The Skete at Crosswood Centre

Frequently Asked Questions
Concerning Monasticism

What we've done here is to assemble a few questions, and offer the responses of several of us. We sincerely hope this will provide just a bit more in the way of understanding and perspective.

Question 1. Why would someone want to be a monastic? Isn't it enough to be a priest or deacon?

First monastic: For me, monasticism is a spiritual pathway dedicated to the total pursuit of God, i.e. a detachment from the world and its temporal, illusory goals and attachment to fulfilling the function our Creator gave to us: achieving theosis.

One does not need to be a priest or deacon to follow that pathway. Being ordained, however, allows one to celebrate liturgy and to offer the sacraments as well as to offer pastoral services. A monastic (whether ordained or not) may also provide pastoral services. The Monastic's life is offered to and centered on God: on bringing one's self and our brothers and sisters back to the Altar of God.

Second monastic: Simply put, to be a monastic is another call from God just like being called to be a priest or deacon. To be monastic one does not have to be a priest or deacon. Being a monastic is really something very personal for each individual with God. It is another way of living ones life in full direction from God.

Third monastic: The monastic life is simply the Christian life, lived in a single-minded and intentional way; it's a deepening, if you will, of the life of anyone who has received the priestly sacrament of Holy Baptism, and its focus is on the strengthening of the individual's relationship with God - some say it is being alone with The Alone. The two vocations are separate but complementary: one can be a monastic with a vocation to live out the Christian life in a disciplined and orderly way, and to support the Christian people through work and prayer, one can be ordained for liturgical and community leadership, or occasionally, one may feel called to both.

A friend of monastics: We are called to a joyful sorrow that praises God with tears of joy and repentance. In the acceptance of our humanity, we are called to keep our rule of prayer, to pray constantly, and to be united with God, and to glorify God alone in all things and at all times. To rest in God and to live in God is the unremitting call, and for some of us, the words of St. Teresa of Avila apply: Let nothing disturb you, nothing affright you. All things are passing, God alone abides. Patient endurance attains to all things. Who God possess nothing shall want. God alone is everything. God alone suffices. To restore a sense of balance, connection, and organic unity with the world and to return to a relationship with the God of all creation who seeks to be united with us in every moment and movement of our lives is a significant prophetic role for monastics. It is in seeking God that we find ourselves, and it is in loving one another that we begin to discern God's love for us and for all of creation.

Another monastic: In many ways, monasticism is essentially a way of living deeply, and living into the Christian vocation. Sometimes confusion arises with this form of life in relation to the terms and titles that we use, partly because they are gendered, and partly because we have a long history of usage, and so friction can be generated when our understanding and expression evolves, in contrast with a term's connotation. In English, monk and nun denote roughly the same sort of vowed monastic life, and neither one excludes the monastic person from (sacramental) diaconal, presbyteral, or episcopal service.

The gender neutral term for one in the vowed life might well be 'monastic' as a noun, so that we would opt to call the individual 'a monastic,' rather than a monk or a nun. For monastics who are ordained, we sometimes refer to monastic deacons, priests and bishops. On the other hand, out of respect and affection for traditional usage, we might properly and accurately use the admittedly awkward but grammatically correct terms hieromonk and hieronun (along with archimandrite and archimandriniya, schema-monk and schema-nun), along with the gender-neutral and user-friendly hierodeacon.

As our jurisdiction continues to develop and evolve, surely we will find ways to clearly and accurately describe our various vocations, and just as surely we may discover new ways to express our modern understanding of ancient concepts and ways of life.

Question 2. It sounds like monasticism in the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America is not very challenging, and gives far too much individual autonomy to individual monastics. Why so much individualism?

First monastic: Monasticism in Orthodox-Catholic Church of America is very challenging given that each individual lives within the world though tries not to be a part of it. It is challenging to live ones life in a manner directed by God when the world around you wants you to live a very different manner. Yes there is much individual autonomy with the monastics of Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, but not to the point that we can do as we please totally. We still have to answer to our Metropolitan and to God for what we are doing. Our individual freedom comes from being able to choose the personal rule of life that seems to fit us the best and how we "carry out" our personal rule.

Each monastic is required to be self-sufficient, which means holding some sort of a job. This adds to that challenge of being a monastic within Orthodox-Catholic Church of America. Monastics as a whole actually had individual autonomy right from the start. If the elder felt you were ready to live on your own, then you were allowed to move outside of the actually monastery. This then allowed for individualism in how one "practiced" their monastic life. And we have to remember that God made each of us a little different with different gifts. In this, it means that we are individuals seeking God and sharing God with others from our personal perspective.

