The Stylites

The rise of Monasticism in the 4th century continued in the 5th and 6th centuries. In the Christian east, this monasticism and attraction to asceticism manifested itself in many bizarre and extreme forms. One of these odd forms of hermetic asceticism can be seen in the Stylites, or “pillar-hermits”. 

The Stylites were Christian ascetics that chose to live atop a column or pillar (Greek: stylos). These rare examples of asceticism were known for their great holiness and could be found throughout eastern Christendom. Stylites lived for extended periods atop pillars typically with an area of four square yards. They were exposed to the elements, though sometimes they had a roof, and received sustenance from disciples that brought meager amounts of food to them by climbing up ladders. They spent most of their time in prayer but were also known to perform pastoral work among those who gathered around their columns. 

Ruins of the Church of Saint Simeon Stylites,
located 30km northwest of Aleppo Syria

The first known Stylite was Saint Simeon the Elder who mounted his column in Syria in 423 AD. He was born in Sisan about 388 and took up work as a shepherd before joining a monastery at age 16. due to his extreme asceticism and austerity, he was deemed unfit for communal life and was forced to quit the monastery. He became a hermit and lived a reclusive life in a hut in Telanissos in Syria. After three years he moved outdoors to a hill near one of Syria's main thoroughfares and was visited by travelers wanting to see the famous ascetic and ask his counsel. In order to escape this disturbance, he decided to live atop a pillar the first of which was 9 feet and finally, legend has it that, he ended up on a pillar 50 feet high. Atop his pillar, he conversed via letter with many people including the Emperor Theodosius, the Empress Eudocia and the Emperor Leo to whom Simeon wrote in favor of the Council of Chalcedon. He died in 459, having spent 37 years on his pillar. A church was built over his grave in the late 400s and his column was placed in the central court. 

Wellcome Library, London

Saint Simeon the Elder inspired many others to follow in his footsteps and his imitators include, Saint Daniel in Constantinople, Saint Simeon the Younger near Antioch, Saint Alypius near Adrianopolis, Saint Luke at Chalcedon and Saint Lazarus near Ephesus. Various other stylites lived throughout Greece and the Middle East and the only known stylite in the West was Saint Wulfaicus, a deacon near Yvoi, France who was forced by church authorities to descend. The longest reported period any Stylite spent atop their pillar was Saint Alypius who remained atop his pillar for, as legend has it, 67 years. 

Ref:

Johnson, Paul. A History of Christianity. Simon and Schuster, New York. 1976

Thurston, Herbert. "St. Simeon Stylites the Elder." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 Feb. 2017 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13795a.htm>.

Crocker, H.W. Triumph:The Power and Glory of the Catholic Church. Three Rivers Press, New York.2001.

Encyclopedia Britanica, Saint Simeon Stylites, www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Simeon-Stylites

Encyclopedia Britanica, Stylites 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/stylite

The Rise and Condemnation of Arius

Arius was a layman from Alexandria who was ordained a priest by Achillas the Bishop of Alexandria. By all accounts, he was an eloquent, learned and holy man with a skill in disputation that surpassed many of his contemporaries. He likely could have been a father or doctor of the church except for his flawed belief about the divinity of Jesus. He promoted a theological position that viewed Jesus as a created and not eternal being, separate from the father. Alexander, the successor to Achillas demanded that Arius retract his position and Arius refused.(1) This was the beginning of the first great theological controversy in the history of the Church.

In response to the censorship of Alexander, Arius wrote to Eusebius, bishop of Nicomedia and kinsman of Constantine. In his letter to Eusebius sent via Ammonius he declares his opposition to Bishop Alexanders statements that there was, “always a God, always a Son;” “as soon as the Father, so soon the Son [existed];” “with the Father co-exists the Son unbegotten, ever-begotten, begotten without begetting;” “God neither precedes the Son in aspect or in a moment of time;” “always a God, always a Son, the Son being from God himself.”(2)

With the help of Eusebius, Arius continued his promotion of what many western bishops knew to be a heretical doctrine. Writing to many bishops throughout the eastern portions of the Roman Empire using scripture texts from Matthew 27, Mark 13 and John 14 Arius won many converts.(3) Tensions rose as more an more bishops sided with Arius. In 320 AD Bishop Alexander gathered all the bishops in his region to a synod in which they universally condemned Arius. Arius persisted and Alexander excommunicated him. It was a battle of wills.(4)

