The Orthodox spiritual life is one that has been well defined by countless saints over two millennia. These saints define what it is to be Orthodox and Christian. The Orthodox Christian’s goal is theosis; complete union with God. He must continually turn from sinful, passionate thoughts and actions, and toward holy things. This denial of the passions is essential to attaining true holiness. The model of this process has always been, for the Eastern Church, the monastic life. The monastic life is a life of continual prayer, private and corporate, as well as strict ascesis. Corporate prayer is embodied in the daily cycle of services which include the Hours, Vespers, Matins and Nocturnes. These services are done in concert with the other individuals in the community and direct the participant in prayer. Private prayers, for the monastic are, ideally, continually internal and repetitive prayers which take the place of idle thoughts which distract from the Almighty. For the non-monastic individual, developing the continual attention needed to “pray without ceasing” is a sizeable challenge when faced with worldly distractions.
The asceticism of the monastic life can be generalized into categories of obedience, abstinence, and prayer. The ascetic, Saint Simeon the Stylite, took these disciplines to the extreme and lived in self-imposed solitary confinement. Saint John Chrysostom alternately lived in community for most of his life and was a pastor and bishop and gave regular sermons through which we know him. Two very different men who led very different lifestyles somehow both achieved theosis. Both of these saints are models for the Orthodox Christian life in very different ways, but are equally essential.
The three biographies of Saint Simeon that survive to this day paint a vivid picture of extreme asceticism and provide an example of the possibilities of the human person in divinization through personal ascesis. At the age of the thirteen Saint Simeon heard the Gospel and was told that the way to God was self-discipline, self-denial and suffering. He took this to heart and headed immediately to a local monastery and applied himself to remaining there. Soon his fasting practices became advanced to the point where he would only eat on Sundays, and then only uncooked lentils and water. He seemed to be drawn to extreme acts of ascesis from the beginning, to the point of scandalizing his fellow monks with self-mortification. He was subsequently expelled from the monastery and sought refuge in a dry well. The abbot had a change of heart when visited by a dream/vision which told him of the future greatness of Simeon. He was forcibly extricated from the well and returned to the monastery. After more time at there, Simeon left of his own accord after being inspired to solitary life in a dream. He retreated to a mountain where he made his home in an open pen which he constructed out of un-mortared stones. There he lived in the elements and with no shelter. Throughout his life he spent his time in prayer and singing hymns, hardly eating and often going without sleep for long periods of time. Besides his great fasting, his feats of physical endurance surpass belief. He would stand, and fast completely, during the whole of Great Lent. After a few years of living in this pen, he mounted a pillar so as to separate himself more completely from those who visited him for council or confession. He remained on top of a pillar for 39 years (Doran, 1992). This is where he received the distinction of being a, and the first Christian, “Stylite”.
Since the top of the pillar was too small to allow him to do full prostrations, he would bend at the waist and bring his face close to his feet. These bows would be performed in rapid succession and for long periods of time. One witness claimed that he lost count after 1,700 (Doran, 1992). Saint Simeon’s piety had started to attract followers even before he mounted his pillar for the first time. Pilgrims would come from far-away lands to ask him for advice or spiritual guidance. Kings and monarchs would either visit or send emissaries to ask for healing from him, and he was usually ready and willing to oblige. The only occasion on which Saint Simeon dismounted his column was when his spiritual father asked him to come down in order to demonstrate his obedience. He did so without question, but remounted the pillar shortly thereafter. He cheerfully endured years of exposure to the weather while performing great acts of ascesis and service to others through prayers and miracles, all while giving God all the glory for his ability. After years of this he reposed in the Lord, but his body miraculously remained upright. When it was ascertained that the saint was in fact dead, his relics were collected and reside in a church in Antioch (Doran, 1992).
