Well, today comes the answer to the question posed by the disciple Germanus and also by ourselves. That most fundamental question which Jesus himself receives, teach us to pray. In the context of Cassian's conferences, the question becomes, teach us how to pray unceasingly and to attain this goal which has been presented to us by the father, Abba Isaac. Last night we left off with Germanus' request that he be given something for his meditatio, for his repetition, his pondering, his reflection. And we noted the fact that in Conference 9, throughout its discussion of prayer, there is no mention of scriptural meditation. But when Germanus comes to the point of saying, okay, tell me what to do, he seems to feel that it has to somehow relate to that basic spiritual practice of meditating a text from the scripture.

[01:04]

So we're well on our way toward finding an answer. And that is exactly what he gets from Abba Isaac. With Germanus' statement then that he wants something for his meditation, and implying his recognition of the fact that it will relate to his practice of ceaselessly revolving, as the text says, ceaselessly revolving something in his heart and mind, Abba Isaac feels ready to give him what he regards as the tradition of all of the older fathers of the desert. He makes his concern explicit in chapter 9 of conference 10, the reason why he didn't give the answer earlier. And he says, your minute and subtle inquiry affords an indication of purity being very nearly reached. For no one would be able even to make inquiries on these matters.

[02:09]

I will not say to look within and discriminate, except one who had been urged to sound the depths of such questions by careful and effective diligence of mind and watchful anxiety. And this next part's important. And one whom the constant aim after a well-controlled life had taught by practical experience to attempt the entrance to this purity and to knock at its doors. Now the key phrase there is practical experience. The point that Abba Isaac is making is that now he's satisfied that Germanus is devoting himself to the praktike, to the spiritual discipline, those basic tools of the spiritual art. And with that assurance now, Isaac can tell him what the answer to his question is, because it won't be wasted on him. There's a foundation there. So in chapter 10 comes the answer. This formula then shall be proposed to you of the system, which you want and of prayer, which every monk in his progress toward continual recollection of God is accustomed to ponder, ceaselessly revolving it in his heart.

[03:32]

He says that this formula he's about to give him was that delivered to him by a few of those who were left of the oldest fathers. divulged by us to a very few, and to those who were really keen to kind of building up this answer. I'm satisfied with you. We don't tell this to everybody. This was the inheritance from some of the older people. This is the treasure, and here comes the answer. For keeping up continual recollection of God, this pious formula is to be ever set before you. O God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. Now when we hear that phrase, the thing that we instantly think of is the beginning of the office in the rule of Benedict and in our tradition. This is a tricky thing because you have to keep in mind that when Abba Isaac's hearers heard this verse, they were probably very puzzled.

[04:34]

They had no special association with that phrase because that was not a liturgical tradition in their time. So for them, this was a verse from one of the Psalms. It was not hallowed as it is for us by its liturgical connection. So if someone were to say to us today, a good thing for you to meditate on is, oh, God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. We'd say, well, that makes some sense. That's in our tradition. It's connected to liturgical prayer. For Isaac's hearers, this was not the case. So their immediate reaction must have been, This? Why this? It's so simple. There's nothing to it. You just pulled something out of the Psalms almost at random. So what Isaac does at that point is give a very lengthy explanation of how useful this verse can be. And he jumps right into this explanation almost to anticipate their puzzlement.

[05:35]

So he talks about the fact that this verse contains invocation of God, It contains a confession of the might of God. It refers to watchfulness that all of us should have. It's an acknowledgment of our weakness, of our confidence, and our hope, thereby covering all of the basic elements of prayer. And then he goes on to give a wonderful description of all of the occasions when one can use this verse. So he says, this will be handy no matter what your situation is. So he goes on and on and on. One of them that I thought was kind of nice is he says, as an example of when you can use this verse, when I want for the sake of steadfastness of heart to apply myself to reading, a headache interferes and stops me. At the third hour, sleep glues my head to the sacred page. And I am forced either to overstep or to anticipate the time assigned to rest.

[06:43]

And finally, an overpowering desire to sleep forces me to cut short the canonical rule for service in the Psalms. He says, what do you do? You say, God, come to my assistance. Lord, make haste to help me. And he gives, as I say, a number of situations where this can be useful. So it's an all-purpose prayer. encompassing, he says, in few words, all of those aspects of prayer that he talks about at length in Conference 9. So that's where we begin to have a connection. So note, the method he proposes of unceasing prayer comes right out of that basic practice of meditatio. That's important. And secondly, it's a verse taken from Scripture. After making the point then that this verse is to be used constantly in every situation, and he talks about the fact that you should get used to saying it when you get up, when you go to bed, if you do that you'll pray it even while you sleep, and so on, he gets to the point.

