Reasons for renouncing worldly life
The ascetics of ancient times renounced worldly life because it did not attract them. And the chosen deserts and caves were not dark damp graves for them, but a flourishing land of the spirit.
According to Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin), monasticism is a phenomenon that is difficult to understand without internal experience, which is almost impossible to express in words. Modern people do not understand the beauty of monastic life and sometimes wonder why some renounce worldly existence. Monasticism covers the entire spiritual life. It is impossible to understand it without experiencing and feeling it yourself, just as it is difficult to understand love for an unloving heart.
Monk Nicodemus on renunciation of worldly life
The Monk Barsanuphius of Optina compared monasticism to a boundless sea that cannot be crossed. It cannot be understood by a person who has not yet set foot on this path. Father Barsanuphius called the search for God the goal of monastic life. But you can live in a monastery and achieve nothing. Therefore, what is important is not how to get to the monastery, but why.
People take monastic vows in search of continuous communion with God, in search of the Tabor light. Monks are the light of the world. Just externally following the rules and wearing monastic garb does not make a person a monk or nun. Just as a lamp needs fire to shine, so does a person. The Monk Ambrose of Optina wrote that monasticism arose from a person’s desire to live according to the teachings and commandments of the Gospel. This is very difficult to achieve amid worldly worries and bustle. Monasticism is perfect Christianity.
In the teachings of Abba Dorotheus there is a story about the righteous Dositheos. The young man was honored with the appearance of the Mother of God, who told him the conditions necessary for salvation. Their implementation began to confuse the young men around him, and he was advised to go to a monastery. He came to the monastery and repeated to the fathers: “I want to be saved.”
Among men
Before going to a monastery, a man must reveal his thoughts to his spiritual father. Of course, becoming a monk is not a quick process, which is preceded by the novice experience. But after tonsure, nothing can be changed. A person forever makes a series of vows to God and cannot break them.
There may be several reasons why a man wants to become a monk. Often the desire to take monastic vows is confused with the desire to get rid of problems, because sometimes people run to a monastery for the following reasons:
- difficulties in personal and family life;
- difficulties at work, need;
- grief, loss of a loved one, severe stress;
- unhappy love (more typical for young men).
The list of reasons can be supplemented, because this is a purely personal matter. But going to a monastery in order to escape life’s difficulties is not the right path.
Monasticism is perfect Christianity
Among women
There are practically no differences in the reasons for wanting to take tonsure between men and women. But women by nature are more emotional and it is more difficult for them to endure the shocks of worldly life. Living in a monastery is hard work, so it is a mistake to look for peace from difficulties in a nunnery.
The book “Tales of the exploits and events of the life of Elder Seraphim of Sarov” says that Father Seraphim did not bless everyone who asked him for monastic life. The priest advised some to delay taking tonsure, some did not recommend leaving the world at all, and to other women, instead of becoming a nun, he suggested starting a family first.
Chapter 1. “I have arrived, make me a monk!” – from charm to disenchantment
For those who are just thinking about the monastic path today, we would like to remind you of the importance of this step through warnings. If after all the trials and “buts” the call to accept the “angelic rank” persists, it is worth surrendering to the will of God and going to a monastery...
It is important for those wishing to enter the monastic path to know: despite the openness of the Church today and the physical accessibility of many monasteries, the path to the monastery is not easy.
PROCEDURE FOR JOINING THE BROTHERHOOD
Those who naively think that it is enough to come to the monastery, smile broadly and say with inspiration “I have arrived, tonsure me as a monk!”, should know that the decision to tonsure is made after several years of living in the monastery, where each of the newcomers is obliged to pass, in clerical parlance, a probationary period.
In the monastery this time is called temptation. Such an apt word was not chosen by chance. It does not mean that the newcomer will be deliberately set up to set traps, put into awkward situations: in monastic life itself, where, in the words of one of the confessors of the Valaam monastery, “everyone is in sight of each other,” everyone inevitably reveals himself from different sides, demonstrating how kind qualities and shortcomings. Being in such “nakedness” is sometimes unbearably painful, because you can’t hide behind the usual worldly excuses like: “I have to feed my family,” “I’m building a career,” or “everyone is doing it and I’m doing it” in a monastery.
Here, at a certain stage, the burden of realizing your own sins can crush you. The abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankraty, once said about this: “Your spots on your sides will be cleaned with very hard metal brushes, like a dirty, smoked pan. It will hurt!” Therefore, those who are accustomed to blaming others and not themselves for problems will one day leave. Just like others who drown in the darkness of soul-searching, forgetting about the grace of God, which is capable of washing away any sin.
