Rule of Life

This area is focused on developing a Rule of Life to live by. To do so, I will review several Rules of Life used throughout history, and some that are in use today. I will then post small summary reviews for each Rule, and a copy of my own Rule as it progresses.

My Current Rule of Life:

My current rule is simply to test my vocation as an eremitic hermit through research, while living in semi-isolation. I will add more to this rule if and as more develops. I ascribe to Romans 8:19 and Ephesians 4:11-16 as guiding Scriptural principles.

Rules to be Reviewed:

• Rule of Saint Basil (Long)
• Rule of Saint Anthony
• Rule of Saint Pachomius
• Rule of Saint Benedict
• Rule of Saint Augustine
• Carthusian Statutes

Rules Reviewed:

These are my comments on each Rule of Life I’ve read and reviewed. Click on the Title for the source link.

Society of Saint John the Evangelist – Modern Rule

One of the greatest difficulties I have with monasticism [and Christianity altogether] is the comparison to and romanticism of the biblical account with the real world experience of daily life. As an eremitic [or at least an intentional solitary, since I don’t consider myself worthy of the title or description of eremitic] one is isolated from many of the foundry processes needed in sanctification. The flesh harbors many illicit inclinations, and it is through daily communal life, rubbing the rough, jagged spots off each other, that the Spirit has opportunity to extend, exert, overpower and subdue the unwilling flesh. The cell can teach you about yourself [speaking as one who has barely experienced – never experienced – the four silent walls], but I can’t see how it would teach one about community, about selfless service, death of the flesh and submission to Christ and His will.

I was touched by the thought that monasticism is a journey fraught with continual failure. It gives me hope that I could possibly be of service here in this place of silence, stillness and solitude. If it be true, and monks are simply ordinary people living in community or in isolation in hopes of escaping the corruption of the world, there is no difference between them and the rest of Christendom.

I think it’s an interesting point made by one of the monks in the reading, that there are trials to the commitment made. The romanticism is dispelled, the daily life is a ruination of anything we might still be holding onto in this world, we might, as they said, fall in love with another member of the church, but have already taken our vows. It appears as if the monk is an ordinary man who exchanges one set of challenges for another. It is not less or more, they are just different.