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| Chapter VII. The reason why those who are admitted to a monastery are not permitted to mix at once with the congregation of the brethren, but are first committed to the guest house.
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Chapter VII.
The reason why those who are admitted to a monastery are
not permitted to mix at once with the congregation of the brethren, but
are first committed to the guest house.
When, then, any one has
been received and proved by that persistence of which we have spoken,
and, laying aside his own garments, has been clad in those of the
monastery, he is not allowed to mix at once with the congregation of
the brethren, but is given into the charge of an Elder, who lodges
apart not far from the entrance of the monastery, and is entrusted with
the care of strangers and guests, and bestows all his diligence in
receiving them kindly. And when he has served there for a whole year
without any complaint, and has given evidence of service towards
strangers,761
| 761 In the same way the
Rule of S. Benedict (c. lviii.) directs that the novice is to be placed
in the guest house for a few days, while that of S. Isidore is more
precise in ordering him to be placed there “for three
months,” and to wait on the guests there. Two months is the
period fixed by other rules, but a few days was all that was ultimately
required, and Cassian stands alone in mentioning a full year as the
duration of this service, though Sozomen speaks of the monks of Tabenna
as having to undergo a probation of three years. H. E., III. xiv. | being thus
initiated in the first rudiments
of humility and patience, and by long
practice in it acknowledged, when he is to be admitted from this into
the congregation of the brethren he is handed over to another Elder,
who is placed over ten of the juniors, who are entrusted to him by the
Abbot, and whom he both teaches and governs in accordance with the
arrangement which we read of in Exodus as made by Moses.762
| 762 Cf. Exod. xviii. 25. The office of “Dean”
(Decanus) which is here spoken of by Cassian, is also referred to by
Augustine (De Mor. Eccl. xxxi.) and Jerome (Ep.
xxii. ad Eustoch.), and recognized by the Rule of S.
Benedict, c. xxi., where directions for his appointment are given. | E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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