Today I'd like to finish that Basilian monasticism up, and I think how we'll work it is, I'll give you the material I have on Basilian monasticism. After that, and there will be time, we'll open it up to discussion regarding the reading we did for this topic this week, Basilian monasticism. Or questions, or whatever you want to say. Notice that next week we'll start with Palestinian monasticism. There is no reading for that, nor is there a reading for the next topic after that, which is Syrian monasticism. We could have done a lot of things, but I just kind of spaced it out. For those of you who have the bibliography, who asked for it, just some notations on Palestinian

[01:04]

monasticism. We have three very good sources in the bibliography in English. One is the Lives by Cyril Sithopoulos on the monks of Palestine. And then there are two others, one by Griffith, or Griffin, and one by Hirschfeld. So you want to look under G and H in the bibliography if you're interested in things we have in English on Palestinian monasticism. The one by Griffith, I think, it's a little bit later, it's a carry-through, so it's like 8th century, 9th century Palestinian monasticism. But I mean, it gives you, I'm sure it gives you some background, too. Hirschfeld, I don't, I think Hirschfeld gives the whole span. Anyway, we have other things, but those are the English sources. And just looking ahead, for Syrian monasticism, it's probably the thing we have the most of.

[02:05]

We really have a wealth of sources on, secondary sources, on Syrian monasticism. Maybe 60-70% of them are in French, or maybe it's 50-50. All the works by Sebastian Brock in your bibliography, I cite four or five there on Syrian monasticism. There's also the two-volume Verbus, History of the Monks in Syria. That's in English. Verbus. Are both of them on it, or just one? This is an odd one. It doesn't matter. Anyway, there's at least one on there. And really, the stuff in French is the best. We have a volume on the Syrian Cenobites.

[03:07]

We have a volume on the Syrian Anchorites. We have a volume on the Syrian Stylites, the ones who lived on top of pillars. And we have some other stuff in French that's really quite superb, the collection we have, for secondary. We also have the lives of, no, just not too long ago, since Turkish publications came up, the lives of Simeon, I think, or Nihilus. We certainly have the lives of Simeon Stylites. And then the History of the Monks of Syria. It's just like a companion copy to the Cyril of Sassafras. And then there's the prayer, prayer in the monastic tradition, or prayers among the Syrian fathers, which is also in the Association Studies series, also in English. There's just six or seven right there in English. So if you want to do some good secondary research in preparation, we've got more than enough stuff for you.

[04:11]

So next week, you won't have any readings. The week after that, we'll see how things go. The next thing you're going to read is some selections from Augustine. And that will come after Syrian monasticism. Okay, enough for the advertisements of Goodly Graphic. Any questions on that, about the near future? Okay, we began looking at Basil last time, just in general, when we had ten minutes left. One thing to remember about these three great saints, all of whom became bishops at one point or another, one of them against his will. Gregory of Nyssa is Basil's brother. Blood brother. And Gregory of Nyssa is his closest friend.

[05:13]

All three of them were versed in rhetoric. So they did their studies in Greece, in Athens. And that's where Basil met Gregory of Nyssa. They were students together there. This education served them well when it came to, later on, combating the Arian heresy. Certainly for Basil, it's time for homework. Eric, give us a short dissertation on Arianism. Arius raised the question to some bishops in 319, questioning according to what the teachings were about the Holy Trinity at the time. If a son is naturally posterior to a father,

[06:19]

is it not then easy to postulate that there was a time when the son, the word, the logos, did not exist? And that the word was created by Godhead. That the word was not eternal, the son was not eternal. And by extension, it was possible then to say that Jesus Christ was neither perfect God nor perfect man. He was capable of sinning. And that's what caused the whole brouhaha, which lasted for quite a long time. Quite a while, right. Why, particularly? Historically, there seem to be any number of reasons. Well, why so strong, and why couldn't they just extricate it? Most of the barbarian tribes adopted Arianism. Exactly, exactly. Just numbers-wise, whole tribes of these horrors took on Arianism. And here we have one of the heretical situations where you literally have people slaughtering one another.