Another reason for disappointment in monastic life already in the first months is... charm. That enthusiastic, often fictitious opinion about the monks and their life in the monastery. As Bishop Pankraty notes in one of his conversations: “Not only does the monastery test a person, but the person himself looks at the situation and the monastic family into which he finds himself.” And when it turns out that it is not angels who are laboring nearby, not those whom one would like to put on a pedestal as an example of an immaculate life, but the same sinners, the former enthusiasm disappears.
Finally, disappointment awaits the zealous neophytes at the very beginning, who, as soon as they arrived at the Church, proudly raised over their heads the slogan of the struggle for the “purity” of Orthodoxy and set off to “conquer” their chosen monastery. Those who have studied several books, from the teachings of the Holy Fathers to “unholy” fiction, firmly know how those around them should live, but have not yet learned to apply the same yardstick to themselves.
The difference between the “theoretical” faith and that which is professed by life itself, including life in a monastery, is described by St. Tikhon of Voronezh (Zadonsky):
“Those who have renounced the world, although they do not know the alphabet, are wiser, enlightened by God’s light, more than those who know all Scripture, but seek to be glorified in this world. The Holy Scriptures were given to us from God for the sake of our salvation and glorification of the name of God: for this reason we must read it, and study and listen to it. And when we read for the sake of our Orthodoxy and strive to know it, it will not only be to our detriment, but will be to our detriment. Every gift of God turns to our detriment when we seek from it not God’s glory, but our glory.”
Another also inferior reason for leaving for a monastery is external circumstances: they were laid off at work, their wife left, their grown-up children were kicked out of the house, they got confused with loans - when a person runs away to the monastery not out of love for God, but due to disappointment.
In the Reception Service of the Deanery, the first place where those who come to the Valaam Monastery and hope to stay here find themselves, they are greeted by the formidable words of St. Ignatius Brianchaninov: “Out of sadness, one should not go to a monastery, which can only be entered by calling. Everyone, as far as I know, who entered the monastery due to some external circumstances, and not by calling, is very fragile and certainly leaves the monastery with great troubles for the monastery and for themselves.”
The abbot of the Valaam Monastery, Bishop Pankraty, speaks more softly: “many people consider joining a religion or, quite radically, a monastery, as an attempt to escape from the problems of real life. This is not a recent trend - it has always been like this. The Monk John Climacus also said that only a few come to the monastery by calling, but more than those who come due to circumstances. Having found himself in a monastic environment due to circumstances, a person can either become imbued with such a life, accept it, or be disappointed, rejected, without understanding its depth.”
If we remember that monasteries have long been called “healers of souls,” then there is nothing reprehensible in coming here as a volunteer or temporary worker. Heal mental wounds, strengthen in faith, rediscover the meaning of existence. The warning against entering the monastic fraternity “due to circumstances” is addressed to those who, in the heat of resentment against the world, in some gloom, hastily declare: “That’s it! I’m going to a monastery!” Only after spending several months in the monastery, or even more accurately, several years, when the pain caused by “circumstances” disappears, when monastic life becomes visible from the inside, and, perhaps, comes the understanding that “circumstances” themselves are a manifestation of the will of God, can one speak about choosing the monastic path.
Preparing for care
Leaving for a monastery without an idea of life in a monastery is impossible. Churched people make pilgrimage trips, visit holy places and monasteries. Over time, people get closer to the light of the monastery. To get a closer look at life within the walls of a monastery and to work for the glory of God, you can apply to work as a laborer at the monastery. In this case, the person does not make any vows, but lives according to the rules of the monastery, works, attends services, prays, and begins the sacraments.
Monastic life gives great benefit to the souls of those who begin tonsure and monasticism with sincere disposition, and walk this path humbly, without malice.
If you want to take monastic vows, you must definitely consult with your spiritual father and receive his blessing. In addition to spiritual reasons, everyday reasons can also be an obstacle to entering the monastery, for example:
- spouse's disagreement with this;
- presence of minor children;
- the presence of other people dependent on the person who wants to go to the monastery;
- the desire to hide from everyday problems.
People take monastic vows in search of continuous communion with God
What is the difference between secular and monastic life?
Modern monasticism is very different from ancient times. Leaving worldly life, monks serve the Lord, pray and work hard every day, run their households, do handicrafts, sell finished products and various products grown or made with their own hands, and with the money raised they build new temples.
