There are many reasons I find the Desert Fathers appealing. One among those many reasons is their penetrating simplicity. In my experience, such is the mark of a truly wise person. Simplicity is not to be confused with ignorance, willful or helpless. Far too many people make this mistake and too many religious fools have capitalized on it. Simplicity is the ability to distill, to reduce the complexity of something while at the same time maintaining its essence. Perhaps it was the plundering nature of the desert - stripping these men of their flourish and baring their humility - which instilled in them the clarity and candor that makes their words so powerful nearly two millennia after the desert claimed their bodies.
Modern Christianity is defined by anything but simplicity. It complicates things. People fuel their Purpose Driven Lives with "life application verses" and bulleted lists of what we must do, say and be in order to remain obedient before God. We chase after the Seven Habits of a Successful Spiritual Life" as handed down by one Christian leader and now another.
By way of contrast, compare the above words of the Abba Nisteros when asked how to be obedient to God. "Not all works are alike," he responds. He cites Abraham's hospitality, Elijah's prayerfulness and David's humility, all as examples of different but equally good works. To be fair, these virtuous works seem to be selected for their harmony with the monk's lifestyle. Nonetheless, his concluding statement is striking:
"Therefore, whatever you see your soul to desire, according to god, do that thing, and you shall keep your heart safe."
 |
| Augustine (354-430) |
Once for all, then, a short precept is given you: Love, and do what you will: whether you hold your peace, through love hold your peace; whether you cry out, through love cry out; whether you correct, through love correct; whether you spare, through love do you spare: let the root of love be within, of this root can nothing spring but what is good.1
How scandalous to the ears of many who have learned a scripted formula for obedience! How refreshing to those who have sought the God of mystery,undomesticated by the minds and sensibilities of men! How perfectly simple. How surprisingly reasonable. How marvelously beautiful!
Of course, we must take time to note that it is not simply whatever your soul desires, but whatever your soul desires according to God. Here we find the difference between wisdom and foolishness. We may not simply pursue or own will, but the will of God as it inhabits and changes our own. This will cannot be prescribed by those outside ourselves, but must be surrendered to as it is discovered in our relationship with God as our desires and hearts conform to his own.
In the words of Augustine once more, such behavior may be seem "rough." Here Augustine even justifies the "savage" discipline of a father disciplining his son with beatings. We may challenge his judgment here. As he might challenge the judgment of modern society in certain areas of morality. But from both perspectives, the truth of his conclusion remains, "Thorns also have flowers."2 The heart and work of God is as wild and mysterious as Himself: not like our thoughts, not like our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). It is a winding road and unexpected. My road and yours are unlikely to be the same. But in the end it is as simple as it is perplexing - only follow the example of Christ's own selfless love.
1. Augustine, Homily 7 on the First Epistle of John, ch 8.
2. Augustine, Homily, ch 8.