[07:23]

Although it was a barbarian, it was Clovis, a Goth, a Visigoth, I think, who finally slaughtered all the Arians at the end. But it lasted quite a while. Anyway, Basil was key to the fight against Arianism. One thing you notice, you should have noticed, regarding Basil's type of monasticism is that it fits into diocesan life. He himself, after he became a bishop, still remained an abbot as such. I mean, he ruled his monks as bishop as well. And his monks are doing apostolic work, social work, basically. And Basil is pure Cenobite. Pure Cenobite. He's notorious for that. Not notorious for being Cenobitical, but notorious for being anti-Aramidical. And I'll read you the quote that has come down through the centuries for which he is known.

[08:27]

He basically condemned anchoritic life on the principle that the anchorite is cementing himself into self-will rather than God's will. Quote. If you live alone with yourself. And this other word, that it is pleasing and good for brothers to live together. How can this be verified in solitude? A community of brothers is then a stadium in which athletes are exercised.

[09:28]

A good road towards progress. A continual training. A constant concern for the commandments of God. Its end is the glory of God according to the commandment of the Lord. But it also preserves the example of the saints, of whom the Acts tell us. Book of Acts. All the believers were gathered together and they had all their possessions and cups. What's this model? We're back to Acts 2 again. We're going to see this constantly throughout the history of spirituality. The multitude of the faithful had but one heart and one soul. There was no one who kept for himself anything that he possessed, but everything was in common. Unquote. Very pro-Cernobitism. He didn't live all that long, did he? Fifty years. Fifty years. Came from quite a distinguished family. Of course, he... These are all three saints, huh?

[10:30]

His brother, St. Gregory of Nyssa. His best friend, St. Gregory of Nazianzus. And he himself, Basil the Great. Doctor of the Church. All three are doctors of the Church also. This is his grandmother, St. Macrina the Elder. This is his father, Basil, St. Basil the Elder. This is his mother, St. Emilia. This is his younger sister, St. Macrina the Younger. We have the... You have the life of Macrina in your... Which we have in English in the library. You have it in your bibliography. This Peter, St. Peter of Sebastis. This is one of his brothers. Later on... I mean, after he... They were bishops and monks as well. Emilia and Macrina became nuns

[11:36]

and turned their family estate into a convent. This is one pious family, I tell you. Very, very well-known at that time and down through the ages. For their sanctity. That is not to say that, though, that Basil did not experience monasticism before he, you know, began. He didn't just go off and live by himself. Although the three of them, when they did first start out together, lived together at Anezi. Anezi. A sort of communal monastic existence. Later on, of course, Gregory of Nyssa sort of threw everything in the past and go off and live in the wilds of Cappadocia as a recluse. He was kind of a curmudgeon also, Gregory of Nyssa.

[12:38]

Sort of a misanthrope in some ways. I don't mean that, you know, he was totally misanthropic, but he had that side to him that was a lot harsher than the other ones. Much more ascetic. Before they had this experience, Basil made a tour of Palestine, Syria, and Egypt. Various monastic happenings going on. Okay, remember, this is before the expulsion from northern Egypt of the monastics who were tied to origin, et cetera. This is right while it's happening. Only now we're off in Turkey. And he met a monk who became his spiritual guide. Eustathius. Saint Eustathius, of course. They're all saints.

[13:41]

Eustathius. And Eustathius became his on-hand spiritual guide for 15 years. Okay? And Eustathius, it's good to remember that because Eustathius is really a strong influence on how Basil develops his type of monasticism, which is different from anything that anybody else is doing because it's so social and group-oriented. Fitting right into the Diocesan flow, the Diocesan rhythms. Very active. It still is. What Basilian monasticism has left is really isn't monasticism. It's usually houses near universities like Toronto. In Canada, the Basilians are more in Canada than they are in the United States. But they're like houses of various professors or dons who have doctorates and who teach.

