I’m blogging here a previous paper that I wrote for my churchhistory course at Bakke Graduate University. It was written for my first course, in May 2006.

Part 1

INCORPORATING BENEDICT’S RULE IN A SUBURBAN MISSIONAL CHURCH

Benedict of Nursia is one of history’s most influential Christian leaders, thinkers and writers. His most significant work was a Rule structuring for monastic communities which became the standard for monastic orders. In addition to the Rule of Benedict’s continuing popularity in monasteries, Benedictine spirituality is currently undergoing a popular revival owing to its practical and applicable attitude. As a direct result of its down-to-earth applicability and its emphasis on experiential spirituality, a surprising majority of Benedictine spirituality is transferable from 6th century Italy to our own suburban, missional church community in the eastern Seattle suburb of North Bend.

Introducing Benedict of Nursia

Monasticism, an organized form of the asceticism (a disciplined spiritual life), became prominent in the fourth century[1] when a wave of popular biographies captured the public attention, most notably that of Antony the Great in Egypt, written by Athanasius, then Bishop of Alexandria. These biographies examined the hermitic lifestyle and urged their readers to a life of discipline and holiness, often in solitude, in order to pursue God.

In addition to these solitary forms of monasticism, the fourth century also saw the beginnings of communal asceticism, particularly the model of Pachomonius in southern Egypt.[2] Beyond Egypt, monastic communities formed in central Asia Minor, Italy, Gaul (modern France), and throughout North Africa.[3]

Through the fourth and fifth centuries, the trend in monastic life was toward more regulated community living, following a common ‘rule’. Rules were shared by various communities who adapted from many sources and circulated their community’s resulting rule for use in other monastic communities.[4]

In the early sixth century, an otherwise unknown Italian monk now known only as ‘the Master’ wrote such a rule which drew heavily from earlier sources. The rule of ‘the Master’ became the core for the Rule of Benedict.

Benedict’s biographer, Gregory the Great, described his subject as one who “carried the heart of an old man”[5] and who, though born into a wealthy family, “gave himself no disport or pleasure” [6]. Sent to Rome to study the liberal sciences, Benedict was repulsed by the vice of Rome’s inhabitants and fled with his family nurse (attendant) to Affile, east of Rome. After Benedict worked a miracle restoring a kitchen object that his nurse borrowed from a neighbor and accidentally broke, the story spread through the surrounding area. Rejecting this praise, Benedict again fled and settled into a hermitic lifestyle in the desert called Subaico about forty miles from Rome.[7] A monk named Romans met him in this place and became Benedict’s benefactor, providing him with food, clothing and occasional company. Benedict spent the next three years in a cave in Subaico.

In a short time, area shepherds, intrigued initially by a cave dweller dressed in animal skins but soon by the teaching of a man of God, converted to the Christian faith. Once again, Benedict’s fame spread.

During this time, Gregory’s biography tells the story of Benedict being harassed by a sexual temptation and, in order to win victory, shed his clothes and threw himself into a thicket of nettles and briars, rolling through them until the physical desire was extinguished.[8]

Clearly a man with local influence and a great desire for holiness, Benedict was invited by a local monastery to succeed its deceased Abbot. Benedict’s structure and expectation of virtue so chafed the men that they conspired to poison his wine, though when Benedict stretched out his hand to bless the cup before taking it, the glass shattered[9]. Benedict wisely left this monastery and returned to solitude.

During the next season of his life, Benedict gathered disciples to himself and his vision of monasticism and built twelve monasteries, each of which was led by an Abbot under Benedict’s selection[10]. Later, Benedict and some of his monks moved to Monte Cassino. It is during this time that Benedict’s Rule was developed in order to structure a growing group of monastic communities.

At the time of St. Benedict’s death in 547, the Rule was followed in only a few monasteries in central Italy. By the ninth century, it had supplanted many other monastic rules. By the twelfth century, it became the universal rule of monks and nuns.[11]