Citydesert

Karoulia is located at the southernmost shore of Mount Athos on a rocky and very steep site. The hermit monks have built their huts inside caves, holes and rock protrusions. The name “karoulia” (pulleys) derives from the fact that in the old days supplies were delivered to the monks with pulleys.

The ten monks are principally occupied with prayer. They have diminished their corporal needs to the absolute minimum. They drink rain–water which they collect and eat just enough to stay alive; they support themselves by weaving baskets and making rosaries, which they sell or exchange for food.

My own hesychasterion does not resemble that of Karoulia!

Hermits are, by their very nature, a problem for the Church as an institution. Typically eccentric individualists, they neither require nor seek bureaucratic authorization or supervision, and tend to be resistant to rules and regulations. The earliest of the Hermits were what one might call “self defined” – they went into the desert and lived as Hermits. They sought neither permission nor blessing nor recognition. Originally the Church seems to have adopted the “ignore them and they’ll go away” approach. It was only when people felt attracted by the Hermits and sought their teaching, counsel and prayer that they came to represent a problem. Not unlike the Russian starets (Russian: стáрец, fem. стáрица), an individual to whom high spiritual status, authority and wisdom was attributed by the people regardless of whether he or she had any formal recognition from the Church.

One institutional response was to require Hermits to become Monks or Nuns and to live within (or at least on the edge of) formal, canonical communities. They therefore fell under the established canonical rules and procedures and authorities. This was not only the Roman Catholic response. The Coptic Orthodox Church, for example, has in modern times required that a Hermit be an old and experienced member of a monastery, the Hermit being re-defined as some sort of advanced monk.

This led, more or less, to the apparent disappearance of the Hermit. Institutionalization is the very antithesis of the eremitical life. There is nothing wrong with, and much good about, coenobitic monasticism. It is just not the life of the Hermit. Unseen, unknown and unrecognized (all entirely appropriate eremitical characteristics!) Hermits continued to live the life of the Desert.

In modern times, in the world of mass communication, the existence these “relics” of the ancient deserts became more widely known. Once again, the institution of the Church was confronted with the (apparent) problem of the eccentric individualist who appeared to have some religious status by charism rather than by official appointment.

Rome sought to deal with this in the case of Hermits who did not desire to belong to a coenobitic religious order (for example Benedictines, Cistercians, Trappists), or to an eremitically oriented religious order (for example Carthusian, Camaldolese), by the provision in the Code of Canon Law 1983 regarding the Consecrated Life (canon 603) which stated: “A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.” Roman Catholic Hermits can thus be “certified” (as it were) and specifically subject to ecclesiastical authority, or “independent” and subject to no ecclesiastical authority beyond that which applies to all (lay) members of the Church.

The Rudder (Pedalion)(Greek: Πηδάλιον) is a codification of Orthodox Canon law by St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. This is the title page of the 5th edition (1908).

The Canons of Orthodoxy (which really does not have a system such as could be described as “Canon Law”) are more or less chaotic, and make no specific provision in relation to Hermits.

In Orthodoxy, the canonical status of Hermits will essentially vary between:

(i) Hermits who are neither clergy nor religious (monks or nuns) and who are living according to a private rule of life, and therefore subject to legitimate ecclesiastical authority as members of the laity;

(ii) Hermits who are religious (monks or nuns) and who are additionally living according to a private rule of life, and therefore subject to legitimate ecclesiastical authority as monks or nuns (that is, to their Abbots and Bishops);

(iii) Hermits who are clergy (essentially, Deacons or Priests)and who are living according to a private rule of life as Hermits, and therefore subject to legitimate ecclesiastical authority as members of the clergy;

To which imaginative Orthodox Canonists might add:

(iv) Hermits who (regardless of their ecclesiastical status) have been accepted as Hermits by the relevant episcopal authority. There is nothing in the Orthodox Canons preventing a Bishop from blessing someone as a Hermit on such conditions as he determines, or blessing the establishment of a Hermitage. As is the case with Roman Catholic Canon Law, there is no prescribed rite for either the blessing of a Hermit, or of a hermitage.