[14:43]

And they live together like in a residence hall. There isn't a lot of close community life left in Basilia. Now, if you go to the East, I don't know. I'm sure there's none, but this is the Western experience of what Basilian monasticism has got. They also run large parishes in Canada. Just for your information, here, the Melkites have a Basilian group. In fact, they're not necessarily the Basilian Salvatoreans. They basically are Diocesan clergy, and they follow somewhat of the rule of St. Basil. It's all very tenuous for all the Basilian groups. It's sort of like all these congregations that look to this rule of Augustine as their source, all the canons and all those groups. Well, they're sort of Augustinian. You have to line up with somebody. And Basilian monasticism, as lived here and as envisioned,

[15:47]

really hasn't come down to modern times the same way. Basil had real problems with solitary life. I mean, he tried it. Their early life had a lot of solitude in it, and he just didn't like it. He experienced within himself pride and the experience of solitude, and he experienced a revulsion for the types of severe asceticism he saw in the desert by the hermits there, the ascetical hermits, and had this whole problem with social outreach and how do you wash the feet of the disciples if you're in solitude. The lifestyle they lived monastically

[16:49]

and also as he developed, while he was a bishop, monasteries and formal monastic life had a very simple rhythm of prayer and psalms and scriptural studies, which is very important for the Basilian monasticism, to study the scriptures, and then a certain amount of manual labor, often in terms of teaching youth or running motel ministry, basically, or orphanages and hospices or hospitals of that day. So their work often was doing social work as well as catechesis. It was a rule for the Basilian monastics that they had very simple clothing and that their food is very simple and the housing is very simple. Simplicity is very important in Basilian monasticism.

[17:53]

There were formal instructions in formation in the formation program for the monks, and particularly on interior life, so particularly on spirituality and theology, all of which looked to whom as their model and maestro? Who does Basil look to for theory or theology of prayer, theology of asceticism? Well, origin, yeah, origin. So origin, if you read in Basilian literature exhortations regarding the monastic life or catechesis, you're going to see origin in parentheses, or origin in the background. For Basil, the monk is the Miles Christi,

[18:59]

soldier of Christ. We're all in this army of the Lord. And the abbot is the general. And the important thing for the soldier to do is to keep on guard and to stand the watch and to be alert and ready for battle. The whole Holy War concept, just like you'll see in Islam, not too far off in the future, is, in a Christian sense, very strong in Basil. The whole life as a holy battle. Well, you know, it was in the desert also, for the other monastics in the desert. And he couldn't help but see that on his travels through the desert. The abbot is the general or lieutenant, the lieutenant of God.

[20:02]

And it's over the monks, of course. Yeah, that's not all that important. The abbot is a spiritual father, and yet at the same time, he's an administrator. More of an administrator in Basilian monasticism than we've seen in other experiences thus far. Well, that makes sense. If you're running subsidiary things like a hospice and an orphanage and a school for the young, obviously you're going to have to meet some administrative skills, too, in that regard. So that makes sense. There wasn't any novitiate. No formal novitiate at all. And the vows, or your profession, was a perpetual profession.

[21:06]

You just made a profession once, and that was it. It's funny, it's kind of ironic. Once you made a profession, you couldn't leave. Except for very good reasons. Reasons being that you can't live the monastic life. Or, all you had to say is, I just can't do this, I can't. And you were relieved of your burden of profession. Or, if you are treated unjustly by your conference in community, you are allowed to leave the monastic life no questions asked by the superior. If you meet injustice, at least that's an option for you. Other than that, you're supposed to stay. As they went along with these early bazillion,

[22:12]

now by this time he's a bishop, as well as an abbot, and starting these houses of communities. As they went along, they discovered that they needed to, and of course he was an administrator, to organize this business. And so the rules, as such, in quotations, developed. There are the longer rules and the shorter rules, as they've come down in history. Basil and his best friend, Gregory, Nazianzus, I had a professor who called him Gregory the Nazi, he cut off the Nazis. I never found out why, probably just didn't like him, maybe Nazianzus. Those two set up a set of instructions

[23:15]

for how to go about our type of religious community life in the years 358-359, so 20 years before Basil's death. So he was only 30 years old. These are young guys, you know, they're bishops running basically the Church of Turkey in the 20s and 30s. Very important in the church at that time. And these instructions became the basis for the longer rule, which was actually composed in the 360s, over a period of years, in the 360s. The longer rules, or the longer rule. And later on, later on he composed the shorter one, I forget why, and it was while he was caught up in diocesan work as a bishop of Caesarea,

[24:17]

and he composed the shorter version. Ah, I suppose the first one is too long. You know, the art rules, as we think of them as rules, they're sets of instructions, they're like a series of treatises. It's like he's answering various questions, that type of thing. You'll see that in Augustine too, his approach to what rule they have is a series of talks, or answers to practical problems. Actually, let me give you one correction, and that is these set of instructions, they already started that when they were living in Amnesia. This is before they were bishops. And then carried through into the longer version when they were bishops. When they got around to the actual composition of it. They had trades, as far as manual labor went.

