Citydesert

The man who gave up all of his stuff: Petri Luukkainen, a Helsinki-based documentary maker, put everything he owned in storage and removed one item a day for a year. He tells Theo Merz how many things we really need:

“Like many of us, Petri Luukkainen felt he had too much stuff. Unlike many of us, he decided to put it all in storage for a year, removing one item per day in order to discover what he really needed to live comfortably. The result is the documentary “My Stuff”, released in Luukkainen’s native Finland two years ago and in the UK this weekend.

The film, an experimental documentary in the style of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me, begins with the 29-year-old naked in his empty Helsinki flat. From there he runs across icy streets to the depot where his belongings are stored, the first of which he takes being a long coat – preserving his modesty and providing a makeshift sleeping bag for the first night. On the second day he takes shoes, on the third a blanket and on the fourth jeans.

Director Petri Luukkainen runs to collect a long coat in the first scene of My Stuff

Half way through the year he falls in love, leading to a dilemma over whether he should replace his new girlfriend’s fridge – another rule of the project is that he’s not allowed to buy anything new – or to fix it at greater expense. Later, Luukkainen’s grandmother is taken ill and has to move into a care home, meaning he has to go to her old flat to sort through her stuff. The events provide the documentary with such a satisfying narrative that some critics have suggested the film is semi-scripted, though Luukkainen insists it is all real.
The conclusion he comes to at the end of the year is probably what he suspected at the beginning: that possession is a responsibility and “stuff” is a burden. He does, however, provide a couple of figures which may be of help for anyone thinking about decluttering. Luukkainen found he could get by with 100 things (including swimming trunks, trainers, a debit card and a phone) but needed 200 to live with some “joy and comfort” (a third spoon, an electric kettle and a painting).

Luukkainen at the depot where his possessions are stored

Speaking from Helsinki ahead of his film’s UK release, the documentary-maker claims the project itself was not something he was particularly proud of. “My problem was that I had too much of everything. It’s not the worst problem and it’s not being noble to give some of it up for a time.”

Whatever the seriousness of the problem, the international interest in the film suggests it is one many of us in the West face, and Luukkainen says he has been contacted by people across Europe who have been inspired to take on similar experiments. “I’d love to be part of a movement but I’m not sure My Stuff is,” he says. “All I want to do is get people to think about what they have and what they need, because it’s not something I thought about at all before I did this film.”

For those who feel like they might have too much stuff, Luukkainen suggests spending some time apart from it, though doesn’t advise going to the extreme of putting it all in storage. Put it in a cupboard, and if its appeal fades with absence, give it away.

Luukkainen himself has tried to manage the “burden of stuff” since his project came to end, but says: “I’m not some kind of minimalistic Jesus, sitting in my flat with nothing but a phone. I might have a bit less stuff than other people but I’m still part of urban life with everything that involves.””

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/thinking-man/10729219/The-man-who-gave-up-all-of-his-stuff.html

See further: http://mystuffmovie.com/
http://www.everydaystories.be/content/petri-luukkainen
http://www.day-for-night.org/my-stuff

For a trailer for the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUBVl0FG6Yc

Washing, especially of the hands (and sometimes feet) has long had symbolic significance in the Middle East. Such washing has often been less for ablution (or cleaning) than as a symbol of an inner cleansing. A careful, intentional and ritual washing of the hands prior to prayer can have a powerful psychological effect. For some people, bathing (or showering) prior to prayer, or washing the face and rinsing out the mouth, will also be useful. Whatever form the ritual washing may take, the words of Psalm 26:6-12 (KJV—in the Septuagint it is Psalm 25), can appropriately be recited:

I will wash my hands in innocency and I will compass Thine altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of Thy praise and tell of all Thy wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth.

The tradition of Israel required ritual washing before prayers and meals, and on other specific occasions.

“The Talmud used the requirement of washing the hands in Leviticus 15:11 as a hint for general hand washing law, using asmachta – a talmudical hermeneutics form in which the verse used as a hint rather than an exegesis.

The general Hebrew term for ritual hand washing is netilat yadayim, meaning lifting up of the hands. The term “the washing of hands” after excretion is sometimes referred to as “to wash asher yatzar” referring to the bracha (blessing) said which starts with these words.
Halakha (Jewish law) requires that the water used for ritual washing be naturally pure, unused, not contain other substances, and not be discoloured. The water also must be poured from a vessel as a human act, on the basis of references in the Bible to this practice, e.g. Elisha pouring water upon the hands of Elijah. Water should be poured on each hand at least twice. A clean dry substance should be used instead if water is unavailable.
Contemporary practice is to pour water on each hand three times for most purposes using a cup, and alternating the hands between each occurrence; this ritual is now known by the Yiddish term negel vasser, meaning nail water. This Yiddish term is also used for a special cup used for such washing.
The blessing
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הָ׳ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם אֲשֶׁר קִדְּשָׁנוּ בְּמִצְוֹתָיו וְצִוָּנוּ עַל נְטִילַת יָדָיִם “Blessed are you, Hashem our God King of the universe Who has sanctified us with His commandments, And has commanded us concerning the elevation of hands.”
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_washing_in_Judaism

“The Talmud requires a person to wash his hands before prayer. A person must wash his hands to the wrists before prayer. Therefore, even though he washed his hands in the morning, if his hands touched a place of filth – i.e., a portion of the body which is sweaty and usually covered: he scratched his head, or in the morning, he did not wash them until the wrists – he must wash them again before prayer. (Sotah 39a). The custom is to wash the right hand three times, and then the left hand three times. In addition, the Shulchan Aruch requires that the face be washed and the mouth rinsed upon rising.

The ritual washing of the hands is not explicitly prescribed by the Bible, but is inferred by the rabbis (Ḥul. 106a) from the passage, Lev. xv. 11, in which it is stated that if a person afflicted with an unclean issue have not washed (or bathed) his hands his touch contaminates. The passage, Ps. xxvi. 6, “I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O Lord,” also warrants the inference that Ablution of the hands is requisite before performing any holy act. This particular form of Ablution is the one which has survived most completely and is most practised by Jews. Before any meal of which bread forms a part, the hands must be solemnly washed and the appropriate benediction recited. Before prayer, too, the hands must be washed; also after any unclean bodily function or after contact with an unclean object. The precepts concerning the carrying out of the ritual washing of the hands are contained in the rabbinical code “Shulḥan ‘Aruk, Oraḥ Ḥayyim,” §§ 117-165. The chief rules are these: The water must be in a state of natural purity, not discolored or defiled by the admixture of any foreign substance; it must not have been previously used for any purpose, and must be poured out by human act, the mere natural flow of water not sufficing. If a hydrant or stationary receptacle is used, the cock must be opened separately for each hand. This precept, that the water must be poured out by human act, is based on the fact that Scripture describes the pouring of water upon the hands as performed by one person for another, and considers it an appropriate act for the disciple to do for his master. The pouring on of water was a sign of discipleship. Thus, Scripture says of Elisha that he poured water ( ) upon the hands of Elijah, meaning that he was his disciple. The hands may also be purified by immersion; but in that case the same rules must be observed as in the case of immersion of the entire body in a regular ritual bath, or miḳweh. If water is not obtainable, the hands should be rubbed with some dry, clean substance, such as cloth. The hands must also be washed after eating. The Ablution before grace is known technicallyas mayim rishonim (first waters), and the subsequent Ablution as mayim aḥaronim (last waters). The latter Ablution is by no means generally observed.”
The 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/338-ablution

This was also the tradition in the early Church. The Apostolic Tradition (or Egyptian Church Order), an early Christian treatise from the third century, requires that that hands must be washed before prayer:
“41.1 Let every faithful man and every faithful woman , when they rise from sleep at dawn,
before they undertake any work, wash their hands and pray to God. Then they may go to
work.
41.11 Around midnight rise and wash your hands with water and pray.”
http://www.bombaxo.com/hippolytus.html

“The rite of ablution was observed among early Christians also. Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, X, 4.40) tells of Christian churches being supplied with fountains or basins of water, after the Jewish custom of providing the laver for the use of the priests.

Lavabo, Le Thoronet Abbey, Le Thoronet, France

The Apostolical Constitutions (VIII.32) have the rule: “Let all the faithful …. when they rise from sleep, before they go to work, pray, after having washed themselves” nipsamenoi.
The attitude of Jesus toward the rabbinical law of ablution is significant. Mk (7:3) prepares the way for his record of it by explaining, `The Pharisees and all the Jews eat not except they wash their hands to the wrist (pugme). (See LTJM, II, 11). According to Mt 15:1-20 and Mk 7:1-23 Pharisees and Scribes that had come from Jerusalem (i.e. the strictest) had seen some of Jesus’ disciples eat bread with unwashed hands, and they asked Him: “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” Jesus’ answer was to the Jews, even to His own disciples, in the highest degree surprising, paradoxical, revolutionary (compare Mt 12:8). They could not but see that it applied not merely to hand-washing, but to the whole matter of clean and unclean food; and this to them was one of the most vital parts of the Law (compare Acts 10:14). Jesus saw that the masses of the Jews, no less than the Pharisees, while scrupulous about ceremonial purity, were careless of inward purity. So here, as in the Sermon on the Mount, and with reference to the Sabbath (Mt 12:1 ff), He would lead them into the deeper and truer significance of the Law, and thus prepare the way for setting aside not only the traditions of the eiders that made void the commandments of God, but even the prescribed ceremonies of the Law themselves, if need be, that the Law in its higher principles and meanings might be “fulfilled.” Here He proclaims a principle that goes to the heart of the whole matter of true religion in saying: “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites” (Mk 7:6-13)–you who make great pretense of devotion to God, and insist strenuously on the externals of His service, while at heart you do not love Him, making the word of God of none effect for the sake of your tradition!”
http://www.bible-history.com/isbe/A/ABLUTION/

“It may be noted that possibly in consequence of the words of St. Paul (1 Timothy 2:8): “I will therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands”, the early Christians made it a rule to wash their hands even before private prayer, as many passages of the Fathers attest (e.g. Tertullian, “Apolog.”, xxxix; “De Orat.”, xiii).”
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15557b.htm

Mediaeval lavabo in the right-hand transept of Saint Mark’s Church in Milan

Ritual washing of the hands, the Lavabo, has long been part of the Divine Liturgy:

“The name Lavabo (“I shall wash”) is derived from the words of Psalm 26:6-12 (KJV—in the Septuagint it is Psalm 25), which the celebrant traditionally recites while he washes his hands: “I will wash my hands in innocency, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord”. The washing of hands during the recitation of these psalm verses is of very ancient usage in the Catholic Church.

