Vigils Reading – St Pachomius

A reading from

THOMAS MERTON

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Obedience is the distinctive factor of the new [communal] monasticism of

St Pachomius. The whole Pachomian structure is [actually] built on obedience,

[which] is not just the docility of the hermit to a director, but the lifelong

obedience of the subject to the superior, as well as of the son to the Father. It

implies a real concept of self-emptying and subjection, a real renunciation of

one’s own freedom, “for keeps.” Accordingly, all are to obey the Rule, superiors

and subjects. No one in the monastery is to follow his own will. [Even] the heads

of houses and their assistants, [for example,] had to weave a certain number of

baskets in a certain time, as a norm for the others to meet…

However, the superior must command, and he is to be obeyed as God.

Furthermore, the brethren are to obey one another, but above all the superiors.

In commanding, the superior himself obeys God who wants him to command

according to the Rule. All must obey meekly and willingly, without murmuring.

Unwillingness and resistance show lack of faith and seriously affect the spiritual

vitality of the mystery of the common life. It is not just an individual defect, it

affects the community.

Obedience is the highest value—with charity—in the common life. It is

“greater than sacrifices.” That is to say that emphasis is systematically placed on

what is enjoined by obedience, over what may be inspired by our own

spontaneous religious desires, however good [they may be in and of

themselves]. This is another fundamental principle [of communal monastic

life,] of cenobitism. What is enjoined in the name of the community…leads to

life much more surely and effectively than what is merely suggested by

individual inspiration…

To illustrate the importance this, Pachomius burned 500 mats that had

been woven by the cook in the kitchen, while he was cooking. He had been

ordered to cook only, not ordered to weave mats. Work over and above what was

one’s duty was not acceptable, because it was outside obedience. Hence, works

of extra sacrifice are acceptable only when the approval of obedience brings

them within the ambit of the common will and the common life. When a good

work, of personal choice, is approved by the superior, then it becomes part of

the common spiritual striving and merit of the community—it becomes a work

of Christ. But any work, however good, that is deliberately kept out of and apart

from the common life stream, ceases to be a work of Christ. Hence it is not

blessed. Hence it is a potential danger, to the individual and to the community.

Lastly, obedience is according to the Rule: there is no longer any purely

subjective and arbitrary command permitted. In commanding, the superior

must himself obey the Abba, the founder, and carry on the founder’s will… The

Rule represents the personal thought and desire of Abba Pachomius, and is not

a mere legal document.

Thus, obedience, for Pachomius, strikes deep into the heart of the

“mystery” of common life. If superiors do their own will and inferiors merely

comply with that will, then there is not yet a religious mystery. This [mystery]

is constituted by the participation of all in the sacrifice and obedience of

Christ, in His self-emptying. All have renounced their will. When this

happens in a community, the Holy Spirit then breathes in and through all its

members.