Some part of your request has already been answered, as far as I was able, and it remains, God willing, for me to turn my attention to the rest of it by fulfilling the wishes of your spiritual daughters and yourself. For I still have to meet the second part of your demand by writing out some regulations to be a kind of Rule for your calling and to deliver this to you, so that the written word may give you more certainty than custom about what you should follow. Relying, therefore, partly on good practices and partly on the testimony of the Scriptures with the support of reason, I have decided to put all these together, in order to adorn the spiritual temple of God which you are1 by embellishing it with certain choice pictures, and from several imperfect elements, to create as far as I can a single, complete work. In this I intend to imitate the painter Zeuxis, and work on the spiritual temple as he planned his achievement on a material one. For, as Tully records in his Rhetoric,2 the people of Crotona appointed him to decorate with the best possible pictures a certain temple for which they had the highest veneration. So that he might do so more surely he chose from the people the five most beautiful maidens and looked at them as they sat by him while he worked, so that he could copy their beauty in his painting. This was probably done for two reasons: first, as the philosopher I quoted above remarks, Zeuxis had developed his greatest skill in portraying women, secondly, because maidenly beauty is naturally considered more refined and delicate than the male figure. Moreover, Tully says that he chose several girls because he did not believe he could find all the members of a single one equally lovely, since so much grace and beauty had never been conferred by nature on any one so as to give her equal beauty in every feature; for nature in creating bodies produces nothing which is perfect in every detail, as though she would have nothing left to bestow on the rest if she conferred all her advantages on one.
I too, then, in wishing to depict the beauty of the soul and describe the perfection of the bride of Christ, in which you may discover your own beauty or blemish as in the mirror of one spiritual virgin always held before your eyes, propose to instruct your way of life through the many documents of the holy Fathers and the best customs of monasteries, gathering each blossom as it comes to mind and collecting in a single bunch what I shall see will accord with the sanctity of your calling; and choosing what was instituted not only for nuns but also for monks. For as in name and profession of continence you are one with us, so nearly all our institutions are suitable for you. Gathering from these then, as I said, many things as if they were flowers with which to adorn the lilies of your chastity, I must describe the virgin of Christ with far greater care than that which Zeuxis applied to painting the likeness of an idol. Indeed, he believed that five maidens were sufficient for him to copy their beauty; but I have abundant riches in the records of the Fathers and, trusting in God’s aid, do not despair of leaving you a more finished work, whereby you may be able to attain to the lot or description of those five wise virgins whom the Lord sets before us in the Gospel in depicting the virgin of Christ. May I be granted the power to achieve this through your prayers. Greetings3 to you in Christ, Brides of Christ.
I have decided that in describing and fortifying your religion and arranging the celebration of divine service, the treatise for your instruction shall be divided into three parts, in which I believe the sum of monastic faith to rest: that is, a life of continence and one without personal possessions and, above all, the observance of silence. This is, in accordance with the Lord’s teaching in the commandments of the Gospel, to be ready with belts fastened, to forsake everything and to avoid idle talk.4
Continence is indeed the practice of chastity which the Apostle enjoins when he says: ‘The unmarried woman cares for the Lord’s business and her aim is to be dedicated to him in body as in spirit.’5 In body, he says, as a whole, and not in one member, so that none of her members may fall into lasciviousness in deed or word. She is dedicated in spirit when her mind is neither defiled by compliance nor puffed up with pride, like the minds of those five foolish virgins who ran back to the oil-sellers and then were left outside the door. They beat vainly upon the door which was already shut and cried ‘Lord, Lord, open to us,’ but the bridegroom himself gave a terrible reply: ‘Truly I know you not.’
Then too, in forsaking everything we follow naked a naked Christ, as the holy apostles did, when for his sake we put behind us not only our earthly possessions and affection for our kindred in the flesh, but also our own wishes, so that we may not live by our own will but be ruled by the command of our superior, and may wholly submit ourselves for Christ to him who presides over us in the place of Christ, as if to Christ. For Christ himself says that ‘Whoever listens to you, listens to me; whoever rejects you, rejects me.’6 Even if he lives an evil life (which God forbid), so long as his precepts are good, God’s utterance must not be rejected because of the vice of the man. God himself enjoins this, saying: ‘What they tell you, observe and do; but do not follow their practices.’7 This spiritual conversion from the world to God he also describes accurately himself, saying that ‘Unless a man part with all his possessions he cannot be a disciple of mine’; and again, ‘If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even his own life, he cannot be a disciple of mine.’8 Now, to hate father or mother etc. is to refuse to yield to affection for kindred in the flesh, just as to hate one’s own life is to renounce one’s own will. This too he enjoins elsewhere, saying: ‘If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind, take up his cross and come with me.’9 For in thus drawing near to him we are his followers, that is, by closely imitating him we follow him, who says: ‘I have come not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.’10 It is as if he said, let everything be done under obedience.
For what is ‘renouncing self’ if not for a man to put behind him carnal affections and his own will and commit himself to being ruled by another’s judgement and not his own? And so he does not receive his cross from another but takes it up himself, so that through it the world may be crucified to him and he to the world,11 when by the voluntary offering of his own profession he denies himself worldly and earthly desires: which is a renunciation of his own will. For what else do the carnal seek, except to carry out their will, and what is earthly pleasure if not the fulfilment of our will, even when we attain our desires only with the greatest risk or effort? What is bearing a cross, that is, enduring some form of suffering, if not doing something against our will, however easy or profitable it seems to us? The other Jesus, who was by far the lesser, warns us of this in Ecclesiasticus when he says: ‘Do not let your passions be your guide, but restrain your desires. If you indulge yourself with all that passion fancies, it will make you the butt of your enemies.’12
It is only when we wholly renounce both our possessions and ourselves that all that we own is cast away and we truly enter into the apostolic life which reduces everything to a common store; as it is written: ‘The whole body of believers was united in heart and soul. Not a man of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything was held in common … It was distributed to each according to his need.’13 For they were not equally in want, and so it was not distributed in equal shares to all, but in accordance with each man’s need. They were united in heart through faith, because it is through the heart that we believe; and united in soul because there was one mutual will through love, since each man wished the same for his neighbour as for himself and did not seek his own advantage rather than another’s, or because everything was brought together by all for the common good, and no one sought or pursued what was his but what was of Jesus Christ. Otherwise they could never have lived without property, which consists in ambition rather than possession.
An idle or superfluous word and too much talk are the same thing. Hence St Augustine says in the first book of his Retractions: ‘Far be it from me to hold that there is too much talk when necessary words are spoken, however long-winded and prolix they may be.’14 And in the person of Solomon it is also said that ‘Where men talk too much sin is not far away; the man who holds his tongue is wise.’15 We must therefore guard against what is sinful and take all the greater precautions against this evil, the more dangerous and difficult it is to avoid. St Benedict provides for this when he says that ‘At all times monks ought to practise silence.’16 Evidently to practise or study silence means more than to keep silence, for study is the intense concentration of the mind on doing something. We do many things carelessly or unwillingly, but nothing studiously unless we are willing and apply ourselves.
Just how difficult it is to bridle the tongue, but how beneficial, the apostle James carefully considers when he says that ‘All of us often go wrong: the man who never says a wrong thing is perfect.’ Again, he says: ‘Beasts and birds of every kind, creatures that crawl on the ground and all others are tamed and have been tamed by mankind.’ Between these two statements, when he considers how much matter for evil there is in the tongue and destruction of all that is good, he says: ‘The tongue is a small member of the body, but how great a fire! How vast a forest it can set alight! … It is a world of wickedness, an intractable evil, charged with deadly venom.’17 What is more dangerous than venom or more to be shunned? As venom destroys life, so idle talk means the complete destruction of religion. And so James says earlier on: ‘A man may think he is religious, but if he has no control over his tongue he is deceiving himself, and his religion is futile.’18 Hence it is said in Proverbs: ‘Like a city that is breached and left unwalled is a man who cannot control his temper in speech.’19 This is what the old man had in mind when he made the following reply to Antony who had asked about the talkative brethren accompanying him on his way: ‘Have you found good brethren to be with you, Father?’ ‘No doubt they are good but their dwelling has no door. Anyone who likes can go into the stable and untie the ass.’20 It is as though our soul were tethered to the manger of the Lord, refreshing itself there by ruminating on sacred thoughts, but once untied from the manger it runs here and there all over the world in its thought, unless the bar of silence keeps it in. Words do indeed impart understanding to the soul, so that it may direct itself towards what it understands and adhere to this by thinking; and by thinking we speak to God as we do in words to men. While we tend towards the words of men it is necessary for us to be led from there, for we cannot tend towards God and man at the same time.
Not only idle words but also those which seem to have some purpose should be avoided, because it is easy to pass from the necessary to the idle, and from the idle to the harmful. The tongue, as James says, is an intractable evil, and being smaller and more sensitive than all the other parts of the body it is the more mobile, so that whereas the others are wearied by movement, it does not tire when moving and finds inactivity a burden. The more sensitive it is in you, and the more flexible from your softness of body, the more mobile and given to words it is, and can be seen to be the seedbed of all evil. The Apostle marks this vice especially in you when he absolutely forbids women to speak in church, and even on matters which concern God he permits them only to question their husbands at home. In learning such things, or whatever things are to be done, he particularly subjects them to silence, writing thus to Timothy on the point: ‘A woman must be a learner, listening quietly and with due submission. I do not permit a woman to be a teacher, nor must woman domineer over man; she should be quiet.’21
If he has made these provisions for silence in the case of lay and married women, what ought you to do? Again, in showing Timothy why he has ordered this, he explains that women are gossips and speak when they should not.22 So, to provide a remedy for so great a plague, let us subdue the tongue by perpetual silence, at least in these places or times: at prayer, in the cloister, the dormitory, refectory, and during all eating and cooking, and from Compline onwards let this be specially observed by all. If necessary in these places or times let us use signs instead of words. Careful attention must be paid to teaching and learning these signs, and if words are also needed for this, the speaker must be asked to speak in a suitable place chosen for the purpose. Once the necessary words are briefly said, she should return to her former duties or the next suitable task.
Any excess of words or signs must be firmly corrected, words especially, in which lies the greater danger – a frequent and serious danger which St Gregory was most anxious to forestall when he instructs us in the seventh book of his Morals:
When we are careless about guarding against idle words, we come on to harmful ones. By these provocation is sown, quarrels arise, the torches of hatred are set alight and the whole peace of the heart is destroyed. And so it is well said through Solomon: ‘Letting out water starts quarrels.’ To let out water is to let loose the tongue in a flood of eloquence. On the other hand he says approvingly that ‘Man’s utterance is like water which runs deep.’ So he who lets out water is a source of quarrels because he does not bridle his tongue and breaks up concord. Thus it is written that ‘He who makes a fool keep silence softens anger.’23
This is a clear warning that we should employ the strictest censure to correct this vice above all, lest its punishment be deferred and religion thereby greatly endangered. From this spring slander, litigation and abuse, and often conspiracies and plots which do not so much undermine the whole structure of religion as overthrow it. Once this vice has been cut out, evil thoughts may not perhaps be wholly extinguished but they will cease to corrupt others. Abba Macharius told his brethren to shun this one vice as though he thought that was sufficient for their religion, as it is written in these words:
Abba Macharius the elder in Scythia said to his brethren ‘After Mass, brothers, flee from the churches.’ One of them said to him, ‘Father, where can we flee further than this wilderness?’ He put his finger on his lips and answered ‘That is what I say you are to flee.’ So saying he went into his cell, shut the door and sat down alone.24
This virtue of silence which, as James says, makes a man perfect, and of which Isaiah prophesied that ‘The harvest of righteousness is quietness,’ was seized on so eagerly by the holy Fathers that (it is written) abba Agatho carried a stone in his mouth for three years until he should learn to keep silence.25
Although a place cannot bring salvation, it still provides many opportunities for easier observance and safeguarding of religion, and many aids or impediments to religion depend on the place. And so the sons of the prophets, whom, as Jerome says, we read of as monks in the Old Testament, removed themselves to the secret places of the wilderness and set up huts by the waters of the Jordan.26 John also and his disciples, whom we regard as the first of our calling, and after them Paul, Antony, Macharius and all those who have been pre-eminent among us, fled from the tumult of their times and the world full of temptations, and carried the bed of their contemplation to the peace of the wilderness, so that they could devote themselves to God more sincerely. The Lord himself also, whom no stirrings of temptation could ever have touched, teaches us by his example, for he sought hidden places particularly and avoided the clamour of the crowd whenever he had something special to do. Thus he consecrated the desert for us by his forty days’ fasting, refreshed the crowds in the desert, and for purity of prayer withdrew not only from the crowds of people but even from the apostles. The apostles too he set apart on a mountain to receive instruction and appointment; he honoured the wilderness by the glory of his transfiguration and gladdened the apostles assembled on a mountain by the revelation of his resurrection; he ascended from a mountain into heaven, and all his miracles were performed either in lonely or in hidden places.27 He also appeared to Moses or the patriarchs of old in the wilderness, and through the wilderness he led his people to the promised land; there too he delivered the Law to the people long held captive, rained manna, brought out water from a rock and comforted them with frequent apparitions and the miracles he worked. In this he plainly taught them how much his wish to be alone desires a lonely place for us, where we can more purely devote ourselves to him.
He also takes pains to describe symbolically the freedom of the wild ass which loves the wilderness, and warmly approves of it, saying to holy Job: ‘Who has let the wild ass of Syria range at will and given the wild ass of Arabia its freedom? – whose home I have made in the wilderness and its lair in the saltings. It disdains the noise of the city and is deaf to the driver’s shouting; it roams the hills as its pasture and searches for anything green.’28 It is as though he says openly, ‘Who has done this, if not I?’ Now the wild ass, which we call the ass of the woods, is the monk, who is freed from the chains of worldly things and has taken himself off to the peace and freedom of the solitary life; he has fled from the world and not remained in it. And so he ‘lives in the saltings of the land’ and his members through abstinence are parched and dry. He is deaf to the driver’s shouting but hears his voice, because he provides for his stomach not what is superfluous but what is needed; for who is so demanding and unremitting a driver as the stomach? It shouts when it makes its immoderate demands for superfluous foods and delicacies, and this is when it should least be heard. The hills for his pasture are the lives and teachings of the sublime Fathers, by reading and meditating on which we are refreshed. By ‘anything green’ is meant the entire Scriptures on the heavenly and unfading life.
In specially exhorting us on this St Jerome writes as follows to the monk Heliodorus: ‘Consider the meaning of the word “monk”, your name. What are you doing in a crowd, when you are a solitary?’29 And in drawing the distinction between our life and that of the clergy, he also writes to the priest Paul:
If you want to perform the duties of a priest, if the work – or burden – of the episcopate happens to please you, then live in cities and towns and make the salvation of others a profit to your soul. If you desire to be, as you say, a monk, that is, a solitary, what are you doing in cities, the homes not of solitaries but of crowds? Every calling has its leaders, and to come to our own way of life, bishops and priests should take as their example the apostles and apostolic men, whose positions they occupy and to whose merit they should try to attain. For us, the leaders of our calling should be the Pauls, Antonies, Hilaries and Macharius, and, to return to the Scriptures, let our leaders be Elijah and Elisha, the chief of the prophets, who lived in fields and the wilderness and made themselves huts by the river Jordan. Amongst these too are the sons of Rechab who drank neither wine nor cider, who lived in tents and are praised by the voice of God through Jeremiah saying that they shall not lack a descendant to stand before the Lord.30
Let us therefore set up huts for ourselves in the wilderness, so that we may be better able to stand before the Lord and, being prepared, take part in serving him, and so that the society of men will not jolt the bed of our repose, disturb our rest, breed temptations and distract our minds from our holy calling.