In the third century there are traces of a custom of washing the hands as a preparation for prayer on the part of all Christians; and from the fourth century onwards it appears to have been usual for the ministers at the Communion Service ceremonially to wash their hands before the more solemn part of the service as a symbol of inward purity.

In many early and medieveal monasteries, there would be a large lavabo (lavatorio) where the brethren would wash their hands before entering church. This practice was first legislated in the Rule of St. Benedict in the 6th century, but has earlier antecedents.

St. John Chrysostom mentions the custom in his day of all Christians washing their hands before entering the church for worship.

In the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, the priest says the last six verses from Psalm 25:
I will wash my hands in innocency and I will compass Thine altar, O Lord, that I may hear the voice of Thy praise and tell of all Thy wondrous works. O Lord, I have loved the beauty of Thy house, and the place where Thy glory dwelleth. Destroy not my soul with the ungodly, nor my life with men of blood, in whose hands are iniquities; their right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, in mine innocence have I walked; redeem me, O Lord, and have mercy on me. My foot hath stood in uprightness; in the congregations will I bless Thee, O Lord.

After vesting, he goes to the thalassidion (piscina) as washes his hands before approaching the Prothesis (altar of preparation), where he will prepare the bread and wine for the Divine Liturgy. This lavabo takes place quietly, outside of the view of the congregation.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavabo

“The hand and face washing that precedes ritual prayer is no invention of Moslems. Islamic followers adopted it in the seventh century based on Christian prayer practices. Christians used to wash themselves, or at least their hands, before praying. A water fountain stood in the forecourt of churches precisely for this purpose. In the atrium of St. Peter’s in Rome, there stood the famous stone pine fountain.

A sarcophagus from Ravenna portrays such a washing bowl: a cantharus (deep bowl) adorned with peacocks.

This washing concerned an attitude of purity and integrity in prayer. Precisely because one’s hands were raised to heaven while praying, they had to be clean. The believer wanted to be seen by God. So, persons who prayed would show washed hands as a sign that they were not stained with blood. For Christians, washed hands were supposed to express that one entered into God’s presence with a pure conscience. “The clean of hand and pure of heart” may go up to the mountain of the Lord, was a Psalm sung by those traveling to the temple in Jerusalem (Ps 24:4).

This explains this prayer posture in the early Church: a person’s hands were held relatively close in front of one’s face with the palms turned outwards, as is the custom in the Dominican rite even today.

It was a way of saying: “Here, God, look at my hands! No blood and no injustice cling to them. And only in this manner do I dare to pray and raise my voice to you.” St. John Chrysostom addressed his followers by saying that it was not enough to raise washed hands to God; these hands must also be made holy through works of charity. So, in the forecourt of the church, one should not only go to the fountain for hand washing, but also use the opportunity to give alms to the poor who begged there.

What remains of this rite of hand washing, previously practiced by all of the faithful, is the priest’s ritual hand washing before the Eucharistic prayer. The faithful no longer wash their hands, because they also no longer raise their hands when they pray. In its place, people bless themselves with holy water at the church entrance, reminding themselves of their baptism.

These rituals of the past retain their meaning even today. Christian prayer presupposes “clean hands.” A person who has sinned against his neighbor also sins against God. In refusing to be reconciled with his neighbor, a person should not approach the altar of God. The act of faith does not simply erase all past and future sins. Our behavior and actions create new obstacles on the way to God, weakening the effectiveness of our prayer. The priest is reminded of his own inadequacy every time he holds up his hands. This automatic gesture should provoke in his mind a serious examination of conscience: what makes you worthy that you alone can raise your hands in prayer? Have you done everything in your power to enable you, with pure hands and full transparency of spirit, to bring before God the gifts and prayers of the people?”

Cross, Altar and the Right Way of Praying

Suggested practice: Prior to morning prayer, bathe or shower and brush the teeth. Then, when dressed, ritually wash both hands by pouring water over the right hand and then the left hand (three times each), and then dry the hands. A bowl and towel set aside for the purpose should be used. Before other times of prayer (where possible), again wash the hands ritually.

See further: Roy Hammerling (ed) “A History of Prayer: The First to the Fifteenth Century” Volume 13 of Brill’s Companions to the Christian Tradition [Brill, 2008]

“Saint Francis of Assisi (Italian: San Francesco d’Assisi, born Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, but nicknamed Francesco (“the Frenchman”) by his father, 1181/1182 – October 3, 1226) was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men’s Order of Friars Minor, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the Third Order of Saint Francis for men and women not able to live the lives of itinerant preachers followed by the early members of the Order of Friars Minor or the monastic lives of the Poor Clares. Though he was never ordained to the Catholic priesthood, Francis is one of the most venerated religious figures in history.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi

Saint Francis of Assisi in Ecstasy: an oil painting by Jusepe de Ribera (1642)

“The preaching of St. Francis, as well as his own living example and that of his first disciples, exercised such a powerful attraction on the people that many married men and women, even hermits, wanted to join the First or the Second Order. This being incompatible with their state of life, St. Francis found a middle way: he gave them a rule animated by the Franciscan spirit. In the composition of this rule St. Francis was assisted by his friend Cardinal Ugolino, later Gregory IX. As to the place where the Third Order was first introduced nothing certain is known. Of late however the preponderance of opinion is for Florence, chiefly on the authority of Mariano of Florence, or Faenza, for which the first papal Bull (Potthast, “Regesta Pontificum”, 6736) known on the subject is given, whilst the “Fioretti” (ch. xvi), though not regarded as a historical authority, assigns Cannara, a small town two hours’ walk from Porziuncola, as the birthplace of the Third Order. Mariano and the Bull for Faenza (16 December 1221) point to 1221 as the earliest date of the institution of the Third Order, and in fact, besides these and other sources, the oldest preserved rule bears this date at its head.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Order_of_Saint_Francis

“The Secular Franciscans, or the Third Order, are laity, diocesan priests, hermits and even groups of religious who follow the Rule that St. Francis wrote primarily for lay people or for those not part of the First or Second Order. The Third Order Rule, sometimes referred to as the Order of Penitents, is capable of being adapted to just about any way of life. Many diocesan hermits chose it as their Rule to profess. There are scores of diocesan priests who have professed the Third Order Rule, like St. John Marie Vianney, Kings and Queens such as St. Louis of France and St. Elizabeth of Hungary (both patrons of the Third Order), nobleman and statesman like St. Thomas Moore. Most have been your average workman and housewives who lived this Rule in the quiet of their homes or in their work places.”
http://www.franciscanbrothersminor.com/FBM/Confraternity_of_Penitents.html

Saint Francis giving the Rule to Blessed Luchesio and Buonadonna first members of the Third Order of Franciscans, now referred to as the Secular Franciscan Order.

The following are extracts from The Third Order Rule which can be found in full at http://www.gloriana.nu/tor.html

“1. The form of life of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis is this: to observe the Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ by living in obedience, in poverty and in chastity. Following Jesus Christ after the example of St. Francis, let them recognise that they are called to make greater efforts in their observance of the precepts and counsels of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let them deny themselves (c.f. Mt 16:24) as each has promised the Lord.

2. With all in the holy Catholic and apostolic Church who wish to serve the Lord, the brothers and sisters of this order are to persevere in true faith and penance. They wish to live this evangelical conversion of life in a spirit of prayer, of poverty, and of humility. Therefore, let them abstain from all evil and persevere to the end in doing good because God the Son Himself will come again in glory and will say to all who acknowledge, adore and serve Him in sincere repentance: “Come blessed of my Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world” (Mt 25:34).

4. Those who through the Lord’s inspiration come to us desiring to accept this way of life are to be received kindly. At the appropriate time, they are to be presented to the ministers of the fraternity who hold responsibility to admit them.

5. The ministers shall ascertain that the aspirants truly adhere to the catholic faith and to the Church’s sacramental life. If they are found to have a vocation, they are to be initiated into the life of the fraternity. Let everything pertaining to this gospel way of life be explained to them, especially these words of the Lord: “If you wish to be perfect (Matthew 19:21) go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” And, if anyone wishes to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)

6. Led by the Lord, let them begin a life of penance, conscious that all of us must be continuously and totally converted to the Lord. As a sign of their conversion and consecration to gospel life, they are to clothe themselves plainly and to live in simplicity.

7. When their initial formation is completed, they are to be received into obedience promising to observe this life and rule always. Let them put aside all attachment as well as every care and worry. Let them only be concerned to serve, love, adore, and honour the Lord God, as best they can, with single-heartedness and purity of intention.

8. Within themselves, let them always make a dwelling place and home for
the Lord God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, so that, with undivided hearts, they may increase in universal love by continually turning to God and to neighbour (John 14:23).

9. Everywhere and in each place, and in every season and each day, the brothers and sisters are to have a true and humble faith. From the depths of their inner life let them love, honour, adore, serve, praise, bless and glorify our most high and eternal God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. With all that they are, let them adore Him “because we should pray always and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1); this is what the Father desires. In this same spirit let them also celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours in union with the whole Church.

