Monks

Mepkin Abbey

Rules of St Benedict
http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html#toc

'Monasticism' is literally the act of 'dwelling alone'. A monk is someone who has separated himself from what might be called the "world". Since he often lived in a community being alone did not mean he was not with others.

The levites of Israel called out by Moses from an organized society established around the Golden calf made themselves a separate society belonging to God. While they had areas that were separate from the general population they also served a purpose within the greater needs of society.

Being separate from the world has been a common theme and practice of religious orders from the beginning

But to be a separate religious society one must practice religion which requires service to the homes of the people.

The ascetic life stile is characterized by or suggesting the practice of severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence, typically for religious reasons.

But to truly be an ascetic one must sacrifice their own comfort, wealth and social security for the benefit of others. We are all to love our neighbor as ourselves but the ascetic loves his neighbor more than him or herself.

The self imposed ascetic life style of deprivation or austere sacrifice without a religious purpose of fulfilling your duty to God and your fellowman is in essence vanity.

While a true monk does not lay up wealth his vow of poverty does not mean he may punish himself with sacrifice just for sacrifice sake. What he gives up must be for strengthen the poor in the hope that they be not poor in spirit but will also seek to give and forgive freely.

MARRIED MONKS AND NUNS.

A brief history

THE ANCIENT British and Irish Churches INCLUDING THE LIFE AND LABORS OF ST. PATRICK, CHAPTER III. BY WILLIAM CATHCART, D. D., 1894, AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY

"Many of the early monks and nuns married— They lived in their own houses— These persons led stricter lives than others in their ordinary dwellings — They gave much time to devotions and Bible study — Such was the course of Pelagius — Bingham on married monks — Athanasius on monks who were fathers of children— Augustine's statement— Many of St. Patrick's monks and "virgins of Christ" were no doubt married— Devoted much time to Scripture reading— Probably conducted cottage Bible schools very extensively— There is no evidence that Patrick ever established a monastery."

"... St. Augustine, writing against the hereticks who called themselves " Apostolics," says : "They arrogantly assumed to them- selves that name because they rejected all from their communion who had either wives or estates, of which sort the Catholic church had many, both monks and clergy."

"And yet, the greatest theologian of the Christian ages, during Patrick's ministry in Ireland, denounced the heretical Apostolics for excommunicating the many monks and clergy of the Catholic church who had either wives or estates."

Peter and the apostles that Jesus chose were, for the most part, married men. The New Testament implies that women presided at Eucharistic meals in the early church. In he Second and Third Century most priests were married.

But things changed as a different Church rose to power. From the beginning God created man and woman to be one flesh but there was an influence that crept in to the church to divide and conquer what God Joined together.

In 306 a Council of Elvira, in Spain, decreed that a priest who sleeps with his wife the night before Mass will lose his job. Decree #43

By 325 at the Council of Nicea some chose to exercise authority one over the other and decreed that after ordination a priest could not marry and also proclaimed the Nicene Creed.

Later in 352 another Council of Laodicea ruled that women are not to be ordained. This suggests that before this time there was ordination of women. Both Paul and Peter talked highly of women and early Christians were marked if not mocked for their stand on equality of both men and women as vessels and instruments of the Holy Spirit.

Pope Damasus who had overturned the popular choice for "bishop of Rome" in 366 declared that priests could continue to marry, but that they were not allowed to express their love intimately with their wives. Those who opposed the presence of women in the Church as wives of their husbands also favored and used force of arms to secure their position.

Jerome, around 400 AD, believed that women were bad news for men and that they were uncontrollable, excessively passioned, and unreasonable. Although, the writings and opinions of Jerome and others were enormously influential in defining what has been historically touted as the Church in the medieval world, their conclusions seem to fly in the face of God’s creative instincts.

• “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.” Genesis 2:22

Jerome inferred that women were inferior “they degraded men.”

• “And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Genesis 2:23, 24

By 385 we see Siricius left his wife and children in order to become a pope although there is little evidence such office existed at that time. He even went so far as to decree that priests may no longer sleep with their wives but was unable to enforce compliance.

