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**LeslieMoran** · 02-24-2006, 08:00 PM

Not desiring to insist or believe that I, personally, have some extraordinary insight into monastic life, let me quote from our Blessed Saint Silouan, reposed at St. Panteleimon Monastery, Mount Athos, in the year of our Lord, September 11th/24th, 1938 - (this ties in, I believe, with the excellent postings of Nun Theopesta on the thread 'The True Face of Monasticism).

"CONCERNING MONKS"

"There are people who say that monks ought to be of some use in the world, and not eat bread they have not toiled for; but we have to understand the nature of a monk's service and the way in which he has to help the world.

"A monk is someone who prays for the whole world, who weeps for the whole world; and in this lies his main work.

"But who is it constrains him to weep for the whole world?

"The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, incites him. He gives the monk the love of the Holy Spirit, and virtue of this love the monk's heart forever sorrows over the people because not all men are saved. The Lord Himself so grieved over people that He gave Himself to death on the Cross. And the Mother of God bore in her heart a like sorrow for men. And she, like her beloved Son, desired with her whole heart the salvation of all.

"The same Holy Spirit the Lord gave to the Apostles, to our holy Fathers and to the pastors of the Church. This is how we serve the world. And this is why neither pastors of the Church nor monks should busy themselves with secular mattters but should seek to be like the Mother of God, who in the Temple, in the 'Holy of Holies', day and night pondered the law of the Lord and continued in prayer for the people...

"...The man who lives in the world prays little, whereas the monk prays constantly. Thanks to monks, prayer continues unceasing on earth, and the whole world profits, for through prayer the world continues to exist; but when pray fails, the world will perish.

"...But if a monk be lukewarm and indifferent, and has not arrived at a state wherein his soul continually contemplates the Lord, then let him wait upon pilgrim travellers and assist with his labours those who live in the world. This, too, is pleasing to God. But rest assured it is not monastic life by a long way.

"A monk must wrestle with his passions, and with God's help vanquish them. At times he rests happy in the Lord, and abides, as it were, with God in paradise, but at others he weeps for the whole world, since his desire is for all men to be saved.

"...Myself, I am not worthy to be called a monk. I have spent over forty years in the monastery and count myself among those at the start of their novitiate: but I know monks who live close to God and to the Mother of God. The Lord is so close to us - closer than the air we breathe. Air must pass through the body to reach the heart, whereas the Lord lives within the heart of man: 'I will dwell in them and walk in them...And I will be their Father, and they shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord.' (cf. II Cor. vi:16-18).

"Here lies our joy God is with us and in us.

"Do all men know this? Alas, not all but only those who have humbled themselves before God and put off their own wills, for God resists the proud, and dwells but in the lowly heart. The Lord rejoices when we are mindful of His mercy and seek to be like Him in our humility..." - St. Silouan, pgs.407-409.

Without any desire to disparage ascetics of other Traditions, amongst whom I have lived, one never witnesses spiritual weeping. In both Mahayana and Hinyana Buddhist monasteries and equally in Hindu monasteries one witnesses incredible asceticism - often a measure of asceticism far above contemporary asceticism in the Christian Orthodox world (generally speaking) but the entire focus is different - very generally speaking, in Buddhism the personal self is an illusion which causes suffering and thus the suffering must be allieviated by following the Eightfold Path, and in Hinduism, in its purest form there is no individual created hypostasis, rather the hypostasis is covered by illusion, 'maya' and is in fact the SELF, there is thus no real existential separation between the self (created hypostasis) and the SELF (uncreated, impersonal or personal).

02-24-2006, 08:00 PM	#13
LeslieMoran Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 604 Senior Member	Not desiring to insist or believe that I, personally, have some extraordinary insight into monastic life, let me quote from our Blessed Saint Silouan, reposed at St. Panteleimon Monastery, Mount Athos, in the year of our Lord, September 11th/24th, 1938 - (this ties in, I believe, with the excellent postings of Nun Theopesta on the thread 'The True Face of Monasticism). "CONCERNING MONKS" "There are people who say that monks ought to be of some use in the world, and not eat bread they have not toiled for; but we have to understand the nature of a monk's service and the way in which he has to help the world. "A monk is someone who prays for the whole world, who weeps for the whole world; and in this lies his main work. "But who is it constrains him to weep for the whole world? "The Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, incites him. He gives the monk the love of the Holy Spirit, and virtue of this love the monk's heart forever sorrows over the people because not all men are saved. The Lord Himself so grieved over people that He gave Himself to death on the Cross. And the Mother of God bore in her heart a like sorrow for men. And she, like her beloved Son, desired with her whole heart the salvation of all. "The same Holy Spirit the Lord gave to the Apostles, to our holy Fathers and to the pastors of the Church. This is how we serve the world. And this is why neither pastors of the Church nor monks should busy themselves with secular mattters but should seek to be like the Mother of God, who in the Temple, in the 'Holy of Holies', day and night pondered the law of the Lord and continued in prayer for the people... "...The man who lives in the world prays little, whereas the monk prays constantly. Thanks to monks, prayer continues unceasing on earth, and the whole world profits, for through prayer the world continues to exist; but when pray fails, the world will perish. "...But if a monk be lukewarm and indifferent, and has not arrived at a state wherein his soul continually contemplates the Lord, then let him wait upon pilgrim travellers and assist with his labours those who live in the world. This, too, is pleasing to God. But rest assured it is not monastic life by a long way. "A monk must wrestle with his passions, and with God's help vanquish them. At times he rests happy in the Lord, and abides, as it were, with God in paradise, but at others he weeps for the whole world, since his desire is for all men to be saved. "...Myself, I am not worthy to be called a monk. I have spent over forty years in the monastery and count myself among those at the start of their novitiate: but I know monks who live close to God and to the Mother of God. The Lord is so close to us - closer than the air we breathe. Air must pass through the body to reach the heart, whereas the Lord lives within the heart of man: 'I will dwell in them and walk in them...And I will be their Father, and they shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord.' (cf. II Cor. vi:16-18). "Here lies our joy God is with us and in us. "Do all men know this? Alas, not all but only those who have humbled themselves before God and put off their own wills, for God resists the proud, and dwells but in the lowly heart. The Lord rejoices when we are mindful of His mercy and seek to be like Him in our humility..." - St. Silouan, pgs.407-409. Without any desire to disparage ascetics of other Traditions, amongst whom I have lived, one never witnesses spiritual weeping. In both Mahayana and Hinyana Buddhist monasteries and equally in Hindu monasteries one witnesses incredible asceticism - often a measure of asceticism far above contemporary asceticism in the Christian Orthodox world (generally speaking) but the entire focus is different - very generally speaking, in Buddhism the personal self is an illusion which causes suffering and thus the suffering must be allieviated by following the Eightfold Path, and in Hinduism, in its purest form there is no individual created hypostasis, rather the hypostasis is covered by illusion, 'maya' and is in fact the SELF, there is thus no real existential separation between the self (created hypostasis) and the SELF (uncreated, impersonal or personal).
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