When the Lord directed holy Arsenius to this freedom and peace in life we were all given a clear example in this one man. It is written that:
When abba Arsenius was still in the palace he prayed to the Lord, saying ‘Lord, guide me to salvation.’ And a voice came to him, saying, ‘Arsenius, flee from men and you will be saved.’ He retired to the monastic life and prayed again, in the same words, ‘Lord, guide me to salvation.’ He heard a voice say to him, ‘Arsenius, flee, be silent, be at peace, for these are the roots of not sinning.’ And so, acting on this one rule of the divine command, he not only fled from men but even drove them from him. One day his archbishop came to him, along with a certain judge, and asked him for a sermon of edification. ‘If I give you one,’ said Arsenius, ‘will you follow it?’ They promised that they would. Then he said to them, ‘Wherever you hear of Arsenius, do not go there.’ On another occasion the archbishop was visiting him and sent first to see if he would open his door. He sent back word: ‘If you come, I will open to you, but if I open to you I am opening to all, and then I can stay here no longer.’ Hearing this, the archbishop said: ‘If my coming will persecute him, I will never go to this holy man.’ To a certain Roman matron who came to visit his holiness, Arsenius said: ‘Why have you presumed to undertake such a voyage? You must know you are a woman and should not travel at all. Or do you intend to return to Rome and tell other women that you have seen Arsenius, so that they will make the sea a highway for women coming to see me?’ ‘If the Lord wishes me to return to Rome,’ she replied, ‘I shall not allow anyone to come here. Only pray for me, and remember me always.’ But he answered: ‘I pray God to wipe out the memory of you from my heart.’ Hearing this she went away dismayed.31
It is also recorded that when Arsenius was asked by abba Mark why he fled from men, he replied: ‘God knows that I love men, but I cannot be equally with men and with God.’32
The holy Fathers did indeed so shun the conversation and attention of men that many of them feigned madness, in order to drive men from them, and, remarkable to relate, even professed to be heretics. Anyone who likes may read in the Lives of the Fathers about abba Simon, and how he prepared himself for a visit from the judge of the province; he covered himself with a sack and, holding bread and cheese in his hand, sat at the door of his cell and started eating.33 He may read too of the hermit who, when he saw people coming towards him with lanterns, pulled off his clothes, threw them into the river, and standing there naked began to wash them. His acolyte blushed for shame at the sight and asked the men to go away, saying ‘Our old man has lost his senses.’ Then he went to him, and said: ‘Why did you do this, father? All who saw you said that “The old man is possessed.”’ ‘That is what I wanted to hear,’ he replied.34 Let him read also of abba Moses, who in order to keep a judge of the province well away from him, got up and fled into a marsh. The judge and his followers came along and called, ‘Tell us, old man, where is the cell of abba Moses?’ ‘Why do you want to look for him?’ he replied. ‘The man is crazy and a heretic.’35 And what of abba Pastor, who even refused to be seen by the judge of the province in order to free from prison the son of his own sister, in answer to her plea?36
You see then how the presence of the saints is sought by the powerful in the world with great veneration and devotion, while their aim is to keep people at a distance, even at the loss of their own dignity.
Now, so that you may know the virtue of your own sex in this matter, could anyone adequately tell of that virgin who refused a visit even from the holy saint Martin, so that she could devote herself to contemplation? Jerome writes of this to the monk Oceanus:
In the Life of St Martin, we read that Sulpicius relates how St Martin when travelling wished to call on a certain virgin who was outstanding for her morals and chastity. She refused, but sent him a gift, and looking from her window said to the holy man: ‘Offer prayer where you are, father, for I have never been visited by a man.’ Hearing this St Martin thanked God that a woman of such morals had kept her desire for chastity. He blessed her and departed, filled with joy.37
This woman in fact disdained or feared to rise from the bed of her contemplation, and was prepared to say to a friend knocking at her door: ‘I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?’38
O what an insult to themselves would the bishops or priests of our day consider it, if they received such a rebuff from Arsenius or this virgin! If any monks still remain in solitude, let them blush for such things, whenever they delight in the society of bishops and build them special houses for their entertainment, when they do not shun worldly potentates whom a crowd accompanies or gathers round but rather invite them, and by multiplying their buildings on the pretext of hospitality, change the solitary place they sought into a city. Indeed, by the craft and cunning of the old tempter, nearly all the monasteries of today which were formerly founded in solitude so that men could be avoided, now that religious fervour has subsided, have subsequently invited men to them, have assembled manservants and maidservants and built great villages on monastic sites; and thus they have returned to the world, or rather, have brought the world to them. By involving themselves in such great inconvenience and binding themselves in total slavery both to ecclesiastical and secular powers, while they seek to live at ease and enjoy the fruits of another’s labour, they have lost the very name of monk, that is, of solitary, as well as their monastic life. They also often fall a victim to other misfortunes: while struggling to protect the persons and possessions of their followers they lose their own, and in the frequent fires which break out in adjoining buildings the monasteries are burned down as well. Yet not even this checks their ambition.
There are those too who will not submit to monastic restriction of any kind, but are scattered in twos and threes amongst the villages, towns and cities, or even live alone, without observance of a rule, and are thereby worse than men of the world the more they fall away from their profession. They also make misuse of the places where their people dwell as much they do their own, calling these Obedientaries,39 though no rule is kept there and no obedience shown except to the belly and the flesh, and there they live with relatives and friends, behaving as freely as they wish, as they have so little to fear from their own consciences. There can be no doubt that in shameless apostates such as these, excesses are criminal which in other men are venial. You should not permit yourselves to take example from such lives nor even to hear of them.
Solitude is indeed all the more necessary for your woman’s frailty, inasmuch as for our part we are less attacked by the conflicts of carnal temptations and less likely to stray towards bodily things through the senses. Hence St Antony says: ‘Whoever sits in solitude and is at peace is rescued from three wars, that is, wars of hearing, speech and sight; he shall have only one thing to fight against, the heart.’40 These and all the other advantages of the desert the famous Doctor of the Church Jerome has particularly in mind in giving urgent counsel to the monk Heliodorus: ‘O desert rejoicing in the presence of God! What are you doing in the world, brother, when you are greater than the world?’41
Now that we have discussed where monasteries should be set up, let us show what the layout of the site should be. In planning the site of the actual monastery, also in accordance with St Benedict’s Rule, provision should be made if possible for those things which are particularly necessary for monasteries to be contained within its precincts, that is, a garden, water, a mill, a bakehouse with oven and places where the sisters may carry out their daily tasks without any need for straying outside.42
As in the army camps of the world, so in the camp of the Lord, that is, in monastic communities, people must be appointed to be in authority over the rest. In an army there is one commander over all, at whose bidding everything is carried out, but because of the size of his army and complexity of his duties he shares his burdens with several others, and appoints subordinate officers to be responsible for various duties or companies of men. Similarly in convents it is also necessary for one matron to preside over all; the others must do everything in accordance with her decision and judgement, and no one must presume to oppose her in anything or even to grumble at any of her instructions. No community of people nor even a small household in a single house can continue as a whole unless unity is preserved in it, and complete control rests on the authority of a single person. And so the Ark, as a model for the Church, was many cubits long and wide but rose to a single point. It is written in Proverbs that ‘For its sins a land has many rulers,’43 and on the death of Alexander, when kings were multiplied, evils were multiplied too. Rome could not maintain concord when authority was shared amongst many rulers. Lucan reminds us in his first book:
You, Rome, have been the cause of your own ills,
Shared in three masters’ hands; the pacts spell death
Of power that never should devolve on many.
A little later he says:
So long as earth supports the sea and is itself
Poised in the air, the sun rolls on its course,
Night follows day throughout the zodiac’s signs,
No trust binds fellow-rulers, every power
Rejects a partner …44
Such, surely, were those disciples of the abbot St Frontonius, whom he had assembled to the number of seventy in the city where he was born. He had won great favour there in the eyes of God and men, but then he left the monastery in the city, and with their portable goods took them naked with him into the desert. After a while, like the Israelites complaining against Moses because he had led them out of Egypt into the wilderness, abandoning their fleshpots and wealth in the land, they started grumbling foolishly. ‘Is chastity only to be found in the desert and not in town?’ they asked. ‘Why can’t we go back to the city we have left? Will God hear our prayers only in the desert? Who can live by the bread of angels? Who wants to have cattle and wild beasts for company? Why do we have to stay here? Why can’t we return and bless the Lord in the place where we were born?’45
Hence the apostle James gives warning: ‘My brothers, not many of you should try to teach others; be sure that if you do, you will be judged with greater severity.’46 Similarly, Jerome in writing to the monk Rusticus on the conduct of his life says:
No skill is learned without a teacher. Even dumb animals and herds of wild beasts follow their leaders; amongst bees, one goes first and the rest follow, and cranes follow one of their number in regular order. There is one emperor, one judge of a province. When Rome was founded there could not be two brothers as kings at the same time, and this was settled by fratricide. Esau and Jacob fought in Rebecca’s womb. The churches each have one bishop, one dean and one archdeacon, and every order in the Church depends on its rulers. In a ship there is one helmsman, in a house one master; in an army, however large, men look to the standard of one man. By all these examples my discourse aims at teaching you that you must not be left to your own will, but must live in a monastery under the discipline of one Father and in the company of many of your fellows.47
So that concord may therefore be maintained in all things, it is proper for one sister to be over all, and all to obey her in everything. Several other sisters should also be appointed, as she herself decides, to serve under her, like officers. They shall preside over the duties she has ordered and as far as she wishes, as though they were dukes or counts serving in their lord’s army, while all the rest are the soldiers or infantry who are under the direction of the others and shall fight freely against the evil one and his hordes.
Seven persons only out of your number I think are all that are needed for the entire administration of the convent: portress, cellaress, wardrober, infirmarian, chantress, sacristan and lastly the deaconess, who is now called the abbess.48 And so in this camp, and in this kind of service in the Lord’s army, as it is written that ‘Man’s life on earth is like service,’ and elsewhere, ‘Awesome as a regimented army,’49 the abbess takes the place of the commander who is obeyed by all in everything. The six under her, the officers as we call them, hold the position of duke or count; while all the other nuns, whom we call the cloistral sisters, perform their service for God promptly, like soldiers, and the lay sisters, who have renounced the world and dedicated themselves to serving the nuns, wear a kind of religious (though not a monastic) habit and, like infantry, hold a lower rank.
Now, under the Lord’s inspiration, it remains to marshal the several ranks of this army so it may truly be what is called ‘a regimented army’ to meet the assaults of demons. And so, starting at the head of this institution, with the deaconess, as we’ll call her, let us first dispose of her through whom all must be disposed. First of all, her sanctity: as I said in my preceding letter, St Paul in writing to Timothy describes in detail how outstanding and proved this must be:
A widow should not be put on the roll under sixty years of age. She must have been faithful in marriage to one man, and must produce evidence of good deeds performed, showing whether she has had the care of children, or given hospitality, or washed the feet of God’s people, or supported those in distress – in short, whether she has taken every opportunity of doing good. Avoid younger widows, etc.50
And earlier on, when he was laying down rules for the life of deacons, he says about deaconesses: ‘Their wives, equally, must be high-principled, not given to talking scandal, sober and trustworthy in every way.’51 I have said enough in my last letter to show how highly I value the meaning and reasoning behind all these words, especially the reason why the Apostle wishes her to be the wife of one husband alone and to be advanced in age.
And so I am much surprised that the pernicious practice has arisen in the Church of appointing virgins to this office rather than women who have known men, and often of putting younger over older women. Yet Ecclesiastes says: ‘Woe betide the land where a boy is king,’ and we all approve the saying of holy Job: ‘There is wisdom in age and long life brings understanding.’52 It is also written in Proverbs: ‘Grey hair is a crown of glory if it shall be won by a virtuous life,’ and in Ecclesiasticus:
How beautiful is the judgement of grey hairs and counsel taken from the old! How beautiful the wisdom of the aged, how glorious their understanding and counsel! Long experience is the old man’s crown and his pride is the fear of the Lord.53
Again:
Speak, if you are old, for it is your privilege … If you are young, speak in your own case, but not much. If you are asked twice, let your reply be brief … For the most part be like a man who knows and can keep silence while making enquiries … Do not be familiar among the great, nor talk much before your elders.54
So the presbyters who have authority over the people in the Church are understood to be Elders, so that their very name may teach what they ought to be. And the men who wrote the Lives of the Saints gave the name of Elder to those whom we now call abbas or Fathers.55
Thus in every way care must be taken when electing or consecrating an abbess to follow the advice of the Apostle,56 and to elect one who must be above all the rest in her life and learning, and of an age to promise maturity in conduct; by obedience she should be worthy of giving orders, and through practising the Rule rather than hearing it she should have learned it and know it well. If she is not lettered let her know that she should accustom herself not to philosophic studies nor dialectical disputations but to teaching of life and performance of works: as it is written of the Lord, he ‘set out to do and teach’,57 that is, he taught afterwards what he did first, for teaching through works rather than speech, the deed before the word, is better and more thorough. Let us pay careful heed to what abba Ipitius is recorded to have said: ‘He is truly wise who teaches others by deed, not by words.’58 He gives us no little comfort and encouragement thereby.
We should listen too to the argument of St Antony which confounded the wordy philosophers who laughed at his authority as being that of a foolish and illiterate man: ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘which comes first, understanding or letters? Which is the beginning of the other – does understanding come from letters or letters from understanding?’ When they declared that understanding was the author and inventor of letters, he said: ‘So if a man’s understanding is sound, he has no need of letters.’59 We should hear too the words of the Apostle, and be strengthened in the Lord: ‘Has not God made the wisdom of this world look foolish?’ And again, ‘To shame the wise, God has chosen what the world counts weakness. God has chosen the base and contemptible things of the world so as to bring to nothing what is now in being; then no human pride may boast in his presence.’60 For the kingdom of God, as he says later, is not a matter of talk but of power.
But if to gain better understanding of some things the abbess thinks she should have recourse to the Scriptures, she should not be ashamed to ask and learn from the lettered, nor despise the evidence of their education in these matters, but accept it devoutly and thoughtfully, just as the foremost himself of the apostles thoughtfully accepted public correction from his fellow-apostle Paul.61 For, as St Benedict also remarks, the Lord often reveals what is better to the lesser man.62
So that we may better follow the Lord’s injunction which the Apostle recorded above, we should never let this election be made from the nobility or the powerful in the world except under pressure of great necessity and for sound reason. Such women, from their easy confidence in their breeding, become boastful or presumptuous or proud, and especially when they are native to the district, their authority becomes damaging to the convent. Precautions must be taken against the abbess becoming presumptuous because of the proximity of her kindred, and the convent’s being burdened or disturbed by their numbers, so that religion suffers harm through her people and she comes under contempt from others: in accordance with the Truth: ‘A prophet will always be held in honour except in his native place.’63 St Jerome also made provision for this when he wrote to Heliodorus and enumerated several things which stand in the path of monks who stay in their native place. ‘The conclusion of these considerations,’ he says, ‘is that a monk cannot be perfect in his native place; and not to wish to be perfect is a sin.’64
But what damage to souls will there be if she who is the authority over religion is lacking in religion herself? For it is sufficient for her subordinates if each of them displays a single virtue, but in her examples of all the virtues should shine out, so that she can be a living example of all she enjoins on the others, and not contradict her precepts by her morals, nor destroy by her own deeds what she builds in words; in order that the word of correction may not fall away from her lips when she is ashamed to correct in others the errors she is known to commit herself. The Psalmist prays to the Lord lest this happens to him: ‘Rob not my mouth of the power to tell the truth,’65 he says, for he was expecting that stern rebuke of the Lord to which he refers elsewhere. ‘God’s word to the wicked man is this: What right have you to recite my laws and make so free with the words of my covenant, you who hate correction and turn your back when I am speaking?’66 The Apostle too was careful to provide against this: ‘I punish my own body,’ he says, ‘and make it know its master, for fear that after preaching to others I should find myself rejected.’67 For anyone whose life is despised must see his preaching or teaching condemned as well, and a man who should heal another but suffers from the same infirmity is rightly reproached by the sick man: ‘Physician, heal yourself.’68
Whoever is seen to have authority in the Church must think carefully what ruin his own fall will bring about when he takes his subjects along with him to the precipice. ‘If any man,’ says the Truth, ‘breaks even the lowest of the Lord’s commandments and teaches others to do the same, he will be the least in the kingdom of Heaven.’69 He breaks a commandment who infringes it by acting against it, and if he corrupts others by his example he sits in his chair as a teacher of pestilence. But if anyone acting thus is to be called the least in the kingdom of Heaven, that is in the Church here on earth, what are we to call a superior who is utterly vile, and because of whose negligence the Lord demands the life-blood not only of his own soul but of all the souls subject to him? And so the Book of Wisdom rightly curses such men:
It is the Lord who gave you your authority, and your power comes from the Most High. He will put your actions to the test and scrutinize your intentions. Though you are viceroys of his kingly power, you have not been upright judges; you do not stand up for the law of justice. Swiftly and terribly will he descend on you, for judgement falls relentlessly on those in high places. The small man may find pardon, but the powerful will be powerfully tormented, and a cruel trial awaits the mighty.70
It is sufficient for each of the subject souls to provide for itself against its own misdeed, but death hangs over those who also have responsibility for the sins of others for, when gifts are increased, the reasons for gifts are also multiplied, and more is expected of him to whom more is committed. We are warned in Proverbs to guard against so great a danger, when it says: ‘My son, if you pledge yourself to a friend and stand surety for a stranger, if you are caught by your promise, trapped by some words you have said, do what I now tell you and save yourself, my son, when you fall into another man’s power. Run, hurry, rouse your friend, let not your eyes sleep nor your eyelids slumber.’71 For we pledge ourselves to a friend when our charity admits someone into the life of our community; we promise him the care of our supervision, as he promises his obedience to us. So too we stand surety for him by joining hands when we confirm our willingness to work on his behalf; and we fall into his power because unless we make provision for ourselves against him, we shall find that he is the slayer of our soul. It is against this danger that the advice is given ‘Go, hurry etc.’
And so now here, now there, like a watchful and tireless captain, let our abbess go carefully round her camp and watch lest through any negligence a way is opened to him who, like a roaring lion, prowls around looking for someone to devour.72 She must be the first to know all the evils of her house, so that she may correct them before they are known to the rest and taken as a precedent. Let her beware too of the charge St Jerome lays against the foolish or negligent: ‘We are always the last to learn of the evils of our own home, and are ignorant of the faults of our wives and children when they are the talk of the neighbourhood.’