The sisters and brothers whom the Lord has called to the life of contemplation (Mk 6:31), with a daily renewed joy, should manifest their special dedication to God and celebrate the Father’s love for the world. It was He who created and redeemed us, and by His mercy alone shall save us.

10. The brothers and sisters are to praise the Lord, the King of heaven and earth, (c.f. Mt 11:25) with all His creatures and to give Him thanks because, by His own holy will and through His only Son with the Holy Spirit, He has created all things spiritual and material and made us in His own image and likeness.

11. Since the sisters and brothers are to be totally conformed to the Gospel, they should reflect and keep in their hearts the words of Our Lord Jesus Christ who is the word of the Father, as well as the words of the Holy Spirit which “are spirit and life” (John 6:63).

12. Let them participate in the sacrifice of Our Lord Jesus Christ and receive His Body and Blood with great humility and reverence remembering the words of the Lord: “He who eats My Flesh and drinks My Blood has eternal life” (John 6:54). Moreover, they are to show the greatest possible reverence and honour for the most sacred name, written words and most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things in heaven and on earth have been brought to peace and reconciliation with Almighty God (John 6:63).

17. As poor people, the brothers and sisters to whom the Lord has given the grace of serving or working with their hands, should do so faithfully and conscientiously. Let them avoid that idleness which is the enemy of the soul. But they should not be so busy that the spirit of holy prayer and devotion, which all earthly goods should foster, is extinguished.

18. In exchange for their service or work, they may accept anything necessary for
their own temporal needs and for that of their sisters or brothers. Let them accept it humbly as is expected of those who are servants of God and seekers of most holy poverty. Whatever they may have over and above their needs, they are to give to the poor. And let them never want to be over others. Instead they should be servants and subjects to every human creature for the Lord’s
sake.

21. All the sisters and brothers zealously follow the poverty and humility of Our Lord Jesus Christ. “Though rich” beyond measure (2 Corinthians 8:9). He emptied Himself for our sake (Philippians 2:7) and with the holy virgin, His mother, Mary, He chose poverty in this world. Let them be mindful that they should have only those goods of this world which, as the apostle says, “having something to eat and something to wear, with these we are content (1 Tim 6:8). Let them particularly beware of money. And let them be happy to live among the outcast and despised, among the poor, the weak, the sick, the unwanted, the oppressed, and the destitute.

22. The truly poor in spirit, following the example of the Lord, live in this world as pilgrims and strangers (c.f. 1 P 2:1). They neither appropriate nor defend anything as their own. So excellent is this most high poverty that it makes us heirs and rulers of the kingdom of heaven. It makes us materially poor, but rich in virtue (c.f. John 2:5). Let this poverty alone be our portion because it leads to the land of the living (Ps 141:6). Clinging completely to it let us, for the sake of Our Lord Jesus Christ, never want anything else under heaven.

25. Following the example of Our Lord Jesus Christ Who made His own will one with the Father’s, the sisters and brothers are to remember that, for God, they should give up their own wills. Therefore, in every kind of chapter they have let them “seek first the kingdom of God and His justice,” (Mt 6:33) and exhort one another to observe with greater dedication the rule they have professed and to follow faithfully in the footprints of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let them neither dominate nor seek power over one another, but let them willingly serve and obey “one another with that genuine love which comes from each one’s heart” (c.f. Galatians 5:13). This is the true and holy obedience of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

32. Let the sisters and brothers always be mindful that they should desire one thing alone, namely, the Spirit of God at work within them. Always obedient to the Church and firmly established in the Catholic faith, let them live according to the poverty, the humility and the holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ which they have solemnly promised to observe.”

see further Christopher Shorrock OFM Conv. “A Brief History of the Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order at http://sfo.franciscans.org.au/sfo04/2sforule.htm

For The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order Approved and Confirmed By Pope Paul VI on 24 June, 1978 see http://www.francescanitor.org/resources/OFS/English/OFS_Rule.EN.pdf

For The Rule of the Secular Franciscan Order was approved and confirmed by Pope Paul VI on June 24, 1978, and delivered over to the Order on October 4, 1978, by the four Ministers General of the Franciscan Family see http://www.ourladyofthepearl.com/documents.htm and http://www.franciscanfriarstor.com/archive/theorder/Holy%20Rule/index.htm

“Handbook of the Confraternity of Penitents: Living the Original Third Order Rule of Saint Francis as a Lay Person in the Modern World” [CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2010]
“The Confraternity of Penitents is an international, private Catholic Association of the Faithful whose members are living, in their own homes, a modern adaptation of the rule for lay people, given by Saint Francis of Assisi to the Brothers and Sisters of Penance in 1221. Bishop Thomas Tobin, Bishop of the Diocese of Providence, stated, on 11 February 2009, “I wish to affirm my support of the Confraternity of Penitents (CFP), specifically its members’ commendable efforts to live according to the First Rule of the Third Order of Saint Francis of 1221, as outlined in the CFP’s own Constitutions.” All the information needed for anyone to learn about the Confraternity of Penitents and its way of life is found in the Handbook of the Confraternity of Penitents. The Handbook contains: A copy of Bishop Tobin’s letter The Rule of 1221 for the laity Modern Constitutions to the Rule of 1221 Directory of Governance Canon Law as it relates to the Confraternity Background information Question and Answer Section Inquiry Reflections Four years of Postulant and Novice Lessons Three lessons prior to pledging Lessons for On-Going Formation taken from writings of the saints Induction into formation ceremonies Pledging Ceremony Applications Reproducible Handouts and Brochures Articles on a life of penance (conversion) Confraternity Prayers and Psalms A Sample Day’s Prayer from the Divine Office”

Marion Habig O.F.M (ed) “The Secular Franciscan Companion” [Franciscan Media; Revised edition , 1987]
A simple, beautiful compendium of prayers by and about Saint Francis and other Franciscan saints. It includes a short history of the Secular Franciscan Order, its Rule, and a long list of daily prayers including morning and evening prayers, devotions, litanies, and a calendar of Franciscan saints. This is truly a companion for Secular Franciscans and others devoted to Saint Francis.

Benet A. Fonck O.F.M. (Editor) “Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order” [St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1986]
Secular Franciscans and their spiritual assistants will appreciate this little booklet—an English translation of the approved Latin text of the Ritual for the Secular Franciscan Order. The Preface provides background on the history and purpose of the Ritual and helpful guidelines for its use. Part 1 contains the rites for celebrating the various stages of admission to the Secular Franciscan Order. Part 2 contains prayers for use at the various meetings of Secular Franciscan fraternities. An Appendix includes appropriate Scripture readings, Franciscan readings and prayers of St. Francis.
For the Ritual of the Secular Franciscan Order approved by the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, 1985, see http://franciscan-sfo.org/ofcdocs/rt85enos.pdf

Leonard Foley O.F.M., Jovian Weigel O.F.M., and Patti Normile S.F.O. “To Live as Francis Lived: A Guide For Secular Franciscans (The Path of Franciscan Spirituality)” [St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2000]
Whether you are a professed Franciscan of many years or someone just beginning to seek a spiritual understanding of Francis and Clare of Assisi, To Live as Francis Lived will lead you to a closer life with Jesus Christ. Through a process of prayer, reflection, study texts, questions and connections to Scripture, you will be formed in the Franciscan way of life as Francis lived it in his own time

For more resources on the Secular Franciscan Order, see http://franciscanresources.com/

Prayer should be, and for those truly holy women and women is, a spontaneous communication (even communion) with God – even a continual and continuous process: “Pray without ceasing” [1 Thessalonians 5:17].. . For us less worthy human beings it is not always so spontaneous or so natural. Or even always easy.

Prayer, in the Desert Tradition, was not an abstract mental or verbal process. It involved the whole body, and made use of postures and gestures, words and signs, objects (like prayer-ropes and hand-crosses), “visual aids” (like Icons and lamps or candles) and even olfactory stimulation (like incense).

Some of the “aids to prayer” had their origins in Jewish tradition: see, for example, Uri Ehrlich “The Nonverbal Language of Prayer: A New Approach to Jewish Liturgy” [Mohr Siebeck, 2004]

The whole person was at prayer, not only in communal or liturgical contexts, but in private prayer as well. None of these aids to prayer should ever be seen as more than that: “aids to prayer”. They are not forms of “magic” to make prayer more efficacious! They are symbolic and psychologically significant actions intended to assist the body, the heart and the mind in preparation for prayer. They assist in focussing attention, and refocussing away from the worldly to the heavenly. We must not become dependent on the “aids”; they must not become “crutches” or “talismans” without which we cannot pray effectively. They are “aids:”, no more, no less.

A series of postings will begin shortly looking at traditional “aids to prayer”, and considering:

Washing [if only the hands]
Posture [Standing, Bowing, Kneeling, Prostration, Sitting]

Hand positions [including the Sign of the Cross]
Facing East
Removing Shoes
Vestments [including head covering]

Using a Hand Cross

Using a Prayer rope
Wearing a Pectoral cross

Icons

Candles or Lamps
Incense

Using a Formula first [The Agbeya, The Jesus Prayer]
Vocal and Non-vocal Prayer
Breathing
Praying in a Special Space
Praying at a Special time

Numbers of recent psychological studies have shown that rituals can be powerful in changing and establishing both emotional, psychological and even physical states. This is not about “magic”! It is about inducing a psychological, emotional and physical state appropriate for the occasion (in this case, prayer).