[25:29]

They tried to be self-sufficient, as such. And yet, one wonders how much they could have done if they were also running orphanages and teaching everything else along with it. Taking care of the needs of the needy. They had an office of vigils. They did the little hours, tears, sexed, known. They had a prayer at the end of work time. At nightfall, or sunset. And then at midnight. Which sort of mirrors almost exactly, but not quite, what was going on in the Egyptian desert regarding prayer hours together. There's always a tongue in cheek, and this shouldn't surprise anyone,

[26:30]

why bazillion monasticism has become what it is. Because, remember, it's begun by aristocratic Cappadocians who are highly intellectual. And it would seem that already in the first monasteries in Cappadocia, if you were an aristocrat, even though everyone's supposed to be equal, if you were an aristocrat, you didn't do manual labor, you did book learning. You did intellectual work. And that's certainly the forte of the bazillion, what's left of the bazillion orders of Roman writing today. It's intellectual. A number of colleges and universities in Canada were originally bazillion. They were bazillion universities, bazillion colleges. Poverty for a bazillion monasticism

[27:38]

was a little different. It was a gradual thing. It was sort of like among the Jewish group. I can't remember the word. Remember the Qumran community, how they kept everything for a while, even though they couldn't touch it. It was handed in to the bursar, and they kept the property for them for the first two years or three years. That happens in the bazillion framework. Poverty means gradually being dispossessed. That is, your property is kept aside and administered so that it can be used for the poor, the needs of the poor, and also the needs of the monastery. And your gradual dispossession is watching that happen. Yeah?

[28:43]

They must have not included people that were poorer than them. They must have excluded certain types of people. I don't know if they did or they didn't. I think I would have thought that I would have. No, they had poor also, because the point in the secondary sources that I had was that the aristocrats got out of the manual labor while the poorer folk still kept on to the manual labor already in the beginning. So there had to be poor ones there. So you didn't have to be an aristocrat. You didn't have to have a lot of money, but what you had, rather than get rid of it and give it to family and then come, which is how it was in the Lacombean setup, wasn't it? You just gave everything away and then you just gave it to your family. But they had a class system. They would see someone already back then,

[29:44]

or an unspoken one. Obedience within the Brazilian framework is sort of, well, you can just remember this. The soldier mentality. Obedience is absolute and immediate. But, first, obedience goes to the rules of the monastery, then to the superior. So, you know, that's a safeguard so the superior can't order anything against the spirit of the Brazilian setup. The abbots of Brazilian houses were elected not by the community, well, back in the army, not by the community, but by the other generals. So other abbots would elect the superior of a new monastery or one that needed an abbot. And even though this mentality,

[30:47]

in certain ways, is very army-like or very military-like, the abbots, basically the Brazilian abbots were supposed to lead by example more than anything. I mean, there was a lot of harsh boot camp-type living or mentality. It isn't that. But the basic framework seems militaristic and their model is militaristic, and yet it's tempered by charity, which is very important for balancing. Well, it shouldn't surprise you if you know this monasticism was doing all the social work, you know, work with the poor. It's a real hands-on spirituality. He had, or he, the abbot, the Brazilian abbot, had like a domestic counsel also from the community for whom he went to advise

[31:49]

and from whom he got the grievances of the community. So there were also the grievance committee. The complaint department. Is that the first time we hear such a thing within a monastic community in the next kind of writings? None of the, you mean like a domestic counsel? Yeah. No, a member of the communist had his seniors. They were mainly for spiritual reasons, though. This sounds more like an administrative thing. So in that sense, yeah, the whole set-up is more of a, has this administrative flavor to it. Basil was familiar with Pekowian monasteries. He didn't like them. They were too big. Here's another example from another person who went there and said they were huge. So, you know, we can't just write off the numbers.