Second monastic: The challenge, for each of us who live apart from the monastery, is the challenge of the desert: we're assailed daily with the temptations that each Christian faces, tempted to ignore our vows, inclined to surrender to the convenience of the moment, to overlook our rule of prayer and rule of life. There is a great challenge to retreat from the call to be a beacon, of sorts, a reminder to others that there is more to life. For those of us "in the world," it seems so much easier to live in a monastery, supported and encouraged on every side by siblings whose goals are the same as ours. That's neither accurate nor realistic, of course, and life in a monastery has its own challenges and difficulties.

As we develop the monastic vocation within the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, we recognize that our personal histories, education, and experience, along with our diverse personal situations, require that we enable one another to discern God's will for us and to identify a suitable way of 'being monastic,' such that we can make our way to God.

A friend of monastics: People always have individual questions which should have personal answers as they are lived according to intent, vows, devotion, and the worship of God as part of our every moments and "breath of life within." These people experience the extraordinariness of God's presence in our ordinary everyday moments of life.

Another monastic: In the western tradition, monks and nuns are vowed, and usually live in communities, while Oblates are not vowed and ordinarily don't life in communities. Both are essentially monastic, and both live according to a monastic rule, according to their personal situations. In the east, not all monks and nuns are vowed, and not all are in communities, but again, but certainly all are essentially monastic.

Question 3. How can someone be a monastic without living in community with others?

First monastic: The first monastics, going back to St. Antony of Egypt, removed themselves from "the world" by going to the desert and living as hermits. In essence, we in Orthodox-Catholic Church of America are doing the same as those early monastics (anchorites). We are living in a "desert of the mind" (in today's terminology: a "virtual desert"), but we also live in a virtual monastic community as well. Although we do not physically live together, we remain committed to one another through our thoughts and prayers and through common practices.

Second monastic: Yes, exactly. Common-life (or cenobitic) monasteries are the most common and familiar form of monastic life, and it is the form we most often consider in this connection. One ancient form of monastic life, however, which continues to the present day, and until recently even on Mount Athos, is the idiorrhythmic form. In this expression, the monastic lives apart, according to an individual rule of prayer and life, and comes together with the larger community only periodically. Elsewhere, there are monastic priests who live for many years apart from the monastery, living and working in parishes or other ministries of service. In our jurisdiction, we have from time to time seen the establishment of temporary, informal communities of monastics, whose common life provides a measure of mutuality, support, fellowship. These small monastic communities, variously called hermitages, sketes, and monasteries, emerge and dissolve according to local conditions, and are a normal and natural result of monasticism's inclination to extend itself in prayer, love and service. In the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, given our relatively small numbers and our small budgets, it's difficult to maintain and support the monastic life, but certainly it's not impossible; and the community of the faithful, as well as the community of monastics, is always present in our lives. Most, but not all, of our monks and nuns, wherever they live and whether or not they have gathered into small monastic communities, are members of the Skete at Centre.

Third monastic: Although the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, as a corporate entity, does not own property, it does not mean that there are no monasteries. Some of our monastics have opened small local monasteries, but that actually is more of a rarity than the norm. Community is built on communications and joint activities when possible. Monasticism does not require anyone to live in a monastic community. Monasticism requires one to live a life based on the example of the Desert Elders: the Fathers and Mothers of the Egyptian Desert and the Northern Thebaid and on the teaching of the Church Fathers. God becomes the guiding force and the community for the monastic. Yes, it is nice to live together if possible to help support one another as one walks the spiritual pathway as a monastic, but with today's methods of rapid and even instant communications, one can easily reach out for support to others in a quick moment.

Another monastic: In the last century, there has been a paradigm shift. In the early years of the twentieth century, in Russia, the New Martyr Elizabeth (not unlike the medieval Hildegard of Bingen) introduced active ministries in education, health care, and social services. Later, in the thirties and forties, Mother Maria of Paris introduced social service while living in the community among those with needs. In our own time, we see Archbishop Kallistos (Ware), a monk of Patmos, living and teaching at Oxford University, while Hieromonk Aleksandr (Golitzin), a monk of Simonos Petras on Mount Athos, lives and teaches at Marquette University in Wisconsin. In the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Patriarch has instituted an increasingly popular form of active apostolate in the local communities; these women live what can only be called monastic lives, but in this instance are termed 'sisters,' to distinguish their vocation from that of the nuns who live in monasteries. Increasingly, monastics are feeling Christ's call to move out of the confines of monasteries in order to bring the good news of Christ to the world.

