top of page
Writer's pictureRon Cantor

A History of Spiritual Formation from the Desert Mothers and Fathers to the Monastic Movement


History is a prophetic roadmap to the future. It has often been said that history repeats itself; thus, it would behoove us to study history. In modern evangelicalism, I have noticed attitudes, even my own attitudes, that not only discount the saints from the past but somehow believe that our version of the gospel is the clearest. C.S. Lewis called this “chronological snobbery,”1 A. G. Holdier says, “The fallacy chronological snobbery presupposes that cultural, philosophical, or scientific ideas from later time periods are necessarily superior to those from earlier ages.” This pride will blind us to the treasures that we can find in the wisdom and ways of those who came before us. Gerard Sittser writes: “History can be a valuable resource for us, especially in the spiritual life, for it provides examples of how believers who lived in other times and places understood what it means to seek, know and experience God, which captures the essential meaning of ‘spirituality.’”2


During my academic journey over the past four years, the classes that have most impacted me had to do with history. I had four courses in my master’s program regarding the Holocaust and antisemitism. I did two semesters on the Holy Spirit’s activity within 2,000 years of Church history (No, the Holy Spirit was not born in 1906 at Azuzu Street!). More recently, I was deeply challenged by the “History of Spiritual Formation.” The books I read produced a profound hunger to grow closer to Yeshua.


I could not possibly give a complete history of spiritual formation in a blog. But what I can do is share with you about two moments in church history that were momentous regarding spiritual formation: 1) the era of the desert monks, which led 2) to the monastic movement. Let me first issue a challenge: as evangelical charismatics, we tend to discount anything that took place in church history before Azuzu Street—and definitely before the Reformation. I embraced Sittser’s challenge, which echoes CS Lewis’s “chronological snobbery”:


History will show us that there is more to the Christian faith than what we think and have experienced. It will teach us truths that our contemporary religious blind spots prevent us from seeing, challenge us to read Scripture with new eyes, beckon us to practice spiritual disciplines we never tried before, and enable us to view our own time and place from a fresh perspective. The Holy Spirit will use the knowledge of history to send us on a journey that could lead us into the depths of God.3


Let’s go!


The Desert Mothers and Fathers


When Jesus went on a 40-day fast to prepare for ministry, he did not check into a five-star hotel but went into the wilderness—the desert. Sarapion of Thmuis, a desert monk, who fought alongside the great Athanasius to see the deity of Yeshua become formal doctrine, once prayed: “We entreat you, make us truly alive.”4 How could something so associated with death, the desert, become the source of life to so many saints? Passionate and spiritually hungry, the Desert Mothers and Fathers were early Christian ascetics and monastics who lived in the deserts of Egypt, Judea, Eastern Syria,5 primarily in the third and fourth centuries. They are often regarded as pioneers of Christian monasticism and played a crucial role in developing Christian spirituality. “Significant numbers of Christians began to make their homes in these regions, in order to get away from the population centers, with all the distractions that these offered… The theme of withdrawal from a sinful and distracting world became of central importance to these communities.”6 John Chryssavgis writes, “That dry desert, from the third century until around the end of the fourth century, became the laboratory for exploring hidden truths about Heaven and earth and a forging ground for drawing connections between the two.”7


As Rome grew more and more “Christian,” compromise crept in. Once Christianity became a legal religion, its leaders began to deal with a new type of temptation: popularity. “Its bishops were once merely leaders of congregations; they now became pillars of Roman society, with power and influence.”8 Rarely were the Hebrew prophets chummy with political powers.