[07:55]

What happens if we use that verse? And here is where I find the very interesting connection with the rest of Scripture. and with what we would identify as liturgical prayer, the office of psalmody and readings. He says, this is the formula, chapter 11, which the mind should unceasingly cling to until strengthened by the constant use of it and by continual meditation, here he means meditation of the verse, It casts off and rejects the rich and full material of all manner of thoughts, and restricts itself to the poverty of this one verse. And it arrives at the beatitude of the gospel, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." I think his point about poverty is an extremely significant one.

[08:59]

And this could be an answer to the objection of Germanus and the other people there of, why do you pull this little thing out? What's the point of it? What Cassian goes on to say is that by the use of this verse and its focusing ability and the poverty and simplicity in which it places the one who prays, It is not that he is cut off from the rest of Scripture and that you're cutting yourself off from the richness of the table of the Word. Rather, you are given the ability to approach the rest of Scripture in its richness without the danger of being overwhelmed. And this anticipates something that Germanus says about, I hear something from the Psalms, and it reminds me of something from the Gospels, and it reminds me of something in the Old Testament, and my mind is just going all over the place. So Isaac is saying, if you start with this and get into this poverty, the simplicity of the one verse, then you can approach the rest of Scripture without being, in a sense, made drunk by it.

[10:16]

So that seems to be what he's after. Now, I think this is significant, because he's not saying, say this first, say this first, say this first, and that's fine. Nor is he saying, say this first, and it'll shoot you up to unceasing prayer. But what he's saying is, this will enable you to accept the rest of the spiritual practices with mind and heart renewed and open." So this is what he says about approaching Scripture, after a wonderful description about the fact that we become spiritual hedgehogs by praying this. This must be some quirk of this translation. I didn't look it up in the Source Chrétien. I think I saw you had that. Yeah, that's the context. So we're protected by the verse.

[11:22]

So he says, thriving in this pasture, this simple pasture of the nourishment of the verse, he will take into himself all the thoughts of the Psalms and will begin to sing them in such a way that he will utter them with the deepest emotion of heart not as if they were the compositions of the psalmist, but rather as if they were his own utterances and his very own prayer. For then the Holy Scriptures lie open to us with greater clearness, and as it were, their very veins and marrow are exposed, when our experience not only perceives, but actually anticipates their meaning." Skips down. If we have experience of the very state of mind in which each psalm was sung and written, we become like their authors and anticipate the meaning rather than follow it." Now this is kind of interesting because you would think that having reduced the monk's metatatsu of scripture to one verse, he'd say, there you are, you've arrived at simplicity of prayer.

[12:35]

But here he's saying that by doing that, you in a sense return to the rest of Scripture, but now somehow you've gotten on the inside of it, anticipating its meaning rather than searching after it. So apparently you're still reading Scripture, you're still even meditating it, but somehow you've got the meaning and you've acquired the spiritual knowledge that he talks about in Conference 14. that if we've had experiences similar to the psalmist, then that helps. In other words, we need the prayer and the preparation. We also need some life experience, which is similar to the psalmist. And he seems to be saying this is where we can put it together. It's almost as if, maybe this is reading into the text, life experience is no longer distraction. from prayer, but kind of becomes integrated into it, and does help us get at the meaning of the text.

[13:40]

There's something about this one verse not being the end of prayer, but being somehow a center from which one can then return to the rest of Scripture. Now he says that what this does permit is access to that higher kind of prayer that he talks about in Conference 9, the kind of prayer which is not a perpetual state, but something which can be reached on occasion as a foretaste of the bliss of heaven. Now what's interesting about this description in Chapter 11 of Conference 10 is that if you take a comparison of the text, and this is in my monastic studies article, You can kind of get the point, even though you certainly can't read the words from here. What I have here on the right-hand side are the two descriptions I read you last night from Conference 9.

[14:43]

And here is the description from Conference 10. And what Cashion does is take the two descriptions from Conference 9 and put them together into a complete version in Conference 10, which is kind of a collation of the two previous descriptions. Now, that is of more than just grammatical or literary interest, because it shows that he very much has a clear sense of structuring these conferences, so that Conference 10 becomes the very clear fulfillment of Conference 9. It sums up everything he's trying to do in that previous conference, and he does that in a literary way as well as in a theological or spiritual sense. So this is what he says is kind of the goal. Talking about the Psalms again. It is as if they were not just committed to memory, but implanted in the very nature of things.

