Monasticism and Asceticism

Abstract

Abstract The term “monasticism” derives from the Greek word signifying “aloneness.” Originally it denoted a Christian who dedicated him or herself to withdrawal and radical simplicity, seeking a life lived as a celibate and centered on prayer. The term “asceticism” derives from the Greek word for physical exercise, and describes the sense, much witnessed within the early monastic movement, that the achievement of celibacy and prayerful focus were matters of great struggle, requiring a mental and physical discipline comparable to that undertaken by the ancient athletes. Monasticism is, therefore, a particular (Christian) form of the life of Askesis. The ascetical lifestyle was present beforehand (not least in aspects of the Apocalyptic movement's “resistance” of the world powers, and extensively among Hellenistic philosophical circles) but it came to a precise and recognizable shape in the church of the 3rd century, taking more explicit forms in the 4th, and afterward enduring as a central part of Christian life until the present, especially in the eastern Christian world; although the Reformation much diminished the impact of monasticism in the early modern and more recent west. Even so, allowing for Reformation Christianity's more or less wholesale repudiation of monastic values, monasticism's influence in the formation of the Christian west is monumentally important.

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