By the 40 century Augustine who knew most Christians priests and monks were married wrote, “Nothing is so powerful in drawing the spirit of a man downwards as the caresses of a woman.” Of course there was equal criticism of such positions but to the victor goes the power to write history.

Later at the 2nd Council of Tours in 567 it was said that any cleric found in bed with his wife would be excommunicated for a year and reduced to the lay state. This seems to have nothing to do with Christ who is not seen telling his apostles things like this and directly contradicts the teachings of Paul.

The Pope Pelagius II offered a policy that no one was to bother married priests as long as they did not hand over church property to wives or children. Here is where you find the motivation for celibacy.

The Church was growing in power and wealth and with that a desire to control. Divide and conquer was the plan used to undermine God's natural union of man and women.

During the 7th century we find the majority of priest in France were married. And as late as the 8th Century St. Boniface reported that in Germany there were almost no bishop or priest who were celibate.

But we also see Pope Gregory “the Great” saying that all sexual desire is sinful in itself. But by 1930 Pope Pius XI would shift back to sex can be good and holy.

The Church was not homogenous and many ideas had crept into the thinking of Christians and clerics alike. Monasticism was often trying to impose an unnatural purity and behind walls of cloistered abbeys where men began to exercise authority more than brotherhood unnatural approaches to relationships and life began to bear their fruit. Ninth Century.

Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 836 admitted that abortions and infanticide took place in convents and monasteries. Bishop Ulrich who would be declared a saint, argued from scripture and common sense that the only way to purify the church from the worst excesses of celibacy was to permit priests to marry.

As late as the 11th Century a Benedict IX dispensed himself from celibacy and resigned as Pope in order to marry but by 1074 Pope Gregory VII decreed that you must first pledge celibacy before you are to be ordained and that ‘priests [must] first escape from the clutches of their wives.’ By 1095 Pope Urban II who ordered the first bloody Crusade. He empowered the Norman ruler Roger I to appoint bishops rom the top down and collect taxes for the Church and forward them on to Rome.

At the Synod of Melfi, enforces clerical celibacy by granting to secular rulers the authority to reduce the wives of clerics to slavery and children were abandoned.

While 12th Century Popes Calistus II and Innocent II during the First and Second Lateran Councils decreed that clerical marriages were invalid Pope John Paul II said "Celibacy is not essential to the Priesthood." This may at least bring in debate over the 1869 claim in the First Vatican Council to the infallibility of pope.

All this imposed rules of Celibacy and top down rule would go away if people would simply listen to Christ and the Church would return to being the Benefactors who do9 not exercise authority one over the other.

Lost Monks

Abbey of Cambron http://kenstraussposts.blogspot.com/2007/06/160607-abbey-of-cambron.html The story of a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1148 by Saint Bernard. Its monks served the poor for the first several-hundred year.

In appreciative local landowners gave the abbey many tracts of fertile land that by the 1600’s it extended over more than 6000 hectares (nearly 15,000 acres).

Austerity vanished until their monks were known more for their wealth than servie ‘riche comme un moine de Cambron’ (‘as rich as a monk from Cambron’).

Drawn by greed for the abbey’s treasures and resentment of its political power Louis XIV attacked it with 12,000 men and 18 cannon and through the 18th century corruption and decadence were rife.

In 1789 the Austrian emperor, Joseph II, withdrew financial support, alleging that it had become ‘useless’ as a religious order.

Today the ruins of this abbey have been converted into one of the largest bird sanctuaries in Europe.

Modern Monastic life

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Modern Monastic life part 1-3 of many Modern Monastic life

on YouTube The Monastery 2005 episode 1 of 3 http://youtu.be/ch0SY2pHkDg

Interesting examination of monastic life as seen through the eyes of 5 volunteers. It is really all about and the psychology and deception of the mental prison monastic life forms. The institutionalizing of monks as you sometime see with prisoners.

It is not without its merits where you see men dealing with the problems of relationships. Of course the same problems can be confronted by married monks as with any married people. What seems to be in short supply amongst some modern monks and churches in general is pure religion.