[15:49]

We are affected from the bottom of the heart. We get at its meaning not by reading the text, but by experience anticipating it. And so our mind will reach that incorruptible prayer. to which in our former treatise, Conference 9, as the Lord vouchsafed to grant, the scheme of that conference mounted. This higher form of prayer is not merely not engaged in gazing on any image, all that business at the beginning of Conference 10, but is actually distinguished by the use of no words or utterances, but with the purpose of the mind all on fire. There's our fire flame imagery again. is produced through ecstasy of heart by some unaccountable keenness of spirit, and the mind being thus affected without the aid of the senses or any visible material, pours it forth to God with groanings and sighs that cannot be uttered."

[16:52]

Now, that's a pretty lofty thing, and we might expect Germanus, who was dazzled by Conference 9, to be so dazzled at this point that he's speechless. but he asks a question which might be ours as well. He in effect says, okay, you've told us, I accept that. But he says, how can we keep firm hold of this verse which you've given us in such a way that as we've been by God's grace set free from the trifles of worldly thoughts, so we may also keep a steady grasp on all the spiritual ones? In other words, how do we persevere in that simple phrase? And how can we perform our spiritual offices, meaning the obligation to recite psalms and scripture every day? And this is where Cassian's point, I think, becomes applicable to Cenobites as well as Anchorites, because both in the early monastic tradition

[17:59]

had a certain daily obligation to pray morning, evening, at other times, set psalms, the canonical prayers. Not set in the sense of, you know, Tuesday you do these numbers, but that was an expectation, that psalmody was prayed at certain hours. Now at this point, We might expect Isaac to say, well, you know, this is kind of the way you do this, and give some higher knowledge again about how you hold on to this verse. Because remember, before he said, you've built your foundation with the praktike, so we can move on to this. But what does he tell him he has to do to hold on to this ultimate secret of unceasing prayer? Watchings, meditation, and prayer. This cannot be secured in any other way unless all cares and anxieties of this present life have been first got rid of by indefatigable persistence in work dedicated not to covetousness but to the sacred uses of the monastery."

[19:07]

He goes on and reminds him of something he said in Conference 9, what we would be found when at our prayers that we ought to be before the time of prayer And he's telling him the same stuff that he told him in conference nine, that he tells people in the institutes, that he tells people in the rest of the conferences, and he says it's the work of the praktike. So what's happened is we've had this kind of spiral, and we've worked up to this high point of spiritual insight, and then it's as if he plummets right back down to the start. and says, keep it this, like you keep it anything else, with the basic tools of the spiritual craft. That's where trying to systematize cation and trying to work out method becomes very difficult. He makes a point which I think is very comforting to us, and that is the fact that monastic life is not a steady ascent.

[20:09]

You don't work your way through all this stuff and reach the point where you have this one verse and then have your occasional jumpings up to higher prayer and then back down to regular meditation of the scripture. He's saying, very much like Anthony says, every day is a new beginning. You never leave behind the work of the practical life. It's always the same kind of cycle, success and failure, struggle and effort. This is where I find the real wisdom of these conferences, and this is where I find the way in which they are most often abused by people who fail to recognize that and who turn it into kind of this unachievable but beautiful spiritual treatise. So I'm very glad about the work of people like the Montreal community, and John Mayne especially, who I think have seen the real strength of these conferences, and have tried to make them into something that people can appropriate for themselves.

[21:13]

Because we're not talking about things open to the few, but to the many. And I think that Cassian's insistence on the fact that this is very much related to the ongoing work of the monk is a great consolation to us. Let me stop just by reading a quotation, which sums up very well what I've been trying to say. This is the quotation I conclude my article with in Monastic Studies, but it's one of the best statements I've found of the way that Scripture can relate to prayer, and especially the way it does in Cassian's conferences. Remembering these themes of simplicity, the poverty of the verse, all of which relate to the basic attitude of the monk, the very word monk, alone, simple, single. This is from Thomas Merton.

[22:14]

The words of God have the power to signify the mystery of our loneliness and oneness in Christ, to point the way into its darkness. They have the power also to illuminate the darkness, But they do so by losing the shape of words and becoming not thoughts, not things, but the unspeakable beating of a heart within the heart of one's own life. I think that's what Cassian is saying. Maybe I can stop there just for now and we can discuss or ask questions or something. We're just, for our own people, the hedgehogs are the rabbits. We have to learn how to hide in the rocks. The very last part there is, oh, I was thinking of that phrase in Psalm 118, you know, turn my heart to do your will and not to love and gain.

