Paul M. Nguyen Patristics, A. Orlando December 4, 2012 On Western Monasticism, according to the Rule of St.

Benedict In Benedicts Rule, he presents an attitude of prudent discipline, aware of the requirements to sustain a community founded for the sanctification of its members, but conscious also of human weaknesses at every level of the organization. From the very beginning, Benedicts Prologue is emphatic in the spiritual purpose of the monastery. He also stresses the labor that is undertaken so that the members sustain themselves and have ample opportunity to discipline themselves and practice virtue. Benedict hopes that perseverantes passionibus Christi per patientiam participemur, ut et regno eius mereamur esse consortes (Regula S.N.P. Benedicti, Incipit prologus). And in his first chapter, he shows his monks where they stand in the spectrum of monastic observance, so that, knowing what they are not, they may better understand who they are: ad coenobitarum fortissimum genus disponendum (Regula, c. 1). Quoting 1 Timothy, Benedict speaks at once to the abbot: Argue, obsecra, increpa (1 Tim 4:2; Regula, c. 2). That is to say, it is the function of the abbot to guide his monks, promoting good behaviors and discouraging bad ones, for the sanctification of all (Regula, cc. 27, 28). Benedict has a strong aversion to scandal throughout this rule, aware that the bad example of any monk can easily spread throughout the monastery. He therefore assigns a proportionate variety of public humiliations, personal confessions to the abbot, and rituals for returning to full participation in the community after rising late, arriving at the oratory late, breaking silence, and a number of infractions against the rule of poverty (Regula, various cc. 42,

Nguyen 2 43, 45, 46). This discipline is prudential, as the Rule reads, in that these practices ensure the smooth running of the monastery and encourage good behavior by all. For serious infractions, Benedict provides that the abbot should correct a monk privately, then publicly several times, and should he persist, he may be cast out of the community, only to return after a full expression of remorse and a probationary period in which his repentance may be tested further (Regula, cc. 2325, 2729, 44). This same caution is given to those (adult men) wishing to enter the community for the first time (youth may enter, given the assent of their parents, and will be raised in the monastery), providing for several stages of growing accustomed to community life over the course of twelve months, culminating in reception of the simple habit and relinquishing all material possessions (though his clothes are retained, should he leave soon; Regula, c. 58). Benedicts motto and model of ora et labora is certainly manifest in the Rule, but is also an occasion of prudential discipline. Permissions are included regarding times of fasting, periods of sickness, and the general course of daylight in the year as it impacts the hours during which monks may work outdoors and adjusting the hours of prayer accordingly, though Benedict certainly includes much prayer in the monks daily schedule (Regula, cc. 810, 36, 37, 41, 48). Finally, Benedict heavily emphasizes the virtue of humility, presenting no less than twelve degrees of humility as a means of measuring oneself (Regula, c. 7). He also notes several times in the discipline of the abbot and in the process of choosing successors how pride is to be definitively precluded from interfering in the selection process and in the execution of duties as abbot (Regula, c. 64). In these ways, Benedicts Rule expresses a prudential discipline for those who would follow his monastic way of life, for their sanctification unto eternal life.