But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. Romans 6:22
The Goal and Telos of Christian Life
We noted that Christian salvation is fundamentally the same, whether pursued in the world or through monasticism. It is this foundational unity, which is the unity of the Holy Spirit himself, that makes monastic spirituality and literature so valuable for the lay Orthodox. Lay and monastic life have the same purpose. In order to begin the work of applying the key teachings of the Conferences to life in the world, then, we need to discuss what this basic purpose of a Christian’s life is according to the fathers of the desert.
Conveniently for us, the purpose: of Christian life is precisely the topic with which St John opens the Conferences, recording the teachings of Abba Moses on the point. [2] According to Abba Moses, a monk’s life has a “goal,” (also referred to by him with the Greek word scopos, meaning “target”) and this life has a proper “end” or telos (simply the Greek word for “end”).[3] These terms require some definition, and Abba Moses gives it. He explains that every human pursuit, whether spiritual or worldly, has both a telos and a goal. The two go together, but are distinct. One example he gives is a farmer, whose sought-after telos is a comfortable life with enough to eat, but who pursues the specific goal of getting his fields weeded and cleared of stones in order to eventually attain this telos.[4] The farmer’s goal, as any goal in Abba Moses’ particular usage here, is an intermediary to his telos. What is more, and this is important, the farmer’s goal is something he hopes to accomplish by a specific action, or set of actions, while his telos is a state of being that he wishes to attain. His goal, then, is something he works toward concretely, while his telos is a state that he seeks only through the goal. A second example used by Abba Moses illustrates well this point about the difference between the two. A person, he says, who desires fame and glory might pursue a particular political office of high esteem.[5] Such a person works concretely toward the goal of becoming, say, a governor, while his desired telos is to be famous and powerful, something he cannot strive for directly, but will arise for him if and when he accomplishes his goal.
A telos, then, is the reason for pursuing a particular goal. What is more, the two are tied together in that a telos follows on the attainment of a goal by necessity. If one attains her goal, she will necessarily reach her telos, and, conversely, if one fails to attain her goal, she cannot reach the desired telos. Abba Moses uses yet another illustration here, this time describing how people who wish to win an archery contest aim at a small target (their goal) and when they hit it, they immediately receive a prize (their telos). However, if an archer loses sight of his target, he will by definition be unable to obtain his prize.[6] Goal and telos are thus conceptually distinct, but they go necessarily together.
With clear definitions of what a goal and telos are as concepts, Abba Moses now describes the goal and telos of Christian monks specifically.
The telos of our [monastic] commitment, as we noted, is the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven; but the immediate goal (scopos) is purity of heart, without which it is impossible for anyone to get to the telos that we are talking about. Fixing our eyes steadily on this goal, then … let us make for it without wavering.[7]
Abba Moses goes on to say that the work of the monk is aimed concretely at attaining purity of heart, and if he attains this goal, the natural result, its telos, will be the kingdom of God. We will explain what he means by these latter terms (“purity of heart” and “kingdom of God”) in just a moment.
We must first make note, however, that it will be an operating principle for us that the lay Christian has the same goal and telos as the monk. Our use of this principle needs only a little justification. One must merely think about what it would mean to argue that a lay person and a monk actually differ in their telos or goal to see why it makes plain sense to assume that they do not. Could one reasonably argue that a lay Christian is not called to pursue purity of heart, or to attain the kingdom of God? Even without fully defining these terms yet, it is clear that one could not. For all people, then, the goal of Christian life is purity of heart, while its telos is the kingdom of God.
~Daniel G. Opperwall, A Layman in the Desert
2. Throughout our discussion of the Conferences we will attribute particular passages, and the ideas contained within them, to the specific fathers (abbas) to whom St John Cassian attributes them. We do so in order to make certain ideas more easy to reference, and to reflect the basic design of St John’s text. We do not do so out of ignorance that in the Conferences St John is “presenting his own theological synthesis as their teaching,” as is noted correctly in Stewart, Cassian the Monk, p. 28 and other scholars.
3. In most cases below, we will employ the term telos rather than its translation, “end,” simply in order to avoid the possible confusion chat can arise from such phrases as “the end of Christian life,” which could appear to indicate death. Telos will be dear in every context. Readers consulting the Latin text will note that the term usually employed by Abba Moses as a translation of telos is finis. See Conf. I.II.I.
4. Conf. I.IY.2.
5. Conf. I.IV.2.
6. Conf. I.V.I.
7. Conf. I.IY.3. Translations of the Conferences are my own unless noted as adaptations of Gibson’s translation, previously referenced. I have used the Latin texts from the Sources Chretiennes series.