[23:27]

It's this, again, it's a transformation of the heart that my work in the monastery, it is not for gain or, you know, I'm not what it really is, again, for God's kingdom. Which is to say, you can't systematize that in an ego method, it's a real change of heart. you know, for some it's more difficult than others, but it's just, and also it's very practical with whatever you're doing. You're not doing it as you would in a commercial world or game, but you're doing it for the sake of the kingdom, that in all things God may be glorified, again, it's none of the Catholic business. So it's a whole, you know, he comes back constantly to the, we pray as we are, it's out of our being that we pray, and our praying changes our being, in fact. with that whole basic idea of the skapas, the goal, the aim, purity of heart as singleness of purpose, purity of intention. One thing that really attracts me to this was something I mentioned last night, and that was

[24:30]

I think the value of this understanding of prayer for people, especially like me, who spend all their time reading books and lecturing and so on, whose minds are just filled with all kinds of thoughts and reflections and even theological things which have nothing to do with prayer, which somehow loosely relate to God. And this is a wonderful counterpart to the physical ascesis for the mind. And so I find this tremendously appealing as kind of a parallel for heart and mind to the praktike of the fasting and vigils and so on. And so that's why I think this connection he makes at the end with the way you hold on to the verse is with this other basic stuff is so profound. And if we want to talk about, you know, body and soul and mind and heart and all those kind of integrations, as we did with Antony, I think there it is again. It's one of the important things here, I think.

[25:34]

Are there any traces of this, of the evangelical notion of theoria in this? Well, see, there are and there aren't. In Evagrius, it's... Evagrius is much more into clear distinctions than Cassian is. So in Evagrius, he tries to set it up so that you take care of the practicae, and then the idea is you finish with that and you move to the state of theoria or contemplation. And there's a sharp distinction between the two. I don't think Cassian is doing that. In Cassian it seems to be much more, your life is always praktike, and occasionally you attain theoria. But I don't sense in Cassian that he really thinks that that is a state on any kind of abiding way. which is why I think this is experientially much more useful. Now, I caricature Evagrius by what I said. I don't think it's as simple as that in Evagrius, but he's much more hung up on a kind of a schema than Cassian is, although Evagrius is wonderful.

[26:48]

But those kind of sharp distinctions, Cassian will sometimes mention, here's the work of the practicae, which is especially the work of the cenobite, and here's the work of theorea, which is especially the work of the anchorite. But it's much more muddy when he talks about it. And when he reaches Conferences 9 and 10 and talks about prayer, all that anchorite, cenobite, practicae, theorea stuff, the distinctions disappear. And I think it becomes a much more whole kind of approach. with the way that I read it. Do you think that the individual who has this desire for joint action, do you think the individual who has this desire and perseveres in this type of mindfulness, which I hope that leads to this purity of heart, Do you think that person retains a hierarchy in his prayer still, between this collection and, say, the liturgical prayer and the other aspects of the practice?

[28:06]

Is there a hierarchy retained, or does it become a prayer of light without a hierarchy? Some of his language would lead one to think that, but I think this whole business of the role of Scripture in prayer, between Conference 14 and then this stuff at the end of what this high technique of prayer enables you to do then is get inside Scripture, muddies it considerably for me. So I think it might be like his constant saying that anchorites are better than cenobites. I don't know if it really cashes out that way in the writings. It may just be something he feels he has to say. So I would hesitate to say that. Now, that's my bias, too. I mean, maybe I'm reading it into the text, but I really don't think he follows through with those kind of distinctions. that reminded me of Benedict's Four Kinds of Monks.

[29:16]

And it almost makes me think that his mention of the anchorite and the center by James Strong is likewise muddy. He doesn't seem to want to articulate his superiority in either. And either one. Anything else? Well, there certainly was in an operating tradition that the anchorite, in any of the semi-anchoritic communities, like Chile and Mitreux are the prime example, that was considered the loftier. But neither Benedict nor, it seems strange for me to say this, because otherwise it seems like What you're suggesting is that Cassian is not too sure, or at least not willing to follow through on that suggestion.

[30:20]

Yeah, I think it is complicated. If you read his Conferences 18 and 19, where he talks about the Cenobite and the Anchorite, you know, he talks about the dangers of being an Anchorite, which are very interesting. He says an Anchorite is hung up on what he's going to eat, Because he's got to worry about where his food comes from, and when he's going to eat it, and how much. He says, a centibite? No. He just turns up, and there it is. That decision is made for him. And a number of other things like that. He has the example of this, I think it was Abidjan, who was an anchorite and returned to the Cenobium, because all these people would come to see him out in the desert. And pride was a real problem for him, because he was deferred to as a spiritual leader. So he came back to the Cenobium. And he says, well, I may give up unceasing prayer, but here I can be humble and poor in spirit and so on. And better to succeed at that than to fail at the goal of the anchorite. So it's things like that that I think that make it less than crystal clear.

