Hermit's Way
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"In the beginning there is struggle and a lot of work for those who come near to God. But after that there is indescribable joy. It is just like building a fire: at first it is smoky and your eyes water, but later you get the desired result. Thus we ought to light the divine fire in ourselves with tears and effort." ~Amma Syncletica
Is the Hermit Different?
The Church does not have one set of morals for laity and another for hermits, nor does it divide the faithful into classes according to their obligations towards God. The Christian life is the same for everyone. This means that the true Christian must ground his life and conduct in Christ, something which is hard to do in the world.What is difficult in the world is approached with dedication in the hermits life. In his or her spiritual life one simply tries to do what every Christian will try to do: to live according to God's will, not our own. The principles of hermitic life are not different from those in the lives of all believers.
The hermit's life has always been associated with self denial: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me". Christ calls on us to give ourselves totally to him: "He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me".
We cannot deny that Christian's have different ways of life, but this does not alter our common responsibility to God, His commandments and His will. Every one of us has his or her own special vocation within the body of Christ's. Every vocation, whether married contemplative or solitary is equally subject to God's absolute will. One's vocation or state in life cannot be used as an excuse for not responding to Christ's call. Each path demands effort and determination on our part. A layman's successes are a hermits failure.
"The achievements of the worldly are failures for monks; and the achievements of monks are failures for the worldly. When the monk is exposed to what the world sees as success- wealth, fame, power, pleasure, good health and many children, he is destroyed. And when a worldly man finds himself in the state desired by monks—poverty, humility, weakness, self restraint, mortification and suchlike, he considers it a disaster".~St. Maximus the confessorThe journey to perfection is gradual and is connected with successive renunciations, which can be summarized;
-The renunciation of that which does not build God's Kingdom in the here and now,
-Freedom from pride,
-The renunciation of our idea as to who God is.
-The renunciation of any thoughts of self-will.
In abandoning the world it includes not only things, but also people.
The world tends to the business of the world. The Christians vocation choice of marriage, parenting or single life, with all the obligations of the world attempts to remain within the limits of church tradition. Hermits go in other directions. We seek the absolute as we leave the world behind.
In the lives of hermits and anchorites the Christian can see examples of women and men who take their Christian faith seriously and devote themselves to the path which everyone is called by Christ to follow. Not all attain perfection, but try, and all rise to a certain height. Not all possess the same talent or gifts, but all strive as good and faithful servants.The comparison here is between the hermit and the worldly Christian. Wealth and fame cannot be seen as equally destructive for hermits and laymen. These things are always bad for hermits, because they conflict with the way of life they have chosen. For laymen, wealth and fame may be beneficial. The existence of the family, and of the wider secular society with its various needs not only justify but sometimes make it necessary to accumulate wealth. Those things that may unite in the world divide in the hermit's life. In the end, the ultimate unifier is Christ.
~Abiah+ priest and professed African-American female benedictine hermit of 18 years,vowed to obedience,stability,poverty,conversion,celibacy. female religious orders,solitary religious,anchoress,contemplative
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