New Communities, Old Traditions: Dangers in Recovering the Shared Ascetical Heritage

Abstract

precis:The twentieth-century publication of works of ancient Christian desert monasticism and Eastern Orthodox texts had an influence on Western religious institutes, particularly in communities formed after Vatican II, to have a "new charism" to bring monasticism into conjunction with the modern world. One community in particular, the Monastic Family of Bethlehem, is examined here for how borrowings from ancient or Eastern practices resulted in highly problematic structures that violated the members' internal forum and hampered their spiritual formation. By analyzing the system of asceticism practiced in the desert, particularly by Evagrius, with the view that it is an ordered system to restructure the self through practices to create inner freedom, we can understand why the practices adopted by the Monastic Family of Bethlehem failed.