[31:25]

I had a graduate student write a paper for me on that topic. She didn't have much use for Hank Wright. She's a Benedictine sister. So she had a bit of a bias, granted, but I was impressed with the evidence that she pulled together about the confusion in the conferences and the institutes about the relative superiority of them. A number of the conferences, by the way, are given by Cenobites. This first set are all from Scatus, but some of the other collections are given by Cenobitic. They're a strong aspiration for the anthropitic life, and they can keep these communities together. I got the impression there was something like that going on. Well, the whole monastic tradition in Gaul was kind of torn out because of Martin and his communities, which were Well, they weren't really communities. I mean, there was an anchoritic ideal. And then they had lay rants getting off the ground about the same time.

[32:30]

So it was all up for grabs. And I wonder whether the later conferences, 11 to 28, 24, weren't in some way some sort of correctives or and it's not to correct Cassian's own view of things, but somehow to appease these bishops who wanted stronger Cenobitic themes and this kind of thing. Could be, but then there's also the tradition that Cassian established his own Cenobia of Marseilles. Maybe that tempered his perspective. I don't know. At the end, they said that they are part of the teaching, and they wanted to follow the teaching.

[33:36]

I mean, Kashi and the others. But when they tried to practice that, they found it very hard. It was harder than, you know, one day I was a preacher in the Bible. I'm glad you mentioned that, because I didn't say that. So, this is my question. Why, even though with all their experience and they've practiced it, they find it harder to keep themselves in that place? That's one question. The other one is, what can you say about it? Isis said that in order to keep the mind in check from wandering, Well, I think the Yeah, this translation translates it, persistence and work dedicated not to covetousness, but to the sacred uses of the monastery.

[35:08]

So what that means, I think, is, you know, basically a renunciation of will and self gain, and kind of putting yourself into the routine of the monastery, which would involve the prayer. And it was interesting, they're talking about, you know, obviously a community here, just as a footnote. and also some forms of service and attention to others, all of which would relate to the praktike. Now I think what that is telling us is that you don't finish the praktike. And so this would relate to your first question, that that kind of perfection is not granted us. And so it's always a kind of dialogue between the work of the praktike and the life of contemplation. and that as soon as you, you know, think you're satisfied with one of them, well, I mean, the other one makes its demands, or expresses its needs. And that's what's so interesting about it, because it, you know, you think he's shot, you ride off into outer space with this prayer of fire stuff, and you're right at the pinnacle, and then it ends, just thud, with back to the same stuff you've been doing.

[36:16]

That's weird, but I find it real comforting. You know, keep at it. Keep at it. So that means a laundry in the kitchen, a mop on the floors? I would think so, yeah. Sure. And he talks about, you know, you pray this thing while you work, too. I mean, it pervades all of your activities. You don't give up your activities. But you kind of, you know, redirect them or fill them with this understanding. So it's the same old desert stuff, really, it's just much more explicit. It's interesting, paralleling the 10th life that we just stumbled on yesterday. You know, always looking for parallels from southern Egypt to this stuff. The St. Passage is when Theodore asked to see God.

[37:19]

And in the Goharic life, they don't finish up with this petitionary song. Or is it the history of the text following? How well has this been living in the tradition? How well was this known to St.

[38:28]

Benedict? Well, there's no doubt that it was very widely known. Manuscripts of Cassian, my understanding is that in monastic, medieval monastic libraries that copies of scripture were the only thing that were more numerous than copies of Cassian. So it becomes very important. The question though is how well known and how primary was it for Benedict? And this is a real live controversy now because there's some people who argue that Benedict's references at the end of the rule where he talks about, you know, the Institutes and Conferences of the Fathers and so on, and the lives, are not to be read as referring exclusively or even primarily to Cassian, that it could be any number of works. And a lot of people work from that then to try to downplay the influence of Cassian on Benedict. Now, de Vaugue has said in print just about this, and he said it personally to me, he said, anybody would have to be stupid to think that

[39:34]

Benedict's not talking about Cassian. I don't know if I'd say it that way, but I think he's right. I think he's right. Well, I think that was his point, because they're the ones who've been fighting this out. Now, I guess my problem with that struggle is I'm not on his side. See, de Vaugue is on one side. He's really arguing for the primacy of the anchoritic model and really arguing for the primacy of Cassian and of the master. And Ambrose Wathen, you know, I guess we should be grateful to him, has taken up the other position. And I'm between the two, or I like to be. And so my sense would be we take both. You know, we can accept Cassian and we also take Procomius and Basil and so on. So I would say the influence is very strong on Benedict. And I would also say that the reason that Benedict places the deus noe tutorium at the start of the office is because of Cassian. I can't prove that, but I think that.