“Recent research suggests that rituals may be more rational than they appear. Why? Because even simple rituals can be extremely effective. Rituals performed after experiencing losses – from loved ones to lotteries – do alleviate grief, and rituals performed before high-pressure tasks – like singing in public – do in fact reduce anxiety and increase people’s confidence. What’s more, rituals appear to benefit even people who claim not to believe that rituals work….. Despite the absence of a direct causal connection between the ritual and the desired outcome, performing rituals with the intention of producing a certain result appears to be sufficient for that result to come true….”
Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton “Why Rituals Work”, “Scientific American”, May 14, 2013

“In recent years, a number of fine books have been published in the popular press which explore the relationship between prayer and the body, and which advocate, in different ways, the worthiness–sometimes even the primacy–of the body as a place of revelation about and communion with the Divine. For anyone who has struggled with an ambivalent relationship to the body (and who hasn’t?); for anyone who has pondered our ambiguous Christian heritage, which on the one hand proclaims the goodness of God’s creation and the resurrection of the body, but on the other hand has too often promoted a disembodied, even body-hating notion of holiness; for anyone who has wondered how to listen to one’s body in prayer and how to find God in and through our bodily selves; books such as Flora Slosson Wuellner’s “Prayer and Our Bodies”, Nancy Roth’s “The Breath of God and A New Christian Yoga”, Tilden Edwards’s newly reissued “Living in the Presence”, and Martin
Smith’s “The Word is Very Near You” (with its marvelous section on “The Body at Prayer”) are valuable resources, indeed.

Celeste Snowber Schroeder’s “Embodied Prayer: Harmonizing Body and Soul” [Liguori, Missouri: Triumph Books (An Imprint of Liguori Publications), 1995] is a worthy contribution to this burgeoning literature, exploring in simple and straightforward language the ways in which we can enlarge the capacity of our bodies to become a sacred space for prayer. The book draws on the author’s experience as a liturgical dancer and educator who, according to the book’s end-notes, frequently leads workshops for various churches and conferences in the areas of embodied prayer, dance, and spirituality and the arts. A work of frank and impassioned advocacy, the book invites us to learn to listen to our bodies, rather than simply (as many of us were taught) either to ignore or to control and dominate them. A truly biblical spirituality, the author argues, is one which encompasses the body as well as the mind and the spirit, one which invites us to heal our estrangement from our bodies and to welcome them as friends, as places of encounter with God.”
Extracted from http://www.holyhunger.com/articles/Review%20-%20Embodied%20Prayer.pdf

“Living on Hope While Living in Babylon: The Christian Anarchists of the 20th Century” by Tripp York [Wipf and Stock, 2009]

“Fred “Tripp” York is a professor of religion and a prolific Mennonite writer (B.A., Trevecca Nazarene University; M.T.S., Duke University; Ph.D., Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary). His writings span a wide range of genres and subjects including: animals, martyrdom, politics, violence, religious satire and comics. His most popular work is his satirical search for Satan in “The Devil Wears Nada”. He is the co-creator and co-editor of The Peaceable Kingdom Series. York belongs to the Mennonite tradition that has a 500 year history of Christian pacifism. He has written extensively on the North American Christians’ complicity with power and suggests a return to a more diasporic understanding of Christian practice. He emphasizes the witness of Christian anarchists such as Dorothy Day, and Daniel and Philip Berrigan. He teaches at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, VA. He previously taught at Elon University and Western Kentucky University.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripp_York

“Christian anarchy, the belief that in Jesus’ teachings may be found an inherent opposition to systematic secular rule and an inclination towards war and oppression, is a credence that dates back as far as Christianity itself. York focuses on the movement’s modern manifestations and their potential as models for contemporary Christian life. The author examines a few twentieth century Christians from varying religious traditions who lived such a witness, including the Berrigan brothers, Dorothy Day, and Eberhard Arnold. These witnesses can be viewed as anarchical in the sense that their loyalty to Christ undermines the pseudo-stereological myth employed by the state. While these Christians have been labeled pilgrims, revolutionaries, nomads, subversives, agitators, and now, anarchists, they are more importantly seekers of the peace of the city whose chief desire is for those belonging to the temporal cities to be able to participate in the eternal city, the city of God.”

“The publication of Tripp York’s “Living on Hope While Living in Babylon” marks a significant contribution to the recently re-emerging interest in the connection between Christianity and anarchism and for that reason should be celebrated. Very little scholarship exists regarding these questions, and the less these concerns remain marginal to political theology the better….
Christian anarchists enjoy calling themselves by that name as a distinguishing marker: distinguishing themselves from “politics as usual” as well as from “mainstream” Christianities. But Christian anarchists need to begin to become accountable for their use of the term “anarchism,” not simply appropriating it with no intention of engaging actual anarchism and actual anarchists. I’d like to see Christian theological engagement with anarchism that takes a more “C/catholic” approach rather than the either/or approach that has dominated the discussion so far.
What we need is an anarchist political theology that has learned from anarchism because it has been in real dialogue with it and has even been challenged by it. Thankfully there are some emerging Christian theologians who are doing just that: I am thinking of Alexandre J. M. E. Christoyannopoulos who has published several articles on Christian anarchism and has edited an interreligious collection called “Religious Anarchism”, Lee Griffith (see his “Called to Christian Anarchy?” in “God and Country?: Diverse Perspectives on Christianity and Patriotism”, ed. Michael G. Long and Tracy Wenger Sadd [New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007]) and Andy and Nekeisha Alexis-Baker’s impressive academic work and online Jesus Radicals project/community. The latter is especially rooted in a real personal identification with anarchism and a praxis of dialogue and openness to intellectual and praxial conversion. These scholars represent the kind of engagement with anarchism that is needed for the twenty-first century, an engagement that leaves the triumphalism of the past behind and seeks first the Kingdom wherever it is emerging, both inside the church and outside of it.
http://religionatthemargins.com/2010/11/living-on-hope-review/

see also
http://peacenews.info/node/5174/tripp-york-living-hope-while-living-babylon-christian-anarchists-20th-century

for Jesus Radicals, see http://www.jesusradicals.com/

for M. E. Christoyannopoulos see https://sites.google.com/site/christoyannopoulos/

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in spiritual, and specifically Christian, anarchism.

Most writers considering Christian anarchism, after brief reflection on the Gospels and the earliest Christian community, go to figures like Adin Ballou (1803–1890), Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) and Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) some eighteen hundred years later. And yet the earliest Hermits were clearly anarchists. They sought to separate – usually physically – from the institutions of both Church and State. Thomas Merton in his introduction to a translation of the “Sayings of the Desert Fathers” describes the early Hermits as “Truly in a certain sense ‘anarchists,’ and it will do no harm to think of them as such.” [Thomas Merton “Wisdom of the Desert” Abbey of Gethsemane Inc. 1960. p.5]

The Hermits were, originally at least, radical individualists, with little, if any, interest in the bureaucratic rules and structures that came increasingly to characterise the Christian Church. They reflected, in practice if not in formal theology, the view later taken by Nikolai Berdyaev:
“There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism. … The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil, that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power… the Kingdom of God is anarchy.” [Nikolai Berdyaev, “Slavery and Freedom” (1939), p. 147]

It was probably inevitable, given the nature of governments, religious and secular, that Hermits came to be increasing pressured out of their anarchistic state and into formal institutions, like monastic communities and orders, where individualism was the exception, if not defined as “sin”. With the resurgence of the (individual) eremitical life in modern times, churches have struggled to find appropriate responses. The incorporation of the eremitical life into current Roman Catholic Canon Law [Code of Canon Law 1983, Section on Consecrated Life, Canon 603] may be seen as long overdue recognition – or an attempt by the “State” to exercise power.

“The original message of the great religious teachers to live a simple life, to share the wealth of the earth, to treat each other with love and respect, to tolerate others and to live in peace invariably gets lost as worldly institutions take over. Religious leaders, like their political counterparts, accrue power to themselves, draw up dogmas, and wage war on dissenters in their own ranks and the followers of other religions. They seek protection from temporal rulers, bestowing on them in return a supernatural legitimacy and magical aura. They weave webs of mystery and mystification around naked power; they join the sword with the cross and the crescent.”
Peter Marshall in Alexandre Christoyannopoulos, ed. “Religious Anarchism: New Perspectives” [Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2011] p. xx. “Introduction”

“We Christian anarchists sometimes exude an unhealthy cynicism. As anarchists our cynicism is justified. But as Christians we are also creatures of hope. Living in the creative tension of those two equally legitimate dispositions shapes our political discipleship. Anarchism need not be seen as merely political. As practiced by Christians, anarchism can become an essential spiritual practice that not only directs our engagement with the world, but also powerfully forms and develops our own spiritual maturity. How is this so?

The practice of anarchism calls us to the critique of false absolutes. The first commandment is a fundamental Christian anarchist principle: no other gods. But of course other gods are always arising, always being promoted, always holding forth, always shanghaiing new slaves to injustice. We remain constantly aware that even our own Christian anarchist hearts are prone to the worship of false idols and the false worship of the one true God. Anarchism as spiritual practice keeps reminding us of our own potential for self-deception.

The practice of anarchism, more than any other political philosophy, forces us to take responsibility for our own actions. Moses declared “Choose you this day whom YOU will serve.” There is no getting around that necessity. The existential reality of choice is not reserved for a few twentieth-century French philosophers. “Repent” is a prerequisite for the “kingdom” that the Hebrew prophets, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the early church preached about. It is a recognition, an invitation, and a command to keep turning and moving into the right direction – moving into the freedom of God. Because self-deception is a constant trap repentance is a constant necessity. Indeed, repentance becomes the escape hatch to renewed freedom as we leave the seeming determinism of an ill-chosen present and move into the undetermined, still open, and therefore hope-filled future of God. Anarchism as spiritual practice keeps reminding us that there is always something we can do.

The practice of anarchism is a call into recognizable communities, where alliances and coalitions are formed around shared commitments, in-depth dialogue and conversation, and corporate decision-making that keeps our ambitions and projects small, real, and therefore more effective. Anarchism has no room for personal grandiosity or totalizing metanarratives. It is if anything a politics of finitude, but not therefore a politics without vision or even (dare we say it?) ambition. Because it is the most open-ended perspective on politics it is also the most open to hope. Anarchism as spiritual practice keeps reminding us that wherever two or three are gathered God is there as well. And wherever God is there is no telling what might happen!”
http://www.jesusradicals.com/anarchism-as-spiritual-practice/

For an introduction to Christian anarchism, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_anarchism :
“Christian anarchism is a movement in political theology and political philosophy which synthesizes Christianity and anarchism. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable, the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus, and thus rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce the state as they claim it is violent, deceitful and, when glorified, idolatrous.”

