The Monastic Vocation

What monasticism is before it is any of its historical forms: the “angelic life,” the radical and undivided living-out of the baptismal vows, the flight from the world for the sake of the Kingdom. This section treats the theological meaning of the vocation and its place in the early Church, where the ascetic and the virgin took up, in a time of peace, the total self-offering that the martyrs had made in blood.

Tradition: Pan-Orthodox

Overview

Orthodox tradition does not regard monasticism as a later addition to the Gospel or a specialized profession within the Church, but as one of the ways the whole Gospel is lived — the way of those who seek to keep the commandments of Christ with an undivided heart. The two files in this section set out that self-understanding. The Angelic Life treats what monasticism claims to be: the “angelic life,” the radical fulfilment of baptism, the answer to Christ’s word to the rich young man, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess… and come, follow me” (Matthew 19:21). Martyrdom and Monasticism sets the vocation in its historical origin as the successor to martyrdom — the “white” or “bloodless martyrdom” of the ascetics and virgins who, when the age of persecution ended, carried its total dedication forward into the desert and the cell.

Files

File Description
the-angelic-life.md Monasticism as the “angelic life”; the radical living-out of baptism; flight from the world for the Kingdom; the counsel of perfection in Matthew 19:21
martyrdom-and-monasticism.md Monasticism as the successor to martyrdom — “white martyrdom”; the ascetic ideal and the order of virgins and ascetics in the pre-Nicene Church

See Also