Ironically, the enemy they had to face was not an evil empire but a worldly church, not persecution but privilege. They became known as “bloodless martyrs” and “athletes of God.” They fled into the desert to protest the church’s compromise and to start a countermovement of discipleship. “The flight to the desert represented both a protest and an affirmation—a protest against a decadent and overly institutionalized ecclesiastical body and a restatement of the gospel teaching to fit the changed conditions of the times.” They withdrew not so much to escape problems but to engage them. The desert became a place of combat. They fought the devil and found God, purged themselves of sin and cultivated holiness, practiced ascetic disciplines and prayed unceasingly to God.9


These men and women sought to live a life of radical devotion to God through prayer, contemplation, and ascetic practices. “The original monks, now known as desert mothers and fathers, were ordinary people who wanted to continue living the common way of Jesus and the apostles.”10


Temptation and Humilty


Two common themes you will find in their teachings are focused on resisting temptation and embracing a life of humility. We go to Bible school or seminary for training for vocational ministry; they “spent years in desert solitude before assuming positions of leadership in the church.”11 There are a plethora of valuable sayings from the Desert Fathers and Mothers (see In the Heart of the Desert by John Chryssavgis), but this story will help you see their wisdom and devotion.


Once the disciple of a great old man was tempted by lust. When the old man saw him struggling, he said: “Do you want me to ask the Lord to release you from your trouble?” But he said: “Abba, I see that, although it is a painful struggle, I am profiting from having to carry the burden. But ask God in your prayers that he will give me long-suffering to enable me to endure.” Then his Abba said to him: “Now I know that you are advanced, my son, and beyond me.”12


The Fathers resisted temptation while not resisting the importance of being tempted and overcoming in the journey of spiritual formation.


Humility was thought to be the greatest tool in casting out demons. We pointed out earlier that Daniel was commended for his humility when his prayer and fasting strengthened Michael against the Prince of Persia (see Dan 10). The Desert Mother Theodora confirms the power of humility.


There was a hermit who was able to banish the demons. And he asked [the demons]: “What makes you go away? Is it fasting?” They replied: “We do not eat or drink.” “Is it vigils?” They said: “We do not sleep.” “Then what power sends you away?” They replied: “Nothing can overcome us except humility alone.”13


Humility is rare supply these days as so many are far more concerned about building their platform, than building their character. Recently, Francis Chan spoke on humility and addressed the irony of standing before a large crowd as the honored guest, speaking on living a humble life. “This is such a dangerous place to be. … a stage. It’s almost like every time I step on a stage, it’s like almost drinking a little bit of poison,”14 referring to the temptations that come with public speaking. I encourage you to watch his full message.


These believers wanted to be fully dedicated to the purposes of God. The vast majority never married. The desert mother, Syncletica from Constantinople, was pledged to be married. She deeply wanted to live a life of celibacy and worship. She asked her father’s permission to go to the holy land before her marriage so she could worship at the sacred sites. Once there, she wrote to her parents, “I have offered myself to the God of the universe. Do not, therefore, search for me any longer, for you will not find me. I am leaving here to go where God will lead me.”15 Sittser tells us, “She found a cave, where she lived for twenty-eight years before being discovered by a wandering [desert monk], who described her as radiating light and holiness.”16


Father Antony


Richard Foster tells the story of Saint Antony, a Desert Father who is considered the father of monasticism. “[H]e was living at a time when Christians were becoming increasingly secularized. Seeing this, [Antony], and others like him, tried desperately to keep the Church from forgetting its first love.”17 This led to believers going into the desert to seek God. “[H]e renounced possessions in order to learn detachment; he renounced speech in order to learn compassion; he renounced activity in order to learn prayer … So off he went into the solitude of the Egyptian desert, not just for a few days or weeks but for twenty years.”18 It was in the desert that he found a deep and mighty reservoir of the Holy Spirit. But it didn’t come easily.


The enemy resisted him on every level. “The stories of his struggles with demonic forces are voluminous and fantastic — strange, perhaps, to modern sensibilities.”19 The enemy tempted him with guilt and lust, and, according to Foster, he was physically attacked by demonic powers, but each time he overcame.20 Eventually, he experienced in “ vision, ‘a certain beam of light descending toward him” that set him free and brought him into deep intimacy with the Savior.21 Antony’s desert training eventually led to one of the most prolific and influential ministries of his time.22 The biography of Saint Anthony by Athanasius is a classic and played a role in bringing Augustine to faith.