Probably the best known Orthodox Christian anarchist was Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Никола́евич Толсто́й) (1828-1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy. See “Tolstoy the peculiar Christian anarchist” at http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/tolstoy/chrisanar.htm

Another eminent Orthodox Christian anarchist was Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev (Russian: Никола́й Алекса́ндрович Бердя́ев) (1874 –1948). a Russian religious and political philosopher: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Berdyaev Berdyaev’s philosophy has been characterized as Christian existentialist. He was preoccupied with creativity and in particular with freedom from anything that inhibited creativity, whence his opposition to a “collectivized and mechanized society”.
See further http://www.berdyaev.com/

Nicolas Berdyaev (Author), George Reavey (Translator), Boris Jakim (Foreword) “Solitude and Society” [Semantron Press; Enlarged edition , 2009]
“In this work, Berdyaev tells us that man’s “I,” his consciousness, is thrust up against a world of impersonal objects (the “objectified” world) and thus finds itself in a condition of alienation and isolation. In five ontological and epistemological meditations Berdyaev clarifies this condition of “objectification” and suggests ways it can be overcome, based on his “personalistic,” “existential” philosophy. He shows how this philosophy can serve to counteract objectification and human isolation. Emphasis throughout is placed on modes of human communion and solitude in society. The Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874-1948) was one of the greatest religious thinkers of the twentieth century. His philosophy goes beyond mere thinking, mere rational conceptualization, and tries to attain authentic life itself: the profound layers of existence that are in contact with God’s world. Berdyaev directed all of his efforts, philosophical as well as in his personal and public life, at replacing the kingdom of this world with the kingdom of God. According to him, we can all attempt to do this by tapping the divine creative powers which constitute our true nature. Our mission is to be collaborators with God in His continuing creation of the world. This is what Berdyaev said about himself: “Man, personality, freedom, creativeness, the eschatological-messianic resolution of the dualism of two worlds – these are my basic themes.””

“One of the earliest, and clearest, examples of the attempt to apply the spiritual tropes of desert spirituality to the urban context is in an anonymous hagiographical source, written around the sixth and seventh centuries, titled Life of St. Alexis the Man of God. The origins of the legend are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but it seems it had its origins in Syria, at the height of desert monasticism’s greatest growth in the fifth and sixth centuries, making its way into the west around the tenth century.

The legend has all the stock elements of a traditional hagiography steeped in imitatio Christi: a childless couple of noble lineage (paralleling Christ’s royal lineage) who pray for a child, and their prayers are answered. The child’s father, Euphemian, wants him to inherit his power and wealth, and grooms him for such a moment when he will pass on all his worldly power and goods. He chooses a wife for the young man, but Alexis is more concerned with chastity and prayer than he is with power, wealth and marriage, so he, on the day of his marriage, talks his wife into adopting a life of chastity, after which he takes his leave of his father’s house and sails for Laodicea, and then Edessa, “because of an image he had heard talk of, made by angels at God’s command on behalf of the Virgin who brought salvation.”

It is here that the story takes on an unusual turn, because rather than join a monastery, he goes throughout the streets of Edessa, distributing his wealth to the poor, and once he has divested himself of all his possessions, simply “sits down with the poor.” He spends his time with the poor, collecting enough alms to sustain himself, and gives all else to the poor. Leading his life in such a way, he avoids monastic engagement, and at the same time, he lives out his spiritual commitment to poverty in the city of Edessa, also choosing not to live as a hermit.

Withdrawal, for Alexis, means adopting a life of poverty, a way of life that rejects the privilege, power and wealth of his upbringing. As Euphemian’s servants sail to Edessa to look for Alexis, they find him, but do not recognize him. The story drives home the new reality, where Alexis is no longer identified as a powerful heir to a powerful dynastic family, but as a simple beggar. What Euphemian’s servants find is a man who is now dependent on them. He, who was once “their lord, now is their almsman.” This, we are told, brings him great joy, since his exchange was thorough and complete: wealth and power for complete poverty.

How did Alexis live out his poverty? The anonymous poet tells us that he lived seventeen years in Edessa, living in the steps of a church that contained a miracle-working image of the Virgin Mary, “serving his Master with ready will,” with his enemy (i.e. the devil) unable to deceive him..” Like Anthony in the desert, and for that matter, like Christ in the wilderness, Alexis has his own unspecified conflicts and fights with the devil where he comes out victorious. He “punishes his body in the service of the Lord God,” rejects “the love of man or woman,” and turns down “honors that might have been conferred on him.” His commitment to his chosen life of poverty is unwavering, not wanting to “turn aside from it, as long as he has to live.” He is content to live in the city, laboring in prayer and, presumably, ascetic discipline. The chief temptation is to return to his former life of wealth and privilege, and the sight of powerful, wealthy men he sees every day might contribute to that temptation. Nothing, however, can move him from his choice of life, nor from the city of Edessa, which has become his own arena of spiritual struggle…that is, until a rather strange series of events compel him to return to Rome.

Alexis, purposed never to leave Edessa, is prompted to leave when the image of Christ at the altar instructs the priest to bring him into the church. After bringing him into the church, word got out that the “image spoke for Alexis.” Everyone began to flock to the church to honor him as a living saint. This caused a great deal of distress for Alexis, not wanting “to be burdened again by this honor.” Wishing to stay in the anonymity that he enjoyed, he wanted to maintain this state of affairs which brought much by way of opportunities to engage in ascetic self-denial and identification with the poor of the city. This would all change, as people would want to honor him and venerate him above his fellow poor. At this point, he knows exactly what he needs to do: leave Edessa, head straight for Laodicea, from there to Tarsus, and then to Rome.

Why does Alexis choose to return to the city where he had wealth and honor in his father’s house? The anonymous author answers this by relating that since seventeen years had passed since Alexis had left Rome, he was unrecognizable to his father and kinsmen. This anonymity-lived out in his father’s household-would suit him very well, since, surrounded by his father’s wealth and power, he would have the opportunity to fight the temptation to reveal himself to his father. He requests of his father (who does not recognize him) to give him lodging under the stairs, and this request is granted to him, “for the love of God and for (his) dear son.” So he spends the next seventeen years under his father’s stairs, “in great poverty (living) his noble life…loving God more than all his lineage.” Whatever food came from the house, he would eat enough to sustain his body, and the rest he would give to the poor. He dwells in the church, and does not want to depart from it, taking communion on every feast day. His greatest desire is “to work hard in God’s service; in no way does he want to be distanced from it.”

His greatest feat, however, is his dwelling under his father’s stairs, “delighting in poverty,” and enduring humiliations from the household staff, who throw their slops on his head in order to spite him, everyone considering him to be a fool. Among the many humiliations heaped upon him are water being thrown on him, so that his bedding gets soaked. His response is quite typical of him: “This most holy man does not become angry at all, instead he prays to God, in his mercy, to forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

So far, Alexis exhibits all the traits that mark a traditional desert ascetic: he eats very little food, engages in a kind of ascetic warfare against the passions, endures privations and humiliations, to the point of near martyrdom, and most importantly, exhibits that trait that is common to all martyrs and ascetics-the imitation of Christ’s sufferings. The anonymous author makes this point very clear when he puts Christ’s words on the cross on the lips of Alexis, thus identifying him as an alter Christus. In the end, Alexis has also succeeded in becoming an urban Anthony.

The story of Alexis exemplifies the impulse to live out a life of ascetic poverty in the cities as well, inspiring many imitators who would take up the fight against the passions of greed, avarice and lust in the major urban centers of the eastern empire. One way to do this would be to establish monastic communities within an urban environment, or at least in close proximity to an urban center, thus following closely the Pachomian and Antonian models. This would be the manner in which Basil of Caesarea’s monastic establishment would function, with a standard rule regulating the way his monks would interact with the “world” (i.e. the city) as part and parcel of their ascetic discipline……

The beginning of monastic endeavor in Egypt and Syria in the fourth through the sixth centuries is very instructive because it arose in the presence of a highly urban and commercial culture, giving men and women opportunities to practice spiritual struggle and to practice ascetic withdrawal. How that withdrawal was to take place varied. For Anthony and Pachomius that struggle was to take the shape of eremitic and coenobitic paths of spiritual engagement, which can take place either in remote deserts or in urban areas. For Sts. Alexis and John the Almsgiver, it was to take the shape of an intentional urban asceticism. St. Basil makes room for both kinds of spiritual endeavor, and would be influential in passing these spiritual impulses to the Latin west. For scholars like Heffernan, these works of ascetic hagiography would ride on the heels of the martyrs movements, and bequeath an idiom of sanctity that emphasizes the saint as ascetic hero from which future hagiographers would draw as they craft their arguments for the sanctity of their subjects. All saints must conform to these models of ascetic sanctity. All saints are, to one degree or another, ascetics, and the urbanization of asceticism will cement this reality for every hagiographer making the case for his particular saint.”
http://gregoriusmagnus.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/to-desert-and-back-again-from-st_24.html

See also “The “Desert” and the Latin West: Sulpicius Severus’ Life of St. Martin and St. Gregory the Great’s Dialogues”: http://gregoriusmagnus.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/desert-and-latin-west-sulpicius-severus.html and “To the Desert and Back Again: From St. Anthony’s Desert Flight to St. Basil’s Urban Monasticism, Part I”: http://gregoriusmagnus.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/to-desert-and-back-again-from-st.html

For “The Life of St. Alexis, an Old French Poem of the Eleventh Century” see http://www.courseportfolio.org/peer/potfolioFiles/anonF/shopkow-l-2003-1/alexis.htm and http://www.webpages.ttu.edu/joseppri/oldfrench/alexis-english.html

For Venerable Alexis the Man of God see:
http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/03/17/100822-venerable-alexis-the-man-of-god
http://www.holy-transfiguration.org/library_en/saints_alexis.html
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Alexios_the_Man_of_God
http://www.fatheralexander.org/booklets/english/saints/alexis_manofgod.htm
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01307b.htm

March 27 is the Feast of Saint John of Egypt.