She who thus presides must remember that she has taken on the care of bodies as well as of souls, and concerning the former there is advice for her in the words of Ecclesiasticus: ‘Have you daughters? See that they are chaste, and do not be too lenient with them.’ Again, ‘A daughter is a secret anxiety to her father, and the worry of her takes away his sleep for fear she may be defiled.’73 But we defile our bodies not only by fornication but by doing anything improper with them, as much by the tongue as by any other member, or by abusing the bodily senses in any member for some idle whim. So it is written, ‘Death comes in through our windows,’74 that is, sin enters the soul by means of the five senses.
What death is more grievous or care more perilous than that of souls? ‘Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul,’75 says the Truth. But if anyone hears this, does he not still fear the death of the body rather than of the soul? Who would not avoid a sword rather than a lie? And yet it is written that ‘A lying tongue is death to the soul.’76 What can be destroyed so easily as the soul? What arrow can be fashioned so speedily as a lie? Who can safeguard himself, if only against a thought? Who is able to watch out for his own sins but not those of others? What shepherd in the flesh has the power to protect spiritual sheep from spiritual wolves, both alike invisible? Who would not fear the robber who never ceases to lie in wait, whom no wall can shut out, no sword can kill or wound? He is forever plotting and persecuting, with the religious as his chosen victims, for, in the words of Habakkuk, they ‘enjoy rich fare’,77 and it is against him that the apostle Peter urges us to be on our guard, saying: ‘Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls around looking for someone to devour.’ How confident he is of devouring us the Lord himself says to holy Job: ‘The flooded river he drinks unconcerned: he is confident he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.’78 For what would he not be bold enough to try, when he tried to test the Lord himself? It was he who took our first parents straight from Paradise to captivity, and even snatched an apostle whom the Lord had chosen from the apostles’ company. What place is safe from him, what doors are not unbarred to him? Who can take action against his plots or stand up to his strength? It was he who struck with a single stroke the four corners of the house of holy Job, and crushed and killed his innocent sons and daughters.79
What then can the weaker sex do against him? Who but women have his seductive ways so much to fear? It was a woman he first seduced, and through her her husband too, and so made captive all their descendants. His desire for a greater good robbed her of her possession of a lesser good, and by the same wiles he can still easily seduce a woman when her desire is for authority, not for service, and she is brought to this through her ambition for wealth or status. Which of the two mattered more to her, the sequel will show. For if she lives more luxuriously when in authority than she did as a subordinate, or claims any special privilege for herself beyond what is necessary, there can be no doubt that she coveted this. If she seeks more costly ornaments after than before, it is certain that she is swollen with vainglory. What she was before will afterwards appear, and her office will reveal whether what she displayed before was true virtue or pretence.
She should be brought to office, not come to it herself, in accordance with the Lord’s words: ‘Those who have come of themselves are all thieves and robbers,’80 on which Jerome comments ‘“Who have come”, not “who were sent.”’ She should be raised to the honour, not take it on herself, for ‘Nobody,’ as the Apostle says, ‘takes the honour on himself; he is called by God, as Aaron was.’81 If called she should mourn as though led to her death; if rejected, rejoice as though delivered from death. When we are said to be better than the rest we blush to hear the words, but when this is proved by the fact of our election, we shamelessly lose all shame. For who does not know that the better are preferable to the rest? So in the twenty-fourth book of Morals it is said that ‘No one should undertake the leadership of men if he does not know how to rebuke men properly by admonition. Nor should the one chosen for this purpose of correcting the faults of others commit himself what ought to have been rooted out.’82 But if in this election we try to avoid this shamelessness by some light verbal refusal, and only to the ear reject the position offered us, we immediately incur the charge of trying to appear more righteous and worthy than we are.
How many have we seen at their election weeping with their eyes while laughing in their hearts, accusing themselves of unworthiness and thereby courting more approval and human support for themselves! They had in mind the words: ‘The just man is the first to accuse himself,’83 but afterwards when they were blamed and given a chance to retire they were completely shameless and persistent in their efforts to defend the position which they had declared themselves unwilling to accept, with feigned tears and well-founded accusations of themselves. In how many churches have we seen canons resisting their bishops when compelled by them to take holy orders, professing themselves unworthy of such priestly offices and quite unwilling to comply! Yet should the clergy subsequently elect them to the episcopate they are given only a frivolous refusal or none at all. And those who yesterday were avoiding a diaconate to escape endangering their souls, so they said, apparently find justification overnight, and have no fears of downfall from a higher office. In the same book of Proverbs it is written of such people: ‘A foolish man applauds when he stands as surety for a friend’;84 for the poor wretch rejoices though he should rather mourn when he assumed authority over others, and binds himself by his own declaration to caring for his subordinates, by whom he ought to be loved rather than feared.
We can provide against this evil as far as we can by absolutely forbidding the abbess to live in greater luxury and comfort than her subordinates. She must not have private apartments for eating or sleeping, but should do everything along with the flock entrusted to her, and be better able to make provision for them the more she is present in their midst. We know of course that St Benedict was greatly concerned about pilgrims and guests and set a table apart for the abbot to entertain them.85 Though this was a pious provision at the time, it was afterwards amended by a dispensation which is highly beneficial to monasteries, whereby the abbot does not leave the monks but provides a faithful steward for the pilgrims; for it is easy for discipline to be relaxed at table, and that is the time when it should be more strictly observed. There are many too who use hospitality as an opportunity to think of themselves rather than of their guests, so that those who are not present are troubled by the gravest suspicions and make complaints. The authority of a superior is weakened the less his way of life is known to his people; moreover, any shortage there may be can be more easily accepted by all when it is shared by all, and especially by superiors. This we have learned from the example of Cato, who, it is written, ‘when the people with him were thirsty’, rejected and poured away the few drops of water offered him ‘so that all were satisfied’.86
Since therefore sobriety is so necessary for those in authority, they must live sparingly, and the more so as provision for the others rests with them. And lest they turn the gift of God, that is, the authority conferred on them, into pride, and so show themselves insolent to their subjects, let them hear what is written: ‘Do not play the lion in your house, upsetting your household and oppressing your servants … Pride is hateful to God and man.’87 The beginning of pride in man is renunciation of God, since the heart withdraws from God who made him, just as pride in any form is the beginning of sin. ‘The Lord has overturned the seats of proud princes and enthroned the gentle in their place … Have they chosen you to preside? Do not put on airs; behave to them as one of themselves.’88 And the Apostle in giving instructions to Timothy about his subordinates says: ‘Never be harsh to an elder; appeal to him as though he were your father. Treat the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers and the young as your sisters.’89 ‘You did not choose me,’ says the Lord, ‘I chose you.’90 All others in authority are elected by their subjects and are created and set up by them, because they are chosen not to lord over men but to serve them. God alone is truly Lord and has the power to choose his subjects for his service. Yet he did not show himself as a lord but as a servant, and when his disciples were already aspiring to high seats of power he rebuked them by his own example, saying: ‘You know that in the world rulers lord it over their subjects, and those in authority are called benefactors; but it shall not be so with you.’91 Whoever seeks dominion over his subjects rather than service to them, who works to be feared, not loved, and being swollen with pride in his authority likes to have ‘places of honour at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogue, to be greeted respectfully in the street and to be addressed as “Rabbi”’, imitates the princes of the world. As for the honour of this title, we should not take pride in names but look to humility in everything. ‘But you,’ says the Lord, ‘must not be called “Rabbi” and do not call any man on earth “father”.’ And afterwards he forbade self-glorification altogether, saying ‘Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled.’92
We must also make sure that the flock is not imperilled by the absence of its shepherds, and discipline slacken within when authority strays from its duties. And so we rule that the abbess, whose care is for spiritual rather than material matters, must not leave her convent for any external concern, but be the more solicitous for her subordinates the more active she is. Thus her appearances in public will be more highly valued for their rarity, as it is written: ‘If a great man invites you, keep away, and he will be the more pressing in his invitation.’93 But if the convent needs emissaries, the monks or their lay monks94 should supply them, for it is always men’s duty to provide for women’s needs, and the greater the religious devotion of the nuns, the more they give themselves up to God and have need of men’s protection. And so Joseph was bidden by the angel to care for the mother of the Lord, though he was not allowed to sleep with her.95 The Lord himself at his death chose for his mother a second son who should take care of her in material things. There is no doubt either, as I have said elsewhere, that the apostles paid great attention to devout women and appointed the seven deacons for their service. We too, then, acting on this authority and in accordance with the demands of the situation, have decided that monks and lay monks, like the apostles and deacons, shall perform for convents of women such duties as call for outside assistance; the monks are necessary especially to celebrate Mass, the lay monks for other services.
It is therefore essential as we read was the practice in Alexandria under Mark the Evangelist in the early days of the infant Church, that monasteries of men should be near at hand for convents of women, and that all external affairs should be conducted for the women through men of the same religious life. And indeed we believe that convents then maintain the religion of their calling more firmly, if they are ruled by the guidance of spiritual men, and the same shepherd is set over the ewes as well as the rams: that is, that women shall come under the same authority as men, and always, as the Apostle ruled, ‘Woman’s head is man, as man’s head is Christ and Christ’s is God.’96 And so the convent of St Scholastica which was situated on land belonging to a monastery was also under the supervision of one of the brothers, and took both instruction and comfort from frequent visits by him or the other brothers. The Rule of St Basil also instructs us on this kind of supervision, in the following passage:
QUESTION: Shall the brother who presides, apart from the sister who presides over the nuns, say anything for their instruction?
ANSWER: How else shall the precept of the Apostle be observed, which says, ‘Let all be done decently and in order’?
QUESTION: Is it seemly for him who presides to converse frequently with her who presides over the sisters, especially if some of the brethren are offended by this?
ANSWER: Although the Apostle asks, ‘Is my freedom to be called in question by another man’s conscience?’, it is good to follow him when he says ‘But I have availed myself of no such right, lest I should offer any hindrance to the gospel of Christ.’ As far as possible the sisters should be seldom seen and preaching kept brief.97
On this there is also the decision of the Council of Seville:
By common consent we have decreed that the convents of nuns in the Baetic province shall be ruled through the ministration and authority of monks. For we can best provide what is salutary for virgins dedicated to Christ by choosing for them spiritual fathers whose guidance can give them protection and whose teaching provide edification. But proper precautions must be taken so that the monks do not intrude on the privacy of the nuns, nor have general permission even to approach the vestibule. Neither the abbot nor anyone in authority over them shall be permitted, apart from their superior, to say anything to the virgins of Christ concerning regulations for their moral life; nor should he speak often with the superior alone, but in the presence of two or three sisters. Access should be rare and speech brief. God forbid the unmentionable – that we should wish the monks to be familiar with the virgins of Christ; they must be kept separate and far apart, as the statutes of the Rule and the canons lay down. We commit the nuns to their charge in the sense that one man, the best proved of the monks, shall be chosen to take over the management of their lands in the country, or town, and also the erection of buildings, or provision of whatever else is needed by the convent, so that the handmaids of Christ may be concerned only with the welfare of their souls, may live only for divine worship and performance of their own works. Of course the one proposed by his abbot must have the approval of his bishop. The sisters for their part should make clothing for the monasteries to which they look for guidance, since they will receive in return, as I said, the fruits of the monks’ labour and support of their protection.98
In accordance with this provision, then, we want convents of women always to be subject to monasteries of men, so that the brothers may take care of the sisters and one man preside over both like a father whose authority each community shall recognize, and thus for both in the Lord ‘there will be one flock and one shepherd’.99 Such a society of spiritual brotherhood should be the more pleasing to God as it is to man, the more perfectly it is able to meet the needs of either sex coming for conversion, the monks taking in the men and the nuns the women, so that it can provide for every soul seeking its own salvation. And whoever wishes to be converted along with a mother, sister, daughter or any other woman for whom he is responsible will be able to find complete fulfilment there, and the two monasteries should be joined by a greater mutual affection and feel a warmer concern for each other the more closely their inmates are united by some kinship or connection.
The Superior of the monks, whom they call Abbot, we want to preside over the nuns too in such a way that he regards those who are the brides of the Lord whose servant he is as his own mistresses, and so be glad to serve rather than rule them. He should be like a steward in a king’s palace who does not oppress the queen by his powers but treats her wisely, so that he obeys her at once in necessary matters but pays no heed to what might be harmful, and performs all his services outside the bedchamber without ever penetrating its privacy unbidden. In this way, then, we want the servant of Christ to provide for the brides of Christ, to take charge of them faithfully for Christ, and to discuss everything necessary with the abbess, so that he makes no decisions about the handmaids of Christ and their concerns without consulting her and issues no instructions or presumes to speak to any of them except through her. But whenever the abbess summons him he should be prompt to come, and not delay carrying out as far as he is able whatever she advises him about the needs of herself or her subordinates. When summoned by her he should speak to her openly, in the presence of approved persons, and not approach too near nor detain her with prolonged talk.
Anything to do with food or clothing, and money too, if there is any, shall be collected amongst the handmaids of Christ, or set aside so that what is surplus to the sisters’ requirements can be made over to the brothers. And so the brothers shall attend to everything outside the buildings, and sisters confine themselves to what can suitably be done indoors by women, such as making clothes for themselves and the brothers, doing the washing, kneading bread and putting it to bake, and handling it when baked. They shall also take charge of the milk and its products, and of feeding hens or geese, and whatever women can do more conveniently than men.
The abbot himself on his appointment shall swear in the presence of the bishop and the sisters that he will be to them a faithful steward in the Lord, and will carefully keep their bodies from carnal contamination. If by chance (which God forbid) the bishop finds him negligent in this, he must depose him at once as guilty of perjury. All the brothers too, in making their profession, shall bind themselves by oath to the sisters not to consent to their oppression in any form, and to guarantee their bodily purity as far as they can. None of the men, therefore, except with the abbot’s permission, shall have access to the sisters, nor receive anything sent by them except through the hands of the abbot. None of the sisters shall ever leave the precincts of the convent, but everything outside, as was said above, shall be the brothers’ concern, for men should sweat over men’s work. None of the brothers shall ever enter these precincts, unless he has obtained leave from the abbot and abbess for some necessary or worthy reason. If anyone ventures to do so, he shall be expelled from the monastery immediately.
But so that the men, being stronger than the women, shall not make too heavy demands on them, we make it a rule that they shall impose nothing against the will of the abbess, but do everything at her bidding and, all alike, men and women, shall make profession to her and promise obedience; for peace will be more soundly based and harmony better preserved the less freedom is allowed to the stronger, while the men will be less burdened by obedience to the weaker women the less they have to fear violence from them. The more a man has humbled himself before God, the higher he will certainly be exalted. Let this be enough for the moment about the abbess. Now let us write of the officers under her.
The Sacristan, who is also the Treasurer, shall provide for the whole oratory; and she herself must keep all the keys that belong to it and everything necessary to it. If there are any offerings she shall receive them, and she shall have charge of making or remaking whatever is needed in the oratory and caring for all its furnishings. It is her duty too to see to the hosts, the vessels, the books for the altar and all its fittings, the relics, incense, lights, clock and striking of the bells. If possible the nuns should prepare the hosts themselves and purify the flour they are made from, and wash the altar-cloths. But neither the sacristan nor any of the sisters shall ever be allowed to touch the relics or the altar-vessels, nor even the altar-cloths except when these are given them to be washed. They must summon the monks or the lay monks for this and await their coming. If necessary, some of them may be appointed to serve under the sacristan for this duty, who shall be thought fit to touch these things when the need arises, and take them out or replace them when she has unlocked the chests. The sister in charge of the sanctuary must be outstanding in purity of life, whole in mind as in body, if possible, and her abstinence and continence must be proved. She must be particularly well taught to calculate the phases of the moon, so that she can provide for the oratory according to the order of the seasons.
The Chantress shall be responsible for the whole choir, and shall arrange the divine offices and direct the teaching of singing and reading, and of everything to do with writing or composition. She shall also take charge of the book-cupboard, shall hand books out from it and receive them back, undertake the task of copying or binding them, or see that this is done. She shall decide how the sisters are to sit in choir and assign the seats, arrange who are to read or sing, and shall draw up the list, to be recited on Saturdays in Chapter, in which all the duties of the week are set out. Hence it is most important for her to be lettered, and especially to have some knowledge of music. She shall also see to all matters of discipline after the abbess, and if she happens to be busy with other affairs, the Infirmarian shall take her place.100
The Infirmarian shall take care of the sick, and shall protect them from sin as well as from want. Whatever their sickness requires, baths, food or anything else, is to be allowed them; for there is a well-known saying, ‘The law was not made for the sick.’ Meat is not to be denied them on any account, except on the sixth day of the week or on the chief vigils or the fasts of the Ember Days or of Lent. But they should all the more be restrained from sin the more it is incumbent on them to think of their departure. That is the time when they should most observe silence, as they are very near their end, and concentrate on prayer, as it is written: ‘My son, if you have an illness, do not neglect it but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you. Renounce your sin, amend your ways, and cleanse your heart from all sin.’101 There must also be a watchful nurse always with the sick to answer their call at once when needed, and the infirmary must be equipped with everything necessary for their illness. Medicaments too must be provided, according to the resources of the convent, and this can more easily be done if the sister in charge of the sick has some knowledge of medicine. Those who have a period of bleeding shall also be in her care. And there should be someone with experience of blood-letting, or it would be necessary for a man to come in amongst the women for this purpose. Provision must also be made for the sick not to miss the offices of the Hours and communion; on the Lord’s Day at least they should communicate, as far as possible always after confession and penance. For the anointing of the sick, the precept of St James the apostle102 is to be carefully observed, and in order to perform this, especially when the sick woman’s life is despaired of, two of the older priests with a deacon must be brought in from the monks, bringing with them the holy oil; then they must administer the sacrament in the presence of the whole convent, though divided off by a screen. Communion shall be celebrated when needed in the same way. It is therefore essential for the infirmary to be so arranged that the monks can easily come and go to perform these sacraments without seeing the sisters or being seen by them.