[40:38]

And I'll probably say something about that when I talk about Benedict tomorrow. But I think that's where it really touches down for us. Even if, and he does not refer you to the conferences, at the end, he's used all this stuff in Cassian. Of course, the master, he's used it all in the free market rules. So, again, he wouldn't have any post-tectonomy, you couldn't read this from him, you can't read this from him. He's got a variety of influences, and as he says, they're what page out, you know. So, the scripture and the various things. I even find, I think I mentioned it to you before, that I see these things alive still in the work of the unknown author, the cloud of unknowing. I mean, so far, I'll be much later, but I mean, that seems that same kind of experience is being used over and over.

[41:47]

Well, the cloud talking about, you know, using the word love or God as the dart. And the image in Cassian of, you know, the monk's goal or target with that same business of, you know, hitting the target. It's also, I think you can find parallels in Gregory of Nyssa, like the life of Moses. I don't know how many of you have read that, but that's a wonderful, wonderful book. allegorical understanding of the book of Exodus, and talking about a cloud again, and you begin to realize all this stuff is connected. It's all connected. You know, the cloud of unknowing doesn't just appear in medieval England. It's a rich tradition. We may not be able to track down all the specific connections, but it certainly is in a tradition. Did you find it? Yeah. The idea was, when I saw it in essence, It seems to be suggesting that this repetition, along with all the practicae and the liturgical office in the scriptures, creates a sort of mindfulness that puts one

[43:12]

on a different level when, say, reading the scriptures or pondering, seeing the Word inside. And when I read this, it made me think of what we talked about here on the first day, was the optimist, this notion that we are created upright, you know, and that somehow this this particular approach of somehow to put us in touch with this goodness in our nature. And so this seemed familiar, in a sense, as to what was going on. He has to see God, you know, and he says to one woman, He says, tell me, do you desire to seek him here or in the age to come? And he says, there. And he says, do all you can to observe the man that's written the Gospel. And he says, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall seek God. Then he goes to a practical saying.

[44:14]

He says, if there are impure thoughts arising in your heart, or hatred toward your brothers, or weakness, or any contempt for your brothers, or vain glory, remember at once and say, if I consent in my heart to one of these thoughts, I shall not seek God. And this is where it ends in the Bokharic life. But here it goes on with this real affirmation of this positiveness inside us, which I think he is trying to kick off. Now this is only in this 10th fragment of the Siddhic. It says, and if you want all these thoughts to diminish in you and not to have power over you, then reciting your heart without ceasing every fruit that is written in the scriptures, having in yourself the resolution to welcome them, as it is written in Isaiah, your heart shall meditate on the fear of the Lord. And all these things shall cease from you little by little, and they shall grow weak like a spider. For the Lord has placed in man conscience, and free will, and judgment, and understanding, and wisdom.

[45:21]

For even as the members of the body which are visible, and with which man works, now with one, now with another, according to his need. A house that has a door, which is the... the house has a door, which is the heart. And further, just as the door has a key and a bolt, a chain and a peg, and every security, so it is with free will, conscience, with a punch in his fingers, tail and a butcher. And then he goes on to tell that... he uses that thing in Romans where he says, you know, what happens? where he's trying to affirm that essential goodness inside. He quotes that thing for a moment. He says, when the Gentiles, who do not have the law by nature, do things of the law, these men, although without the law, are a law unto themselves. They teach you the work of the law written in their heart, their conscience. Let's see what it says. Somehow, when I read that yesterday, it seemed to be reminiscent of this essential positiveness for which they're often accused of not having.

[46:32]

And what you said has given me a better insight that perhaps the captioning is in fact affirming that, and not saying we have to take refuge in only a few of us, or don't ever get to this flame of fire. He may have a spirit of fire or something, but that's the one lofty height and most of us won't make it. He seems to say this is just a thing inside us that we have to tune up, you know, so it works. That's what I picked up. Well, this reminds me of something that I didn't mention today, which I should have. I talked a little bit yesterday about Cassian's Christology and the fact that he has a much more definite conception of the role of Christ than Evagrius does. And he has that discussion of, we begin with the humanity of Christ, but we should try to work toward a sense of a glorified Christ. Something that is striking is that his conception of this verse, God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me, is one of addressing that to Christ.

[47:38]

I think we might read that and assume it's just a general invocation of God, or of God the Father. But there's been some pretty convincing work done to say that he is addressing that to Christ, just as Benedict, in most of his references to God, is talking about Christ. And I think there are some implications there, perhaps about our essential goodness, our because the Incarnation could be connected. And just a personal sense of what it means to invoke Christ in this prayer, which then makes the connection with the Jesus prayer much more evident. Because we might look at this verse and say, where's Jesus? I mean, that's the whole richness of the Jesus prayer. Well, it's there because that's also an invocation of Christ. So that's a real important thing to mention. That's an interesting question.

