Asceticism and Its Influence in the Middle Ages on the Church
Saint Jerome, known for his austerity in the spiritual life, wrote to Celantia in the fourth century that the extent of one's "abstinence and fasting" is not to be confused with his state of perfection. In other words, a life of asceticism or penance is merely a means to perfection and not an example of perfection in and of itself. Asceticism was a term borrowed from the Greeks by the early Christians, who applied askesis, the Greek word for athletic training, to the spiritual life (Campbell). As men like Benedict and Augustine developed the ascetic lifestyle, the Church began to refine its sense of the practice of penance, meant to lead one to a state of holiness in the Middle Ages. This paper will describe the beliefs and practices of the major ascetics and how their ideas affected the Church into the Middle Ages.
The ascetics were motivated by an urge to conform their wills to the will of God. Conformity of this nature meant bringing their earthly wills (or appetites) into submission. They did this by rigorously denying themselves the pleasures one typically associates with comfortable living. By curbing the desire of the flesh, the Christian ascetic could focus more on the desire of God and living his life according to God's commandments. The ascetic lifestyle was meant to cultivate good habits, or virtues, such as self-renunciation, patience, chastity,...
They follow the words of St. Paul in Corinthians: "I chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have preached to others I myself should be castaway" (1 Cor. 9:27). They believed the body to be rebelling against the mind, the flesh against the spirit. ("The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak"). In order to discipline the flesh, they believed it was better to not indulge it but to deny it -- to "bring it into subjection" as Paul states.
The monastic life that flourished after the example of St. Anthony the Great and St. Benedict, was inspired by the asceticism of Christian devotion. Benedict embodied the spirit of renunciation of the world and the flesh so fully in the 6th century that he moved to a cave. There he could be more ascetic, having denied himself the comforts and conveniences of a life in a community. Like a desert father, he gave himself over to a spiritual contemplation of God. His total abandonment of self to the will of God attracted others who also wanted to make St. Paul's example a part of their lives. Benedict wrote his own Rule for his followers, which drew some inspiration from the Rule of St. Augustine.
The Rule of St. Benedict illustrates the degree to which Benedict embraced asceticism. For example, the Rule forbids Benedictines from owning any private possessions without permission from…
