Fr Christian Nnanna

Archdiocese of Kaduna

Christian Spirituality Week 2.

Early Christian Monasticism

1.The literal meaning of a scriptural passage or entire book is the meaning as intended by the

human author. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that: "To interpret Scripture

correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and

to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 109).

Dei Verbum teaches that "Seeing that, in sacred Scripture, God speaks through men in human

fashion, it follows that the interpreter of sacred Scriptures, if he is to ascertain what God has

wished to communicate to us, should carefully search out the meaning which the sacred

writers really had in mind, that meaning which God had thought well to manifest through the

medium of their words (Dei Verbum, 12). Thus, it is important to adopt methods of

interpretation that gives a historical data as well as of the thinking of the author and time of

writing. In the words of the Pontifical Biblical Commission: "The historical-critical method is the

indispensable method for the scientific study of the meaning of ancient texts. Holy Scripture,

inasmuch as it is the “Word of God in human language,” has been composed by human

authors in all its proper parts and in all the sources that lie behind them. Because of this, its

proper understanding not only admits the use of this method but actually requires it. (Pontifical

Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, 26).1

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Regarding the spiritual sense, we can define the spiritual sense, as understood by Christian

faith, as the meaning expressed by the biblical texts when read, under the influence of the Holy

Spirit, in the context of the paschal mystery of Christ and of the new life which flows from it. In

it the New Testament recognizes the fulfillment of the Scriptures. It is therefore quite

acceptable to re-read the Scriptures in the light of this new context, which is that of the life of

the Spirit (Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, 127).

While the literal and the spiritual senses of Scripture are distinct, the spiritual sense should

always be dependent on the literal sense. This prevents the spiritual sense from

disintegrating into the subjective or speculative interpretations of accommodated allegories. A

unique form of the spiritual sense is the “typological sense.” The typological sense was

xtensively used by the authors of the New Testament. It does not deal with the words of

Scripture but with realities expressed by the words. For example, typological readings would

maintain that Adam is a type of Christ (Rom. 5:14); that the flood is a type of baptism (1

Peter 3:20-21); that Jonah in the belly of the fish is a type of Christ in the tomb (Mt. 12:40), etc.

Typological interpretations are widely used in the Catholic Liturgy. It should be noted that there

is a potential conflict of certain traditional examples of the spiritual sense that are not based on

the literal sense. These must be dealt with cautiously (Text Equivalent).

2. The enduring influence of Christian Monasticism cannot be described without making a trace

of the rise of Christian Monasticism. The primary sociological impetus for the rise of

monasticism in the East was the conversion of the Roman Empire to the Christian faith in the

fourth century, and thus the cessation of persecution. Three major movements were witnessed

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at the time, namely: the development of monasticism, the development of the doctrine and the

Creed in response to heresy, and at the same time the development of a publicly visible Church

with the theme of a Christian Roman Empire. This is the age of the Fathers of the Eastern

Church: Saint Athanasius, Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory Nazianzus, Saint Gregory of Nyssa,

Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Ephrem, and Saint Maximus the Confessor. It is also the age of the

founders of Eastern monasticism and monastic spirituality: Saint Anthony, Saint Pachomius,

Evagrius of Pontus, John Climacus, and Pseudo-Dionysius( Haeley 31). The rise of the monastic

movement in the fourth century was a providential counterpoint to the secularization, more

significantly as a visible sign of Christian perfection than a protest to secularization. The

martyrdom of death was replaced with the martyrdom according to the spirit. The original

Christian spirit was infused with desert asceticism in imitation of the suffering and dying Christ

(Cf. Haeley 28-29).

One effect of the monastic movement is that it influenced a strong missionary effort, great

pastoral care, an emphasis on the spiritual reading of the Scripture and consequently the

theologies of the early Church Councils (Nicaea, Constantinople I and II, Ephesus, and

Chalcedon). Monasticism also influenced teachings on the Trinity by Athanasius, Basil the Great,

Gregory Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa, and of the Christological doctrines by Cyril and Leo

the Great, was deeply grounded in the Christian living out of the Liturgy and in the asceticism of

the desert monks. In other words, the development of Catholic doctrine and theology and of

Catholic spirituality went hand in hand (Text Equivalent). It also influenced marriage in such a

way that the marriage rite was adopted for the consecration of virgins while the life of

consecrated virginity became exalted above the married state.

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3. Very much involved in the refutation of the heresy of Arianism, Gregory taught that the

human soul, like the rest of the created universe, was created out of nothing, neither out of

God’s being nor out of anything else. This doctrine reflects a great divide and gulf between

the uncreated life of the triune God and the created status of the human person, a divide and

gulf unbridgeable except for the action of God. The human soul had no point of contact with

the otherwise unknowable God. God’s unknowability is the reason God revealed Himself in

the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Revelation was necessary to know God. This doctrine enabled

Gregory to focus on the heart of Catholic spirituality, an experience of God as one who can be

loved. Christ taught us how to respond to God’s love for us. Remarkably and paradoxically for

Gregory, the Christian life begin in the light of God’s love only to move forward into a deeper

darkness. In that darkness, God is unknowable, contemplation is impossible, one moves toward

God in a progressive union of love (Dupre 40).

God's presence is simultaneously an absence which incites desire. This is demonstrated in the

fact that Gregory teaches that there are three stages of the Light, the Cloud, and the Darkness

in his Life of Moses. The Light refers to the revelation of God to Moses in the burning bush

(Dupre 39). It corresponds to the way a person turns from false reality to God in baptism. The

Cloud refers to the first ascent of Moses to Sinai. It corresponds to the way a person learns the

vanity of created things, which nonetheless manifest the glory of God. The Darkness refers to

Moses’ second ascent to a darkened Mount Sinai. This stage corresponds to the way a person

senses in the darkness the presence of another. Moses’ desire is first satisfied and then

unsatisfied. Once entered into the journey of loving God, there can be no end to the desire, no

satisfaction, and no completion, only further movement toward an unreachable God, who is

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reached in the love. For the true vision of God consists rather in this, that the soul that looks up

to God never ceases to desire Him (Text Equivalent).

WORKS CITED

Dupre, Louis and Wiseman, James (editors). Light from Light: An Anthology of Christian

Mysticism. New York: Paulist Press. 2001.

Haeley, Charles. Christian Spirituality; An Introduction. New York: St Pauls. 1999.

Vatican Council II, Lumen Gentium, 1965.

Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Pontifical Biblical Commission, The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, 1994.

Text Equivalent.