Once at least every day the abbess and the Cellaress should visit the sick woman as if she were Christ, so that they may carefully provide for her bodily as well as her spiritual needs, and show themselves worthy to hear the words of the Lord: ‘I was sick and you visited me.’103 But if the sick woman is near her end and has reached her death-agony, someone who is with her must run at once through the convent beating on a wooden board to give warning of the sister’s departure. The whole convent, whatever the hour of day or night, must then hurry to the dying, unless prevented by the offices of the Church. Should this happen, as nothing must come before the work of God, it is enough if the abbess and a few others she has chosen shall go there quickly and the convent follow later. Whoever comes running at the beating of the board should start at once on the Litany, until the invocation of the saints, male and female, is completed, and then the psalms should follow or the other offices of the dead. How salutary it is to go to the sick or the dead Ecclesiastes points out, when he says: ‘It is better to visit the house of mourning than the house of feasting; for to be mourned is the lot of every man, and the living should take this to heart.’ Similarly, ‘The wise man’s heart is where there is grief, and the fool’s heart where there is joy.’104
The body of the dead woman must then be washed at once by the sisters, clad in some cheap but clean garment and stockings, and laid on a bier, the head covered by the veil. These coverings must be firmly stitched or bound to the body and not afterwards removed. The body shall be carried into the church by the sisters for the monks to give it proper burial, and the sisters meanwhile shall devote themselves to psalm-singing and prayer in the oratory. The burial of an abbess shall have only one feature to distinguish it from that of others: her entire body shall be wrapped only in a hair-shirt and sewn up in this as in a sack.
The Wardrober shall be in charge of everything to do with clothing, and this includes shoes. She shall have the sheep shorn and receive the hides for shoes, spin and card flax or wool, take entire charge of weaving, and supply everyone with needle, thread and scissors. She shall also be personally responsible for the dormitory and provide bedding for all, and also for tablecloths, towels and cloths of every kind, and shall see to cutting and sewing and also washing them. To her especially the words apply: ‘She seeks wool and flax and works by the skill of her hands … She sets her hand to the distaff and her fingers grasp the spindle … She will have no fear for her household when it snows, for all her servants are wrapped in two cloaks and she can laugh at tomorrow. She keeps her eye on the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her sons rise up and call her blessed.’105 She shall keep the tools necessary for her work, and shall arrange what part of it to assign to which of the sisters, for she will have charge of the novices until they are admitted into the community.
The Cellaress shall be responsible for everything connected with food, for the cellar, refectory, kitchen, mill, bakehouse and its oven, and also the gardens, woods and entire cultivation of the fields. She shall also take charge of bees, herds and flocks, and all necessary poultry. She shall be expected to provide all essentials to do with food, and it is most important that she should not be grudging but ready and willing to provide everything required, ‘For God loves a cheerful giver.’106 We absolutely forbid her to favour herself above the others in dispensing her stores; she must neither prepare private dishes for herself nor keep anything for herself by defrauding the others of it. ‘The best steward’, says Jerome, ‘is one who keeps nothing for himself.’ Judas abused his office of steward when he had charge of the common purse and left the company of the apostles. Ananias too and Sapphira his wife were condemned to death for keeping money back.107
The Portress or Doorkeeper (which means the same) has the duty of receiving guests and all comers, announcing them or bringing them to the proper place, and dispensing hospitality. She should be discreet in years and mind, so that she will know how to receive and give an answer, and to decide who and who not to admit, and in what way. She especially, as if she were the vestibule of the Lord, should be an ornament for the religious life of the convent, since knowledge of it starts with her. She should therefore be gentle of speech and mild in manner, and should try by giving a suitable reason to establish a friendly relationship even with those she has to turn away. For it is written that ‘A soft answer turns away anger, but a sharp word makes tempers hot.’ And elsewhere: ‘Pleasant words win many friends and soothe enemies.’108 She also, as she sees the poor more regularly and knows them better, should share out what food and clothing there is for distribution; but if she or any of the officials need support or assistance, the abbess should appoint deputies for them, taking these generally from the lay sisters, lest some of the nuns are absent from the divine offices or from Chapter and the refectory.
The Portress should have a lodge by the gate, where she or her deputy can always be ready for all comers; they must not sit idle and, as their talk may easily be heard outside, they should be careful to observe silence. Indeed, her duty is not only to deny entrance to people who must be kept out but also to exclude entirely any rumours, so that they are not carelessly allowed into the convent, and she must be called to account for any failure in this matter. But if she hears what ought to be known, she should report it privately to the abbess so that she may think it over if she wishes. As soon as there is any knocking or clamour at the gate the Portress must ask the newcomers who they are and what they want and, if necessary, open the gate at once to admit them. Only women shall be entertained inside; men must be directed to the monks. Thus no man may be admitted for any reason, unless the abbess has been previously consulted and has issued instructions, but entrance shall be granted to women at once. The women when admitted, or the men allowed to enter on some occasion, must be made to wait by the Portress in her cell, until the abbess or the sisters, if it is necessary or fitting, shall come to them. In the case of poor women whose feet need to be washed, the abbess herself or the sisters shall duly perform this charitable act of hospitality. For the Lord too was called deacon by the apostles chiefly for this service to humanity, as someone has recorded in the Lives of the Fathers, saying: ‘For you, O men, the Saviour became a deacon, girding himself with a towel and washing the disciples’ feet, and telling them to wash their brothers’ feet.’109 And so the Apostle says of the deaconess, ‘if she has given hospitality and washed the feet of God’s people’. And the Lord himself says: ‘I was a stranger, and you took me in.’110
All the officials (except the Chantress) should be chosen from the sisters who do not study letters, if there are others better fitted to make use of greater freedom for their studies.
The ornaments for the oratory should be necessary, not superfluous, and clean rather than costly. There should be nothing made of gold or silver in it apart from one silver chalice, or more than one if needed. There must be no furnishings of silk, apart from the stoles or maniples, and no carved images. Nothing but a wooden cross shall be set up on the altar there, though if the sisters like to paint the statue of the Saviour, that is not forbidden. But the altars must have no other statues. The convent must be content with a pair of bells. A vessel of holy water should be set outside the entrance to the oratory, for the sisters to bless themselves with when they go in in the morning and come out after Compline.
None of the nuns may be absent from the Canonical Hours, but as soon as the bell is rung, everything must be put down and each sister go quickly, with modest gait, to the divine office. As they come into the oratory unobserved, let all who can, say: ‘Through thy great love I will come into thy house, and bow low towards thy holy temple in awe of thee.’111 No book is to be kept in the choir except the one needed for the office at the time. The psalms should be repeated clearly and distinctly so as to be understood, and any chanting or singing must be pitched so that anyone with a weak voice can sustain the note. Nothing may be said or sung in church which is not taken from authentic scripture, and chiefly from the Old or New Testament. These are to be divided amongst the lessons so that they are read in their entirety in the course of the year. But exposition of the Scriptures or sermons of the Doctors of the Church or any other writings of an edifying nature shall be read aloud in the refectory or in Chapter; the reading of all these is permitted where the need is felt. No one must presume to read or sing without previous preparation, and if anyone happens to mispronounce something in the oratory, she must make amends on the spot by prayer in the presence of all, saying softly to herself: ‘Yet again, Lord, forgive my carelessness.’
They must rise at midnight for the Night Office as the prophet enjoins, and so they must retire to bed early, so that their weak nature can sustain these vigils, and all the matters for the day can be done in daylight as St Benedict also laid down.’112 After the Office they should return to the dormitory until the hour is struck for morning Lauds. If any of the night still remains, sleep should not be denied their weakness, for sleep more than anything refreshes weary nature, makes it able to endure toil, and keeps it equable and alert. However, if any of them feel a need to meditate on the Psalter or the lessons, as St Benedict also says,113 they must concentrate without disturbing those who are asleep, for in this passage he refers to meditation rather than reading, lest the reading of some disturb the sleep of others. And when he spoke of ‘the brothers who feel a need’, he was certainly not compelling anyone to meditate in this way. But if there is sometimes also a need for instruction in chanting, this will also have to be met for those for whom it is necessary.
The morning Hour should be celebrated as soon as day dawns, and, if it can be arranged, the bell should be rung at sunrise. When it is ended the sisters should return to the dormitory, and, if it is summer, and the night is short and the morning long, we are willing for them to sleep a little before Prime, until they are waked by the bell. Such sleep after morning Lauds is mentioned by St Gregory in the second chapter of his Dialogues in speaking of the venerable Libertinus: ‘But on the second day there was a case to be heard for the benefit of the monastery. And so, after morning hymns had been sung, Libertinus came to the abbot’s bedside and humbly sought a prayer for himself …’ This morning sleep shall accordingly be permitted from Easter until the autumn equinox, after which the night begins to exceed the day.
On coming out of the dormitory they must wash and then take books and sit in the cloister reading or chanting until Prime is rung. After Prime they should go to Chapter, and when all are seated there, a lesson from the Martyrology should be read, after the day of the month is given out. After this there should either be some edifying words or some of the Rule should be read and expounded. Then if there are matters to correct or arrange they should go on to these.
But it must be understood that neither a monastery nor some particular house should be called irregular if some irregularities occur there, but only if they are not afterwards carefully corrected. For is there any place which is wholly faultless? St Augustine took due note of this in a certain passage when he was instructing his clergy:
However strict the discipline in my house, I am a man and live among men. I would not venture to claim that my house is better than Noah’s Ark, where one amongst eight persons was found to be a reprobate, or better than the house of Abraham where it was said ‘Drive out this slave-girl and her son,’ or better than the house of Isaac of which the Lord said, ‘I love Jacob, I hate Esau,’ or better than the house of Jacob where a son defiled his father’s bed, or better than the house of David, where one son slept with his sister and another rebelled against the holy mildness of his father; or better than the company of the apostle Paul, who, had he lived among good men would not have said ‘Quarrels all round us, forebodings within.’ Nor if he had been living among good men would he have said, ‘There is no one here who takes a genuine interest in your concerns; they are all bent on their own ends.’ It is not better than the company of Christ himself, in which eleven good men had to endure the thief and traitor Judas, nor better, lastly, than heaven from which angels fell.114
Augustine also, in pressing us to seek the discipline of the monastery, added: ‘I confess before God, from the day on which I began to serve God, I have had difficulty in finding better men than those who have made progress in monasteries, but equally I have found none worse than those in monasteries who have fallen.’ Hence, I think, it is written in the Apocalypse, ‘Let the good man persevere in his goodness and the filthy man continue in his filth.’115
Correction must therefore be rigorous, to the extent that any sister who has seen something to be corrected in another and concealed it shall be subjected to a harsher discipline than the offender. No one then should put off denouncing her own or another’s wrongdoing. Whoever anticipates the others in accusing herself, as it is written that ‘The just man is the first to accuse himself,’ deserves a milder punishment, if her negligence has ceased. But no one shall presume to make excuses for another unless the abbess happens to question her about the truth of a matter which is unknown to the rest. No one shall ever presume to strike another for any fault unless she has been ordered to do so by the abbess. Concerning the discipline of correction, it is written: ‘My son, do not spurn the Lord’s correction nor be cast down at his reproof; for those whom he loves the Lord reproves, as a father punishes a favourite son.’ Again, ‘A father who spares the rod hates his son, but one who loves him keeps him in order.’ ‘Strike a scornful man and a fool will be wiser.’ ‘Punish a scornful man and the simple will be wiser.’ ‘A whip for the horse, a halter for the ass and a rod for the back of fools.’ ‘Who takes a man to task will in the end win more thanks than the man with a flattering tongue.’ ‘Discipline is never pleasant, at the time it seems painful, but later, for those trained by it, it yields a harvest of peace and goodness.’ ‘There is shame in being the father of a spoilt son, and the birth of a foolish daughter will bring loss.’ ‘A man who loves his son will whip him often so that he may have joy in him in the end.’ ‘An unbroken horse turns out stubborn, and an unchecked son turns out headstrong. Pamper your son and he will shock you; play with him and he will grieve you.’116
In a discussion on what counsel to take, it shall be open to anyone to offer her opinion, but whatever everyone else thinks, the abbess’s decision must not be swayed, for everything depends on her will, even if (which God forbid) she may be mistaken and decide on a worse course. For as St Augustine says in his Confessions, ‘He who disobeys his superiors in anything sins greatly, even if he chooses what is better than what is commanded him.’117 It is indeed far better for us to do well than to do good, and we must think less of what should be done and more of the manner and spirit in which to do it. A thing is well done which is done obediently, even if it seems the least good thing to have done. And so superiors must be obeyed in everything, whatever the material harm, if there is no apparent danger to the soul. The superior must take care that he orders well since it is sufficient for his subjects to obey well and not to follow their own will but, as they professed, that of their superiors. For we absolutely forbid that custom should ever be set above reason; a practice must never be defended on grounds of custom but only of reason, not because it is usual but because it is good, and it should be more readily accepted the better it is shown to be. Otherwise like the Jews we should set the antiquity of the Law before the Gospel.
On this point St Augustine several times gives proof from the counsel of Cyprian, and says in one passage: ‘Whoever despises truth and presumes to follow custom is either ill-disposed and hostile towards his fellow-men, to whom truth is revealed, or he is ungrateful to God on whose inspiration his Church is founded.’ Again, ‘In the Gospel the Lord says “I am Truth.” He did not say “I am custom.” And so as truth was made manifest, custom must yield to truth.’ Again, ‘Since the truth was revealed, error must yield to truth, just as Peter, who was previously circumcised, yielded to Paul who preached truth.’ Similarly, in the fourth book On Baptism he writes: ‘In vain do those who are vanquished by reason plead custom against us, as though custom were greater than truth, or in spiritual matters we should not follow what was revealed for the better by the Holy Spirit. This is clearly true because reason and truth must be set before custom.’118
Gregory the Seventh writes to Bishop Wimund: ‘And certainly, in the words of St Cyprian, any custom, however long established and widespread, must stand second to truth and practice which is contrary to truth must be abolished.’119 And we are told how lovingly we should adhere to the truth in speech by Ecclesiasticus when he says ‘Do not be ashamed to speak the truth for your soul’s sake,’ and ‘Do not contradict the truth in any way,’ and again, ‘A true word should come before every enterprise and steady counsel before every deed.’120 Nothing must be taken as a precedent because it is done by many but because it is approved by the wise and good. As Solomon says, ‘The number of fools cannot be counted,’ and, in accordance with the assertion of the Truth, ‘Many are summoned but few are chosen.’121 Valuable things are rare, and multiplication of numbers diminishes value. In taking counsel no one should follow the larger number of men but the better men; it is not a man’s years which should be considered but his wisdom, and regard paid not to friendship but to truth. Hence also the words of the poet:
Even from a foe it is right to learn.122
But whenever there is need for counsel it must not be postponed and, if important matters are to be debated, the whole convent should be assembled. For discussing minor affairs it will be enough for the abbess to meet a few of the senior nuns. It is also written concerning counsel that ‘The people fares ill that has no guidance, but safety reigns where counsel abounds.’ ‘The fool is right in his own eyes, but the wise man listens to counsel.’ ‘Do nothing, my son, except with counsel, and afterwards you will have no regrets.’123 If something done without taking counsel happens to have a successful outcome, fortune’s kindness does not excuse the doer’s presumption. But if after taking counsel men sometimes err, the authority which sought counsel is not held guilty of presumption, and the man who believed his advisers is not so much to be blamed as those with whom he agreed in their error.
On coming out from Chapter the sisters should apply themselves to suitable tasks, reading or chanting or handiwork until Terce. After Terce the Mass shall be said, and to celebrate this one of the monks shall be appointed priest for the week. If numbers are large he must come with a deacon and subdeacon to serve him with what is necessary or to perform their own office. Their coming in and going out must be so arranged as to be unseen by the sisters. If more have been needed, arrangements shall be made for them too and, if possible, provision so that the monks never miss divine offices in their own monastery because of the nuns’ masses.