Question 4. What do monastic people do that is different from what ordinary clergy or ordinary Christians do?

First monastic: Monastics are people who live their entire life centered in God. The monastic finds ways within their life to "pull away" to be silent with God. Their life is even more driven to live on the fringe of things. Their life is one of constant communications with heaven and shares that communications with those who seek them out. Their role is more in the spiritual area of the church.

Clergy are called more to serve the community to help bring them to God. This does not mean a clergy person cannot be a monastic. It means that a clergy person's role is more in the sacramental area of the church. There are times though a clergy person will also be a monastic if that is where the person is called.

Second monastic: For some, those who live at the Skete, for example, there is, as you may suspect, regular prayer in community, while for those who live separately, there is individual prayer. For most of the rest, folks live according to the general spirit of one of the traditional monastic rules. What generally happens is that our monks and nuns send a detailed explanation to the Metropolitan-Archbishop explaining how they understand monastic life, and how they plan to live, and why it's something they want.

Christians are expected to pray every day, but monastics generally pray the daily office with some regularity. Of course, there are a considerable number of Christians who make frequent use of the daily office, and that's very good. Christians, and especially monastics, are expected to have a prayer life, to have some personal daily 'rule of prayer,' developed in consultation with their confessor or spiritual director, such that they nourish their relationship with God. A great many people in the twenty-first century don't practice such specific forms as "centering prayer," Christian Meditation, or the Jesus Prayer, but most of the monastics do. Some of our monastics also take on a more challenging rule of fasting or other ascetic practice. The notion of renouncing things is kind of tricky and not always realistic, so it we found that non-attachment seems to be a better way of understanding it. The way the jurisdiction is set up, nobody is really supported by the church, and everybody works ... and it has to be that way for the monastics too, simply out of necessity.

Another monastic: It's neither easy nor really possible to say what is and is not monastic activity. The monks at New Skete in upper New York train dogs and have produced training videotapes on the subject. New Skete is noteworthy as well for having a monastic community of men, a monastic community of women, and a monastic community of married people living in committed relationships. So again, as our understanding broadens and shifts, it's not easy to define monasticism as if it were one and only one form of Christian life and service.

Question 5. How can someone in a committed relationship, and who is not celibate, be a monastic?

First monastic: To start with, what says a monastic cannot be in a committed relationship? A person within a committed relationship, and notice that we are saying a committed relationship and not just out having sexual relationships with anyone we please, is actually a person who has defined what their life is presently and probably for the future also. They have taken the time to look at themselves to understand what it is they want from life and also what they can give to life as they follow God's directions for them. God has never asked a person to live their lives totally celibate. Right from the start God gave us "help mates" to be our life companions.

Monastics must be committed in their entire ways of living. This can also include another person in their life that is willing to walk the spiritual pathway with them. For some monastics, just like any other person in life, having a committed relationship could be a distraction from their spiritual pathway. But for some monastics, having a committed relationship actually strengthens their spiritual walk. The relationship becomes a sharing of the life that God has set before the monastic. To be honest, it takes a special person to be in a committed relationship with a monastic.

Personally, I find that having a committed relationship helps me to have a greater understanding of life as a whole, and thus I am able to bring my spiritual walk to a higher understanding when working with others. No, it is not always easy to be monastic and in a committed relationship as one has to know where the "boundaries" are and how to "feed" both the relationship side and the monastic side so that nothing is left wanting. In the olden days, it was natural for monastics to go off into the desert or monasteries and live life as a single person. It was thought that one could only have a constant relationship with God by living celibate. But as the world changes, God finds ways to spread his message through a new "type of monastic". Given this, it is still up to the monastic to realize just how one needs to live his or her life either as celibate or as "married."

Second monastic: Monasticism is all about relationship and relationships, for God is love. We are called to love one another. Only recently has the church come to realize that monasticism is not at all incompatible with the rest of life; it's not a retreat from life, but an opportunity to enter more and more deeply into life.

So often, it's tempting to confuse the monastic vow of chastity with abstinence, or with the oath of celibacy taken by some clerics and monastics in some faith communities. We understand chastity to mean a single-minded devotion to Christ, a certain vigilance and sobriety such that we are aware when we allow ourselves to feel alienated from full union with our Lord, and a sure, confident sense that nothing can separate us from Christ's love. Within a committed relationship, chastity suggests a higher level of personal commitment to one another, such that there is a sense of deep love, devotion, and mutuality. If monasticism is, as we assert, the Christian life lived fully, then a monk or nun in a committed relationship presents no true difficulty.

