In the Coracle

Call to Simplicity (St. Basil the Great)

October 31, 2008 // 1 Comment »

One of the three great figures in Orthodox Christianity is St. Basil the Great (along with St. John Chrysostum and St. Gregory of Nazienza, also called Gregory the Theologian). Basil, born 329CE is known for his unbowed devotion to life with Christ.

He forsake a wealthy life, gave what he had to the poor (echoing the much later St. Francis), and then sought the wisdom of the Christian hermits living in the Cappodicia region, eventualy establishing the first monastic rule which later influenced Benedict of Nursia.

Basil was a profound thinker. Biographers write that he excelled in variety of ways: as philosopher, philologist, orator, jurist, scientist and archaeologist, and he possessed profound knowledge in astronomy, mathematics and medicine.

After visits to the monastic hermits near Jerusalem, Basil returned to his home in the Cappadocia region determined to imitate what he had seen of the ascetic life along with his friend Gregory the Theologian. Basil drew with him a small community of hermits who asked him to describe the ascetic life to them. He responded by writing a collection of rules of the moral life in two forms - the Short Rules and later expanding them as the Long Rules.

In so doing was the father of community-based monasticism (known as cenobitic monasticism, in contrast to hermitic or eremitic monasticism).

Here is a section of his Introduction to the Ascetical Life, which he wrote to encourage Christians to forsake being united with the world’s culture and instead be united with Christ in the way of the desert monks and hermits.

“Come, then, soldier of Christ…! Set before yourself a life without house, homeland, or possessions. Be free and at liberty from all worldly cares, lest desire or anxiety fetter you …. Follow the Heavenly Bridegroom; withstand the onset of invisible foes; wage war against principalities and powers, driving them out first from your own soul …. Earth did not accept you as a citizen, but heaven will welcome you. The world persecuted you, but the angels will bear you aloft to the presence of Christ. You will even be called friend by Him and will hear the longed for word of commendation:

‘Well done, good and faithful servant, brave soldier and imitator of the Lord, follower of the King, I shall reward you with My own gifts and I shall pay heed to your words even as you did to Mine.’

Basil went on to be ordained as a priest and theologian. His words were profound in the 4th century battles against heresies: Arianism, Appolarianism, Nestorianism, Eutycianism.

As a priest and agent of truth against misconceptions of God, Basil continued to live as an ascetic. He rejected offers from well-meaning churches who sought to pay him handsomely to educate their children, preferring to remain living a simple lifestyle.

Basil organized the church’s resources during a great famine to feed the poor, which also became a traditional example for subsequent Christian monastics. His concern for social causes remain a clear mark of Basil’s theology of community.

The devotion which contemporary Orthodox Christians hold for St. Basil cannot be overstated. Orthodox monasteries hold to the Rules of St. Basil rather than St. Benedict even though Benedict’s work falls early in church history, five centuries before the East-West split. Basil’s words are still influential today;

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Posted in Faith

Being and doing (Learning from the Monks)

October 10, 2008 // Comments Off

I found a really nice blog entry today in my ongoing technorati search for all things monastic.

Check out http://loudandclear87.wordpress.com/2008/10/09/learning-from-monks/, a college student who writes:

So, I have Church History at 7:50 in the morning on Tuesdays and Thursdays and sometimes its a real bear to get up and go to a lecture that early to just hear about the early church and its practices.

Yes, going to class is a spiritual disciplinw for me.

This tuesday, my professor, Dr. Bud Bence gave a lecture on the Monastic Movement in early Christianity. Just by the topic of monks and their practices, I will admit I kind of zoned out for awhile. About 15 minutes into the lecture, my prof got quiet and started to tell a story of how when he was in college he visited a monastery and how fascinated he was by the monks and their practices.

One of the monks expressed to my professor that he was concerned with protestants and their practices. After asking for clarification, the monk explained,”You little protestants are always running around doing and doing. You never take time to just be. Just be and pray for the world and for people you know.”

My prof later told us that one of the other monks at the monastery had stayed up all night praying for all of the visitors to the monastery by name. ALL NIGHT…to pray for people he didn’t even know.

All of this got me thinking. I am doing school. Doing work. Doing relationships.

When do I stop and truly unplug. When was the last time I just stopped and prayed for people.

When do I take time just to BE one of God’s children and rest in the pleasure it is to know HIM.

Needless to say, I learned from the seemingly boring lecture. I am changed by it. Even though Monks might have silly practices in some ways, I found TRUTH in some of it.

This story of a Protestant visiting Catholic monks and hearing about being and doing is not unique. My spiritual director, a fellow Vineyard church planter, heard the same thing as well.

The heart of this issue is abolutely worth considering: Where are our practices hampering just, simply, being with God?

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Posted in Faith, Family

Missional orders as ways to start new churches

January 21, 2008 // 3 Comments »

Here’s a very, very interesting video of a talk by David Fitch about using missional orders as a church planting strategy.

“The way we used to plant churches (in the Christendom era) was as organization. An established church structure … paid somebody… with the distinctives of the denomination, the tags, the franchise…”. But that doesn’t work anymore. “I do not believe you can plant a church in less than three years in post-Christendom.”
I’m filing this under “if/when I plant another church”…

I really gotta read me some Fitch. I’ve got a couple of his books, and I’ve heard that _The Great Giveaway_ is fantastic.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Glad You're Here

Welcome to In the Coracle, Pat Loughery's blog. Make yourself at home, and do join in the conversation by commenting on what you find here.

I blog a lot these days about spirituality and spiritual formation, and I have a particular interest in learning from the early Christian church's approach to spirituality and mission.

I'm a student at Bakke Graduate University, studying for a Doctor of Ministry in Transformational Leadership for the Global City. Here's my working thesis:

I am studying Celtic, Benedictine and Orthodox monasticism because I want to discover what frameworks these spiritualities provide so that my reader may understand how spiritual formation serves God’s mission.

You can read more about me and this blog at the About page.