Arius left Egypt and headed East to Palestine then to the Nicomedia obtaining converts all along his path. In many cases disagreements turned to violence and Constantine, having just taken control of the entire Roman Empire by defeating the Eastern augustus Licinius took notice of the problems being cause in Alexandria and throughout the Eastern portions of his Empire. Taking an unprecedented step, Constantine convoked a council of all the bishops of the Roman Empire. Previously smaller councils would be convoked by local or regional bishops. This was the first universal council and it was declared by the Emperor himself.(5)

16th-century fresco depicting the Council of Nicaea

The council convened in the City of Nicaea in 325 AD so Constantine himself could participate.(6) Bishops from all over the Christian world we invited and attended. Notably absent was the Bishop of Rome, Sylvester, struggling from illness he sent two emissaries.(7) Somewhere between two and three hundred Bishops attended and all but two voted for what is known as the Nicene Creed, vindicating Alexander and condemning Arius and his followers. Their declaration read...

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of all things visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only-begotten of his Father, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten (γεννηθέντα), not made, being of one substance (ὁμοούσιον, consubstantialem) with the Father. By whom all things were made, both which be in heaven and in earth. Who for us men and for our salvation came down [from heaven] and was incarnate and was made man. He suffered and the third day he rose again, and ascended into heaven. And he shall come again to judge both the quick and the dead. And [we believe] in the Holy Ghost. 

And whosoever shall say that there was a time when the Son of God was not (ἤν ποτε ὅτε οὐκ ἦν), or that before he was begotten he was not, or that he was made of things that were not, or that he is of a different substance or essence [from the Father] or that he is a creature, or subject to change or conversion — all that so say, the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes them.(8)

⁽¹⁾ Laux, Fr John. Church History. Rockford:Tan Books and Publishers, Inc, 1989. p107

⁽²⁾ Letter of Arius to Eusebius of Nicomedia, http://www.fourthcentury.com/urkunde-1/

⁽³⁾ Schreck, Alan. The Compact History of the Catholic Church Cincinnati:Servant Books 2009 p25

⁽⁴⁾ Laux p108

⁽⁵⁾ Wilken, Robert L. The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. New Haven: Yale University Press 2012. p91

⁽⁶⁾ ibid

⁽⁷⁾ ibid, and Laux p109

⁽⁸⁾ http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm

The Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch

The year was 107 AD and Theophorus (“Bearing God” in greek(1)) stood calmly and joyfully at the entrance to the floor of the Flavian Amphitheater. He was about to fulfill a desire held deep in his heart for more than 20 years. He was not only about to demonstrate to the citizens of Rome his undying love for his Lord and savior Jesus Christ, but he was about enter into “...a more deep and intimate relationship with the Lord.”(2) Theophorus, known today as Ignatius of Antioch, was about to be martyred in the Roman Colosseum on account of his unbreakable love for Jesus.

He came close before during the persecution of Christians by emperor Domitian, the self-proclaimed “Lord and God”(3) who compelled citizens to recognize him as such. Christians, Ignatius being one of them, were willing to die rather than place the emperor on par with Jesus, who they knew to be the one true God and many earned the crown of martyrdom. The Domitian persecution ended, but for Ignatius, it was a bittersweet victory. As the successor of Bishop Evodius, Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch. As Bishop and shepherd, Ignatius was joyful and relieved that God’s sheep, entrusted to him by Peter the Apostle(4), would no longer suffer persecution. Yet he still longed for the crown of martyrdom and the intimate relationship with his Lord and Savior that accompanied it.

It appeared now to Ignatius that Jesus’ words, “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7) were going to be demonstrated. Before he left on his journey to Rome and martyrdom, the Emperor Trajan visited the city of Antioch and discovered Christians refusing to offer sacrifice to the pagan Gods. The emperor called their leader, Bishop Ignatius, to answer for these transgressions. Trajan seeing the resolute nature of the Antiochan Christian leader declared,

“We command that Ignatius, who affirms that he carries about within him Him that was crucified, be bound by soldiers, and carried to the great [city] Rome, there to be devoured by the beasts, for the gratification of the people.” 