“Saint John of Egypt (? – 394), also known as John the Hermit or John the Anchorite (Latin: Iohannes anchorita), was one of the hermits of the Nitrean desert. He began as a carpenter and left to solitude after receiving a divine call. According to hagiographer Alban Butler, John was noted for performing seemingly absurd acts at the bidding of the Holy Spirit, such as rolling rocks from place to place and cultivating dead trees. He then withdrew to the top of a cliff, where he could avoid all human contact.

He avoided seeing women, in particular, to avoid temptation, but he avoided all people for the last fifty years of his life. Saint Augustine wrote that John was tempted by devils and performed miraculous cures. He cured a woman, according to Augustine, of blindness and then appeared to her in a vision to avoid seeing her in person. He possessed the spiritual gift of prophecy and spoke through a window to people twice a week, often predicting the future and knowing the details of persons he had never met. He predicted future victories to the Emperor Theodosius the Great.
According to Butler, John prayed incessantly, and he spent the last three days of his life without food or drink or any interactions but prayer. He was discovered in his cell, with his body in a position of prayer.
His feast day in the West is March 27.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_of_Egypt

“ST. JOHN was born about the year 305, was of a mean extraction, and brought up to the trade of a carpenter. At twenty-five years of age he forsook the world, and put himself under the guidance and direction of an ancient holy anchoret, with such an extraordinary humility and simplicity as struck the venerable old man with admiration; who inured him to obedience by making him water a dry stick for a whole year, as if it were a live plant, and perform several other things as seemingly ridiculous, all which he executed with the utmost fidelity. To the saint’s humility and ready obedience, Cassian attributes the extraordinary gifts he afterwards received from God. He seems to have lived about twelve years with this old man, till his death, and about four more in different neighbouring monasteries.

Being about forty years of age, he retired alone to the top of a rock of very difficult ascent, near Lycopolis. His cell he walled up, leaving only a little window through which he received all necessaries, and spoke to those who visited him what might be for their spiritual comfort and edification. During five days in the week he conversed only with God: but on Saturdays and Sundays all but women had free access to him for his instructions and spiritual advice. He never eat till after sunset, and then very sparingly; but never any thing that had been dressed by fire, not so much as bread. In this manner did he live from the fortieth or forty-second to the ninetieth year of his age. For the reception of such as came to him from remote parts, he permitted a kind of hospital to be built near his cell or grotto, where some of his disciples took care of them. He was illustrious for miracles, and a wonderful spirit of prophecy, with the power of discovering to those that came to see him, their most secret thoughts and hidden sins. And such was the fame of his predictions, and the lustre of his miracles which he wrought on the sick, by sending them some oil which he had blessed, that they drew the admiration of the whole world upon him.

Theodosius the Elder was then emperor, and was attacked by the tyrant Maximus, become formidable by the success of his arms, having slain the Emperor Gratian in 383, and dethroned Valentinian in 387. The pious emperor, finding his army much inferior to that of his adversary, caused this servant of God to be consulted concerning the success of the war against Maximus. Our saint foretold him, that he should be victorious almost without blood. The emperor, full of confidence in the prediction, marched into the West, defeated the more numerous armies of Maximus twice in Pannonia; crossed the Alps, took the tyrant in Aquileia, and suffered his soldiers to cut off his head. He returned triumphant to Constantinople, and attributed his victories very much to the prayers of St. John, who also foretold him the events of his other wars, the incursions of Barbarians, and all that was to befall his empire. Four years after, in 392, Eugenius, by the assistance ofArbogastes, who had murdered the Emperor Valentinian the Younger, usurped the empire of the West. Theodosius sent Eutropius the Eunuch into Egypt, with instructions to bring St. John with him to Constantinople, if it were possible; but that if he could not prevail with him to undertake the journey, to consult whether it was God’s will that he should march against Eugenius, or wait his arrival in the East. The man of God excused himself as to his journey to court, but assured Eutropius that his prince should be victorious, but not without loss and blood: as also that he would die in Italy, and leave the empire of the West to his son; all which happened accordingly. Theodosius marched against Eugenius, and in the first engagement lost ten thousand men, and was almost defeated: but renewing the battle on the next day, the 6th of September, in 394, he gained an entire victory by the miraculous interposition of heaven, as even Claudian, the heathen poet, acknowledges. Theodosius died in the West, on the 17th of January, in 395, leaving his two sons emperors, Arcadius in the East, and Honorius in the West.

This saint restored sight to a senator’s wife by some of the oil he had blessed for healing the sick. It being his inviolable custom never to admit any woman to speak to him, this gave occasion to a remarkable incident related by Evagrius, Palladius, and St. Austin, in his treatise of Care for the Dead. A certain general officer in the emperor’s service, visiting the saint, conjured him to permit his wife to speak to him; for she was come to Lycopolis, and had gone through many dangers and difficulties to enjoy that happiness. The holy man answered, that during his stricter enclosure for the last forty years since he had shut himself up in that rock, he had imposed on himself an inviolable rule not to see or converse with women; so he desired to be excused the granting her request. The officer returned to Lycopolis very melancholy. His wife, who was a person of great virtue, was not to be satisfied. The husband went back to the blessed man, told him she would die of grief if he refused her request. The saint said to him: “Go to your wife, and tell her that she shall see me to-night, without coming hither, or stirring out of her house.” This answer he carried to her, and both were very earnest to know in what manner the saint would perform his promise. When she was asleep in the night the man of God appeared to her in her dream, and said: “Your great faith, woman, obliged me to come to visit you; but I must admonish you to curb the like desires of seeing God’s servants on earth. Contemplate only their life, and imitate their actions. As for me, why did you desire to see me? Am I a saint, or a prophet like God’s true servants? I am a sinful and weak man. It is therefore, only in virtue of your faith that I have had recourse to our Lord, who grants you the cure of the corporal diseases with which you are afflicted. Live always in the fear of God, and never forget his benefits.” He added several proper instructions for her conduct, and disappeared. The woman awaking, described to her husband the person she had seen in her dream, with all his features, in such a manner as to leave no room to doubt but it was the blessed man that had appeared to her. Whereupon he returned the next day to give him thanks for the satisfaction he had vouchsafed his wife. But the saint on his arrival prevented him, saying: “I have fulfilled your desire, I have seen your wife, and satisfied her in all things she had asked: go in peace.” The officer received his benediction, and continued his journey to Seyne. What the man of God foretold happened to him, as, among other things, that he should receive particular honours from the emperor. Besides, the authors of the saint’s life, St. Austin relates this history which he received from a nobleman of great integrity and credit, who had it from the very persons to whom it happened. St. Austin adds, had he seen St. John, he would have inquired of him, whether he himself really appeared to this woman, or whether it was an angel in his shape, or whether the vision only passed in her imagination.

Saint Symeon the Fool for Christ, Saint John the Hermit and and Parthenios

In the year 394, a little before the saint’s death, he was visited by Palladius, afterwards bishop of Helenopolis, who is one of the authors of his life. Several anchorets of the deserts of Nitria, all strangers, the principal of whom were Evagrius, Albinus, Ammonius, had a great desire to see the saint. Palladius, one of this number, being young, set out first in July, when the flood of the Nile was high. Being arrived at his mountain, he found the door of his porch shut, and that it would not be open till the Saturday following. He waited that time in the lodgings of strangers. On Saturday, at eight o’clock, Palladius entered the porch, and saw the saint sitting before his window, and giving advice to those who applied to him for it. Having saluted Palladius by an interpreter, he asked him of what country he was, and what was his business, and if he was not of the company or monastery of Evagrius? Palladius owned he was. In the mean time arrived Alypius, governor of the province, in great haste. The saint, on the arrival of Alypius, broke off his discourse with Palladius, who withdrew to make room for the governor to discourse with the saint. Their conversation was very long, and Palladius being weary, murmured within himself against the venerable old man, as guilty of exception of persons. He was even just going away, when the saint, knowing his secret thoughts, sent Theodorus, his interpreter, to him, saying: “Go, bid that brother not to be impatient: I am going to dismiss the governor, and then will speak to him.” Palladius, astonished that his thoughts should be known to him, waited with patience. As soon as Alypius was gone, St. John called Palladius, and said to him: “Why were you angry, imputing to me in your mind what I was no way guilty of? To you I can speak at any other time, and you have many fathers and brethren to comfort and direct you in the paths of salvation. But this governor being involved in the hurry of temporal affairs, and being come to receive some wholesome advice during the short time his affairs will allow him to breathe in, how could I give you the preference?” He then told Palladius what passed in his heart, and his secret temptations to quit his solitude; for which end the devil represented to him his father’s regret for his absence, and that he might induce his brother and sister to embrace a solitary life. The holy man bade him despise such suggestions; for they had both already renounced the world, and his father would yet live seven years. He foretold him that he should meet with great persecutions and sufferings, and should be a bishop, but with many afflictions: all which came to pass, though at that time extremely improbable.