If the sisters are to take communion, one of the older priests must be chosen to administer it to them after Mass, but the deacon and subdeacon must first withdraw, to remove any risk of temptation. Three times at least in the year the whole convent must communicate, at Easter, Pentecost and the Nativity of the Lord, as it was ordained by the Fathers for the laity also. For these communions they must prepare themselves in the following way: three days before they should all make their confession and do suitable penance, and by three days of fasting on bread and water and repeated prayer, purify themselves humbly and fearfully, taking to themselves those terrible words of the Apostle:
It follows that anyone who eats the bread or drinks from the cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of desecrating the body and blood of the Lord. A man must test himself before eating his share of the bread and drinking from the cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks judgement on himself if he does not discern the body of the Lord. That is why many of you are feeble and sick and a number have died. But if we judged ourselves we should not be judged at all.124
After Mass they should return again to their work until Sext and not waste any time in idleness; everyone must do what she can and what is right for her. After Sext they should have lunch, unless it is a fast-day, when they must wait until None, and in Lent even until Vespers. But at no time must the convent be without reading, which the abbess may end when she wishes by saying ‘Enough’, and then they should all rise at once to render thanks to God. In summer they should rest in their dormitory after lunch until None, and after None return to work until Vespers. Immediately after Vespers they should eat and drink, and then, according to the custom of the season, they should go to Collation:125 but on Saturday, before Collation, they should be made clean by washing of the feet and hands. The abbess should also participate in this rite along with the sisters on duty for the week in the kitchen. After Collation they are to come at once to Compline, and then retire to sleep.
As regards food and clothing, the opinion of the Apostle must be followed, in which he says, ‘As long as we have food and something to wear let us rest content.’126 That is, necessities should be sufficient and superfluous things not sought. They should be allowed whatever can be bought cheaply or easily obtained and taken without giving offence, for the Apostle avoids only what foods will offend his own or his brother’s conscience, knowing that it is not the food which is at fault but the appetite for it.
The man who eats must not hold in contempt the man who does not, and he who does not eat must not pass judgement on the man who does … Who are you to pass judgement on someone else’s servant? … He who eats has the Lord in mind when he eats, since he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains has the Lord in mind no less, and he too gives thanks to God … Let us therefore cease judging one another, but rather make this judgement: that no obstacle or stumbling-block be placed in a brother’s way. I know on the authority of the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, only if a man considers a particular thing unclean … The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit … Everything is pure in itself, but anything is bad for the man who by his eating causes his brother to fall. It is good to abstain from eating meat or drinking wine, or doing anything which causes your brother’s downfall.127
And after the offence to his brother he goes on to speak of the offence to himself of a man who eats against his own conscience: ‘Happy is the man who does not bring judgement upon himself by what he approves. But a man who has doubts is guilty if he eats, because his action does not arise from his conviction, and anything which is not from conviction is sin.’
For in all that we do against our conscience and against our beliefs we are sinning; and in what we test by the law which we approve and accept, we judge and condemn ourselves if we eat those foods which we discriminate against or exclude by the law and set apart as unclean. So great is the testimony of our conscience that this more than anything accuses or excuses us before God. And so John writes in his First Letter: ‘Dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, then we can approach God with confidence, and obtain from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commandments and do what he approves.’128 It was therefore well said by Paul in the passage above that ‘Nothing is unclean in the eyes of Christ, but only for the man who considers a thing unclean,’ that is, if he thinks it impure and forbidden to him. (Indeed, we call certain foods unclean which according to the Law are clean, because the Law in forbidding them to its own people may still offer them publicly to those outside the Law. Hence ‘common’ women are unclean, and common things which are offered publicly are cheap or less dear.) And so the Apostle asserts that no food is ‘common’ or unclean in the eyes of Christ because the law of Christ forbids nothing except, as is said, to remove offence to one’s own conscience or another’s. On this he says elsewhere, ‘And therefore if food be the downfall of my brother, I will never eat meat any more, for I will not be the cause of my brother’s downfall.’ ‘Am I not a free man? Am I not an apostle?’129 – as if he were to say, Have I not the freedom which the Lord gave to the apostles, to eat whatever I like or to take alms from others? For when the Lord sent out the apostles, he said in a certain passage: ‘Eating and drinking what they have,’130 and thus made no distinction between kinds of food. Noting this, the Apostle is careful to say that any kind of food, even if it is the food of unbelievers and consecrated to idols, is permitted to Christians and only the giving of offence in food is to be avoided:
There are no forbidden things, but not everything does good. Nothing is forbidden me, but not everything helps to build the community. Nobody should look to his own interests, but the other man’s. You may eat anything sold in the meat-market without raising questions of conscience; for the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you care to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, ‘This food has been offered in sacrifice to idols,’ then, out of consideration for him who told you and for conscience’s sake, do not eat it – not your conscience, I mean, but the other man’s … Give no offence to Jews or Greeks or to the Church of God.131
From these words of the Apostle it is plain that nothing is forbidden us which we can eat without offence to our own or another’s conscience. We eat without offence to our own conscience if we are sure that we are keeping to that course of life whereby we can be saved, and without offence to another’s if we are believed to be living in a manner leading to salvation. We shall indeed live in this manner if we permit everything necessary to our nature while avoiding sin, and if we are not over-confident of our strength so as to bind ourselves by profession to a rule of life too heavy for us, under which we may fall: and the higher the degree of our profession, the heavier the fall would be. Such a fall, and such a foolish vow of profession, Ecclesiastes forestalls, when he says: ‘When you make a vow to God do not be slow to pay it, for he has no use for unbelievers and foolish promises. Pay whatever you owe. Better not vow at all than vow and fail to pay.’132 On this hazard too the Apostle advises, saying: ‘It is my wish that younger widows shall remarry, have children, preside over a home, and give no opponent occasion for slander. For there have already been some who have taken the wrong turning and gone to the devil.’133 Out of consideration for the nature of youth’s frailty, he sets the remedy of a freer way of life against the risk of attempting a better one, and advises us to stay in a lowly position lest we fall from a high one.
Following him St Jerome also instructs the virgin Eustochium: ‘But if those who are virgins may not be saved on account of other faults, what shall become of those who have prostituted the members of Christ and turned the temple of the Holy Spirit into a brothel? It would have been better for mankind to undergo matrimony, tread level ground, than to aim at the heights and fall into the depths of hell.’ And if we search through all the words of the Apostle we shall never find that he allowed a second marriage except to women. To men he preaches continence. ‘If anyone was circumcised before he was called, he should not disguise it.’ And again, ‘If you are free of a wife, do not seek one.’134 Moses, on the other hand, was more indulgent to men than to women, and allowed one man several wives at the same time, but not one woman several husbands; and he punished the adulteries of women more severely than those of men. ‘A woman,’ says the Apostle, ‘if her husband dies is free from the law of her husband, so that she does not commit adultery if she consorts with another man.’135 And elsewhere, ‘To the unmarried and to widows I say this: It is a good thing if they stay as I am myself, but if they cannot control themselves, they should marry. Better be married than burn with desire.’ Again, ‘The wife, if her husband is dead, is free to marry whom she will, as long as it is in the Lord. But she will be happier if she stays in accordance with my advice.’136 Not only does he allow a second marriage to the weaker sex but he does not venture to set a limit to the number, simply permitting them to take other husbands when theirs are dead. He fixes no limit to their marriages, provided that they are not guilty of fornication. They should marry often rather than fornicate once, and pay the debts of the flesh to many rather than once be prostituted to one: such payment is not wholly free from sin, but lesser sins are permitted so that greater may be avoided.
No wonder, then, that what has no sin at all is allowed them lest they commit sin; that is, foods which are necessary and not superfluous. For, as we said, the food is not to blame but the appetite, when pleasure is taken in what is not permitted, and forbidden things are desired and sometimes shamelessly snatched, which causes very serious offence.
But what amongst all the foods of men is so dangerous, injurious and contrary to our religion or to holy quiet as wine? The wisest of men well understood this when he particularly warns us against it, saying:
Wine is reckless, and strong drink quarrelsome. No one who delights in these will be wise … Who will know woe, as his father will, and quarrels, brawls, bruises without cause and bloodshot eyes? Those who linger late over wine, and look for ready-mixed wine. Do not look on wine when it glows and sparkles in the glass. It goes down smoothly, but in the end it will bite like a snake and spread venom like a serpent. Then your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind utter distorted words; you will be like a man sleeping in mid-ocean, like a drowsy helmsman who has lost his rudder, and you will say: ‘They struck me and it did not hurt, dragged me off and I felt nothing. When I wake up I shall turn to wine again …’
Again:
Do not give wine to kings, O Lemuel, never to kings; there is no privy counsel where drinking prevails. If they drink they may forget what they have decreed and neglect the pleas of the poor for their sons.137
And in Ecclesiasticus it says, ‘A drunken workman will never grow rich; carelessness in small things leads little by little to ruin. Wine and women rob the wise of their wits and are a hard test for good sense.’138
Isaiah, too, passes over all other foods and mentions only wine as a reason for the captivity of his people. ‘Shame on you,’ he says, ‘who rise in the morning to go in pursuit of liquor and drinking until evening, when you are heated with wine. At your feasts you have harp and lute, tabor and pipe and wine, but have no eyes for the work of the Lord. Shame upon you, mighty drinkers, violent mixers of drinks.’139 Then he extends his lament from the people to priests and prophets, saying,
These too are fuddled with wine and bemused with drinking. Priest and prophet are stupid with drinking; they are sodden with wine, bemused with liquor; they do not recognize the true visionary and have forgotten justice. Every table is covered with vomit and filth that leaves no clean spot. Whom shall the prophet teach knowledge? Whom shall he compel to listen and understand?140
The Lord says through Joel, ‘Wake up, you drunkards, and weep for the sweet wine you drink.’141 Not that he forbids wine when necessary, for the Apostle recommends it to Timothy ‘for the frequent ailments of your stomach’142 – not ailments only, but frequent ones.
Noah was the first to plant a vineyard, still ignorant perhaps of the evil of drinking, and, when drunk, exposed his bare thighs, because with wine comes the shame of lechery. When mocked by his son he put a curse on him and bound him by a sentence of servitude, something we know was never done before. Lot was a holy man, and so his daughters saw that he could never be led into incest except through drunkenness. And the holy widow believed that Holofernes in his pride could never be tricked and brought low except by this device. The angels who visited the patriarchs of old and were hospitably received by them took food, we are told, but not wine. Elijah too, the greatest and first of our leaders, when he had retired to the wilderness was brought bread and meat for food by the ravens morning and evening, but not wine. The children of Israel also, we read, were fed in the desert mainly on the delicate flesh of quails, but neither received wine nor wished for it.143 And those repasts of loaves and fishes wherewith the people were sustained in the wilderness are nowhere said to have included wine. Only a wedding, where incontinence is permitted, was granted the miracle of the wine which promotes sensuality.144 But the wilderness, the proper habitation of monks, knew the benefit of meat rather than wine. Again, the cardinal point in the law of the Nazirites whereby they dedicated themselves to God forbade only wine and strong drink.145 For what strength or virtue remains in the drunken? Thus not only wine, but anything which can intoxicate, we read, was also forbidden to the priests of old. And so Jerome, in writing to Nepotian about the life of the clergy, and highly indignant because the priests of the Law abstain from all strong drink and so surpass our clergy in abstinence, says:
Never smell of wine, lest you hear said of you those words of the philosopher: ‘This is not offering a kiss but proffering a cup.’ The Apostle condemns priests who are given to drink and the Old Law equally forbids it: ‘Those who serve the altar shall not drink wine and strong drink.’ By ‘strong drink’ in Hebrew is understood any drink which can intoxicate, whether produced by fermentation, or from apple juice, or from honeycomb which has been distilled into a sweet, rough drink, or when the fruit of the date-palm is pressed into liquid, or water is enriched with boiled grain. Whatever intoxicates and upsets the balance of the mind, shun it like wine.
According to the Rule of St Pachomius, no one shall have access to wine and liquor except in the sickroom.146 Which of you has not heard that wine in any form is not for monks, and was so greatly abhorred by the monks of old that in their stern warnings against it they called it Satan? And so we read in the Lives of the Fathers that:
Certain people told abba Pastor that a particular monk drank no wine, to which he replied that wine was not for monks.
And further on:
Once there was a celebration of the Mass on the Mount of abba Antony, and a jar of wine was found there. One of the elders took a small vessel, carried a cupful to abba Sisoi and gave it to him. He drank once, and a second time he took it and drank, but when it was offered a third time he refused, saying ‘Peace, brother, do you not know it is Satan?’
It is also said of abba Sisoi:
His disciple Abraham then asked, ‘If this happens on the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day in church, and he drinks three cups, is that too much?’ ‘If it were not Satan,’ the old man replied, ‘it would not be much.’
St Benedict had this in mind when he allowed wine to monks by special dispensation, saying:
Although we read that wine is never for monks, in our times it is impossible to persuade monks of this.
It is not surprising, then, that if wine is strictly denied to monks, St Jerome absolutely forbids it to women, whose nature is weaker in itself, though stronger as regards wine. He uses strong words when instructing Eustochium, the Bride of Christ, on the preserving of her virginity:
And so, if there is any counsel in me, if my experience is to be trusted, this is my first warning and testimony. The Bride of Christ must avoid wine like poison. It is the first weapon of demons against youth. Greed does not make her waver nor pride bolster her up nor ambition seduce her in the same way. We can easily forgo the other vices, but this is a foe shut up within us. Wherever we go we carry the enemy with us. Wine and youth are the twin fires of lust. Why throw oil on the flame, why add the fuel of fire to the burning body?147
And yet it is well known from the evidence of those who write about physic that wine has much less power over women than men. Macrobius Theodosius, in the seventh book of his Saturnalia, gives a reason for this:
Aristotle says that women are rarely intoxicated, but old men often. Woman has an extremely humid body, as can be known from her smooth and glossy skin, and especially from her regular purgations which rid the body of superfluous humours. So when wine is drunk and merged with so general a humidity, it loses its power and does not easily strike the seat of the brain when its strength is extinguished.
Again:
A woman’s body which is destined for frequent purgations is pierced with several holes, so that it opens into channels and provides outlets for the moisture draining away to be dispersed. Through these holes the fumes of wine are quickly released.
On what grounds, then, should monks be allowed what is denied to the weaker sex? What madness it is to permit it to those to whom it can do more harm while denying it to others! Nothing could be more foolish than that religion should not abhor what is so contrary to religion and takes us furthest away from God, nothing more shameless than that the abstinence of Christian perfection should not shun what is forbidden to kings and priests of the Law or, rather, should especially delight in it. For who does not know that today the interests of the clergy in particular, and also of the monks, revolve round the cellars, to see how they can fill them with different varieties of wine, and how to brew with herbs, honey and spices so that the more pleasurably they drink, the more easily they make themselves drunk, and the more they are warmed by wine, the more they incite themselves to lust? What error, or rather, what folly is this, when those who bind themselves most stringently by their profession of continence make less preparation for keeping their vow, and even do what makes it least likely to be kept? Though their bodies are confined to the cloister their hearts are filled with lust and minds on fire for fornication. In writing to Timothy the Apostle says: ‘Stop drinking nothing but water; take a little wine for your digestion, for your frequent ailments.’ Timothy is allowed a little wine for his ailments because it is clear that when in good health he would take none.
If we profess the apostolic life and especially vow to follow the way of repentance, if we preach withdrawal from the world, why do we particularly delight in what we see to be wholly contrary to our purpose and more delectable than any food? St Ambrose in his detailed description of repentance condemns nothing in the diet of the penitent except wine. ‘Does anyone think,’ he asks, ‘that repentance exists where there is still ambition for high position, pouring out of wine and conjugal enjoyment of sexual union? Renunciation of the world can more easily be found among those who have kept their innocence than among those who have done fitting penance.’148 Again, in his book On Renouncing the World he says: ‘You renounce it well if your eye renounces cups and flagons lest it becomes lustful in lingering over wine.’ Wine is the only form of nutriment he mentions in this book, and he says that we renounce the world well if we renounce wine, as if all the pleasures of the world depend on this alone: nor does he say ‘if the palate renounces the taste of it’ but ‘if the eye renounces the sight’, lest it be captivated by lust and delight in what it often sees. Hence the words of Solomon which we quoted above: ‘Do not look on wine when it glows and sparkles in the glass.’ But what, pray, are we to say when we have flavoured it with honey, herbs or different spices so as to enjoy its taste as well as the sight of it, and then want to drink it by flagons?
