MONASTIC LIFE. Chrysostom, as a monk, was called upon to defend against daily increasing reproaches and accusations that state of life, which he himself had found so attractive. The emperor Valens enacted A. D. 365 a law, by which the idlers, who, in order to elude the burthens of the state, had retired to the wildernesses, and in appearance only had joined the monastic orders, were to be brought forth from their lurking places, and be compelled to fulfil their duties as citizens. Although the emperor Valens might have been an enemy of the monks, because among them the most zealous and influential opponents of Arianism were to be found; yet in the social relation of that age, there were urgent grounds for such an enactment, as many repaired to the monks, for the sake of flying from the duties they owed their country, and of participating in the immunities of those venerable men. Such persons deprived the state of much efficient strength, and introduced among the monks wild passions, which limited to the narrow sphere of a monastery, and wearing the cloak of sanctity, raged the more destructively. At the same time this law afforded to the enemies of the monks, not indeed to such men as Jovinian and Vigilantius, who opposed them upon pure evangelical and conscientious grounds, but both to Christians and heathens of a light and worldly character, a fair pretext for the persecution and ill-treatment of those, who had long been the objects of their hatred; or held in deep aversion the dispositions of the Christians, the 'nimium pietatis' of the fraternity. It often occurred that heathens or Christians 1 Sectatores ignaviæ. 29 upon whom the religion they professed had made but slight impression, bitterly persecuted the monks, as the spiritual counsellors of their pious wives. Many a father, invested with a high civil or military office, wished to educate his son in every specious art, for a shining career in the world; while the mother desired to bring him up as a good Christian, for the attainment of which object she regarded a monastery the best school. This became sufficient ground for the father, if he discovered it, to declare war against all monks; and thus many at Antioch, who had long been their inveterate enemies, availed themselves of the opportunity now offered to insult and persecute them. justification of his order, and to conciliate its enemies, Chrysostom wrote a work in 3 vols. replete with excellent doctrine.' In The sons of distinguished heathens either through the education of pious mothers, or the early impression made upon their minds by holy monks, were often induced, contrary to the will of their fathers, to devote themselves to a monastic life: Chrysostom therefore in his first volume, endeavoured to prove to the heathen, who only sought after earthly distinctions, that they had no reason to be ashamed of their sons becoming monks, for if in those days honoured monks came forth from their solitude into the world, they could bring to pass greater things than the mightiest in the state. Well might therefore Chrysostom say to the rich and powerful heathens: "Thou canst only dispose of thine own property, but thy son disposeth of the property of all. Let but thy son descend from his mountain, nay, let him remain there, 1 Προς τους πολεμουντας τοις ἐπι το μονάζειν ἐναγουσιν. MONKS. ... and command one of the rich and good to 1 As for example, the celebrated monk John of Lycopolis in Egypt, who, when he was five and twenty years old, exchanged the monastic life for the trade of a carpenter, obtained as monk and hermit the reputation of a prophet, and whose advice was sought after by emperors and distinguished statesmen. Vid. Pallad. Hist. Laus. c. 43. 31 32 EDUCATION. many whose religion fluctuated with that of the court. But Chrysostom well knew, that the reign of Christianity was not to be advanced by external force: "The position of thy Son," continued he, addressing the heathen, "will yet be enviable, more enviable then; for with our cause it is not as with the cause of the heathen, it is not dependent upon the disposition of a ruler, but it resteth on its own internal strength, and shineth forth with the greater lustre, the more vehemently it is assailed." He further considered the monastic life, in reference to its religious importance, as a refuge from the corruption of the great cities: "Would to God," said he, that the state of the cities permitted the fugitives to return to them from their retreats." 66 On this occasion he recommended to parents to employ the monks, as instructors to their sons, and brought home to their hearts the duties of education: "Great is the care of God for the education of children, wherefore he hath implanted in human nature that strong love which with an irresistible power inciteth parents to provide for them. He also hath enacted laws concerning the care to be taken of them, and when he instituted festivals, he commanded parents to explain the meaning of them to their children: Thou shalt show thy son in that day, saying, this is done, because of that which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.' God heavily avengeth the neglect of parents towards their children; but an anxious care of them he honoureth. For this neglect alone he chastised the aged Eli, who was in other respects exemplary; and for the fulfilment of this duty not less than for that of others, he honoured the patriarch Abraham; for when BY THE MONKS. 33 he enumerated the many and great gifts, which he promised to confer upon him, among other reasons he assigned the following: I know that he will command his children, and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment.' To Parents, Exod. xviii. who always have their children around them, and 19. under their control, the task of education is easy. It is their own headlong passion for earthly objects, which causeth the ruin of their children. While the things of this world are to them the highest objects of attainment, they neglect the souls of their children as well as their own. Such fathers I consider worse than murderers; those can only separate soul from body, these precipitate both soul and body into hell. When a parent in these days encourageth his son to pursue his studies, we hear the following exhortation: "Behold this man, of low origin, who hath attained to power through his eloquence, and filleth the highest offices of the state, hath acquired great riches, married a wealthy wife, built a splendid mansion, and is by all looked up to, and feared. See that man, who by his knowledge of the Latin language, hath raised himself to a distinguished situation at the Imperial court, and dictateth there to all around him. Those only are held in estimation, who have become great in the world; of heavenly concerns, no mention is made, and he who ventureth to allude to them, is banished as the disturber of society.' If therefore from childhood, ye hold up such examples to your sons, ye lay the foundation of all that is evil; for ye instil into their minds the tyrant passions of 1 Even in the schools of the Rhetoricians, it was permitted to make use of these passions as incitements to learning. Vide Liban. Ep. 349. D |