In some ways, the eremitical life can be easier in Orthodoxy, not just because of the chaotic Canonical situation, but because the definition of the religious life (i.e. monks and nuns) has always been more fluid. There are no religious orders as such which a monk or nun is required to or can join and, accordingly, there is no reason why a monk or nun must live in community. It is traditionally possible for a monk to live in his own home (for example, the hesychasterion) or in a house with only one or two others (for example, the skete), or to live (with or without monastic profession) a religious life giving service to the community (for example, the poustinik).

The model most closely fitting that of the modern Orthodox urban Hermit is the hesychasterion which is a small cell or hermitage where intensive hesychasm is practiced, distinct from the cenobitic hesychastic life of a monastery. Legally and canonically, a hesychasterion is a hermitage established with the blessing of the diocesan bishop but owned by the monastics of the hermitage, as distinct from a monastery, which is owned by the bishop.

An interesting site on Solitude which some excellent links to additional on-line resources: http://dwellingalone.org/?page_id=2

“Over the past fifty years, increasing numbers of people have chosen to live alone, and they seek out solitude in increasingly varied ways – in cities, in the wild, and in between; to be closer to God and to be closer to nature; in total isolation and in touch with others. In spite of this variety, most people continue to hold a narrow stereotype, a caricature combination of the ancient, desert-dwelling religious hermit and the anti-social wilderness recluse. Many individuals continue to draw on these traditions, but contemporary solitaries are also adapting historic models in creative ways to revive the practice of solitude in the modern world.”

An excellent and inspiring site is Abbey of the Arts – http://abbeyofthearts.com/about/monk-manifesto/ – from Dr Christine Valters Paintner, author of, amongst other works, “Desert Fathers and Mothers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings, Annotated & Explained” (1912).

The site includes Monk Manifesto: A public expression of your commitment to live a compassionate, contemplative, and creative life.

1. I commit to finding moments each day for silence and solitude, to make space for another voice to be heard, and to resist a culture of noise and constant stimulation.
2. I commit to radical acts of hospitality by welcoming the stranger both without and within. I recognize that when I make space inside my heart for the unclaimed parts of myself, I cultivate compassion and the ability to accept those places in others.
3. I commit to cultivating community by finding kindred spirits along the path, soul friends with whom I can share my deepest longings, and mentors who can offer guidance and wisdom for the journey.
4. I commit to cultivating awareness of my kinship with creation and a healthy asceticism by discerning my use of energy and things, letting go of what does not help nature to flourish.
5. I commit to bringing myself fully present to the work I do, whether paid or unpaid, holding a heart of gratitude for the ability to express my gifts in the world in meaningful ways.
6. I commit to rhythms of rest and renewal through the regular practice of Sabbath and resist a culture of busyness that measures my worth by what I do.
7. I commit to a lifetime of ongoing conversion and transformation, recognizing that I am always on a journey with both gifts and limitations.

February 28 marks the Feast of Saint Romanus of Condat. St. Romanus was born in about the year 390 in upper Bugey. At the age of 35 he undertook to live as a hermit, in prayer and asceticism, in the region of Condat in the Jura mountains of southeastern France. His younger brother Lupicinus followed him there. They became leaders of a community of monks which included St. Eugendus. Romanus and Lupicinus founded several monasteries.

These included Condat Abbey, which was the nucleus of the later town of S.-Claude, Jura), Lauconne (later S.-Lupicin, as Lupicinus was buried there), La Balme (Beaume) (later S.-Romain-de-Roche), where Romanus was buried, and Romainmôtier (Romani monasterium) in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. Romanus was ordained a priest by St. Hilary of Arles in 444. He reposed in the grace of Christ the God-Man, in about the year 460. Holy Venerable Romanus, pray to God for us!

