In a teaching for CAC’s Living School, contemplative theologian Belden Lane shares the countercultural stance of the desert abbas and ammas:
Three important things set the desert monks apart from the world they had left behind: simplicity of language, radical forgiveness, and the hiddenness of the self.
The first was a simplicity of language. When you put a priority on silence and scarcity as taught by the land itself, the language you use will be very sparse. People out in the desert don’t tend to talk much. Having left behind the noise and clutter of city life, the monks placed a premium on brevity of speech. They knew that words too easily got in the way of what matters most….
The monks’ leanness of speech even affected the way they spoke of God. The vast expanse of the desert had done a job on the mindset of these early Christians. It broke up their dependence on glib answers and theological explanations. They found themselves running out of language very easily. They knew that in God’s own being was a vast expanse beyond their ability to comprehend, not unlike the desert itself. God is ultimately beyond anything that can be put into words….
A second major theme in the theological grounding of these desert Christians was their emphasis on radical forgiveness. They were very demanding in the discipline they embraced, but the hardness was always anchored in love. They were deeply sensitive to the wounds that the brothers and sisters invariably brought with them into the desert. Amma Syncletica emphasized that assuming a desert life as a monk didn’t automatically make anybody holy. She knew that everyone came into the monastery with a whole lot of interior baggage. So wound work, healing within the broken places they carried inside, was incredibly important….
The abbas and ammas knew that this inner work was crucial in one’s spiritual growth. It’s essential to the discipline of the heart. But as resolute as they were in demanding this soul work, they were just as resolute in practicing a radical forgiveness. They were always slow to judge others, seeing the best in the younger and weaker brothers and sisters, putting the finest possible interpretation on their behavior….
A third and last theme in the theological grounding of the desert Christians is their emphasis on the hiddenness of the self. They were keenly aware of the operation of the true and false self as Thomas Merton has pointed out. While they were tempted to always make themselves look good, practicing impression management, they kept reminding themselves that God was most pleased when their goodness was hidden altogether from others….
Amma Theodora said that in the monastic life, the hardest world you have to leave behind is the one you carry right inside your heart. The monks knew that the false self projects a polished public face in order to cultivate the admiration of others, but the true self is content to remain hidden in Christ.
Reference:
Adapted from Belden Lane, “The Desert Tradition,” The Living School: Essentials of Engaged Contemplation, Center for Action and Contemplation, 2024.
Image credit and inspiration: Krn Kwatra, Untitled (detail), 2022, photo, Oman, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Like the desert mothers and fathers, a person walks into the desert to find solitude and inspiration.
Story from Our Community:
The last three years have been filled with immense pain and suffering for our family. Our firstborn daughter was diagnosed with an extremely rare cancer that took her life last August. We are now in a remote part of the grief desert with few aids. The Daily Meditations continue to offer wisdom, hope, compassion and comfort that is more real and generous than easy answers. Thank you for being a balm while allowing room for great suffering as part of this journey of life.
—Curt F.