[32:55]

We read Pekowian, thousands of monks and nuns. Well, they couldn't very well be. He thought they were just too big and unruly. Too big to work well, at least for his set-up. This is more what he wanted. There's a very strong interest in Basilian monasticism on education. Ergo, they had schools that were poor. And Basil directly links the asceticism of a monk, the ascetical life, with study. All the monks had the opportunity to have classical studies. And, the people who came to them

[33:56]

for education, mainly the young, were taught the classical studies as well as religious studies. It was like prep schools. Religious prep schools. Minor seminary. Although they weren't the little priests, you know, in preparation. Not that. It was just for the poor folk around there. But they kept the students away from the community. They kept a community integrity. You know, the body of the community did not mix and mingle with the students and whatnot. Other than those who had them as a direct obedience to take care of them. The community still kept its identity. It was doing all these various things, but they weren't all involved in everything. Basil didn't want the monastery

[34:58]

to be seen as a monastic nursery. That is, all these young ones of course were going to take care of them and they were going to join us afterwards and bring their money with them and build our communities and that other thing. That wasn't the idea. He was explicit about that. He didn't want that to happen. Ergo, don't get too close. And keep the difference between the school and the monastery unclear. He, um... Actually, Basil didn't become a bishop. Who became first? Was it Gregory? Wasn't Gregory of Nazareth who became bishop first? And Basil became a bishop when he was about 40. Gregory in his 30s. They were church leaders much earlier already, well known much earlier. And when Basil became

[35:58]

bishop of Caesarea, he maintained the whole abbot thing as well. Kept that on and continued to rule the monks. So he becomes a prototype of the monk bishop, which we're going to see again down through the ages, both in the East and the West. In fact, even today, many of the bishops in Greece, for instance, Orthodox, come from the ranks of the monasteries down to the 20th century. Why? Oddly enough, the celibates, there's this Egyptian, excuse me, this Eastern preference for bishops who are celibate, who have lived an ascetical life, who are unattached to family obligations, etc., and who have been tested,

[37:00]

often as abbot, holding down the community and whatnot. We're going to see monk bishops in the West as well through the centuries. But here's, Basil is a good prototype of that situation. Basil had profound influence down through these early centuries, monastically, and not just through his rules. However, the rules were important, but Benedict himself uses the shorter rule. Benedict knew the shorter rule, the one that Basil wrote as a bishop, so in the 70s, the 370s. There was a Latin version of that translated by Rufinus. Remember, he's one of those monastic tour guides. He translated that.

[38:02]

He translated the parts of the, or the general gist of the longer rules and the shorter rules, and he put that resume together in Latin and called it the Little Asceticon. And that's the document Benedict got to know. So he had most of the shorter rules and some of the longer rules as well. The Great Asceticon is all of the longer rule and all of the shorter rule. But there was no Latin translation of this, the full thing. Just the resume got put into Latin in early antiquity. And so Benedict never knew the Great Asceticon unless he knew Greek. But we don't know. Basilian monasticism then

[39:10]

spread to Constantinople. Once it got to Constantinople, a very important city at this time and through the next few ages, it spread. And it had the protection of Justinian. So in the late 5th century and first half of the 6th century, not only did it have the protection of the emperor, but it was promoted. Basilian monasticism was promoted by the emperor. Gradually then though, through the centuries, some of the Basilian ideals in monasticism slipped away. Often, education. They dropped their schools. They dropped their hospitals and care for the poor. They let those early ideals

[40:14]

of Basil's go. And they were involved in church politics and diocesan work and education, but of a higher level. Especially in more modern ages. And, interestingly enough, the contemplative ideal came to the fore in later centuries. So in Basilian monasticism, contemplation was important. Whereas it wasn't in the beginning. Not as we think of contemplation. So you read today part of a goodly section of the Long Rules. What are your reactions to that?