Romanus had seen that it was very easy to forget about God in this world, so, at the age of thirty five, Romanus decided to go away to a quiet place and live as a hermit.

First, he asked the advice of a holy monk, and then he started off. He took a book with him called “The Lives of the Fathers of the Desert” by St John Cassian. He also took seeds to plant and a few tools.

With these supplies, he went into the forests of the Jura mountains between Switzerland and France and settled down beneath a huge fire tree at a place called Condat. There he found a spot of land good for growing his garden and food, and some trees from which he could eat a kind of wild fruit. He spent his time praying and reading his book. He also planted and cared for his garden, quietly enjoying nature.

Soon afterward, his brother Lupicinus joined him. Romanus and Lupicinus were very different. Romanus was hard on himself but he was kind and gentle and full of understanding with others. Lupicinus was tough and very strict with himself and usually the same with others but he only meant good and did not do it to hurt anyone. The two brothers understood each other and got along peacefully.

Many men came to join them. They wanted to be monks, too, so they built two monasteries. Romanus was the abbot of Condat (now Saint Claude) and Lupicinus was the abbot of Leuconne. Later they built the convent of La Beaume for nuns (now St. Romain de la Roche).

The monks lived simple, hard lives. They ate simple food which was mainly bread made of barley or bran and pulses and slept on the ground or on hard boards. St. Lupicinus wore a tunic made of skins of animals with a cowl: and wore wooden shoes.

They prayed much and made sacrifices cheerfully. They did penance to strengthen themselves against the temptations of the devil. They worked very hard farming to grow their food and kept silent all the time.

They lived like this because they wanted to grow close to God and when they were silent they were able to pray and talk with God. Their lifestyle helped them become more holy.

St. Romanus died in 460 and was buried at the abbey of Beaume. His younger brother, St. Lupicinus, died in 480.

Two lives of him are in existence: one by Gregory of Tours in the Liber vitae patrum (Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script. Merov., I, 663), and an anonymous Vita Sanctorum Romani, Lupicini, Eugendi [ibid., III, 131 sqq.; cf. Benoît, “Histoire de St-Claude”, I (Paris, 1890); Besson, “Recherches sur les origines des évêchés de Genève, Lausanne, et Sion” (Fribourg, 1906), 210 sqq.].

Who would true valour see,
Let him come hither;
One here will constant be,
Come wind, come weather
There’s no discouragement
Shall make him once relent
His first avowed intent

To be a pilgrim.
Whoso beset him round
With dismal stories
Do but themselves confound;
His strength the more is.
No lion can him fright,
He’ll with a giant fight,
He will have a right
To be a pilgrim.

Hobgoblin nor foul fiend
Can daunt his spirit,
He knows he at the end
Shall life inherit.
Then fancies fly away,
He’ll fear not what men say,
He’ll labour night and day
To be a pilgrim.

“To be a Pilgrim” (also commonly known as “He who would Valiant be”) is the only hymn John Bunyan is credited with writing but is indelibly associated with him. It first appeared in Part 2 of Pilgrim’s Progress, written in 1684. The hymn recalls the words of Hebrews 11:13: “…and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

The words were modified extensively by Percy Dearmer for the 1906 “The English Hymnal”. At the same time it was given a new tune by British composer Vaughan Williams using the traditional Sussex melody “Monk’s Gate”. The hymn has also been sung to the melody “Moab” (John Roberts, 1870) and “St. Dunstans” (Charles W. Douglas, 1917).
A good folk version of the hymn is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yHJMPw8RHU

Bunyan’s original version is not commonly sung in churches today, perhaps because of the references to “hobgoblin” and “foul fiend.” However, one commentator has said: “Bunyan’s burly song strikes a new and welcome note in our Hymnal. The quaint sincerity of the words stirs us out of our easygoing dull Christianity to the thrill of great adventure.”