[48:45]

It was just later that they emphasized that. There was already a tradition of doing exegesis of that passage, and you find bits of it in Evagrius, and apparently, from what I remember, origin does not… I'm trying to recall now a page of notes I made one time. I don't think origin emphasizes it, but you find hints of it in origin, and you find it very richly developed in Gregor of Nazianzus. and the Cappadocians. So that tradition is there, but you don't find that becoming a predominant motif in this stuff this early.

[49:45]

Much later, of course, that's the big paradigm. But it's not so strongly emphasized here, which I think is probably all to the good, because then it doesn't make that strict distinction between the one who serves and the one who prays. Cassian seems to be arguing for a little more connection, which would certainly be our perspective. No, I don't think so. Nor did Pacomius. No, that's a good point, because the history of the exegesis of that thing from the Gospels is very interesting to see what people do with it. It seems that we've cut off some of the I was amazed that you mentioned that St. Benedict does favor the anchoritic life. You said that it is higher. Yeah, it is higher. No, no, he does not say that.

[50:47]

Well, what does he say? Okay, you got to help me over here. You know, he never... Those who have a pain or something. No, no, he says, those who long for the loftier heights. Yeah, but... No. He says that, we certainly have to come... Yeah, but you know who that is, instead of... And that's all he's addressing, it's not about... No, no, he says, he doesn't, he doesn't use a relative adjectives towards that in the chapter on the four different types of monks. All he says is that, and those, after having lived in the monastery and with its strength, being strengthened with the prayers of others, go out to fight the devil. But he doesn't say this is better or worse than that. He doesn't say that in that chapter. He says, after being strengthened and tested in the monastery, go off alone to fight the devil. He doesn't say, this is somehow a superior thing. Let us return now to the... Yeah, yeah, he wants... He's not interested in someone not interested.

[51:53]

But he doesn't say, he doesn't actually say, But it seems that... It's a lie? It's a lie that the guy is having an infection. It's a lie. It's a lie. You have to be fair. To be higher, you have to start from below. You can't put it that way. You can also say he had more muscle. It's just different. It's just different. He's just got it here, or there, or whatever. I just have to recognize that all the implications are subjective. It's not so subjective if you read a lot of stuff that's in favor or that is claimed to be superior.

[53:00]

No, I mean, to read Saint Benedict and say that he says clearly one thing or another, It's easy to imply from all the other... Yeah, that's right. It is easy to imply. People say Benedict was out on a limb because he calls Basil his father, yet Basil was, you know, much against him. But he doesn't let that prevent him from allowing it to be a possibility. No, I just mean the better and worse, you know, are the... higher and lower, he doesn't make those distinct, but he doesn't make those distinct. In a sense, he does about the Jarrah things and the Seraphim, which they are definitely worse, there's no doubt about it. I mean, they quickly took the rule. But it seems that there's a kind of personal perfection. If you achieve a certain personal perfection, that you don't need anymore, again, then you can soar on your own.

[54:00]

That's not what Benedict says. It's an implication. He doesn't really mean to perfect the evidence. In fact, St. Paul says exactly the opposite. I'm all ready to go to Christ, but you guys need the help to understand what you... He stays in that sanctity context. He doesn't go off and be armed. He's not that. Whether it's vocation, that's the wrong thing. Well, that's why I say the same thing to you here. Even though I could do it myself, my vocation may be, for the sake of the others, to stay with the Sanhedrin. Or it could be to go off and be armed. But you can't walk them down. That could be one of the reasons. I mean, I think it would be very cold. Yeah. Actually, I'm in a position for a new rule, but you've reached a point that you say, well, I'm going to, my vocation is to be a civil pilot forever. And you may reach a point where you say, no, I think now I am ready to fight alone. At that moment, there won't be any rule that will tell you, no, you have to be... The question we're getting here is, does one say it's better to do this?

[55:11]

There is no way. There is no other way. Yeah, it can be better for one person, it can be worse for the other. Sure. But the Church as a whole, always tended to say that this is, you know, the Pope visited the Carthusians, and I read all his speeches he gave, and it was in the Observatory of Rome, and of course, they were the the peaks, they are the peaks of the church and all that. But they can't help but say that, it seems. But, I mean, that poor anchor writing Kashnu runs back to the monastery after that happens to him. I mean, he hears people saying, you're the peak, you're the greatest, and oh dear, he says, I may start to believe it, I better get back to the Zenobia. So, is there anything we miss in any Senebaek or Miriam? We will save it, thank you. No, no, [...] no. You renounce, you know, the world and all that.