[41:16]

Or your questions. Or how does your reading supplement what or corroborate with what I have said in this one? Well, I was asking you, saying to you before class began about how you whispered back to the Long Rule for the section on laughter, which Ben did later on, but all of the Fool raises his voice on laughter. And it seems that in the Long Rule, Basil is actually very moderate about what it is. He doesn't say that you can never smile when Terry's laughing. Don't bother me. He says that's okay. It's more or less an outrageous voice. Now, in light of the type of monasticism we're talking about here, it certainly makes sense. Because if you're dealing with people in a hospital or an orphanage or a classroom or something like that, you've got enough noise. So within the context of the thing, it makes a lot more sense. So I would think, reading these rules, you really have to keep this sort of vibe

[42:18]

in mind. It's a very different kind of monasticism. It's not like what we've been seeing in the desert at all. And it's a refinement, too. As I was reading this, it felt like a refinement of a calmness. I'm sure Basil would agree with you. It's almost like a more civilized monasticism. I think the word he kept using was the hilarity. Not the hilarity. And yet, at the same time, more civilized, not in the sense that they had better clothing and buildings and stuff like that, because simplicity was very important to Basil, but more in the sense of, well, now we're monks, let's do something with that type of approach. You don't have to raise your hand on these discussions. What you have supplemented helps the rules make a little bit more sense when he says, I was reading it, and I was saying, well, awkwardly all of these children come from the boys and girls together, and I was saying, that doesn't sound too monastical, but what I realized

[43:21]

in the early monasteries that they did have children in for various reasons. And then with the conversation about a parish and should there be several monasteries for the parish, I was wondering, well, it seemed very... Now it all seems as if it falls into place, understanding that it is more of a popular type of monastery. When I say hospices, hospices there is like a motel for travelers and pilgrims, much like Jerome and Paola were doing near Bethlehem. And in various places, lots of people were doing pilgrimage during these years. I mean, it was... Because it took a healthy chunk of your life to do the pilgrimage. And people did it for many reasons, and this is going to go right down into the Middle Ages where people, you know, all those during those years, there were thousands and thousands of pilgrims.

[44:22]

And they had these places to go to along the way. How settled was Cappadocia at the time? Were they under barbarian invasion or were they pretty much redundant people? Not right now, but it's down the line. Not too far. Relatively peaceful. Just... But another century and you get in the 400s. I was struck by this one section, it's very funny because there are these two pictures that circulate quite a bit in these education programs nowadays. The picture of Christ by the guy Hook. Is it Hook or Crook? It's one of those two. He's got this big old smile. The other one is the laughing Jesus with his head tossed back like this. And some of you down boys teased about those, but it was funny. Moreover, the Lord appears to have experienced those emotions which are

[45:23]

associated with the body, but so far as we know, he never laughed. On the contrary, he even pronounced those not happy before he committed the laughter. That's why I'm not as nervous now. And certainly don't shake your body. I felt there was a kind of a severity to the whole thing in reading it. And I don't know if that's fair to say, but it makes sense with that. You hobble there, and the thing on women is evil, and some of the section on children and the laughter. And a lot of it hung over into the 50s. I kept thinking of grade school. Suddenly, 1400 years later. But a lot of that mentality lingers. In fact, you get mixed up with all kinds of things like Jansevism. By the end, in the 1950s

[46:24]

in America, religion is ripe. It's got all this baggage. It's all mixed together. Convoluted. There's no room for a laughing Jesus in that setup. I thought his section on kids was actually pretty humane, considering a lot of it was from the past. Benedict was, I guess he was just whacking in the head and getting in shape. He said, in that one section between the gentle nudging and everything, that was kind of a humane type thing. I don't know if he followed through with it, but it was like the elders were taking care of the kids, and they were supposed to be tolerant of them, which is a lot more than most religious leaders are. Just give them the rod. And for Basel, in that line, that social work is tied very integrally with charity.

[47:27]

Charity in action. In other words, whose feet are you washing? These poor kids. And they're Christ for you. That's very much in there. It didn't last up through the centuries, but that was the ideal in the beginning. For all the abstinence from pleasures which aim at the thwarting of the will of the flesh for the purpose of keeping the world apart, abstain from pleasures which they enjoy who lead a self-indulgent life. It's not just you black and white, don't eat. It's really kind of a, I wouldn't even say a refinement of a continence, yes, an overall attitude for life, not just don't eat in the wintertime. Right. I also remember that Basel comes with classical

[48:28]

education, classical Greek education. And so sometimes you have to read in between the lines what Greek philosophies he's speaking against in his approach. Or at least to remind yourself that oh, this could very well be because he's reacting against such and such hedonism for instance, or epicureanism, you know, whatever you want to look at. It's going to play into that because his basic study of Greek philosophy was very classical, very strong. Which also is important if he is going to read and understand origin. You know. All these people, these theologians, these great saints we have at this time, they're not ignorant of the philosophy before them,