What lessons can a person living in 21st Century America learn from a Middle Eastern monk who stood on top of a pillar for years? Does extreme ascesis have a place in modern life? Saint Simeon, far from espousing every Christian should become a stylite, provides for us a picture of “the ultimate”, and calls us to stretch and even suffer in striving forward in our spiritual journey. Very few of us will adopt a monastic rule, even those of us who are attending school, or living near, a monastery. The modern man who has a full-time job and a family does not have time to follow the full daily cycle of prayer. Finding a balance between the monastic ideal and the secular requirements on his time is the most delicate, yet most important struggle. How should we remove ourselves from the populace so as to reach the heights of humility? The example of Saint Simeon is a model, not to model our life after, but to give us an example of the possibilities of theosis. Two things stand out from Saint Simeon’s life which could be seen as almost super-human. First are his acts of extreme asceticism, secondly are the miracles worked by his prayers or intervention. There is little chance that the modern person or priest will be able or driven to adopt this lifestyle, but when a modern person complains that fasting or daily prayer is too difficult a task to undertake, or that the rules of the Church are too demanding, we may point to Saint Simeon as one who pushed his body and mind to the limits of self-denial. Abstaining from meat and dairy products on Wednesdays and Fridays, or during Great Lent or other periods of fasting seem like a small sacrifice when compared to not eating anything except on Sundays, and during Great Lent foregoing food entirely as Saint Simeon did. Saint Simeon used fasting as well as physical postures to bring his passions under control and to subject them to his will and ultimately the will of God. Prayerful postures used by modern Orthodox Christians today can be used in the same way, although not necessarily to the same degree. Standing during the Divine Liturgy and other services of the church, as well as prostrations and making the sign of the cross are proper uses of the body to focus the mind and the heart on God and divine things.
“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13. Unlike Saint Simeon who was a shepherd in his early life and never educated past the reading of Scripture, Saint John Chrysostom was born into a family with some wealth and standing in society. His father died when he was young and his mother encouraged and facilitated his advanced education and entrance into church life. After he was tonsured as a reader he went joined in the monastic life where he used some of the tools that Saint Simeon did in ascetic discipline. He fasted to an extreme and would also stand for long periods of time. He lived this community for four years attempting to extricate himself from a corrupt society and church. Even in this community he found impious behavior in his fellow monks. After these four years he felt led to seclusion. Through two years of living as a hermit he was overzealous and harmed his physical health through too much fasting and exposure too early. He returned to Antioch to become a pastor. Shortly he was ordained a deacon and subsequently a priest. There he preached regular sermons, as many as two each week even when he was archbishop, which were always straight-forward and compelling (Attwater, 1959). He avoided the over-use of allegory, preferring instead to pull moral and ethical lessons from the scriptures which often indicted his listeners. Railing against the un-charitable rich was one of the reasons he was censured and eventually exiled. He served as a priest in Antioch for 17 years, and then was consecrated as Archbishop of Constantinople (Kelly, 1995). During his time as archbishop, Saint John increased his rhetoric against injustices and improprieties which he observed. This conviction led to more and more censure and punishment from civil and ecclesiastical authorities. He faced exile on several occasions and In 404 Saint John was exiled for the last time and died in 407 (Kelly, 1995).
Lessons can be taken from Saint John’s sermons on almost every facet of life. These are no doubt a great resource for amending one’s life and daily situation; however the most insightful lessons that can be learned from Saint John are not from his sermons, but from his life and his writings to others about his service of the church. Saint John could have chosen a path that did not include service. His family was well off and he was well educated. He could have gone into a profession which afforded him a life of luxury. Or he could have taken advantage of his elevation to archbishop and all of the power and wealth that could have afforded him. Instead he followed the example of Christ and denied himself. His time in monasticism allowed him to subdue his passions and live for Christ. On other occasions after that he refused promotions which would have given him more power and prestige. He refused the priesthood and the bishopric each at least once (Chrysostom, 2004). When he gave in and was consecrated as archbishop of Constantinople, he defied expectation and made his estate one of lowly service instead of social elitism. He sold many of the valuables at his disposal and gave the money to the poor. Proper use of financial assets was one of his major emphases and his personal life followed strictly what he taught from the pulpit. This fact alone may be one of the most important lessons for future ministers to follow. Saint John Chrysostom was revered and remembered for his insightful and incisive sermons, but these were supported by his life’s example. This integrity was essential in making him an effective pastor. Saint John was harassed and threatened and even ultimately exiled for convicting the ruling nobility and church officials of their wrongs, but he was never called out as a hypocrite. He stripped his apartments of expensive art and sold them to give the money to the poor. He lived as a simple monk when he could have easily lived in the lap of luxury, but if he had done so, none of his sermons would have been effective.
Anger, or wrath, was one of the passions with which Saint John often struggled (Attwater, 1959). This was well attested to in his discussion of the priesthood with Basil, who preceded him into the priesthood, while he still refused the station (Chrysostom, 2004).