John Bunyan (28 November 1628 – 31 August 1688) was an English Christian writer and preacher, who is well known for his book “The Pilgrim’s Progress” (1678-1684). Though he became a non-conformist and member of an Independent church, and although he has been described both as a Baptist and as a Congregationalist, he himself preferred to be described simply as a Christian.

From the ever wonderful Hermitary – http://www.hermitary.com/lore/macaulay.html – “An Hour With the Hermits,” by Marybella Macaulay; “The Irish Quarterly”, v. 21, August 1893, p. 443-446. This brief 19th-century Irish travel essay about Cordoba, Spain, captures the remoteness of an unnamed monastery. Wistfully infused in the essay is an exoticism about ruins, mountains, and silence that culminates with arrival at a monastery of hermits.

“We pity these men who lead such austere lives with no companionship, none of the comforts, and scarcely the necessaries of life; at the same time we cannot but admire their greatness of soul in being able so to break all human ties and devote their lives to praising God and praying for others and preparing themselves for the other world, which will last longer than this. They do well to go so high up the mountains, for it lifts their thoughts beyond the clouds so near them.

But, all the same, a grateful feeling creeps over one, and we thank God for having asked us to serve Him in a different way, for having given us kind and good friends to help us by word or example up the rooky and often-times dangerous path through life, and to warn us of the perils we are likely to meet on the way, and the best means to avoid them.”

But, sadly, later reported: “The small but dwindling congregation of hermits in the diocese of Cordoba, Spain, has been dissolved by the Holy See, and its members are joining the Carmelite Order as lay brothers.” http://archive.catholicherald.co.uk/article/4th-may-1956/7/hermits-dissolved

The World Youth Day Pilgrimage to Cordoba – http://bylovealone.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/world-youth-day-pilgrimage-part-two-cordoba/ – noted: “Visiting a group of Carmelite hermitages in the hills overlooking the city that were almost 500 years old and going inside a real hermit’s cave! Unfortunately, there wasn’t a hermit inside of it… That would have been even more awesome.”

See also http://www.artencordoba.co.uk/INTERESTING-PLACES/Interesting-places-Cordoba-Socorro-Hermitage.html

An interesting article from genxfinance:

Raphael Fellmer, along with his wife, Nieves Palmer, and their young daughter, Alma Lucia, stopped using money as a form of activism. They wanted to point out that overconsumption leads to unnecessary waste which eventually leads to environmental destruction. By foraging food from grocery store dumpsters and acquiring free lodging by housesitting or couchsurfing, the family of three has most of their basic needs met.

The young couple and many others are finding it increasingly easier to live without currency by bartering, skillsharing, cleaning, and creating urban homesteads in which they grow their own food, harvest rainwater, can and preserve food, and sew their own clothes. The resources that they need to survive are acquired through free stores (much like a thrift store but where nothing has a price tag) and websites like Freecycle.org and Craigslist.org.

So, this poses a question that I’d love to hear the answer to. Could you see yourself and your family living without money? Are you the type of person that is resourceful and not afraid to trade your tools, skills, and expertise with other people in your community?

We know that you can live on a tight budget but could you completely live without money? It’s a challenge few are up to but one that provides freedom beyond compare.

Living without money, Is it really possible?

see also http://genxfinance.com/is-it-really-possible-to-live-without-money/

From an old post on “The Conditions of a Solitary Bird. Exploring a life of silence and solitude as a Religious Hermit”: http://solitarybird.livejournal.com/tag/rule%20of%20life

“I am coming to appreciate the physical dimensions of contemplative practice. The tradition insists there must be a balance between mental prayer and physical activity, and the Benedictine tradition especially stresses that work is another form of prayer. St. Benedict’s Rule attends to the health of mind, spirit and body. During the “Benedictine Experience” you practice some kind of manual work, such as making bread, as a spiritual activity. Trappists do farming and make their preserves, fruitcakes, cheese and fudge. The Solitaries of DeKoven make prayer beads. Even Carthusians are expected to engage in gardening and woodworking.

