16. Chapter 14: The Church Develops Monasticism

CHAPTER 14 The Church Develops Monasticism 1. The Spiritual Life of the Church Is Marred by Sin

Thus far we have said very little about the inner religious or spirit­ual life of the Church. Because of the presence of sin in the hearts of all men, the inner life of the Church has not been altogether true and perfect. In the earliest days imperfec­tions began to creep in. How soon the spiritual beauty of the first Christian church, the one in Jeru­salem, was marred by Ananias and Sapphira! In the second Christian church, the one in Samaria, there was Simon the Sorcerer to whom religion was a racket. From his attempt to buy the gift of the Spirit for money the name simony has come to mean: the obtaining of a church office by means of money or any other improper means. This practice became very common, especially in the Church of the Middle Ages. The epistles in the New Testament and the letters dictated to John on Patmos by Christ himself and addressed to the seven churches in Asia tell us of serious moral lapses in the Church.

Because of the shortcomings of the Church, people both inside and outside have always found much fault with it. Much of the criti­cism is unintelligent and unfair. Every Christian is a saint, but every saint to the end of his life remains a sinner. Besides, there always have been many church members who were not actually Christians. At times the spiritual life of the Church did sink to a very low level. But always the life of Christ, which dwells in the Church, has reasserted itself.

2. Decay of Religious Life Gives Rise to Asceticism and Mo­nasticism

Already in the days of the Apos­tolic Fathers the Christian life was beginning to show signs of deterioration. Some members were satisfied to follow only the outward forms, rather than enter into the true spirit of the Church. It is safe to assume that during the persecutions none but true Chris­tians made profession of faith in Christ. However, during the long periods of rest between persecu­tions, and especially after the con­version of Constantine, the hea­then crowded into the Church in droves. With them worldliness en­tered the Church.

It was the general misery of the times and the low point to which religious life in the Church had fallen, which caused men to seek spiritual satisfaction and which gave rise to a revival of religion. Unfortunately it was not a healthy revival. People did not return to the pure teachings of Scripture. Instead they turned to asceticism.

Asceticism means "extreme self-denial." In practising asceticism the Christians denied themselves the comforts and pleasures of life, and turned to religious meditation and the performance of religious forms and rituals. This asceticism found expression in monasticism, or living away from the world. The world is full of sin. It was thought that it was very hard to lead a holy life, as the Christian should, if one lived in that sinful world. If one wished to lead a holy life, the best thing to do was to flee the world and enter a monastery or a convent. In their monasteries and con­vents the monks and nuns prac­tised asceticism. They abstained from the possession of earthly goods. On entering a monastery a man gave up his possessions. He gave them to the poor. The monk did not eat and drink more than was absolutely necessary. Many monks ate nothing but bread, and drank only water. Frequently monks fasted; that is, for a period of time they did not eat at all. Monks also chastised themselves by beating themselves with whips or scourges. All monks and nuns abstained from marriage. And while leading such a life of as­ceticism the monks and nuns de­voted their time to praying, read­ing religious books, and meditating on what they had read.

3. Monasticism Is Based on Error The monks of the Middle Ages rendered great services to the cause of civilization. Amidst the tide of barbarism that flooded the western part of the Empire, the monasteries stood as islands of refuge. They served as inns for the weary traveler and as hospitals for the sick. They were centers of agriculture and learning. But monasticism was based up­on the recognition by the Church of a higher and lower morality. If one wished to be a Christian in a higher sense one should become a monk or nun. Monks and nuns were called "the religious." This differentiation between a higher and a lower morality is a false dis­tinction. The Church believed that it was enough for the ordinary Christian to observe certain outward cere­monies prescribed by the Church. He should learn the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed. He should confess his sins to the priest in a special booth provided for that purpose, called the confessional. The priest would then grant ab­solution, or forgiveness of sins upon condition that the sinner would do penance. Penance con­sisted in doing something to show sorrow for sin. Then, too, all were to observe the Lord’s Supper, which was thought to impart grace in a magical manner. In order that the masses of people might the more diligently observe the outward forms and ceremonies, the Church held before them the fear of hell and purgatory. Purga­tory, according to the Church at that time and the Roman Catholic Church of today, is a place to which those who are to enter heav­en are assigned for a period of cleansing by fire before they are fit for entrance. The more faith­fully the believer went through the rites and ceremonies, the shorter would be his time of suf­fering in purgatory. The Christianity of the great masses since the victory of the Church in the time of Constantine was largely on the surface. It was mainly a matter of outwardly per­forming certain acts prescribed by the Church. Observing these forms and practices was considered sufficient for the common Chris­tian. But monks and nuns, so it was thought, could go far beyond this. The trouble with monasticism as a method of attaining holiness is that when a man flees from the world into a monastery, he takes his sinful heart with him. In the ninth century in many monasteries the monks no longer observed the rules of asceticism. These mon­asteries shared in the general de­cay of the times and became breed­ing places of wickedness.

However, in every age there have been true Christians. There were many true Christians even in the dark tenth century. The spiritual decline of the Church filled their hearts with sadness. One of them, William the Pious, duke of Aquitaine, founded a new monastery at Cluny in eastern France in 910. In this monastery the rules of asceticism were strict­ly observed. The Cluny movement spread far and wide to other mon­asteries. For the next two hun­dred years the great Cluny re­form was a powerful force in the improvement of the religious life of the Church. The principles and methods of monasticism are wrong, but its motives were truly religious. The Cluny movement, although it took an erroneous form, was nevertheless an expres­sion of a genuine spiritual awaken­ing.

It was this Cluny movement which produced the great Hilde­brand, who as pope became known as Gregory VII (ch. 16, sec. 5; ch. 18). We shall hear much about him, for through him Cluny had a tremendous influence on the Church.