St Benedict was compelled to grant indulgence for wine, saying, ‘Let us agree at least on this, that we should drink temperately, not to satiety, for “wine robs even the wise of their wits”.’ If only our drinking could stop at satiety and not be carried on to the greater sin of excess! St Augustine, too, in setting up monasteries for clerks and writing a Rule for them, says: ‘Only on the Sabbath or on the Lord’s Day, as the custom is, those who want to may take wine.’149 This was out of reverence for the Lord’s Day and its vigil, the Sabbath, and also because at that time the brothers scattered amongst the cells were gathered together; as when in the Lives of the Fathers St Jerome says, when writing of the place he named The Cells, ‘They stay each in his own cell, but on the Sabbath and the Lord’s Day they assemble in Church, and there see themselves restored to each other as if in heaven.’150 This indulgence was therefore surely suitable at a time when they met together and could enjoy some relaxation, and feel as well as say ‘How good it is and how pleasant for brothers to live together!’151
But if we abstain from meat, what a reproach it is to us if we eat everything else to excess, if we procure varied dishes of fish at vast expense, mingle the flavours of pepper and spices, and, when we are drunk on neat wine, go on to cups of herb-flavoured liquor and flagons of spiced drink! All this is to be excused by abstinence from ordinary meat provided that we do not guzzle in public – as if the quality rather than excess of food were to blame, although the Lord forbids us only dissipation and drunkenness,152 that is, excess in food and drink, not the quality. St Augustine takes note of this, for his fears are all for wine, no other form of nourishment, and he draws no distinction between kinds of food when he says briefly what he believes to be sufficient abstinence: ‘Subdue your flesh by fasting and by abstinence from food and drink as far as your health permits.’153 If I am not mistaken, he had read this passage of St Athanasius in his exhortation to monks: ‘Let there be no fixed measure of fasts for the willing, but let these last as long as possible, without being prolonged by effort, and except on the Lord’s Day, if vowed they should be solemnly observed.’154 In other words, if they are undertaken by vow they should be devoutly carried out, except on the Lord’s Day. No fasts are fixed in advance but are to last as far as health permits, for it is said that ‘He regards solely the capacity of nature and lets it set its own limit, knowing that there is failure in nothing if moderation is kept in everything.’155 And so we should not be relaxed in our pleasures more than is right, like the people nourished on the germ of wheat and the purest wine, of whom it is written, ‘He grew fat, he grew bloated and unruly’;156 nor should we succumb, famished and wholly defeated by excessive fasting, and lose our reward by complaining, or glory in our singularity. This Ecclesiastes foresees when he says: ‘The righteous man perishes in his righteousness. Do not be over-righteous nor wiser than is necessary, lest you are bewildered’;157 that is to say, do not swell with pride in your own singularity.
Let discretion, the mother of all the virtues, preside over zeal and look carefully to see on whom she may lay which burdens, that is, on each according to his capacity, following nature rather than putting pressure on it, and removing not the habit of sufficiency but the abuse of excess, so that vices are rooted out but nature is unharmed. It is enough for the weak if they avoid sin, although they may not rise to the peak of perfection, and sufficient also to dwell in a corner of Paradise if you cannot take your seat with the martyrs. It is safe to vow in moderation so that grace may add more to what we owe; for of this it is written, ‘When you have carried out all your orders you should say “We are servants and worthless; we have done only what it was our duty to do.”’158 ‘The Law,’ says the Apostle, ‘can bring only retribution: only where there is no law can there be no breach of law.’ And again, ‘In the absence of law, sin is dead. There was a time when, in the absence of law, I was alive, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. The commandment was meant to lead to life, but in my case it led to death, because sin found its opportunity in the commandment, seduced me, and through the commandment killed me.’159
Augustine writes to Simplician: ‘By being prohibited desire has increased, it has become sweeter and so deceived me.’160 Similarly, in the Book of Questions, number 83: ‘The persuasiveness of pleasure towards sin is more urgent when there is prohibition.’ Hence the poet says,
Always we seek the forbidden and desire what is denied.161
Let him pay heed to this with reverence, who wishes to bind himself under the yoke of any rule, as though by obedience to a new law. Let him choose what he can, fear what he cannot. No one is held liable under a law unless he has accepted its authority. Think carefully before you accept it, but once you have done so, keep it. What was voluntary before afterwards becomes compulsory. ‘There are many dwelling places,’ says the Truth, ‘in my Father’s house.’162 So too there are many ways whereby we may come to them. The married are not damned, but the continent are more easily saved. The rulings of the holy Fathers were not given us simply so that we can be saved, but so that we can be saved more easily and be enabled to devote ourselves more purely to God. ‘If a virgin marries,’ says the Apostle, ‘she has done no wrong. But such people will have trouble in the flesh, and my aim is to spare you.’ Again:
The unmarried and virgin woman cares for the Lord’s business; her aim is to be holy both in body and spirit. But the married woman cares for worldly things and her aim is to please her husband. In saying this I have no desire to keep you on a tight rein; I am thinking simply of your own good, of what is seemly, and of your freedom to wait upon the Lord without distraction.163
The time for this to be most easily done is when we withdraw from the world in body too, and shut ourselves in the cloisters of monasteries lest we are disturbed by the tumult of the world. Not only he who receives but he who makes a law should take care not to multiply transgressions by multiplying restrictions. The Word of God came down to earth and curtailed the word on earth. Moses said many things, and yet, in the words of the Apostle, ‘The Law brought nothing to perfection.’164 He did indeed say many things, which were so burdensome that the apostle Peter declares that no one can endure his precepts: ‘Men and brothers, why do you provoke God, laying on the shoulders of these converts a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear? No, we believe that it is by the grace of the Lord Jesus that we are saved, and so are they.’165
Christ chose only a few words to give the apostles moral instruction and teach the holiness of life and the way of perfection. He set aside what was austere and burdensome and taught sweetness and light, which for him was the sum of religion. ‘Come to me,’ he said, ‘all you whose work is hard, whose load is heavy, and I will give you relief. Bend your necks to my yoke, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble-hearted, and your souls will find rest. For my yoke is pleasant to bear and my load is light.’166
We often treat our good works as we do the business of the world, for many in their business labour more and gain less, and many outwardly afflict themselves more but inwardly make less progress in the sight of God, who regards the heart rather than works. The more they are taken up with outward things, the less they can devote themselves to inner ones; and the more they shine out amongst men, who judge by externals, the greater the fame they seek among them, and the more easily they are led astray by pride. The Apostle deals with this error when he firmly belittles works and extols justification by faith: ‘For if Abraham was justified by works, then he has a ground for pride, but not before God. For what does Scripture say? “Abraham put his faith in the Lord and that faith was counted as righteousness.”’ And again: ‘Then what are we to say? That Gentiles, who made no effort after righteousness, nevertheless achieved it, a righteousness based on faith; whereas Israel made great efforts after a law of righteousness but never achieved it. Why was this? Because their efforts were not based on faith, but (as they supposed) on works.’167 They clean the outside of the pot or dish but pay little heed to cleanliness inside, they watch over the flesh more than the soul, and so are fleshly rather than spiritual.
But we who desire Christ to dwell in the inner man by faith, think little of outward things which are common to the sinner and the chosen; we heed the words ‘I am bound by vows to thee, O God, and will redeem them with praise of thee.’168 Moreover, we do not practise that outward abstinence prescribed by the Law, which certainly confers no righteousness. Nor does the Lord forbid us anything in the way of food except dissipation and drunkenness, that is, excess; and he was not ashamed to display in himself what he has allowed to us, although many of those present took offence and sharply rebuked him. With his own lips he says: ‘John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say “He is possessed.” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look at him! a glutton and a drinker.”’169 He also excused his own disciples because they did not fast like the disciples of John, nor when they were about to eat did they bother much about bodily cleanness and hand-washing. ‘The children of the bridegroom’, he said, ‘cannot be expected to mourn when the bridegroom is with them.’ And elsewhere, ‘A man is not defiled by what goes into his mouth but by what comes out of it. What comes out of the mouth has its origins in the heart, and that is what defiles a man; but to eat without first washing his hands, that cannot defile him.’170
Therefore no food defiles the soul, only the appetite for forbidden food. For as the body is not defiled except by bodily filth, so the soul can only be defiled by spiritual filth. We need not fear anything done in the body if the soul is not prevailed on to consent. Nor should we put our trust in the cleanliness of the flesh if the mind is corrupted by the will. Thus the whole life and death of the soul depends on the heart, as Solomon says in Proverbs: ‘Guard your heart more than any treasure, for it is the source of all life.’171 And according to the words of the Truth we have quoted, what defiles a man comes from the heart, since the soul is lost or saved by evil or good desires. But since soul and flesh are closely conjoined in one person, special care must be taken lest the pleasure enjoyed by the flesh leads the soul to comply, and when the flesh is overindulged it grows wanton, resists the spirit and begins to dominate where it should be subject. However, we can guard against this if we allow all necessities but, as we have often said, cut off completely any excess, and so not deny the weaker sex any use of food while forbidding all abuse of it. Let everything be permitted but nothing consumed beyond measure. ‘For everything,’ says the Apostle, ‘that God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected when it is taken with thanksgiving, since it is hallowed by God’s own word and prayer. By offering such advice as this to the brethren you will prove a good servant of Jesus Christ, bred in the precepts of our faith and of the sound instruction which you have followed.’172
Let us therefore, with Timothy, follow the teaching of the Apostle, and, in accordance with the words of the Lord, shun nothing in food except dissipation and drunkenness; let us moderate everything so that we sustain weak nature in every way but do not nurture vices. Whatever can do harm by excess must be the more strictly moderated, for it is better and more praiseworthy to eat in moderation than to abstain altogether. Thus St Augustine, in his book On the Good of Marriage, when he deals with bodily sustenance, says that ‘A man makes no good use of these things unless he can also abstain from them. Many find it easier to abstain and not use at all than to be moderate so as to use well. But no one can use wisely unless he can also restrain himself from using.’ St Paul also said of this practice, ‘I know both what it is to have plenty and what it is to suffer need.’173 To suffer need is the lot of all men, but to know how to suffer it is granted only to the great. So too, any man can begin to have plenty, but to know how to have plenty is granted only to those whom plenty does not corrupt.
As regards wine, then, because (as we said) it is a sensual and turbulent thing, and so entirely opposed both to continence and to silence, women should either abstain altogether, in God’s name, just as the wives of the Gentiles are forbidden it through fear of adultery, or they should mix it with enough water to make it satisfy their thirst and benefit their health while not being strong enough to hurt them. This we believe can be done if at least a quarter of the mixture is water. It is indeed very difficult when drink is set before us to make sure that, as St Benedict ordered, we do not go on drinking to satiety. And so we think it safer not to forbid satiety and run the risk of breaking a rule, for it is not this, as we have often said, which is culpable, but excess. The preparation of wine mixed with herbs for medicinal purposes or even the drinking of neat wine is not to be forbidden, so long as the convent in general never takes these, but they are drunk separately by the sick.
Fine wheat flour we absolutely forbid; whenever the sisters use flour, a third part at least of coarser grain must be mixed with it. And they must never enjoy bread hot from the oven, but eat only what has been baked at least one day before. As for other foods, the abbess must see that, as we said above, what can be cheaply bought or easily obtained shall meet the needs of their weaker nature. For what could be more foolish than to buy extras when our own resources are sufficient, or to look outside for superfluous things when we have everything necessary to hand? We are taught this necessary moderation and discretion not so much by human as by angelic example, or even by that of the Lord himself, and should therefore know that for meeting the needs of this life we should not seek particular kinds of food but rest content with what we have; for the angels fed on meat set before them by Abraham, and the Lord Jesus refreshed a hungry multitude with fishes found in the wilderness. From this we are surely to learn that we are to eat meat or fish without distinguishing between them, and to take especially what is without offence of sin and is freely available, and consequently easier to prepare and less costly.
And so Seneca, the chief exponent of poverty and continence, and of all the philosophers the greatest teacher of morals, says:
Our motto, as we all know, is to live according to nature. It is against nature for a man to torment his body, to hate simple cleanliness and seek out dirt, to eat food which is not only cheap but disgusting and revolting. Just as a craving for dainties is a token of extravagance, avoidance of what is familiar and cheaply prepared is madness. Philosophy calls for simple living, not a penance, and a simple way of life need not be a rough one. This is the standard I approve.174
Gregory too, in the thirtieth book of his Morals, when teaching that in forming men’s character we should pay attention to the quality of our minds, not of our food, and distinguishing between the temptations of the palate, said: ‘One moment it seeks more delicate food, another it desires its chosen dishes to be more scrupulously prepared.’ Yet often what it craves is quite humble, but it sins even more by the very heat of its immense desire.
The people led out of Egypt fell in the desert because they despised manna and wanted meat, which they thought a finer food. And Esau lost the birthright of the firstborn because he craved with burning desire for a cheap food, lentils, and proved with what an appetite he longed for it by preferring it to the birthright he sold. Not the food but his appetite is at fault. And so we can often be blameless when we take more delicate foods but eat humbler fare with a guilty conscience. The Esau we spoke of lost his rights as firstborn for a dish of lentils, while Elijah in the desert maintained his bodily strength by eating meat.175 Thus our old enemy, knowing that it is not food but the desire for food which is the cause of damnation, brought the first man into his power not with meat but by an apple, and he tempted the second not with meat but with bread.176 Consequently the sin of Adam is often committed when plain and ordinary food is taken, and those things are to be eaten which the needs of nature require, not those which desire for eating suggests. But we crave with less desire for what we see is not so costly, but more plentiful and cheaper to buy: for example, the ordinary kind of meat which is much more strengthening than fish for a weak nature, and is less expensive and easier to prepare.
The use of meat and wine, like marriage, is considered to lie between good and evil, that is, it is indifferent, although the marriage tie is not wholly free from sin, and wine brings more hazards than any other food. Then if a moderate consumption of wine is not forbidden to religion, what have we to fear from other foods, so long as moderation is maintained? If St Benedict declares that wine is not for monks, and yet is obliged to allow it by special dispensation to the monks of his time when the fervour of the early Christian charity was cooling off, why should we not allow women other things which up to now no vow has forbidden them? If the Pontiffs themselves and the rulers of the Holy Church, if indeed monasteries of clerks are even allowed to eat meat without offence, because they are not bound by any profession of abstinence, who can find fault if women are allowed this too, especially if in other respects they submit to a much stricter discipline? ‘It is sufficient for a pupil to be like his master’,177 and it seems over-severe if what is allowed to monasteries of clerks is denied to convents of women.
Nor should it be counted as insignificant if women, who are subject to other monastic restrictions, are not inferior in observance to religious laymen in this one indulgence of meat, especially since, as Chrysostom bears witness: ‘Nothing is lawful to the lay clerk which is not also lawful for the monk, with one exception, intercourse with a wife.’178 St Jerome too, judging the religion of clerks to be not inferior to that of monks, says, ‘As though whatever is said against monks did not redound on clerks, who are the fathers of monks.’179 And who does not know that it is against all good sense if the same burdens are imposed on the weak as on the strong, if equally strict abstinence is enjoined on women as on men? If anyone demands authority for this beyond the evidence of nature, let him consult St Gregory on this point too. For this great Ruler and Doctor of the Church gives considered instruction to the other Doctors on this matter in the twenty-fourth chapter of his Pastoral: ‘And so men should be admonished in one way, women in another, for heavy burdens may be laid on men, and great matters exercise them, but lighter burdens on women, who should be gently converted by less exacting means.’ What matters little in the strong is thought important in the weak. And although this permission to eat ordinary meat gives less pleasure than eating the flesh of birds or fishes, St Benedict does not forbid us these either; the Apostle also distinguishes between different kinds of flesh, and says, ‘All flesh is not the same; there is flesh of men, flesh of beasts, of birds and of fishes, all different.’180 Now the law of the Lord assigns the flesh of beasts and of birds to sacrifice, but not that of fish, so no one may suppose that eating fish is purer in the eyes of God than eating meat. Fish is indeed more of a hardship to the poor, being dearer, since it is in shorter supply than meat, and less strengthening for weak nature; so that on the one hand it is more of a burden and, on the other, gives less help.
We therefore, considering both the resources and nature of mankind, forbid nothing in the matter of food, as we said, except excess, and we regulate the eating of meat as of everything else in such a way that the nuns can show greater abstinence with everything allowed them than monks do with certain things forbidden. And so we would make it a rule for the eating of meat that the sisters do not take it more than once a day, different dishes must not be prepared for the same person, and no sauces may be added separately; nor may it ever be eaten more than three times a week,181 on the first, third and fifth days, whatever feast-days intervene. For the more solemn the feast, the more dedicated should be the abstinence which celebrates it; this is warmly recommended to us by the famous doctor Gregory of Nazianzus in Book III On Lights or The Second Epiphany, where he says: ‘Let us celebrate a feast-day not by indulging the belly but exulting in the spirit.’ And in Book IV Of Pentecost and The Holy Spirit, ‘This is our feast-day,’ he says, ‘let us store away in the soul’s treasure-house something perennial and everlasting, not things which perish and melt away. Sufficient for the body is its own evil; it needs no richer matter, nor does the insolent beast need more lavish food to make it more insolent and violent in its demands.’182 And so the feast-day should rather be kept spiritually, as St Jerome, Gregory’s disciple, says in his letter about accepting gifts, where there is this passage: ‘Thus we must take special care to celebrate the day of festival with exultation of spirit rather than abundance of food, for it is palpably absurd to honour by over-indulgence a martyr whom we know to have pleased God by his fasting.’183 Augustine On the Medicine of Penitence says: ‘Consider all the thousands of martyrs. Why do we take pleasure in celebrating their birthdays with vile banquets and not in following the example of their lives in honest ways?’
