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There are some names that are instantly recognisable for their epochal significance. St. Gregory the Great's name has rumbled down through the centuries as a "man for the moment" providing firm and godly leadership during some of Rome's darkest days when the temporal seat of power had shifted to Byzantium in the East, while semi-pagan and heretical invaders despoiled and plagued Italy and surrounding states. The application for us here might be, rather than a mere listing of his feats of political diplomacy or spiritual greatness, to consider the significance of his devotion to a monastic life, and how it influenced the way he governed the Church.
St. Gregory the Great, 540-604.*
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Read more: OHS Weekly Meditation - Fifth Sunday in Lent
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"But Jerusalem which is above is free; which is the mother of us all." Gal 4:26
"Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel... Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." Heb 12:22-24, 28. |
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Read more: OHS Weekly Meditation - Fourth Sunday in Lent
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"...as becometh saints." Eph 5:3.
"And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing,...HOLINESS TO THE LORD." Ex 39:30
"Ye also as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 2:5 |
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Read more: OHS Weekly Meditation - Third Sunday in Lent
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The innermost spiritual sense of Orthodox Monasticism is revealed in joyful mourning (gr. harmolipi). This paradoxical phrase denotes a spiritual state in which a monk in his prayer grieves for the sins of the world at the same time experiences the regenerating spiritual joy of Christ's forgiveness and resurrection. A monk dies in order to live, he forgets himself in order to find his real self in God, he becomes ignorant of worldly knowledge in order to attain real spiritual wisdom which is given only to the humble ones. (Ed.) |
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Read more: Orthodox Monasticism
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About the time that I converted to Christ, I decided to enter a monastery. Someone who knew me quite well dissuaded me from doing so. I was quite comfortable with the vows of poverty and obedience, but lifelong celibacy did not match either my calling or my personality.
Fortunately, this was not my final experience with monasticism. My initial inclination, significantly influenced by Thomas Merton, couldn’t be shaken. Monasticism’s prophetic stance, ordered life, emphasis upon silence and prayer, sense of community balanced by solitude, and its ancient history all appealed to me. |
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Read more: Me? A Monk?
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