During the Roman imperial persecutions of Christianity martyrdom was esteemed as the highest offering of one’s self to God. Martyrdom in blood, red martyrdom, was the most esteemed path toward sainthood. When the persecutions ended a new path to heaven led, for many, to the desert and a life of self-denial, white martyrdom. As we have seen, the first step was withdrawal, anachoresis. This was accompanied by xeniteia, or “indifference toward worldly values,” through non-attachment and amerimnesia, or “freedom from the anxiety” produced from attachment to what is futile. [4] “The anchorite is not offended primarily by the world: he is offended by futility.” [5] This distinction has great implications for twenty-first-century societies where so much of our efforts, resources, and time are spent pursuing the surface of life. We must give credence to the wisdom of these ancient elders, whose goal in spiritual formation was the eschaton, the eternal kingdom, the ultimately real, the completion or fulfillment of God’s desires for creation. Their desert ascetic life would develop an inner attitude that would recognize the presence of the eschaton in each person’s spiritual practice and acts of charity. In this context, renunciation is not denial of the goodness of creation, but taking offense at those aspects of society and personal behaviors that are not congruent with God’s desires for creation. The purpose of anachoresis, then, is not turning our backs on the world or preferring anti-social behavior. It is metanoia, repentance, an intentional turning toward a new way of life. Jesus, himself, had proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent [turn toward], and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
In their spiritual warfare in the desert, the abbas and ammas learned that withdrawal gave them an opportunity to open themselves intentionally to a different world, the world of God’s presence. By dying to self, as Jesus had exhorted, they experienced a death which led to a redeemed existence, an authentic self, which was not confined by the anxieties and limitations of chronological time.
The Desert Within
This wisdom was discovered in the desert, or more accurately, within each person engaged in spiritual warfare. The battle softened their hearts. The wisdom leading to transformation emerged from the motive to seek God in the desert and from an obscure longing that lured each person to anachoresis.
As we have seen, some were fleeing payment of taxes or military service. Others were fleeing a culture which they perceived as false for another world outside time and space. Some were criminals avoiding arrest or seeking penance and forgiveness. Most were led to the desert for a solitude they hoped would lead them to God. All had to learn that the treasure they desired already lay within. This was true, also, for those who sought a death to self as the means to white martyrdom and eternal life in heaven. These motives, whether deep or shallow from a human perspective, opened the possibilities for experiencing the treasure within. They would be led, by grace, to experience God in a manner that earlier in their lives could only be glimpsed with longing. In the desert, separated from conventional necessities of life and voluntarily stripped from power to control their lives, these men and women were lured to depend totally on God. In their solitary ascetic life, which was extremely austere for some, the emptiness of the desert became filled with God and awareness of the communities of other seekers that surrounded them. In dying to self one could never escape others. Their spiritual warfare gave birth to the necessity of community and a passion for love of neighbor. They were indeed “separated from all and united to all,” in the words of Evagrius. This confirms that they were called monks because they lived in solitude and were single-minded in their desire to search for God.
Since these ammas and abbas did not bring their wisdom with them to the desert, where did they find it?
David G.R. Keller, Oasis of Wisdom: the Worlds of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Notes:
- Stelios Ramfos, Like a Pelican in the Wilderness, trans. Norman Russell (Brookline: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2000) 11.
- Ibid., 11.
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