This life [that Antony chose] involved solitude and fasting for the sake of intense, internal focus; meditation and prayer for the sake of deepening spiritual communion; Scripture study and reflection for the sake of the transformation of the mind; and manual labor and exorcism for the sake of doing the works of the Father. Now, the purpose of these Disciplines of the Spiritual Life was to train the body and the soul in righteousness. This, in turn, produced established men and women who could stand firm in the time of trial.23


We may not be called to forsake the world for life in the desert, but we would do well to add some of the disciplines to our devotional life.


The Birth of Monasteries


Monasteries were formed for two reasons. Fist, the desert monks realized that it was not healthy to live alone. The Bible speaks about the body of Messiah being a body of individual units coming together for a common purpose. Secondly, many of the Desert Fathers were sought out by young disciples. Thus, they formed communities where they could live together and learn, worship, pray, and work.


The father of monasticism (coming from the Greek monachos “solitude24”) is Pachomius, a pagan soldier moved by the love of believers he encountered. He embraced Jesus and started the first monastery in the early fourth century. Each monk lived in a cell (room). I did not know what a ‘cell’ was in the monastic sense when I ventured to Scotland to seek God. But that is what monks called their rooms. And yes, it’s where we get the phrase prison cell, [from French, prisoun celle]). During my days in Scotland, my ‘cell’ became my sanctuary. A monk’s cell was not merely where he slept but also where he prayed and studied the sacred texts.


Every monk followed a strict daily rule (also called rhythm of life or daily office25) that included work and prayer. Many monasteries pray and worship seven times a day, with the first watch coming often between 2:00 AM and 300 AM! Almost everything was regimented: prayer/worship, work, study and rest, etc. The monks imposed their will on the world, instead of allowing the world to run their lives. It’s worth mentioning again, Thomas Merton’s (a monk himself) quote from the first blog.


Blinded by their desire for ceaseless motion, for a constant sense of achievement, famished with a crude hunger for results, for visible and tangible success, they work themselves into a state in which they cannot believe that they are pleasing God unless they are busy with a dozen jobs at the same time.26


They saw the need to govern their lives according to a productive schedule.


The idea of rhythms goes back to Genesis. God creates for six days and then rests on the seventh (Gen 1:1–2:3). The full moon lets me know that I’m halfway through the month. The crisp weather and falling leaves tell us that a new season has arrived. Each day has its rhythm, from the early morning to sunrise to sundown. It is as if creation is calling us to order our life according to a rhythm. This was the mystery that Christian monks discovered. I don’t want to say too much about that because our entire next blog is devoted to a rhythm of life. “Monasteries sanctify time,” writes Sittser, “as if to show that all time belongs to God and our use of time finds meaning only if we do our tasks, both religious and secular, to honor and serve God.”27


The early monks, spiritual sons, and daughters of the Desert Fathers and Mothers, were not “nerds” but rebels at heart, revolting against the new Christianity, and all its freedoms. Sittser writes:


Opposing the “material advantage” that the new Christianity under Constantine provided, the monks decided to launch a countermovement. “Under such conditions,” David Knowles, the great historian of monasticism, writes, “there has always occurred a revolt of some or many against what seems to them prevailing laxity; they choose the narrow way, in the words of Jesus, leading to eternal life.”28


While we prize freedom of religion in the Western world, the church often thrived under the threat of persecution (see Acts). Constantine’s reforms were certainly welcomed, but they also had a negative effect.



 Pachomius, the father of Monasticism.


You might wonder why Pachomius, pictured above, has a skull. It was common for monks to have the skull of a former monk in their cell, as strange as that sounds. It was a reminder of their mortality; we do not live for this world but for the world to come.


