Just wanted to share the above! A good article with some interesting questions.
Category: SolitaryLife
in cell
I wanted to share this post I found online: Anchoresses and Anchorites.
While it’s true that some lived alone in a single small room, some of them had multiple rooms, or even an entire house. There are even examples of women living enclosed in groups of two or three. Usually, but not always, this was because there weren’t enough spaces for women wanting to be anchoresses and having to join someone who was already enclosed.
Anchoresses were not left on their own. There was always some church official keeping an eye on them. They also received a lot of visitors, frequently pilgrims, most of them seeking advice. Many anchoresses also lived in cells attached to churches and some of them weren’t restricted just to their cell, but to the church building as a whole.
The article makes an interesting point about the use of “anchoress”.
regnum mundi
I have rejected the kingdom of the world and all worldly adornment for the love of my Lord Jesus Christ; whom I have seen, whom I have loved, in whom I have believed, and whom I have adored.
Regnum mundi
BTW: They are some serious candles!
paradox of faith
I have been reading Fear and Trembling more. I am surprised (pleasantly) by the repeating of the phrase “paradox of faith” by SK. Ultimately for SK the issue is a question of right ordered relationship. Maybe in Augustinian terms, order love vs disordered love? For SK, the single individual stands before God alone without appeal to the universal (morality). The single individual’s relationship with God is absolute – there is nothing above it, nothing that defines it in terms of action.
So here is a quote:
The paradox of faith then is this, that the single individual is higher than the universal, that the single individual, to recall a now rather rare theological distinction, determines his relation to the universal by his relation to the absolute, not his relation to the absolute by his relation to the universal.
Fear and Trembling
Not by doing the right thing does one become a follower of Jesus but a follower of Jesus does the right thing. And that is the paradox of faith – to live in the tension of absolute relationship.
knight of faith
One of the books I often return to reading is SK’s Fear and Trembling. The first time I read it, like most of SK’s writings, it was confusing and seemed very repetitive. But on reflection, I think it has some great insights – also like most of SK’s writings.
One I have been thinking about is the Knight of Faith – especially the relationship between the Knight of Faith and the knight of infinite resignation. Or, to put it differently, the “double movement” of faith of surrender followed by “receiving”.
Many people get to Lent and wonder what they should “give up”. Few ask, “what should I open myself to receive?”
I have been thinking about that double movement in the context of religious life – a life of faith. People see the singleness, the “enclosure”, and the rules. “I could not give all that up”, many people think. What they do not see is the ”me”, the space, and the freedom that is received. And the person who returns into the world in Jesus’ secret service.
Anyway, enjoy the comic strip!
the paradox of the solitary
Thus the position of the monastic recluse had developed into a far more socially symbolic and responsible one: on the one hand he was now locked up within a cell deep within the monastery itself in order to concentrate wholly on God; on the other, the local community had access to that cell in order to receive his advice, counselling and accumulated wisdom.
It reminds me of the Kierkegaard quote:
Of this there is no doubt, our age and Protestantism in general may need the monastery again, or wish it were there. The “monastery” is an essential dialectical element in Christianity. We therefore need it out there like a navigation buoy at sea in order to see where we are, even though I myself would not enter it. But if there really is true Christianity in every generation, there must also be individuals who have this need . . .
Solitary Anglicans?
So doing a lot of surfing the net today and found this: Episcopalian solitary. It is a little out of date (2009) but it is interesting to read about other Anglicans who are living the solitary life. I am interested in the picture of Sr. Mary Paul – she is wearing a habit!
Anyway, does anyone know of more “professed” solitary Anglicans on the web?
10 facts
I found this very interesting article: Anchoresses: 10 facts about the Life of Solitude. Written by the same author as the novel The Anchoress. (Alright, not super happy about the term anchoress but the article is good.)
In the Middle Ages, anchoresses were usually sealed in a cell adjoining the village church to ensure that she remained safe, and so that she could hear Mass and receive the Eucharist. An anchoress freely chose to be confined in a cell so that she could pray and read, committing her life to God. Men could become anchorites similarly enclosed in a cell, but their life was not always as restricted as that of an anchoress. In some cases they could leave to travel, and some were priests who chose to be enclosed, but would leave their cell to celebrate Mass in the church.
Interesting stuff!
so …
… I have not posted in some time. Lots of things have been happening – finalising some things, I preached last Sunday, and I have simply struggled with life.
Last week, while on a search of YouTube, I found this story about the Carmelite Monastery of Christ the King:
In a modern context, the life these nuns live is extraordinary. Apart from the Carmelites I read, I have had no contact with their spirituality. A life of silence in community is a particular challenge!
But the part of the story that struck me was in the second part when the nuns speak about what they have left behind. I like the honesty and the insight that these things do not disappear because they are part of being human. Part of the life that God gives is the desire for ordered intimacy. And part of the monastic vocation is to surrender that possibility for the actuality of Jesus’ presence.
We all surrender possibility for actuality in our life. The surrender is the choice I make. That choice is marked by religious vows for some. These vows are no better nor worse than any other choice people make in following Jesus. It is a particular voice that calls each individual. And it calls each individual as a human being!
Anyway, today I rest! I have a week of online meetings and an end-of-term event.
just do it
When Abraham begins to act he does not know the result, and if we wish to be people of faith we must put ourselves in his shoes, so to speak, and also be willing to act without knowing what the results of our actions will be.
Fear and Trembling
There is a temptation (at least for me) to see everything in a modern age in terms of results: a measurable result for planning. Faith isn’t like that! Yes, subjective results that make my life better – meaning, peace, joy, love. But intangible. Not everything is measurable.
So: for me – just do it! God is calling, jump! Trust and love!
