. All those who have been baptised in
the name of the Holy Triune God are “compelled” to uphold Christ’s
commandments. There are no exceptions on the way toward theosis, which is the
“journey” from the image of God to His likeness. The Apostle Paul says clearly:
“For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal.
3, 27).
The
essence and aim of Orthodox spirituality presented in the foregoing chapters is
delineated in the Word of Christ and the teachings of the Apostles. Many
passages from Holy Scripture have been quoted which show that the first
Christians lived the spiritual life profoundly, having attained to the
illumination of the nous and unceasing prayer.
In a
reference to virginity and marriage the Apostle Paul states: “He that is
unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the
Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how
he may please his wife” (1 Cor. 7, 32-33). Yet, at the same time he stresses:
“But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that
have wines be as though they had none” (1 Cor. 7, 29). Thus married people also
lived ascetically and had experiences of the spiritual life.
Moreover,
not to be overlooked is the fact that all of the Apostle Paul’s Epistles, sent
to the various Churches, were addressed to Christians who were married and had
families. And it is within these Epistles that St. Paul speaks of cleansing of
the heart, illumination of the soul, acquisition of noetic prayer, of the
unceasing prayer of the heart, Sonship by grace, and of life in the Holy
Spirit. These epistles disclose that the Christians of the first Apostolic
Churches lived as the monks live today in the holy monasteries. When the
persecutions ceased, however, and Christianity became the official state
religion, secularization penetrated the Church and the ascetic way of living
disappeared from the cities. It was precisely during this time that monasticism
developed as an attempt to preserve the essence of the spiritual life. For this
reason the holy Fathers emphasize that monasticism is the continuity of the
Apostolic age and the life of the first Church; and that the monks are those
who live the life of the Gospel, who experience repentance to its ultimate
degree and who try to observe the commandments of Christ unyieldingly. Every
Orthodox monk who lives within this atmosphere is an Apostle of Christ, a
Martyr and a Prophet. Monasticism is apostolic, prophetic and martyrial life.
To
understand the essence of monastic life, one should read the beatitudes of
Christ. The monk commences his life in profound repentance with tears of
mourning and the cleansing of the heart. In the Gospel and the Apostle Paul’s
Epistles all the elements which constitute the genuine monastic tradition, as
proclaimed by the Fathers, can be found.
These
same elements are emphasized in the service of monastic tonsuring. It states
there that during the noviciate period the prospective monk passes through the
stage of the Catechumen, living in deep repentance and undergoing purification
of the heart.
This is
the “first love” of which the Evangelist John speaks in the book of Revelation.
When repentance is accomplished monastic tonsuring takes place, which is
referred to as the “second baptism”.
Monastic
tonsuring is called a mystery because the monk experiences the purifying and
illuminating energy of God. According to St. Symeon the New Theologian the
second baptism is the baptism of the Spirit, that is, the illumination of the
nous and the acquisition of noetic prayer. The following is said to the monk
while he is being tonsured: “You are purged of your sins and becometh son of
light”, Thus, the monk experiences purification of the heart prior to his
tonsure, and acquires illumination of the nous while being tonsured.
The
apostolic life and the way of life of the first Christians, as described in the
Pauline Epistles and the book of the Acts, is made visible.
Monasticism
is apostolic and evangelical; mortification of the “old man” precedes it,
though, and then the monk becomes a “temple” of the Most Holy Spirit. The
prayers read by the priest are expressive of this theme.
Married
Christians in their personal lives are also called to live the Gospel and the
commandments of Christ. Noone is exempted from this responsibility. Every one
must experience repentance; overcome selfishness; and acquire love for God and
love for others.
It is
apparent that the circumstances of married life are different from those of the
monastery, and thus a certain adjustment is needed. Yet, what the monastery is
for the monk, the family is for the married person. Family is the place for
ascetic practice in married life. It is therein that a person is called to
carry out the will of God.
“O God
most pure … bless this marriage, and vouchsafe unto these thy servants, N. and
N., a peaceful life, length of days, chastity, mutual love in the bond of
peace, long· lived seed, gratitude from their posterity, a crown of glory which
fadeth not away. Graciously grant that they may behold their children’s
children. Preserve their bed un assailed, and give them of the dew of heaven
from on high, and of the fatness of the earth. Fill their houses with wheat,
and wine, and oil, and with every beneficence, that they may bestow in turn
upon the needy; granting also unto those who are here present with them all
those petitions which are of their salvation”. (Rite of the Holy Matrimony).
The
Church has placed all of its teaching on marriage in the prayers read during
the marriage ceremony. The wedded are blessed to live their lives in love and
prudence, following the commandments of God.
“Be thou
exalted, a Bridegroom, like unto Abraham; and be thou blessed, like unto Isaac;
and do thou multiply like unto Jacob, walking in peace, and keeping the
commandments of God in righteousness.
And thou,
O Bride: Be thou exalted like unto Sarah; and exult thou, like unto Rebecca;
and do thou multiply, like unto Rachel: and rejoice thou in thy husband,
fulfilling the conditions of the law: for so is it well pleasing unto God”.
(Rite of the Holy Matrimony).
The fact
that women and men who had been worthy of experiencing divine vision in the
Old Testament are mentioned in the prayers, demonstrates the ascetic and
saving character of marriage in Christ. The holy Fathers teach that conception,
gestation and birth constitute the “garments of skin” which Adam wore after the
Fall. God, however, eventually blessed this way. St. Maximos writes that
marriage, as we know it today, is a result of the Fall.
St.
Chrysostom teaches that all of the commandments of the Gospel -except, of
course, for that of marriage-are to be shared by all men -monks and married.
St. Basil
discerns that both -monastics and the married-are called to uphold the
commandments of Christ in the Gospel. St. Gregory Palamas, on the theme of the
purity of the heart, declares that married persons can also strive to attain
it.
The
existence of many married Saints who possessed noetic prayer both in the Old
and the New Testaments reveals that married people have the capacity to
experience Orthodox spirituality in all its manifestations. The prophetess Anna
kept noetic prayer within her heart and prayed unceasingly while in the midst
of experiencing great pain.
Within
the framework of Orthodox spirituality, therefore, Christians are not divided
into categories of married and single, monastics and lay people; however they
are separated into those who have the Holy Spirit within and those who do not.
It is possible for all people to uphold Christ’s commandments and experience
Orthodox spirituality under the guidance of a spiritual father. There are
neither privileged nor non-privileged people within Orthodox tradition.
Source: http://pemptousia.com/2016/12/marriage-or-monasticism/
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