[49:28]

of the pagan philosophy of the Greek philosophers. That is the standard at that time. Oh no, I don't think so. I don't think it went north or northeast. I can't say that for sure, but Alexandrian is doing their own thing. And a lot of it is Hellenistic Jews, for the most part. Or Hellenistic Jews and Hellenistic Jewish Christians. Let me put it that way. I wonder if some of the community were in the nature of, in my opinion, drawn from Oregon. No, that I wouldn't know. One place you might look

[50:29]

for that is to look at the first volume of Bouillies, The History of Christian Spirituality. Look under Basel, where it relates with Oregon. And you might find a reference. Bouillies is usually pretty good about that. Are they attacked? Sounds like there are quite a few of them there. I don't know why they flourished there more than... We have them in the States too, but I mean, they're in L.A. They were in L.A. Ran a school, I think, around there. Perhaps still do. We have this Baselian who's from B.C. He stopped seeing me every once in a while. He was thinking about joining us at one time. And then decided this was too much. He stayed a good Baselian, that he is. But he used to stop off here between the school down in L.A.

[51:30]

And then he taught at the University of Vancouver as a doctor in English literature. But I don't know why more Canada. I think it just took root and spread a lot because they didn't have a lot of other orders up there. They had certain wants. Same thing with the women's side. All these congregations of St. Anne. We don't have much in the States here. It's sort of a national movement. These guys must have spread west though in order to survive. Oh yeah. And of course they've come down in the east and the west. Although in the east it's more like Baselian monasticism is sort of the general umbrella. And you just are living monasticism. In a monastery you're not belonging to a certain congregation. There is some of that. But in the east it's different that way. Basel is

[52:31]

our hero. Basel is the great maestro. The great shining light of the fourth century for the east. And he is our mentor. And we have the asceticon. But Baselians as such that's more of a western Baselian word. Because of Baselian congregations. Anything else? Regarding Baselian? Okay. We've still got eight minutes. Let's look at the map. Get the map out. Oh you know I bet I didn't give you the Palestinian maps yet, did I? Palestinian monasticism? The last one you got was the monastic life 3-700, right?

[53:33]

Okay. Next time we meet then I'm going to give you three or four maps. Three or four maps that will refer to the next area of monasticism that we're going to be looking at which is in Palestine. So a lot of it is around the Dead Sea. And between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean of course. That's all over the place. But a lot of it around Bethlehem for instance. And these are, there's been a great monastery in Salt in the Desert there. Large ones. I think of Saint Saba for instance who ruled a huge monastery. You can read the lives of some of these fathers and they're wonderful. I think last year I preached on Saint Saba. I remember I read that story about

[54:34]

throwing the bread out the window or the garbage, or was it the chamber pot out the window into the ravine or whatever. Oh no! Somebody threw their garbage out the window and Saint Saba went down, picked it up, he saw it happen, cooked it up, spiced it up, fed it to him into this wonderful meal. And the guy said, Hey, where'd you get this? He said, Well you threw it out the window you fool. And there's a beautiful story. You remember that? Oh yeah. It was a great album. I can't wait for the movie. But that's right out of this paperback The Lives of the The Lives of the Palestinian Monks or something like that by Cyril of Cythopolis. We saw him in the bookstore. We have it in the library. I've got two or three

[55:36]

copies in the library. You might want to look at that before next time. Just look at the pictures. There might be some maps in there. I don't remember. But they're very colorful lives. And we tend to think, Palestine and the Palestinian masses, maybe a couple of Jerome's motels and then one living in a hole here. No! They're huge monasteries out in the middle of nowhere built up. Many of them were destroyed by Islam later on and whatnot. That picture on the cover looks pretty funny. Oh, it's very rugged life. It's porcelain out of the side of this mountain. Right. Or sometimes they carved them out of the side of the ravines. But the ongoing problem is going to be the same as it was for Qumran. Water. Water is going to be the key problem. So, okay. We'll stop early this time. The Palestinian monastery is next week.

[56:37]

Next week. Next week. Next week.

[56:38]

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