[56:23]

You're better than many people and then put together when you're better than... You are better because you are happy, you know, dependable on science. In the Vatican, the Council of Documents, it makes no distinction. People are living the contemplative life. It puts them all in the same category since they're at the Harvard Church. There's no suggestion of a loftiness or anything like that in the recent documents. So one of the great reformations in Canada was that you can't go up to those kind of things. They took away that gradation that you could do. It was less strict, so-called, because it was better. Fortunately, they took it a lot. Anyway, it's downward or upward. Sideways. You might think now that it's charity, not strict, but to make the difference. Yeah, because you see in the medieval, you see, it was that William of Sanctuary, he was a canon and then he became a Benedictine and then he was not good enough and he became a Cistercian.

[57:25]

It was okay. I've heard that sentiment spoken by some older Cistercians. They were, for example, talking about the Foucault who left them. Oh, that was... We weren't good enough for him. That kind of thing. That understanding itself, indeed. He didn't read. Probably got the wrong education. No, I think that was the teaching in the church for so long. And then you see, all of a sudden, it's no longer true. There's somebody somewhere who says that for some people, the pancreatic way is the way they should go, because of their own weaknesses, you know. Pacomius says that. He says that When people would come to the koinonia who had had problems in their former life, he wouldn't accept them.

[58:38]

Because he would say, if you've had these difficulties with lust and so on, you better go be an anchorite. Because you can't be a part of the koinonia. On the other hand, if somebody's biggest problem is getting pain grief, they should stay there and work at it. It seems to me that was the other one. So we're angry in the anchorage for a lot of people. You could have teased him. That's how he punishes Theodore. He makes him go and do it by himself. I mean, this will be quite a punishment for us. but don't. The Carthaginians combine both the cenobitic and anchoritic life. They come together for certain offices in the day, on nights, and they have this fancy momentum once a week. And, of course, they take their meals alone, but on certain feast days, they eat in common.

[59:42]

So they're not what you call true anchorites. Yeah, but they're almost never any true anchorites, because most of the so-called hermits lived in a little hotel room all around this area. Around a swimming pool. You never saw them and so forth, but they were pretty rare. We always try to think of the hermit that nobody ever saw. Well, I mean, somebody had to hear all this stuff and write it down. You know, there was somebody standing there taking dictation for these things. I also find it interesting what happened to Foucault. I mean, you know, what he really felt when you see that his community became dedicated to, well, to communal life even more so than monastic life. I mean, putting themselves in the middle of society. Yeah, incidentally. You know, in other words, That feeling of people, well, he left us because we weren't tough enough.

[60:47]

Well, he apparently used that for, again, like Anthony, like a preparation time to grow towards again. But do you think what you said could change? Well, look at all of our cenobitic founders. They all began as anchorites. Benedict, obviously, but Saint Jerome. Basil was living in retirement before he established his communities. Pocomius was an anchorite. He founds the Koinonia. That's very interesting, because we're so used to, we're talking here about the other direction. And here, you know, coming in from solitude to do something with a community. Well, at least they still have it, but it will be what they want to rent, which was pretty much the end. That would be the no contact. They walled her up and left a hole that she could talk to people in.

[61:48]

Julian would be an example. They were right next to the parish church. It'd be interesting to talk with them later on and see what they've got in mind. Well, they're just pinned there. They can't get away from people. Yeah, I'm just thinking of what's his name, Dutchman Rowan, who wrote fundamental theology. A lot of the saints in the radius. were not really saints, in fact, many were not even in heaven. Sometimes it's just a man of his age, you know, a real full-blown schizophrenic or something, and these people are totally alone and walled up, and you just get them off the streets. I mean, you have to... God can't get to everybody.

[62:54]

In fact, I've seen some meditations by some real schizophrenes that are magnificent, you know, even aware of their, you know, the altruistic issues. Sorry, it's 11. I have a question. I would like to insist on a frame. Do you think he, in question, implies there that we have to use exclusively dog fares? Or we can pick up, I mean, anything that you feel. I don't think he does. I mean, he says, he really emphasizes strongly that this is a great verse, but we don't find this verse in other Desert Fathers. We find other forms of short prayer. So I wouldn't say that push to the wall, he would say you have to use this one. Because I think you could take every argument he gives in support of this one and apply it to a number of other things.

[63:57]

I think it is important for him that it's scriptural. I think that he would regard as important. And he would regard the qualities of it in the sense of an appeal for aid. Remember Antony's prayers, you know, God save me, God help me. He would regard that as important. But I think given those considerations...

[64:18]

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