Whenever the convent has a meatless day, the nuns are to be allowed two dishes of vegetables, to which we are willing for fish to be added. But no costly condiments may be used in the food in the convent, and the sisters must content themselves with the produce of the country where they live. Fruit, however, they should eat only for supper. But as medicine for those who need it, we never forbid herbs or root vegetables, or any fruits or other similar things to appear on the table. If there happens to be any pilgrim nun staying as a guest and present at a meal, she should be shown the courtesy of charity by being offered an extra dish and, if she wishes to share this, she may. She and any other guests should sit at the high table and be served by the abbess, who will then eat later with those who wait at table. If any of the sisters wishes to mortify the flesh by a stricter diet, on no account may she do so except by way of obedience, but on no account shall this be refused her if her reason for wanting it seems sound and not frivolous, and her strength is sufficient to bear it. But no one must ever be permitted to go out of the convent for this reason, nor spend a whole day without food.
They must never use fat for flavouring on the sixth day of the week, but be content with Lenten food, and by their abstinence share the suffering of their bridegroom on that day. But one practice, common in many monasteries, is not only to be forbidden but strictly abhorred, that is, the habit of cleaning and wiping the hands and knives on some of the bread which is left uneaten and kept for the poor, so that in wishing to spare the tablecloths they pollute the bread of the poor, or indeed, the bread of him who treats himself as one of the poor when he says: ‘Anything you did for one of my brothers here, however humble, you did for me.’184
As regards abstinence at fasts: the general ruling of the Church should be sufficient for them. We do not venture to burden them in this beyond the observance of religious laymen, nor dare to set their weakness above the strength of men. But from the autumn equinox until Easter, when the days are short, we believe one meal a day should be enough and, as the reason for this is not religious abstinence but seasonal shortness, here we make no distinction between kinds of food.
Costly clothes, which Scripture utterly condemns, must be absolutely banned. The Lord warns us especially against them, and condemns the pride in them of the rich man who was damned, while by contrast he commends the humility of John. St Gregory draws attention to this in his Sixth Homily on the Gospels:
What does it mean to say ‘Those who wear fine clothes are to be found in palaces’185 unless to state in plain words that those men who refuse to endure hardships fight not for a heavenly but an earthly kingdom, and by devoting themselves only to outward show, seek the softness and pleasure of this present life?
And in his Fortieth Homily he says:
There are some who do not think that the fashion of fine and costly garments is a sin. But surely if it were not blameworthy, the Word of God would never say so explicitly that the rich man who was tormented in hell had been clothed in satin and purple. For no one seeks special garments except for vainglory, in order to appear more worthy of esteem than his fellows; from vainglory alone is costly clothing sought. This is proved by the fact that no one cares to wear costly clothes where others cannot see him.
The First Letter of Peter warns lay and married women against the same thing:
In the same way you women must accept the authority of your husbands, so that if there are any of them who disbelieve the Gospel they may be won over, without a word being said, by observing the chaste and reverent behaviour of their wives. Your beauty should reside, not in outward adornment – the braiding of the hair, or jewellery, or dress – but in the inmost centre of your being, the ornament of a gentle, quiet spirit, which is of value in the sight of God.186
And he rightly thought that women rather than men should be warned against this vanity, for their weak minds desire more strongly what enables extravagance to find fuller expression in them and through them. But if lay women are to be forbidden these things, what care must be taken by women dedicated to Christ? Their fashion in dress is that they have no fashion and, whoever wants fashion, or does not refuse it if offered, loses the proof of her chastity. Any such person would be thought to be preparing herself not for religion but for fornication, and be judged not a nun but a whore. Moreover, fashion itself is the badge of the pimp and betrays his lewd mind, as it is written: ‘A man’s clothes and the way he laughs and his gait reveal his character.’187
We read that the Lord, as we said above, praised and commended the cheapness and roughness of John’s clothing rather than of his food. ‘What did you go out to see in the wilderness?’ he asked. ‘A man clad in fine clothes?’ For there are times when the serving of costly food can usefully be conceded, but none for the wearing of costly clothing. Indeed, the more costly such clothing is, the more carefully it is preserved and the less useful it is – it is more of a burden to its purchaser, and being so fine it is more easily damaged and provides less warmth for the body. Black clothes are most fitting of all for the mournful garb of penitence, and lambs’ wool the most suitable for the brides of Christ, so that even in their habits they can be seen to wear, or be told to wear, the wool of the Lamb, the bridegroom of virgins.
Their veils should not be made of silk but of dyed linen cloth, and we would have two sorts of veil, one for the virgins already consecrated by the bishop, the other for those not to be consecrated. The veils of the former should have the sign of the Cross marked on them, so that their wearers shall be shown by this to belong particularly to Christ in the integrity of their virginity, and as they are set apart from the others by their consecration, they should also be distinguished by this marking on their habit which shall act as a deterrent to any of the faithful against burning with desire for them. This sign of virginal purity the nun shall wear on the top of her head, marked in white thread, and she shall not presume to wear it before she is consecrated by the bishop. No other veils shall bear this mark.
They should wear clean undergarments next to the skin, and always sleep in them; nor do we deny their weak nature the use of soft mattresses and sheets. But each one must sleep and eat alone. No one should dare to be indignant if the clothing or anything else passed on to her by someone else is made over to another sister who has greater need of them; but she should look on it as an occasion for rejoicing when she enjoys the benefit of having given something as an act of charity, or sees herself as living for others and not only for herself. Otherwise she does not belong to the sisterhood of the holy society, and is not free of the sacrilege of having possessions.
It should be sufficient, we think, for them to wear an undergarment and woollen gown, with a cloak on top when the cold is very severe. This they can also use as a coverlet when lying in bed. To prevent infestation by vermin and allow accumulation of dirt to be washed away, all these garments will have to be in pairs, precisely as Solomon says in praise of the capable and provident housewife, ‘She has no fear for her household when it snows, for all her servants are wrapped in two cloaks.’ These cloaks must not be made so long as to hang down below the ankles and stir up dust, and the sleeves must not extend beyond the length of the arms and hands. Their feet and legs must be protected by shoes and stockings, and they are never to go barefoot on account of religion. On their beds a single mattress, bolster, pillow, blanket and sheet should suffice. They should wear a white band on their heads with the black veil over it, and because of their close-cropped hair a cap of lambs’ wool may be worn if needed.
Excess must be avoided not only in diet and clothing but also in buildings or any possessions. In buildings excess is plain to see when they are made larger or finer than necessary, or if we adorn them with sculpture or paintings so as to set up palaces fit for kings instead of dwelling-places for the poor. ‘The Son of Man,’ says Jerome, ‘has nowhere to lay his head, but you are measuring out vast porches and spacious roofs.’188 When we take pleasure in costly or beautiful equipment the emptiness of pride is displayed as well as excess; and when we multiply herds of animals or earthly possessions, mounting ambition extends to outward things, and the more possessions we have on earth, the more we are obliged to think of these and are called away from contemplation of heavenly things. And although we may be enclosed in cloisters in the body, the mind still loves things outside, has an urge to pursue them, and dissipates itself in all directions with them. The more we possess which can be lost, the greater the fear which torments us, and the more costly these are, the more they are loved and ensnare the wretched mind with ambition to have them.
And so every care must be taken to set a firm limit to our household and our expenditure, and beyond what is necessary not to desire anything, receive any offering or keep what we have accepted. Whatever is over and above our needs we possess by robbery, and are guilty of the deaths of all the poor whom we could have helped from the surplus. Every year then, when the produce has been gathered in, sufficient provision must be made for the year, and anything left over must be given, or rather, given back to the poor.
There are some who lack foresight, and though their harvest is poor are pleased to think they have a large household, but when harassed by the responsibility to provide for it, they go begging without shame, or extort forcibly from others what they do not have themselves. Several abbots of monasteries we see to be like this. They boast of the numbers in their community and care more about having many sons than about having good ones; and they stand high in their own eyes if they are held to be higher than many. To draw these numbers under their rule they make smooth promises when they should preach harsh words, and easily lose as backsliders those whom they take in indiscriminately with no previous test of faith. Such men, I think, the Truth rebuked in the words: ‘Alas for you, for you travel over sea and land to win one convert; but when you have won him, you make him twice as fit for hell as yourselves.’189 They would surely boast less of their numbers if they sought to save souls instead of counting them, and presumed less on their strength when giving an account of their rule.
The Lord chose only a few apostles, and one of those he chose fell so far away that the Lord said of him: ‘Have I not chosen you twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.’190 And as Judas was lost to the apostles, so was Nicholas to the deacons; then when the apostles had gathered together no more than a few, Ananias and Sapphira his wife earned sentence of death.191 Indeed, many of his disciples had previously fallen away from the Lord himself, and few stayed with him. The road which leads to life is narrow, and few set foot on it, but by contrast the road that leads to death is wide,192 with plenty of room, and many choose to go that way. For as the Lord testifies elsewhere, ‘Many are invited but few are chosen,’ and according to Solomon, ‘The number of fools cannot be counted.’193 And so whoever rejoices in the large numbers of those beneath him should fear lest, in the words of the Lord, few are to be found chosen, and he himself by unduly increasing the numbers of his flock shall be less capable of watching over them; so that the words of the Prophet may rightly be applied to him: ‘You increased their numbers but gave them no joy of it.’194 Such men as boast of numbers, and are often obliged to meet their own needs and those of their people by going out and returning to the world to run round begging, involve themselves in bodily rather than spiritual cares, and incur disgrace instead of winning glory.
This is indeed all the more shameful in the case of women, for whom it seems less safe to be out in the world. And so whoever desires to live quietly and virtuously, to devote himself to the divine offices and be held as dear to God as to the world, should hesitate to gather together those for whom he cannot provide; for his own expenses he should not rely on other men’s purses, and he should watch over the giving, not the seeking of alms. The Apostle and great preacher of the Gospel had authority from the Gospel to accept gifts for his expenses, but he worked with his hands so that he would not appear to be a burden to anyone nor detract from his glory.195 How bold and shameless then are we, whose business is not preaching but lamenting our sins, if we go begging! How are we to support those whom we have thoughtlessly brought together? We also often break out into such madness that being ignorant of preaching ourselves, we hire preachers and lead around with us these false apostles, carrying crosses and phylacteries of relics to sell these or other such figments of the devil to guileless and foolish Christians, and we promise them whatever we believe will enable us to extort money. How far our Order and the very preaching of the divine Word is debased by such shameless cupidity, which seeks what is its own and not of Jesus Christ, is known, I think, to all.
Consequently abbots themselves or those who appear to have authority in monasteries take themselves off to pester the secular powers and the courts of the world, and have already learned to be courtiers rather than monks. They woo the favour of men by any device, they have grown accustomed to gossiping with men instead of communing with God; they read St Antony’s warning often but to no purpose, ignoring it or hearing it without paying heed: ‘As fish die, if they linger on land so too do monks, if they linger outside the cell or stay among men of the world and are released from their vow of quiet. So it is necessary for us to hurry back to the cell like fishes to the sea, lest by lingering outside we forget to care for what is within.’196
The author of the monastic Rule, St Benedict himself, also paid serious attention to this; he wished abbots to be active inside their monasteries and to keep careful watch over their flock, and he openly taught it in his writings and by his own example. For when he had left his brothers and gone to visit his holy sister, and she wished to keep him for one night at least, he frankly declared that it was quite impossible for him to stay outside his cell. In fact he did not say ‘we cannot’ but ‘I cannot’, because the brothers might do so by his leave, but he could not, except by revelation from the Lord, as afterwards came to pass. And so when he came to write the Rule, he made no mention of the abbot’s but only of the brothers’ going out of the monastery, and he made careful provision for the abbot’s continual presence by laying down that on the vigils of Sundays and feast-days, the Gospel and what follows it197 should be read by the abbot alone. And when he rules that the abbot’s table shall always be shared with pilgrims and guests, and that whenever there are no guests he shall invite to it any of the brothers he likes, leaving only one or two of the other brothers with the rest,198 he evidently implies that at mealtimes the abbot should never be absent from the monastery, nor leave the ordinary bread of the monastery to his subordinates as if he were one of those accustomed to the delicate fare of princes. Of such men the Truth says: ‘They make up packs too heavy to carry and pile them on men’s shoulders, but will not raise a finger to lift the load themselves.’ And elsewhere, of false preachers, ‘Beware of false prophets who come to you …’199 They come of themselves, says the Truth, not sent by God, nor waiting to be summoned. John the Baptist, the first of us monks, to whom the priesthood came by inheritance, went out only once from the city to the wilderness, leaving his priestly for a monastic life and the cities for solitude. The people went out to him, he did not go in to the people. When he was so great that he was believed to be Christ and could correct many things in the cities, he was already in that bed from which he was ready to answer to the knocking of the Beloved: ‘I have slipped off my dress: must I put it on again? I have washed my feet: must I soil them?’200
Whoever therefore wishes to learn the secret of monastic quiet must be glad to have a narrow bed and not a wide one. From the wider bed, as the Truth says, ‘one will be taken, and the other left’.201 But we read that the narrow bed belongs to the bride, that is to the contemplative soul which is more closely joined to Christ, and clings to him with the strongest desire. None, we read, have been left who lay on this, and the bride herself says of it: ‘By night on my narrow bed I sought him whom my soul loves.’202 She also refuses or fears to rise from this bed, but answers, as we said above, to the knocking of the Beloved. For she believes that the dirt she fears will soil her feet is only outside it.
Dinah went out to see alien women and was defiled.203 And as it was foretold by his abbot to Malchus, that captive monk, and he afterwards found out for himself, the sheep which leaves the sheepfold is soon exposed to the bite of the wolf. So let us not assemble a crowd in which we look for an excuse, or rather, a compelling reason for going out and making money for others with detriment to ourselves; like lead which is melted in the furnace so that silver may be saved. We must rather beware lest lead and silver alike are consumed in the burning furnace of temptation. The Truth, men argue, says: ‘The man who comes to me I will never turn away.’204 Nor do we want to turn away those who have been admitted, but to be careful about admitting them, lest when we have taken them in we have to turn ourselves away on their account. For the Lord himself, we read, did not turn away anyone once admitted, but rejected some who offered themselves; to a man who said ‘Master, I will follow you wherever you go,’ he replied ‘The foxes have holes …’205
He also warns us strictly to consider first the necessary cost when we think of doing something. ‘Would any of you think of building a tower without first sitting down and calculating the necessary cost, to see whether he can afford to finish it? Otherwise, if he has laid the foundation and then is unable to finish, all onlookers will laugh at him. “There is the man,” they will say, “who started to build and could not finish.”’206 It is a great thing if a man is able to save even himself alone, and dangerous for him to provide for many when he is scarcely able to keep watch over himself. No one is in earnest about keeping watch unless he has been cautious in granting admission, and no one perseveres in an undertaking like the man who takes time and forethought over making a start. In this indeed women show greater forethought, because their weakness is less able to bear heavy burdens, and is most in need of quiet to cherish it.
It is agreed that Holy Scripture is a mirror of the soul, in which anyone who lives by reading and advances by understanding perceives the beauty of his own ways or discovers their ugliness, so that he may work to increase the one and remove the other. Reminding us of this mirror, St Gregory says in the second book of his Morals: ‘The Holy Scripture is set before the mind’s eye as if it were a mirror in which our inward face may be seen reflected. For there we see our beauty or recognize our hideousness, there we perceive how far we have advanced and how distant we are from advancing.’ But whoever looks at a Scripture which he does not understand is like a blind man holding a mirror to his eyes in which he is unable to see what sort of man he is; nor does he look for the instruction in Scripture for which alone it was composed. Like an ass before a lyre, he sits idly before the Scripture, and has bread set before him on which he does not break his fast, when he cannot see into the word of God by understanding it himself, nor have it opened to him by another’s teaching, and so has no use for the food which does him no good.
Hence the Apostle, in a general exhortation to us to study the Scriptures, says: ‘For all the ancient scriptures were written for our instruction, so that from the message of endurance and comfort the scriptures bring us, we may derive hope.’ And elsewhere: ‘Be filled with the Holy Spirit; speak to yourselves in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.’207 For a man speaks to himself or with himself who understands what he is saying, or by his understanding reaps the benefit of his words. To Timothy he says: ‘Until I arrive, devote yourself to public reading, to exhortation and to teaching.’ And again:
But for your part, stand by the truths you have learned and are assured of. Remember from whom you learned them; remember that from early childhood you have been familiar with the sacred writings which have power to lead you to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Every inspired scripture has its use for teaching the truth and refuting error, for correction and instruction in righteousness, so that the man who belongs to God may be perfected and equipped for good work of any kind.208
And when he is exhorting the Corinthians to understand Scripture so that they may be able to explain what others say of it, he says:
Make love your aim and spiritual gifts your aspiration and, above all, the gift of prophecy. The man who uses the language of ecstasy is talking to God, not man, but by prophesying he can build up the Church. And so he who speaks in the language of ecstasy must pray for the power to interpret it. I will pray with inspiration, I will pray too with my intelligence: I will sing hymns with inspiration and with intelligence. Otherwise, if you praise God with the language of inspiration, who will take the place of the plain man? How will he say Amen to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? True enough, you give thanks, but the other’s faith is not built up. Thank God I am more gifted in ecstatic utterance than you, but in church I would rather speak five intelligible words for your instruction than ten thousand in the language of ecstasy. Brothers, do not be childish in your thoughts; be as innocent of evil as small children but grown men in your thinking.209
A man who ‘speaks in the language of ecstasy’ is one who forms words with his lips but does not give help with his intelligence by explaining them. But one who prophesies or interprets in the same way as the prophets, who are called ‘seers’, that is, ‘understanders’, understands the things he says so that he can explain them. The former prays or sings with inspiration but forms his words only by breathing and pronouncing them, without applying the understanding of his mind. When we pray with inspiration, that is, we form words only by breathing and pronouncing them, and what the mouth speaks is not conceived in the heart, our mind does not benefit as it should by prayer so as to be moved and fired towards God by its understanding of the words. And so the Apostle adjures us to seek this maturity in words, so that we may not, like children, only know how to speak them, but may also have a sense of the meaning in them; or else, he argues, our praying and hymn-singing does no good.