A friend of monastics: Christianity, and Christian monasticism, is rooted in relationships, and the monastic vocation can be learnt and appreciated only in relationship and community. For many of us in the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, the reality of the monastic vocation can best be discerned by immersion in the ordinary daily living-out of the monastic values of simplicity, meditation, work, and corporate liturgical prayer.

Another monastic: The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America's approach to monasticism (and to ecclesiastical matters in general) is noteworthy, in terms of the inclusive response to issues of diversity in sexuality and gender. The jurisdiction welcomes people who are in committed relationships, as well as LGBT people, to full participation in the life of the church, to include monastic profession.

Question 6. It seems like the monastics are something of a 'secret society,' with people that dress in really Byzantine attire and I wonder what that's all about. How are they different from all the rest of us?

First monastic: Sure monastics dress "funny" in many ways. But the dress is a symbol of their life. It is their "uniform" that shows they have chosen to live their lives in the complete focus with God. The difference between the monastic and the "every day person" is really just the fact that the monastic's life is completely centered on God in all things. There is nothing "secret" about monastics. But in saying that, one also has to realize that in the world, monastics are often seen as a "little strange" or even "out of touch with the world". The manner of dress then "warns" others that this is person who walks to a "different beat" in life!

Know though, that not every monastic elects to wear the "entire" monastic habit or even elects to wear it all the time. Some monastics only wear their habits when attending a religious function while others wear them all the time no matter where they are or what they are doing. Some of the monastics may even elect not to wear a habit at all. It is really an individual choice given their life within the world. The habit does not make the person, but the person makes the habit!

Second monastic: Yes, our monastic garments are outward expressions of our inward commitment/pursuit: symbolic expressions of our vows and reminders of the spiritual path we have chosen.

Third monastic: It's not particularly about clothing, though admittedly a number of monastics in the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America tend to favor Eastern and Oriental liturgy and vestments. Perhaps a consideration of attire is important: wearing 'clericals' in public can be good pastorally, for by so doing we provide a reminder to a secular culture that there is a higher reality. In just the same way, a few of our folks wear monastic attire in public venues, and so are able to do some good outreach by that means: it has been observed, only a bit whimsically, that religious attire serves to set us apart, and actually can serve as something of a good public relations and recruiting function. Fundamentally, though, the monks and nuns are no different from the rest of Christian people, and for the most part, they wear monastic attire only when the situation appears to support it or suggest that it would be appropriate.

Another monastic: In connection with this discussion of clothing and the sense of 'apartness,' as well as the interest in Byzantine and Oriental forms of monastic life, it might be good to note that Orthodox monasticism is expressed differently from that of Western Christian traditions. Perhaps it might be seen as less systematic, less organized, and more individualized. In the west, there is generally an orderly progression from novice, to temporary or annual vows, to permanent vows. By contrast, in the east, there may be a progressive movement from novice to Riassophore (that is, a monk or nun who does not take vows; in some ways, it has been noted that this expression of monastic life is analogous to that of a monastic oblate in the west), but there the 'progress' or movement stops. Many monastics live their entire monastic lives as Riassophores, and there is neither encouragement nor expectation that anyone enters into the vowed life. It may be that after a couple of years, the Riassophore feels called to enter more deeply into monastic life, and with the concurrence of the Metropolitan-Archbishop, is granted permission to take monastic vows. These are not 'annual' in any sense, but are perpetual, and these monks and nuns are called Stavrophores. Finally, in some rare cases, a Stavrophore may request permission to enter the Great Schema, a more ascetic way of life with a greater focus on solitude and silence. The Great Schema Monk or Nun is one who has, over a period of many years, passed successively through the stages of novice, Riassophore, and Stavrophore, struggling in each moment with temptations and with the ever-present option of a return to her or his former life "in the world," to use an archaic expression. This formal expression of monastic life has its analogue in the west in the similarly rare and holy vocation of anchorite (anchoress) or hermit: one who, after many years as a monk, is blessed, as it were, to enter into the solitude of the desert, to be alone with the Alone, to die to oneself and to the world that one may be more fully alive in Christ our Lord and Savior. It must be said again that although they proceed in a progressive, orderly fashion, and the several expressions of monastic life are undertaken in succession, no one of these forms of monastic life is better or worse, higher or lower, than any other, but each form is intended to harmonize with the needs and aspirations of the individual monastic. In our Father's house there are many mansions, many rooms - each one different, each one suited to the individual occupant.