To which Ignatius cried out to God,

“I thank you, O Lord, that You have vouchsafed to honour me with a perfect love towards You, and have made me to be bound with iron chains, like Your Apostle Paul.”(5) 

From there he began his travels to Rome to fulfill his utmost desire. The journey was long, but he had the opportunity along the way to minister to Christians throughout the Empire. From the port of Seleucia in Syria, he headed to either Tarsus or Attalia. From there he traveled overland through Asia Minor and through Philadelphia, Sardis, and Smyrna, home to Polycarp, a fellow auditor Saint John the Apostle. From there he sent letters to the congregations of Ephesus, Magnesia, and Tralles encouraging them to follow their Bishop and avoid heresy. He also wrote to the citizens of Rome asking them not to act to prevent his martyrdom. Leaving there his party passed through Troas where he sent letters to the Christians of Philadelphia and Smyrna, and to Polycarp. From here they continued on by sea and land until they arrived in Rome where soon after his arrival Ignatius won his long-coveted crown of martyrdom in the Flavian amphitheater.(6)


Almighty ever-living God,
who adorn the sacred body of your Church
with the confessions of holy Martyrs,
grant, we pray,
that, just as the glorious passion of Saint Ignatius of Antioch,
which we celebrate today,
brought him eternal splendor,
so it may be for us unending protection.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.(7)

Painting of Ignatius of Antioch from
the Menologion of Basil II (c. 1000 AD)

________________________________________________________

(1) Church History, Fr. John Laux p 49

(2) The Martyrdom of Ignatius. http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0123.htm. Ch 1.

(3) Scannell, Thomas. "Domitian." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. 22 Jan. 2017. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05114b.htm.

(4) O'Connor, John Bonaventure. "St. Ignatius of Antioch." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 22 Jan. 2017. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07644a.htm. 

(5) The Martyrdom of Ignatius, Ch 2

(6) “St. Ignatius of Antioch”, The Catholic Encyclopedia

(7) Liturgy of the Hours, Collect for the feast of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, October 17th.

A Moral Evaluation of Nuclear Deterrence

Living an Integrated Life as an Example to Others

In Lumen Gentium Chapter V, in what is known as the Universal Call to Holiness, the council fathers declared... 

“All in the Church, whether they belong to the hierarchy or are cared for by it, are called to holiness. … The followers of Christ … have been made sons of God in the baptism of faith and partakers of the divine nature, and so are truly sanctified … It is therefore quite clear that all Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of love, and by this holiness a more human manner of life is fostered also in earthly society”

A few paragraphs earlier,the fathers made it clear that we, as the laity, share in the Church’s mission as priests, prophets and kings when they stated...

“By baptism [the members of the Church, including lay people] are incorporated into Christ, are placed in the People of God, and in their own way share the priestly, prophetic and kingly office of Christ, and to the best of their ability carry on the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world” [emphasis added]

We, the laity, along with members of the clergy, are called to fulfill Jesus’ command to make disciples of all nations. It is our role as catechists to not only make disciples ourselves, but to also teach our students how both be disciples and make disciples themselves. 

Unfortunately, we live in a culture which poses particular obstacles to that mission. We live in a time in which many of us have a split between the faith we profess and the way we live our daily lives. The council fathers in Gaudium et Spes 43 said this, “...deserves to be counted among the more serious errors of our age.” Therefore, we, as catechists, must provide those under our tutelage the tools to break down this ill conceived barrier between our faith and daily life.

Randy Hain, in his article, Six Practical Ideas for Integrating our Catholic Faith with Work, provides some great tools we and our students can use in our everyday lives to help answer Jesus’ call to “Go and make disciples of all nations...”

His article begins by highlighting the need to go out into the workplace and evangelize those around us. He points out that this does not consist of running Bible studies at work or loudly evangelizing our co-workers. While Bibles studies are good things, we are more effective evangelizers in the work place by making it known we are Catholics and living a life of faithful holiness and a being light of Christ to those around us. 

Three Obstacles to an Integrate Life

After his introduction, Mr. Hain, identifies three obstacles to integrating our faith into our daily work lives. 

The first obstacle is our tendency to compartmentalize our lives. Many people have their “faith life”, their “home life”, their “work life” and never shall any of them meet. But that is not what God calls us to do. He calls us to be fully Catholic, all of the time. 

The second obstacle is our time. We often view our relationship with Jesus as another event in the day. What we should be doing is adding everything else around our relationship with Him. He should be the center of our day. 

The third obstacle is our refusal to surrender our lives to Jesus. If we surrender our lives to him the first two obstacles are easily overcome. Instead of surrender, we want to, like Adam and Eve in the garden, have it our way.

Six Practical Ideas to an Integrated Life

After identifying the obstacles, Mr. Hain, moves on to provide six practical things we can do to integrate our faith into our everyday lives. Those six are:

1. Devote one hour of each day to prayer and reading.

2. Devote more time to the Eucharist.

3. Be a light for Christ.

4. Let love drive our actions.

5. Practice active stewardship.

6. Start with the end in mind.

I strongly recommend you read his article to see how these can be put into action.