The same year, St. Petronius, with six other monks, made a long journey to pay St. John a visit. He asked them if any amongst them were in holy orders? They said: No. One however, the youngest in the company, was a deacon, though this was unknown to the rest. The saint, by divine instinct, knew this circumstance, and that the deacon had concealed his orders out of a false humility, not to seem superior to the others, but their inferior, as he was in age. Therefore, pointing to him, he said: “This man is a deacon.” The other denied it, upon the false persuasion that to lie with a view to one’s own humiliation was no sin. St. John took him by the hand, and kissing it, said to him: “My son, take care never to deny the grace you have received from God, lest humility betray you into a lie. We must never lie, under any pretence of good whatever, because no untruth can be from God.” The deacon received this rebuke with great respect. After their prayer together, one of the company begged of the saint to be cured of a certain ague. He answered: “You desire to be freed from a sickness which is beneficial to you. As nitre cleanses the body, so distempers and other chastisements purify the soul.” However, he blessed some oil and gave it to him: he vomited plentifully after it, and was from that moment perfectly cured. They returned to their lodgings, where by his orders they were treated with all proper civility, and cordial hospitality. When they went to him again, he received them with joyfulness in his countenance, which evidenced the interior spiritual joy of his soul; he bade them sit down, and asked them whence they came? They said from Jerusalem. He then made them a long discourse, in which he first endeavoured to show his own baseness; after which he explained the means by which pride and vanity are to be banished out of the heart, and all virtues to be acquired. He related to them the examples of many monks, who, by suffering their hearts to be secretly corrupted by vanity, at last fell also into scandalous irregularities; as of one, who, after a most holy and austere life, by this means fell into fornication, and then by despair into all manner of disorders; also of another, who, from vanity, fell into a desire of leaving his solitude; but by a sermon he preached to others, in a monastery on his road, was mercifully converted and became an eminent penitent. The blessed John thus entertained Petronius and his company for three days till the hour of None. When they were leaving him, he gave them his blessing, and said: “Go in peace, my children; and know that the news of the victory which the religious prince Theodosius has gained over the tyrant Eugenius is this day come to Alexandria: but this excellent emperor will soon end his life by a natural death.” Some days after their leaving him to return home, they were informed he had departed this life. Having been favoured by a foresight of his death, he would see nobody for the last three days. At end of this term he sweetly expired, being on his knees at prayer, towards the close of the year 394, or the beginning of 395. It might probably be on the 17th of October, on which day the Copths, or Egyptian Christians, keep his festival: the Roman and other Latin Martyrologies mark it on the 27th of March.

The solitude which the Holy Ghost recommends, and which the saints embraced, resembled that of Jesus Christ, being founded on the same motive or principle, having the same exercises and employments, and the same end. Christ was conducted by the Holy Ghost into the desert, and he there spent his time in prayer and fasting. Wo to those whom humour or passion lead into solitude, or who consecrate it not to God by mortification, sighs of penance, and hymns of divine praise. To those who thus sanctify their desert or cell, it will be an anticipated paradise, an abyss of spiritual advantages and comforts, known only to such as have enjoyed them. The Lord will change the desert into a place of delights, and will make the solitude a paradise, and a garden worthy of himself. In it only joy and jubilee shall be seen, nothing shall be heard but thanksgiving and praise. It is the dwelling of a terrestrial seraph, whose sole employment is to labour to know, and correct all secret disorders of his own soul, to forget the world, and all objects of vanity which could distract or entangle him; to subdue his senses, to purify the faculties of his soul, and entertain in his heart a constant fire of devotion, by occupying it assiduously on God, Jesus Christ, and heavenly things, and banishing all superfluous desires and thoughts; lastly, to make daily progress in purity of conscience, humility, mortification, recollection, and prayer, and to find all his joy in the most fervent and assiduous adoration, love, and praise of his sovereign Creator and Redeemer.
Rev. Alban Butler “The Lives of the Saints” (1866) Volume III: March at http://www.bartleby.com/210/3/271.html

“John was born about the year 300 in Egypt. He was trained as a carpenter and sometime between the ages of twenty-five and thirty, he entered monastic life.
Tradition tells us that he placed himself under the direction of a holy hermit and it was with him that John learned the virtues of obedience and self-surrender. He carried out what ever orders were given including the ridiculous command of watering a dead stick as though it were a live plant, everyday for a year.
After the death of the hermit, John apparently spent the next four or five years visiting various monasteries of the Egyptian desert. Finally he retired to a rocky cave on Mt. Lycos, in which he built three small rooms, an oratory, workroom and bedroom. He then walled himself in, leaving only a small window through which to receive the necessities of life.
Five days of the week were spent in silent prayer and manual labor. On Saturdays and Sundays he would speak with those who came for spiritual instruction and guidance. He lived an extremely severe austere life, eating once a day at sunset and only taking water and dried fruits and vegetables. Initially he suffered greatly, but he continued this diet for fifty years.
John’s reputation for humility and holiness spread and soon many disciples came to live in the desert near him. His visitors became so numerous that his disciples had to build a hospice for their reception. He was known to prophesy many events and to read the truth of men’s hearts. Many were converted by his example and witness to the teachings of Christ. He died while kneeling in prayer in 394.
Most of what we know about John’s life comes to us from St. Jerome, Cassian, Paladius and St. Augustine as well as many others. The cave where he spent the last fifty years of his life, was discovered in 1901. Aside from St. Antony, John is probably the best known of the 4th century hermits of Egypt.”
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“Saint John of Egypt” by Jan Sadeler (1550-1600)
see also https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.religion.christian-teen/a9303-LEEDs

March 26 is the Commemoration of Saint Govan, Hermit of Bosherston.

“Saint Govan (Welsh: Gofan) (died 586) was a hermit who lived in a fissure on the side of coastal cliff near Bosherston, in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales. St. Govan’s Chapel was built in the fissure in the 14th century on what is now known as St Govan’s Head.

One story says Govan was an Irish monk who travelled to Wales late in life to seek the friends and family of the abbot who had trained him, variously identified as Saint Davidor Saint Ailbe of Emly. Another story identifies Govan with Gawain, one of King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table; another that he was originally a thief.

Govan was set upon by pirates, from Ireland or the nearby Lundy Island. The cliff opened up and left a fissure just big enough for him to hide in until the pirates left. In gratitude, he decided to stay on along the cliff, probably to help warn the locals of the impending pirate attack if they were to return.

St Govan lived within a small cave in the fissure of the cliff. This is now reached by a long flight of stone steps, the number of which is said to vary depending on whether one is ascending or descending.

Saint Govan’s Chapel, near Saint Govan’s Head, in Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, Wales

The present small vaulted chapel of local limestone was built over the cave and dates from the 13th century although the site may have been of monastic importance since the 5th century. St Govan may be identified with Sir Gwaine, one of King Arthur’s knights, who entered into a state of retreat in his later years. Originally St Govan caught fish and took water from two nearby springs. Both are now dry; one was where the medieval chapel now stands, the other, which was lower down the cliff, later became a holy well. A legend says St Govan’s hand prints are imprinted on the floor of his cave and his body is buried under the chapel’s altar. The cave was once a popular place for making wishes.

Another legend regarding St Govan concerns his silver bell. He is supposed to have kept the bell in the tower of the chapel (regardless of the fact it was not built till the 14th century). When the bell pealed its sound was of perfect tone and clarity. But pirates who heard the sound left St Govan desolate when they stole the bell. Angels flew in and took it from the pirates and returned it to the hermit. To stop the pirates returning and taking it again, the angels encased the bell in a huge stone, that is, the Bell Rock which is found at the water’s edge. The legend said that that when St Govan “rang” the stone, its vigour had become a thousand times stronger.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Govan

“St. Govan’s Chapel is a small medieval church clinging to the ragged rock halfway down the cliffs of a secluded headland. It is difficult to imagine a more strikingly situated church in all of Britain.
St. Govan was a sixth century hermit who established a cell for himself on this lonely spot, in the fashion of early Celtic Christian monks, who tended to live in isolated places. Legends sprang up about the saint, and about the curative properties of the natural spring which used to rise just inside the door of the chapel. During the medieval period the holy well and cell became a place of pilgrimage for cripples seeking a cure, and the original cell was rebuilt as a small chapel in the 13th century. The chapel is a very simple rectangular building with a steeply pitched roof and bellcote.

Much of what we know about Govan is a tangled web of myth and half-truths, but it appears that he was born in Ireland, a member of the Hy Cinnselach tribe of County Wexford, and his real name was Gobban, or Gobhan, meaning smith. From this we can deduce that Govan’s father may have been a smith or metalworker. While still a boy Govan joined a monastery founded by St Ailbe at Dairinis, near Wexford. Govan journied to Rome and later stayed at St Senen’s monastery in Inniscathy. When Ailbe died, Govan returned to Dairinis and became Abbot.

Ailbe had been a native of Solva, just along the Pembrokeshire coast from the chapel, and this fact may have influenced Govan to visit the area, or perhaps he was visiting a Welsh abbot. We simply don’t know what brought Govan, by now an elderly man, to Pembrokeshire. The stories tell that pirates from Lundy tried to capture the monk, who sought shelter in a crevice, or fissure, in the cliffs. The fissure opened up to receive him, then closed to hide him from the pirates. Once they had departed the crevice opened once again to release him.

Now we are left to speculate; why did Govan stay and build a small cell by the fissure? Once version says that he was ashamed of his cowardice, another that he thought to convert the pirates, another that he thought his presence could help the local population, who were constantly troubled by the pirates. whatever the reason, the elderly monk built a rudimentary stone cell and there he stayed for the rest of his life, preaching to the locals and traveling around south Pembrokeshire to spread the Celtic Christian gospel. Govan died in 586 and is said to have been buried under the stone altar in the chapel.

A crevice in the chapel has rib-shaped impressions on the sides, said to mark where Govan hid from the pirates. An ancient legend says that if you make a wish, enter the fissure, and are able to turn your body around within it, the wish will be granted. Presumably, the, it is easier for very thin people to get what they wish for!

A further legend states that King Arthur’s knight Sir Gawain lies buried beneath the stone altar of the chapel. Outside the chapel is a large rock called The Bell Rock. The name recalls another story; that Govan was given a silver bell, which was stollen by pirates. When Govan prayed for its return, angels retrieved the bell and placed it inside the rock for safety. when Govan tapped the Bell Rock the bell sounded, one thousand times louder than the original bell.

