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| Chapter VI. Of the conveniences of the Cœnobium.
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Chapter VI.
Of the conveniences of the Cœnobium.
Wherefore I will briefly
explain what advantages I now enjoy in this manner of life. You
must consider my words and judge whether those advantages of the desert
outweigh these comforts, and by this you will also be able to prove
whether I chose to be cramped within the narrow limits of the
Cœnobium from dislike or from desire of that purity of the
solitary life. In this life then there is no providing for the
day’s work, no distractions of buying and selling, no unavoidable
care for the year’s food, no anxiety about bodily things, by
which one has to get ready what is necessary not only for one’s
own wants but also for those of any number of visitors, finally no
conceit from the praise of men, which is worse than all these things
and sometimes in the sight of God does away with the good of even great
efforts in the desert. But, to pass over those waves of spiritual pride
and the deadly peril of vainglory in the life of the anchorite, let us
return to this general burden which affects everybody, i.e., the
ordinary anxiety in providing food, which has so far exceeded I say not
the measure of that ancient strictness which altogether did without
oil, but is beginning not to be content even with the relaxation of our
own time according to which the requirements of all the supply of food
for a year were satisfied by the preparation of a single pint of oil
and a modius of lentils prepared for the use of visitors; but now the
needful supply of food is scarcely met by two or three times that
amount. And to such an extent has the force of this dangerous
relaxation grown among some that, when they mix vinegar and sauce, they
do not add that single drop of oil, which our predecessors who followed
the rules of the desert with greater powers of abstinence, were
accustomed to pour in simply for the sake of avoiding
vainglory,2110
| 2110 Cf. Conference
VIII. | but they
break an Egyptian cheese for luxury
and pour over it more oil than is required, and so take, under a single
pleasant relish, two sorts of food which differ in their special
flavour, each of which ought singly to be a pleasant refreshment at
different times for a monk. To such a pitch however has this
ὑλικὴ
κτῆσις, i.e., acquisition of
material things grown, that actually under pretence of hospitality and
welcoming guests anchorites have begun to keep a blanket in their
cells—a thing which I cannot mention without shame—to omit
those things by which the mind that is awed by and intent on spiritual
meditation is more especially hampered; viz., the concourse of
brethren, the duties of receiving the coming and speeding the parting
guest, visits to each other and the endless worry of various
confabulations and occupations, the expectation of which owing to the
continuous character of these customary interruptions keeps the mind on
the stretch even during the time when these bothers seem to cease. And
so the result is that the freedom of the anchorite’s life is so
hindered by these ties that it can never rise to that ineffable
keenness of heart, and thus loses the fruits of its hermit life. And if
this is now denied to me while I am living in the congregation and
among others, at least there is no lack of peace of mind and
tranquillity of heart that is freed from all business. And unless this
is ready at hand for those also who live in the desert, they will
indeed have to undergo the labours of the anchorite’s life, but
will lose its fruits which can only be gained in peaceful stability of
mind. Finally even if there is any diminution of my purity of heart
while I am living in the Cœnobium, I shall be satisfied by keeping
in exchange that one precept of the Gospel, which certainly cannot be
less esteemed than all those fruits of the desert; I mean that I should
take no thought for the morrow, and submitting myself completely to the
Abbot seem in some degree to emulate
Him of whom it is said: “He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death; and so be able humbly to make use of His words:
“For I came not to do mine own will, but the will of the Father
which sent me.”2111
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