In monasteries, people find peace and tranquility, abandoning the Fall and temptations. Otherwise, life in the monastery is the same: employees can have books, not only holy scriptures, but also fiction, they can listen to music and watch films, engage in various social projects, medicine, construction, education.
Stages of monastic life
The preparatory stages, which various sources include labor and novitiate, do not yet constitute true monasticism. The Monk Macarius of Optina defined its degrees as follows:
- Rasophorus – the degree of beginners;
- mantle – medium level;
- schema – degree of perfection.
The Holy Fathers teach not to strive to receive a mantle or schema as an external image out of a desire to dress in honorable clothes, because this is all from ambition. And for a monk, the main thing is humility. You need to accept the angelic image in your mind. The very acceptance of a small angelic image is a betrothal to the Heavenly Bridegroom Jesus Christ. After a person is dressed in monastic robes during tonsure, he must always have the Name of Jesus on his lips.
Stages of monastic life
The Monk Ambrose of Optina taught to observe the internal and not be afraid of the external. There is no need to desire to receive a ryassophore or a mantle as a means of spiritual growth.
Author's advice
The Monk Nikon taught that a monk should be entirely in God. You can’t go to a monastery just out of a desire to hide from annoying problems. All your thoughts must be revealed to your spiritual father.
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How to go to a monastery, what is needed for this?
If you still decide to do this, you definitely need to have patience and strength, since desire alone is very little for this.
Often, when we are tormented by terrible thoughts and it seems that there is no way out, we shout into the void, “Where should we go?” The monastery is the first answer that comes to mind for almost everyone, because it is considered to be a place where one can find peace and grace.
The best article for you, go to: What is the difference between Baptists and Orthodox
But not everyone leaves - the chosen ones leave, and there are not many of them. For them, life is faith. It fills the mind, heart, soul... It becomes not just an important part of existence, it is the meaning of human existence in this world.
The service of a monk is an eternal prayer to God. And “Heaven on Earth” is a monastery where you can go and live there. Some seek salvation in this way, others want to find long-awaited peace.
But why do so many people come to this so often in their actions or in their thoughts? Is life so difficult that people just can't stand it? Or maybe, sooner or later, we will all come to the Lord here, in worldly life, just as we come when our “hour of judgment” comes in heavenly life. Lots of questions - and so few answers.
May the Lord protect you!
Which monastery to choose
You can choose a monastery; to do this, you can ask your mentor for advice or walk through several monasteries. Many monks visit several monasteries and stay there for several days, hoping that God or their heart will tell them where to stay.
While temporarily staying at the monastery, a person becomes a worker, together with the monks he prays for the good of the monastery, learns the basics and works together with the ministers. But the ministers also take a closer look at the new person, evaluate his attitude towards the monastery and its inhabitants and decide whether to leave him and prepare him for tonsure or send him home.
Call of the Heart
A monastery is not a dungeon where constantly mourn and cry. In the monastic environment there are many young, active, cheerful, successful people who want to remain pure, not soiled by society, money, carnal pleasures and other passions. Their soul demands more. She cannot come to terms with the dissatisfaction of her spiritual quest; she is not attracted by earthly ideals. It conceals a burning need to serve God, people, goodness, and high ideals.
Monks are the army of Christ, constantly fighting with their passions in the name of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the old days, Orthodox Christians gave their offspring to become monks, who served as prayer books for their entire Family. Such children were prepared for monasticism from early childhood, instilling in them a sublime sense of duty and selfless love for God.
Life in a monastery for such ascetics is akin to God’s spiritual call to the solitary path of a novice who has renounced the world (Divine Providence). Words cannot express the enormous joy and happiness of a person who has found faith in the treasury of his soul, the fire of which ignites the heart and mind to completely change, to devote himself to high service, renouncing himself.
Monk takes 3 vows
- First. The vow of chastity is renunciation of family life and any carnal relationships.
- Second. The vow of obedience is the renunciation of one’s own will, submission to the spiritual father, who leads the monk along the spiritual path.
- Third. The vow of non-acquisitiveness is a complete renunciation of personal property, concern for the needs of the monastic brotherhood, monastery, and loved ones.
Serving the All-Good Creator will save you from vanity, worldly worries, and confusion, but this cross is much harder to bear. Humility, meekness, condescension, and preference for prayer over other entertainments will help to gain spiritual freedom and lead to transformation of the soul and happiness.
A person opens his heart before God, filled with the greatest gratitude, bliss, and spiritual delight for the gift of life. Denial of oneself frees the spirit of the monk, which shines in his gaze with a light not of this sun, but burns with spiritual fire.