Following him, St Benedict says: ‘Let us sing the psalms so that mind and voice may be in harmony.’210 The Psalmist too tells us to ‘Sing hymns with understanding’, so that the words we speak do not lack the savour and seasoning of meaning, and with him we can truthfully say to the Lord, ‘How sweet are thy words in my mouth,’ and elsewhere, ‘He will take no pleasure in a man’s flute,’211 for the flute gives out sounds for the gratification of pleasure, not for understanding by the mind. And so men are said to sing well to the flute but not to please God in doing so, because they delight in the melody of their singing but nothing can be built on its meaning. And how, asks the Apostle, can Amen be said after thanksgiving in church if no one understands what is prayed for, whether the object of the prayer is good or not?
For we often see in church how many simple and illiterate people pray by mistake for things which will bring them harm rather than benefit; for example, in the words ‘that we may so pass through temporal things that we lose not things eternal’, many are easily confused by the similarity in sound, so that either they say ‘that we lose things eternal’ or ‘that we admit not things eternal’.212 The Apostle is well aware of this hazard, when he asks: ‘Otherwise, if you praise God with the language of inspiration,’ (that is, you form the words of thanksgiving only by breathing their sound and do not instruct the mind of the listener in their meaning) ‘who will take the place of the plain man?’ That is, who among the congregation whose duty it is to respond, will be sure of not making a response which an ordinary man cannot or should not make? ‘How will he say Amen’ when he has no idea whether you are invoking a curse or a blessing? Finally, if the sisters have no understanding of Scripture, how will they be able to instruct each other by word, or even to explain or understand the Rule, or correct false citations from it?
And so we very much wonder what prompting of the enemy brought about the present situation in monasteries, whereby there is no study there on understanding the Scriptures, but only training in singing, which is no more than the forming of words without understanding them: as if the bleating of sheep were more useful than the feeding of them. For the food of the soul and its spiritual refreshment is the God-given understanding of Scripture, and so when the Lord destined the prophet Ezekiel for preaching, he first fed him on a scroll, which immediately ‘in his mouth became sweet as honey.’ Of such food Jeremiah also writes that ‘Young children begged for bread but there was no one to break it for them.’213 He breaks bread for young children who reveals the meaning of letters to the simple, and these children beg for bread to be broken when they long to feed their souls on understanding the Scripture, as the Lord bears witness elsewhere: ‘I will send famine on the land, not hunger for bread nor thirst for water, but for hearing the word of the Lord.’214
On the other hand, the old enemy has implanted in cloisters of monasteries a hunger and thirst for hearing the words of men and gossip of the world, so that by giving ourselves up to empty talk we may weary of the word of God, and the more so if we find it tasteless because it lacks the sweetness and savour of meaning. Hence the Psalmist, as we said above, cried: ‘How sweet are thy words in my mouth, sweeter than honey on my lips,’ and what this sweetness was he went on to say at once: ‘From thy precepts I got understanding’, that is, I gained understanding from God’s precepts rather than men’s, and was taught and instructed by them. Nor did he omit to state what was to be gained from such understanding, adding ‘Therefore I hate every path of wrongdoing.’ For many paths of wrongdoing are so plainly seen for what they are that they easily come to be hated and despised by all, but only through the word of God can we know every one of them so as to avoid them all. So it is also written that ‘I treasure thy words in my heart, so that I may not sin against thee.’215 They are treasured in the heart rather than sounded on the lips when we meditate and retain understanding of them, but the less we care about understanding, the less we recognize and shun these paths of wrongdoing, and the less we can guard ourselves against sin.
Such negligence is all the more reprehensible in monks who aspire to perfection, the more opportunities they have for being taught, when they have abundance of sacred books and enjoy the peace of quiet. Those monks who boast about the numbers of their books but find no time to read them are sharply rebuked by that elder in the Lives of the Fathers, who says: ‘The prophets wrote books: and your forebears came after and did much work on them. Then their successors committed them to memory. But now comes the present generation, which has copied them on paper and parchment and put them back to stand idle on the shelves.’ So too, abba Palladius in exhorting us to learn and also to teach, says: ‘It behoves the soul which professes to live in accordance with the will of Christ either to learn faithfully what it does not know or to teach plainly what it knows.’216 But if it is unwilling to do either, though well able, it suffers from the disease of madness. For boredom with learning is the beginning of a withdrawal from God, and how can a man love God when he does not seek that for which the soul always hungers? St Athanasius too, in his Exhortation to Monks, recommends the practice of learning or reading so highly that he even allows prayers to be interrupted for this. ‘Let me trace the course of our life,’ he says. ‘First must come care for abstinence, endurance of fasting, perseverance in prayer and desire to read or, if there be any who are still illiterate, to listen in eagerness to learn. For these are the first cradle-songs, as it were, of suckling infants, in knowledge of God.’ And a little later, after saying that ‘Your prayers should be so assiduous that scarcely any interval should come between them,’ he then adds: ‘If possible, they should be interrupted only by intervals for reading.’
Nor would the apostle Peter give different advice. ‘Be always ready to give an answer to all who ask you to account for your faith and hope.’217 And the Apostle says: ‘We have not ceased to pray for you, that you may be filled with knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.’ And again, ‘Let the message of Christ dwell in you in all richness and wisdom.’218 In the Old Testament, too, the Word implanted in men a similar care for holy teaching. Thus David says, ‘Happy is the man who does not take the wicked for his guide … but his heart is set on the law of the Lord.’ And to Joshua God says, ‘This book of the law shall never leave your hands and you must ponder over it day and night.’219
Moreover, amongst these occupations the hazards of wrong-thinking often insinuate themselves, and although constant application may keep the mind intent on God, the gnawing anxiety of the world makes it restless. If one who is dedicated to the toil of the religious life must suffer this, frequently and painfully, the idle man is surely never free of it. St Gregory the Pope, in the nineteenth book of his Morals, says:
We deplore that the time has now come when we see many holding office in the Church who are either unwilling to perform what they understand or scorn to understand and recognize the very words of God. They close their ears to the truth and turn away to listen to fables, while ‘they are all bent on their own ends, not on the cause of Jesus Christ’.220 God’s Scriptures are everywhere to be found and are set before men’s eyes, but they refuse to read them. Scarcely anyone wants to understand what he believes.
And yet both the Rule of their own profession and the example of the holy Fathers exhort them to do so. Benedict in fact says nothing about the teaching and study of chanting, though he gives many instructions about reading, and expressly assigns times for this as he does for manual work.221 In his provision for teaching composition or writing, amongst the essentials for which the monks must look to the abbot, he includes tablets and pens. And when amongst other things he orders that ‘At the beginning of Lent all the monks shall receive a book each from the library, which they shall read through consecutively,’ what could be more absurd than for them to give time to reading if they do not take pains to understand? There is a well-known saying of the Sage, ‘To read without understanding is to misread’; and to such a reader the philosopher’s reproach about the ass and the lyre is rightly applicable, for a reader who holds a book but cannot do what the book was intended for is like an ass sitting before a lyre.222 Readers such as this would more profitably concentrate on what might be some use to them, instead of idly looking at the written letters and turning the pages, for in them we see the words of Isaiah clearly fulfilled:
All prophetic vision has become for you like the words of a sealed book. Give such a book to one who can read and say, ‘Read this,’ and he will answer, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ Give it to one who cannot read and say, ‘Read it,’ and he will answer, ‘I cannot read.’ Then the Lord said: ‘Because these people approach me with their mouths and honour me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and their fear of me is but a precept of men, learned by rote, therefore yet again I must strike awe into the hearts of these people with some great and resounding miracle. For the wisdom of their wise men shall vanish and the discernment of the discerning shall be lost.’223
In the cloister those are said to know letters who have learned to pronounce them; but as far as understanding them is concerned, those who admit they cannot read have a book given to them which is just as much sealed as it is for those whom they call illiterate. The Lord rebukes them, saying that they approach him with their mouths and lips rather than with their hearts because they are able to pronounce words after a fashion but are quite unable to understand them. Lacking knowledge of the Word of God, they follow in their obedience the custom of men, not the benefit of Scripture. Therefore the Lord threatens that even those who are reckoned learned and sit as doctors among them shall be blinded.
Jerome, the greatest doctor of the Church and glory of the monastic profession, in exhorting us to love of letters, says: ‘Love knowledge of letters and you will not love the vices of the flesh’:224 and we have learned from his own testimony how much labour and expense it cost him to learn them. Amongst other things which he writes about his own studies for the purpose of instructing us by his example, he recalls in the following passage, addressed to Pammachius and Oceanus:
When I was a young man I was on fire with a marvellous love of learning. I did not teach myself, as some men are rash enough to do, but I frequently heard Apollinaris at Antioch and sat at his feet for instruction in the Holy Scriptures. My hair was already flecked with grey and I should have been a teacher rather than a pupil, yet I went on to Alexandria and heard Didymus, to whom I am grateful for much, learning from him what I did not know. Men thought I had come to an end of learning, but I returned to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, and there I had Baraninas the Jew as my teacher – with what labour and expense! He taught at night, for he feared the Jews, and to me he was a second Nicodemus.225
Surely Jerome had stored away in his memory what he had read in Ecclesiasticus: ‘My son, seek learning while you are young, and when your hair is white you will still find wisdom.’226
Thus his learning, not only from the words of Scripture but also through the example of the holy Fathers, has added to the wealth of tributes paid to the excellent monastery he founded one on its exceptional training in the Holy Scriptures: ‘As for meditation on and understanding of the Holy Scriptures and also of sacred learning, never have we seen such a degree of training; you might suppose nearly every one of them to be a professional spokesman for sacred wisdom.’227
The Venerable Bede too, who had been received into a monastery as a boy, says in his History of the English People, ‘From then on I have spent the rest of my life living in the same monastery and devoted myself entirely to studying the Scriptures. While I have observed monastic discipline and sung the daily offices in church, learning and writing have always been my delight.’228 But those who are educated in monasteries today are so persistent in their stupidity that they are content merely with the sound of letters, pay no attention to understanding them, and care only to instruct the tongue, not the heart. They are openly rebuked in a proverb of Solomon: ‘A discerning man seeks knowledge, but the stupid man feeds on folly,’229 that is, when he takes pleasure in words he does not understand. Such men are the less able to love God and be warmed towards him, the further they keep themselves from understanding him and appreciating the Scripture that teaches us about him.
This situation we believe has arisen in monasteries mainly for two reasons: either because of jealousy on the part of the lay monks, or even of the abbots themselves, or through the empty chatter of idleness, to which we see present-day monastic cloisters much addicted. Men like this try to attach us along with themselves to earthly rather than spiritual things, and are like the Philistines who persecuted Isaac when he was digging wells, filled them in with heaps of earth and tried to keep water from him.230 St Gregory explains this in the sixteenth book of his Morals: ‘Often when we try to concentrate on the word of God we are more seriously troubled by the designs of evil spirits who scatter the dust of earthly thoughts in our minds, so that they may darken the eyes of our concentration and withhold the light of inward vision.’ This the Psalmist had suffered greatly when he said, ‘Go away, you evil-doers, and I will keep the commandments of my God,’231 for he clearly meant that he could not keep the commandments of God when suffering in mind from the designs of evil spirits.
We understand that the same thing is meant by the wickedness of the Philistines during the work of Isaac, when they heaped earth in the wells he had dug. For we are surely digging wells when we penetrate deeply into the hidden meaning of Holy Scripture, and the Philistines secretly fill these up when they introduce the earthly thoughts of an impure spirit while we are looking towards higher things, and so take away the water of sacred learning which we have found. But no one can overcome these enemies by his own power, as we are told through Eliphaz: ‘The Almighty shall be your defence against your enemies, and he will be your silver heaped up.’232 That is, when the Lord has driven evil spirits away from you by his own power, the talent of the divine Word will shine more brightly in you. St Gregory, if I am not mistaken, had read the Homilies of the great Christian philosopher Origen on Genesis, and had drawn from Origen’s wells what he now says about these wells. For that zealous digger of spiritual wells strongly urges us not only to drink of them but also to dig our own, as he says in the twelfth homily of his exposition:
Let us try also to do what Wisdom bids us, saying: ‘Drink water from your own cistern and running water from your own spring. Let them be yours alone.’233 Do you then try too, my listener, to have your own well and your own spring, so that you also when you take up a book of the Scriptures may start to show some understanding of it from your own perception and in accordance with what you have learned in church. Try too to drink from the spring of your own spirit. You have within you a source of living water, the open channels and flowing streams of rational perception, so long as they are not clogged with earth and rubbish. Try to dig your ground and clear the filth from your spirit, remove idleness and inertia from your heart. Hear what Scripture says: ‘Hurt the eye and tears will flow; hurt the heart and you will make it sensitive.’234 So clean your spirit and then someday you too may drink from your own springs and draw living water from your wells. For if you have received living water from Jesus and received it with faith, it shall become in you a source of water gushing out towards everlasting life.
In the following homily Origen also says of the wells of Isaac we spoke of:
Those which the Philistines had filled with earth are surely men who close their spiritual understanding, so that they neither drink themselves nor allow others to drink. Hear the word of the Lord: ‘Alas for you lawyers and Pharisees! You have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not go in yourselves, and did not permit those who wished to enter.’235 But let us never cease from digging wells of living water, and by discussing new things as well as old, let us make ourselves like the teacher of the law in the Gospel, of whom the Lord said that he could ‘produce from his store both old and new’.236 Let us return to Isaac and dig with him wells of living water, even if the Philistines obstruct us; even if they use violence, let us carry on with our well-digging, so that to us too it may be said: ‘Drink water from your own cisterns and your own wells.’ And let us dig until our wells overflow with water in our courtyards, so that our knowledge of the Scriptures is not only sufficient for ourselves but we can teach others and show them how to drink. Let our flocks drink too, as the Prophet also says: ‘Man and beast you will save, O Lord.’237
Later on Origen says:
He who is a Philistine and knows earthly things, does not know where in the earth to find water, where to find a rational perception. What do you gain by having learning and not knowing how to use it, having speech but being unable to speak? That is like the sons of Isaac who dig wells all over the earth for living water.
You must not be like this, but refrain altogether from idle talk, while those of you who have been given the grace of learning must work to be instructed in the things which are God’s, as it is written of the happy man: ‘The law of the Lord is his delight, the law his meditation day and night.’ And the profit which follows on his diligent application to the law of the Lord is added at once: ‘And he will be like a tree planted by a watercourse,’238 for a dry tree is also unfruitful, because it is not watered by the streams of the words of God. Of these streams it is written that ‘Rivers of living water shall flow from his bosom,’ and these are the streams of which the bride sings in the Canticles in praise of the bridegroom, describing him thus: ‘His eyes are like doves beside brooks of water, bathed by the milky water as they sit by the flooding streams.’239 You too, then, are bathed in milky water, that is, you are shining with the whiteness of chastity, and must sit like doves by these streams, so that by drawing from them draughts of wisdom you may be able both to learn and also to teach, and be like eyes showing a path to others, and not only seeing the bridegroom but able to describe him to others.
Of his special bride, whose glory it was to conceive him by the ear of the heart, we know it is written, ‘But Mary treasured all these words and pondered over them in her heart.’240 Thus the Mother of the Supreme Word, having his words in her heart rather than on her lips, pondered over them carefully as she considered each one separately and then compared them with each other, seeing how closely all agreed together. She knew that according to the revelation of the Law every animal is called unclean unless it chews the cud and divides the hoof. And so no soul is clean and pure unless by meditating to the best of its ability it chews the cud of God’s teachings and shows understanding in obeying them, so that it not only does good things but does them well, that is, with right intention. For division of the hoof is the mind’s ability to distinguish, about which it is written: ‘If you offer rightly but do not divide rightly, you have sinned.’241
‘Anyone who loves me,’ says the Truth, ‘will heed what I say.’242 But who can heed the words or precepts of the Lord by obeying them unless he has first understood them? No one will be zealous in obedience unless he has been attentive as a listener, like that blessed woman of whom we read that she put everything else aside and sat at the Lord’s feet listening to his words – and listened with the ears of understanding which he himself requires, saying, ‘If you have ears to hear, then hear.’243
Yet if you are unable to be kindled to such fervour of devotion, you can at least in your love and study of sacred Scriptures model yourselves on those blessed disciples of St Jerome, Paula and Eustochium, for it was mainly at their request that the great doctor wrote so many volumes to bring enlightenment to the Church.244