These two saints, John Chrysostom and Simeon the Stylite, seemed to have lived completely different lives. One lived in community and was the head of a community as bishop, while the other lived in self-imposed exile, physically distancing himself from the rest of the human world by ascending a pillar. What can be their commonality and what can be their common lessons to us as Orthodox Christians living in the twenty-first century? Although Saint John lived in a monastic community for a short time, he continued in prayer and fasting throughout the entirety of his life. Saint Simeon’s life consisted almost entirely of ascesis and prayer. Purity and personal holiness were the work of both men, Saint John added extreme charity to his tools for theosis.
Saint Simeon had one, and only one luxury: solitude. While he was attended to by some followers and often sought out by many people for their edification, he was able to be separate from the daily difficulties of living in community. This allowed him to wrestle with his personal demons which were no doubt intense. Saint Simeon lived a completely monastic life, and Saint John lived a monastic life for six years. This commonality does not mean that monasticism is the best preparation for pastoral work. Monasticism, and solitary monasticism in particular, allows the monk to concentrate on the inner battle against the passions by removing some or all of the worldly temptations that are found while living amidst society. This focus would be very beneficial to any Christian looking towards personal piety, but it is not necessarily a proper preparation for pastoral ministry. Since the monastic is sheltered from many of the ills of society while cloistered or in solitude, they may remain unprepared for facing the larger challenges of life in community with the world (Attwater, 1959). Saint John compares the gift of miraculous deeds to the commission of Godly deeds in everyday life.
“What constitutes Christian life, good deeds or a show of miracles? Good deeds of course… If you were given a choice between raising the dead in Christ’s name and dying for his name would you not choose martyrdom? For martyrdom is a deed, but a miracle is only a sign. Were you given a choice between turning grass into gold and trampling riches underfoot like straw, would you not choose the second? For if you were seen turning grass into gold everyone would want to be able to do the same thing, like Simon Magus, and the love of money would simply get worse: but did everyone look on gold as so much straw evil would have disappeared from the world long ago.” (Attwater, 1959)
What can we as Orthodox Christians and, more specifically, future ministers of God’s Church learn from these two examples, Saint Simeon the Stylite who never held an official title or any worldly authority and Saint John Chrysostom who was the Archbishop of Constantinople? The first sets out the example of a person wholly devoted to the life of asceticism and extreme in the lengths he went to in order to deny the world and its influences and to strive for divinization. His is an example of the ultimate capability of the human to reach for God. He truly and completely emptied himself so that the person of Christ could show through him. Although he grew in popularity and was renowned for his great works, it never resulted in his growing prideful; he attributed everything good in himself to Christ and everything evil to himself. Few will ever attempt such feats of self-denial and ascesis, but the example is there nonetheless.
Saint John’s example is much more “down to earth” if being an archbishop can be earthy. Although Saint John did not continually attempt the extreme asceticism of Saint Simeon, remaining pure and reaching theosis may have actually been more difficult. Saint John needed to complete his purification and divinization while still living in community. He compared the difficulty of living the Christian life in community in the wicked world with the “perfection and freedom of ‘the wilderness’”. (Attwater, 1959) He used asceticism in his religious training to prepare himself for a torrent of criticism and temptation which he faced daily living in proximity to the general public, a parish, and a hypocritical nobility. If we, as hopeful, future clergy are to take an example of the life in pastoral ministry it should be that of Saint John Chrysostom. We are in the midst of our spiritual, academic and theological training; we must take advantage and allow this training to prepare us for the rest of our ministry as Saint John did. Then, as Saint John did, we must hold on to the convictions of the right teachings of the Church in all things and convey these teachings to our flocks in earnest, supported by a personal life which reflects the fullness of those same teachings.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3
Both of these holy men threw off everything that hindered them and all sin. They both persevered in the faith and ran the very different races which were marked out. They both had their eyes fixed upon Jesus. We must take both of their examples to heart and follow them.
Bibliography
Attwater, D. (1959). St. John Chrysostom. London: Harvill Press.
Chrysostom, J. (2004). Six Books on the Priesthood. Online: Holy Trinity Orthodox Mission.
Doran, R. (1992). The Lives of Simeon Stylites. Kalamazoo MI: Cistercian Publications.
Kelly, J. (1995). Golden Mouth. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.
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