If we really want to follow Jesus’ call to make disciples, we have to go out into the world and do it. One of the best mindsets we can have to accomplish this is to recognize that God gives each of us talents. By using our God given talents, we allow Him the opportunity to put us where He needs us most. Randy Hain’s article helps us down the path of using our talents and with the grace of the Holy Spirit, help us to show those around us the merciful love of the Father and ultimately to bring souls to Him.  

Obedience

As taught to us by Jonah

This is a video I created for a class I'm taking. It had it's genesis in England one day when my wife and I were driving out to the Westminster Youth Retreat Center, SPEC. We were on our way to attend mass with their community and my wife asked what the readings were. So I told her the story of Jonah. She laughed.

"Lord, Teach us to Teach"

What are we to do?

Something we as catechists need to address when embarking on our ministry is not only the question of what we are to teach but more importantly what God wants us to accomplish. What is our ultimate goal as a catechist when engaging those we catechize? 

We could provide our students with all sorts of information, after all the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the “sure norm for teaching” the Deposit of Faith, is made up of 2,865 articles. Sacred Scripture is made up of 73 books, over 1300 chapters and more than 35,000 verses. Add to Sacred Scripture our Sacred tradition which is made up of the writings of 266 Popes, numerous saints and the fathers of the church, and one finds more than a lifetime worth of knowledge to pass on to our students. But knowledge will not bring our students far enough. That is why in the General Directory For Catechesis the Church tells us...

Truly, to help a person encounter God, which is the task of the catechist, means to emphasize above all the relationship that the person has with God so that he can make it his own and allow himself to be guided by God.[1]

Our goal is clear...It is to help our students encounter the living God. But the question now is, how do we do that? 

Let us turn to our Mother, the Church for that answer.

The Pedagogy of God

Christ, the final Adam, by the revelation of the mystery of the Father and His love, fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear.[2]

God incarnated Himself and became man. In becoming man, Jesus shows us the way to be fully and perfectly human. With that understanding as a basis, we can understand when the Church uses the term Pedagogy of God, she means that we should teach as God teaches and do so with the same end in mind. That end is the revelation of God’s love and His salvific work to restore man to Himself.

In the Old Testament God reveals Himself as a loving father through His works and deeds, through the covenants and promises and through the laws and prophets. He incarnates Himself as Jesus Christ in the fullness of time and we hear from the authors of the Gospels, Jesus’ revelation of the Father. In the age of the Church, the Holy Spirit rules and guides the Church so that she may effectively reveal God to man.[3]

It is this threefold pedagogy of revelation that makes God known to man and accomplishes the guiding of man to God. We as catechists must therefore not rely on our own created methods of instruction. While modern educational theories may be used to assist us instructing, they can not be the guiding principle behind our catechesis. The guiding principle of our catechesis must be rooted in faith in God’s Divine Pedagogy, for He is the only one that can bring man to Himself. We are just the ones who point our students to Him. 

To point our students toward Jesus, we must look to Him to guide our action. He gives us this guidance when we turn to the Gospels. By prayerfully reading and meditating on His encounters with man we can learn from Him they way to guide souls to God. Looking to the Gospel of John in Chapter 15 we see that an important aspect of His pedagogy is establishing a bond of friendship with His apostles. He says, “I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”[4] It is this bond of friendship we must build with our students to gain their trust so that we may lead them to Jesus. Without that bond of trust and friendship they will not follow us to Him. 

In Luke 11 we see Jesus teaching the apostles to pray.[5] We too must teach our students to pray, because it is in prayer that we encounter God’s desire for us. Reflecting on the encounter of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, the Church recognizes that prayer is the encounter of God’s thirst with ours.[6]

There is a wealth of guidance we can glean from the Gospels. Therefore, if we desire to be effective catechists we must be students of the gospels. We must spend time prayerfully reading the life of our Lord. 

Go and make disciples.

The making of disciples, should be the goal of every catechist. It is the task given to the apostles by Jesus prior to His Glorious Ascension. It is the charge that the apostles passed on to their successors the bishops who have handed that role on down through the centuries. And it is our role as lay catechists to support the Bishops in answering that call of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Church has given us the way to answer that call and that way is the Pedagogy of God.

Notes

¹ General Directory for Catechesis(GDC) 139

² Gaudium et Spes 22

³ GDC 139-142

⁴ Gospel of John 15:15

⁵ Gospel of Luke 11:1-2

⁶ Catechism of the Catholic Church 2560