Long before the skull was the trademark aesthetic of punk rock bands, motorcycle gangs, or Hollywood pirates, it was the visual motif of Christian monks. For centuries, monks would go into their cells and kneel on prayer benches with three items spread before them: a portion of Scripture, a candle (to read said Scripture), and a skull.29


Maybe it’s time to go buy a skull (a fake one online, please) and make some profound life changes.


 

1.A.G. Holdier, “Chronological Snobbery,” in Bad Arguments, eds. R. Arp, S. Barbone and M. Bruce (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2018), 311, https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119165811.ch71


2.Gerald L. Sittser, Water from a Deep Well: Christian Spirituality from Early Martyrs to Modern Missionaries (IVP Books, 2007), 18.


3.Sittser, Water from a Deep Well, 18-19.


4.See John Wordsworth, Sarapion’s Prayer-Book (Hamden CT: Archon Books, 1964), p. 61. [translation from John Chryssavgis].


5.Alistair McGrath, Christian History (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, 2013), 33, Kindle.


6.Ibid.


7.Chryssavgis, In the Heart of the Desert, 1.


8.McGrath, Christian History, 43.


9.Sitters, Water from a Deep Well, 80-81.


10.Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools: An Invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer (London: John Murray Press, 2022), 196-197, Kindle.


11.Sittser, Water from a Deep Well, 19.


12.Owen Chadwick, ed., Western Asceticism (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1958), 65.


13.Chryssavgis, In the Heart of the Desert, 74.


14.Francis Chan, “The Power of a Quiet Life | Francis Chan.” Crazy Love, YouTube video, 0:01:30, https://youtu.be/HOzIKZs0ymE.


15.Syncletica, quoted in Journeying into God, ed. Tim Vivian (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996), 48.


16.Sittser, Water from a Deep Well, 86.


17.Richard J. Foster, Streams of Living Water (New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2001), 26, Kindle.  


18.Ibid.


19.Ibid.


20.Ibid., 26-27


21.Ibid., 27


22.Ibid., 29


23.Ibid., 28


24.McGrath, Christian History, 33.


25.Peter Scazzero, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 139, Kindle.


26.Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, 206.


27.Sittser, Water from a Deep Well, 97.


28.Ibid,. 101.


29.John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way, Be with Jesus. Become like him. Do as he did (London, UK: SPCK Group, 2024). 82-83, Kindle.

185 views2 comments

Recent Posts

See All

2 Comments


Great Word. You quoted Sittser as saying ““Monasteries sanctify time,” writes Sittser, “as if to show that all time belongs to God and our use of time finds meaning only if we do our tasks, both religious and secular, to honor and serve God.”. I had more structure to my time before I retired. I need to get back into a rhythm and become a better steward of God’s Time. Like so many reading this, I want to be found faithful when the Son of Man returns.

Like

Dear brother, thank you for sharing. Fortunately, In my 20-s I read The History of the Church , Richard Wurmbrand's books, the Saints lives, some John Chrysostom's writings.(By the way, unfortunately, I desired to have a life as early Christians had ( God saw my heart)). Reading that books I understood the importance of whole Churche history -the positive and the negative one. We must take responsability for our history, for that reason I realy don't understand when somebody (most of the times an evangelical Christian) try to judge who is or who is not a true Christian. In this way, for example, many modern Christians don't take the responsability for the Christian antisemitism. Maybe taking the responsability …

Like
Ebook 2.jpg

Get Ron's Book, "The Coming End-Time Awakening" FREE

When you Subscribe to Ron's emails from Israel.

Books

EbookMOCKUP JERUSALEM SECRET_edited.jpg

Facebook

Short Bio

PROFILE v3.png

Shalom from Israel! I am Ron Cantor and this is my blog. I serve as the President of Shelanu TV.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Shelanu TV

Image by Josh Appel
eMailer-MAY20-ShelanuTV 2.png

"We reached 260,000 Israelis in just two weeks. With your help we can do this every week!"

bottom of page