There used to be a well inside the chapel door, but this has dried up. The small arched wellhead below the chapel covers the site of another well, also dry. This was said to be both a holy well and a wishing well.

St. Govan’s Chapel is contained within the Pembrokeshire National Park, and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Trail runs along the nearby cliffs. The area is far enough off the beaten track that even today it retains an air of secluded beauty.”
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On the floor just inside the main door of the chapel is a simple, shallow well. The water, which could only be scooped with a small spoon or a limpet shell, was said to cure eye complaints, skin diseases and rheumatism. Located just outside the chapel and covered by the stone arch, is the saint’s holy well. Although it is now dry, it was known for both healing powers and as a wishing well.

“The little chapel solidly built of limestone is said to date from the 13th century – being restored at that time, so I think we can assume that there was an earlier chapel on this site, possibly one founded by the saint himself. Inside the building measures 18 feet by 12 feet and it’s roof is vaulted. At the eastern side an entrance leads to a hermit’s cell in the cleft of a huge limestone boulder. According to the often-told legend: the saint was pursued here by marauding sea pirates; he hid in the cleft of the great boulder which then closed up, hiding him from view, or his hermit’s attire matched the rock thus he became invisible. You can still make out some marks in the boulder that were made by the saint’s fingers when he hid here back in the 6th century AD. If you make a wish while standing in the cleft of the rock, facing the wall, your wish will be granted, hopefully!

At the side of the hermit’s cell is a stone altar beneath which, according to legend, St Govan is buried. A holy water stoup (piscina) is built onto the wall and, beneath this a spring of water runs out of the ground but is never said to run across the chapel floor, though it has been known to happen! The spring is said to have miraculous healing properties. There is a recess in the wall (aumbrey) that may have been used for sacred vessels or perhaps relics, and there are some solid looking stone seats up against the wall. The little bellcote on the roof did once possess a bell but this was long ago lost to the sea; it can apparently still be heard ringing on stormy nights from beneath the turbulent waves off shore, foretelling an impending disaster at sea. Another tale put forward says the bell was stolen by pirates, but later rescued by sea nymphs who placed it inside a rock near the chapel. It was said that if you struck the rock the bell would ring out.

Some steps lead down below the chapel to a rock strewn area and St Govan’s holy well (Ffynnon Govan) covered over by a stone hood. However, this well has been dry for a long time now, but up until the mid 19th century it was the site of many healings with crutches being left by previously crippled pilgrims as a votive offering. Red soil that is found around the chapel site was used in a poltice form to cure sore, itchy eyes, and it is still said to be effective today! Francis Jones in his well-known work ‘The Holy Wells of Wales’ says about this well: “On the cliff side by St. Govan’s Chapel, Bosherston parish : especially famous in the cure of failing eyesight, lameness, and rheumatism.” “Near the well is a deposit of red clay formed by rock decomposition, and great virtue was attached to it : a poultice of this was applied to limbs and eyes, and the patients then lay there for several hours in the sun.”

So who was St Govan? It is strongly believed that he was St Gobhan who founded the monastery of Dairinis-Insula near Wexford, Ireland, about the year 530 AD and was a follower of St Ailbhe, bishop of Emlech (Emily) in County Tipperary. Gobhan (Govan) came to as a missionary to south-west Wales in old age and became a friend of St David. He may have been present when St David died in 589 AD? Gobhan became a hermit in south-west Pembrokeshire and lived out the rest of his life in a cell beside the rocky cliffs, now known as St Govan’s Head. His feast-day is celebrated on 26th March. He died towards the end of the 6th century, and is patron saint of builders. However, some individuals have tried to link the name Govan with Gawain, King Arthur’s knight who supposedly retired to this hermitage after the death of Arthur, or to a St Cofen, daughter of King Brychan. This is unlikely. And St Ailbhe, mentioned earlier, also came to Wales and baptised Wales’ future patron St, David, at Porthclais. He is called Aelbyw or Elvis and was said to have dwelt in the area to the east of Solva at St Elvis farm now named after him.

At Bosherston in the medieval church of St Michael a stained-glass window shows St Govan as bearded old man holding a model of his chapel; another window shows St David, patron St of Wales. The churchyard has a 14th century preaching cross with a tiny carved head near the top, which is thought to represent Christ. It stands on two-tiered steps that enabled it to be used as a sort of stone crucifix. The cross was found in the 16th century having survived the Reformation; the head was placed on top a standing stone that may date back to pre-Christian times or the Dark Ages?”
http://thejournalofantiquities.com/category/st-govans-holy-well-at-st-govans-head-in-pembrokeshire/

March 25 is the commemoration of Venerable Nicander the Hermit of Pskov.

“Saint Nicander of Pskov (in Baptism Nikon) was born on 24 July 1507 into the peasant family of Philip and Anastasia in the village of Videlebo in the Pskov lands.
From childhood he dreamed of continuing the ascetic exploits of his fellow villager, St Euphrosynus of Spasoeleazar, the original Pskov wilderness-dweller. The first in Nikon’s family to accept monasticism was his older brother Arsenius. After the death of his father, the seventeen-year-old Nikon was able to convince his mother to dispose of the property and withdraw into a monastery, where she lived until her own end.

After visiting the monasteries of Pskov, and having venerated at the relics of St Euphrosynus and his disciple St Sava of Krypetsk (August 28), Nikon became firmly convinced of his calling to the solitary life.

In order to have the possibility of reading the Word of God, Nikon was employed as a worker for the Pskov resident Philip, who rewarded his ardor by sending him to study with an experienced teacher. Seeing the zeal of the youth, the Lord Himself directed him to the place of his ascetic effort. Intensely praying in one of the Pskov churches, he heard a voice from the altar commanding him to go to the wilderness place which the Lord would point out through His servant Theodore. The peasant Theodore led him off to the River Demyanka, between Pskov and Porkhov. Afterwards, both Philip and Theodore, who helped St Nicander attain his goal, were themselves to enter upon the path of monasticism, and were tonsured at the Krypetsk monastery with the names Philaret and Theodosius.

After several years of silence and severe ascetic deeds, emaciating his flesh, Nikon went to the monastery founded by St Sava of Krypetsk. The igumen, seeing his weakened body, would not agree to accept him at once, fearing that the difficulties of monastic life would be too much for him. Nikon fell down at the crypt of St Sava, and spoke to him as if to one alive, entreating him to take him into his monastery. The igumen relented and tonsured Nikon with the name Nicander.

St Nicander endured many temptations and woes on the path of asceticism. Blessed Nicholas (February 28) while still at Pskov predicted St Nicander’s “wilderness sufferings.” Through the prayers of all the Pskov Saints and St Alexander of Svir (August 30 and April 17), who twice appeared to him, guiding and strengthening him, and with the help of the grace of God, he overcame all the manifold snares of the Evil One.

Pskov-Caves Monastery or The Pskovo-Pechersky Dormition Monastery or Pskovo-Pechersky Monastery (Russian: Пско́во-Печ́ерский Успе́нский монасты́рь, Estonian: Petseri klooster) is located in Pechory, Pskov Oblast in Russia. The ancient caves are an enormous burial vault for monks, as well as laymen. The caves branch off into seven galleries in which nearly ten thousand bodies are buried: some coffins are on the floor, while others are bricked up in the wall. All 7 branch of caves are approximately 218 meters long.

By the power of prayer the monk conquered the weakness of flesh, human failings and diabolical apparitions. Once, robbers nearly killed him, running off with the hermit’s sole, very precious possessions, his books and icons. Through the prayers of the saint, two of them, taking fright at the sudden death of one of their comrades, repented of their wicked deeds and received forgiveness from the Elder.

St Nicander did not long live at the Krypetsk monastery, and he obtained a blessing to return to his own wilderness. Later, he came to live at the Krypetsk monastery once again, where he fulfilled the obediences of ecclesiarch and cellerer, and then he went into the wilderness again and lived there in fasting and prayer, meditating on the Word the God.

Once a year, during Great Lent, St Nicander came to the Damianov monastery, where he made his confession and received the Holy Mysteries of Christ. Eight years before his death he received the Great Schema. Many people began to come to the monk “for benefit,” since in the words of St John of the Ladder, “monastic life is a light for all mankind.” Believers turned to St Nicander for prayerful help, since the Lord had bestown on him many gifts of grace.

The wilderness-dweller had regard for all the needs of the visitors and even built lodging for them, “the guest-house at the oak,” for which he provided heat. The monk did not permit himself to show off his spiritual gifts. Going secretly to his cell, people always heard him praying with bitter tears. When he noticed there were people nearby, he immediately began to pray, concealing from them the gift of tears that he had received.

St Nicander to the end of his life remained a wilderness-dweller, but he gave final instructions that after his death the place of his ascetic efforts should not be forsaken, promising his protection to the settlers of a future monastery. The saint gave final directions to the deacon Peter of the Porkhov women’s monastery to build a church at his grave and transfer there the icon of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos from the Tishanka church cemetery.

He foresaw his own death, predicting that he would die when enemies invaded the fatherland, and foretelling this immanent assault. On September 24, 1581, during an invasion by the army of the Polish king Stephen Bathory, a certain peasant found the monk dead. He lay on his cot with his hands crossed on his chest. From Pskov came clergy and people who revered the monk, and among whom was also the deacon Peter, and they performed the rite of Christian burial.

In 1584 at the place of St Nicander’s ascetic deeds, sanctified by almost half a century of prayer, a monastery was built, which they began to call the Nikandrov wilderness-monastery. The builder of this monastery was St Isaiah, who had been healed through prayer to the saint.”
http://oca.org/saints/lives/2014/09/24/102716-venerable-nicander-the-hermit-of-pskov

see also http://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicander,_Hermit_of_Pskov
http://www.holytrinityorthodox.com/calendar/los/June/29-02.htm