Desert Spirituality

¨AD 313 Constantine became the first Christian Roman Emperor;

¨Roman Empire became Christian effectively overnight!

¨Following nearly three hundred years, persecution of Christians ceased.

¨

¨SO......

No more free lunches!!

The still relatively young church was open to all sorts of worldly stuff....like...

¨A slackening of faith

¨Becoming embroiled in matters of State and could be expected to compromise

¨“doing Church” became a spectator sport rather than something which could get you flogged or killed.

¨A Bishop, Deacon or Presbyter could have a comfy life working for the faith!

¨OMG what shall we do?!

Let’s go off into the wilderness of the desert and be entirely on our own......

.

....OR NOT – PEOPLE JUST WONT LEAVE US BE!

Some folk felt the need for a more intense spiritual experience;

The Desert Fathers and Mothers headed off for the desert to find a life of perfection – or at least give it a good go!

These people believed they were doing the right thing – many gave up affluent life styles to live in a mud hut or on stilts or in a cave.

Quite alone with God.

AND all the demons which come along when one tries to empty oneself of everything but the nearness of God.

St Anthony AD 251-356 was possibly the first Desert Father.

He was the son of Christian peasant parents in Middle Egypt

At age 20 he responded to the Gospel passage about the rich young ruler and

gave away his inheritance! St Anthony went to live in the desert and sought guidance from holy men and hermits of his time.

By the 6th Century up to half a million people may have tried living in the solitude of the desert choosing solitude; “Sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything”

People came from Egypt to Syria – from Palestine to Mesopotamia.

This was a protest movement an anarchistic while.

There were many kinds of Desert Fathers and Mothers..

A cell could be a cave or a hut built from stones or mud

Stylites, like a chap called Simon, lived on top of poles!

Denrites lived in trees; Adamites went about naked!

Hermits lived in total solitude - or tried very hard to - some succeeded.

People like Benedict of Mercia, St Anthony, Columba - names you may well be familiar with, were like celebrities and many people wanted to be like them and so followed them into the wilderness. Small communities, like our Llan(s) in Wales came into being and inevitably grew into larger communities. Rules had to be put into place to keep order and this is when the monastic movement began to develop. Communities would work and pray together following a Rule of Life. The Rule of St Benedict is one of the most well known Rules of Life. It's available as a paperback and is worth a read - if anyone wants to borrow it, let me know and I'll dig out my copy.

There should be the Friday Quiz popping up later on - best of luck! Have a great Friday.