For me, the required “manual work” for the moment consists of housework. I have a huge amount of housecleaning and reorganizing to do, to turn this place into a proper hermitage. I am finding it difficult to get myself up out of this computer chair to wash dishes, fold laundry or take out the trash. I keep giving myself the excuse of spending just a few more minutes on reading and study. It is tempting to allow the body to gravitate toward intellectual “work.” Even though when I do manage to get up and do something physical, I feel better.

Right now, next to the issue of distraction, getting myself up out of this chair to do physical work is probably my biggest challenge. Here it is almost noon, and I’m still sitting here. I have become such a cyber-potato.”

The sentiment resonates with me at present! Leaving aside the (possibly sad) reality that Benedict never suggested that “work is prayer”:

“Unfortunately, it is necessary to point out that….. Ora et Labora is found nowhere in the Rule of St. Benedict. Moreover, it appears nowhere in Benedictine history before the 19th century. As M.D. Meeuws points out in a fascinating article (“Ora et Labor: devise benedictine?” Collectanea Cisterciensia, 54 [1992] 193-214), the motto actually originates in a popular book on Benedictine life written by the German abbot, Maurus Wolter. So, it is hardly accurate to even call it the motto of the Benedictines.

It cannot be denied, of course, that the Benedictines themselves have cheerfully plastered this motto on everything from their napkins to the carving above the front gate. So our friends (or enemies) can hardly be blamed for assuming that the slogan expresses something important about our monks and our monasteries. If the monks themselves have clasped this euphonious moniker to their bosoms, it must have a basis in reality. What is it?

St. Benedict does indeed make some comments about work in his Chapter 48. The text begins with another pithy saying: “Idleness is the devil’s workshop.” In this chapter he sets up a rather precise daily schedule that includes time every day for manual labor. Some commentators have claimed that this is in fact the first time in history that a precise work schedule was set up, and they add that this is the real beginning of the history of the modernization of work. Without regular hours, not much gets accomplished.

Now there is no question that the followers of Benedict in the Middle Ages were good workers. Probably because they did observe a regular schedule, they accomplished considerable feats in the realm of agriculture, architecture and so forth. But the fundamental change was in attitude: The upper classes of that time looked on physical work as utterly degrading, but the Benedictines believed that hard work is ennobling. So they broke out of a sterile mindset that had corroded the ancient civilizations.

But Benedict certainly did not think he was enunciating a new philosophy of work. His comments in Chapter 48 have to be taken in context to put them in the right perspective. For one thing, he has greatly toned down the corresponding Chapter 50 of the Rule of the Master. What is the Master’s attitude toward work? He sees it as a way to fill up time; if people are not kept busy, they may get into trouble. In fact, he is sure they will get into big trouble, namely, sin. He is in fact the prototypical workaholic, the patron saint of those who think “life is work.” …

It is also necessary to criticize the two-part motto Ora et Labora on the basis of Chapter 48. What we find there is really a three-part structure: Ora, Labora et Lectio. Benedict divides up the monastic day into three essential activities: prayer, labor and biblical study. A close study of his timetable indicates that about three hours were spent in church at the Divine Office; five hours were devoted to manual labor; and two or three hours were given over to biblical study. According to the seasons of the year, both natural and liturgical, this schedule was fine-tuned, but it is fixed in its three-part form.”

Terrence Kardong “Work Is Prayer: Not!” Assumption Abbey Newsletter (Richardton, ND 58652). Volume 23, Number 4 (October 1995): http://www.osb.org/gen/topics/work/kard1.html

“Our unhappiness arises from one thing only, that we cannot be comfortably alone in our room. … That is why the pleasure of solitude is seen as so incomprehensible.”

Blaise Pascal, “Pensees”, 9. Diversion

Quoted on the always wonderful blog, Hermitary: http://www.hermitary.com/

Blaise Pascal (19 June 1623 – 19 August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and Christian philosopher.