The ascetic life seems to have certain attractions.  Quiet and solitude allow for reflection and contemplation.  Focused prayer facilitates a closer relationship with God, and perhaps a greater self-awareness.  Peripheral nonsense that plagues churches and is a distraction from its purpose and mission is absent.  There surely are moments when a monastic approach to faith sounds pretty good.

But, even the oldest monastery in the world makes allowances.  Websites, cell phones and email all are part of the scene at St. Anthony’s Monastery in Egypt.  These concessions to life in today’s world “save time,” according to a resident monk.  But, he adds that God looks for an accounting for the use of the time saved.

Dating back to A.D. 356, this “speck of green in a sea of sand” isn’t all high-tech.  Spiritual disciplines begun in the old days continue, and many of the more traditional monks keep their distance from modern conveniences (and intruders).  Chickens are raised and fruit is grown, and the rigors of communal living still apply.

There was a time when visitors rarely darkened the doors at St. Anthony’s, but now tour busses roll up, mostly with folks from Russia and Europe.  Some aspire to join the monks and live out their faith (and lives) in the caves and desert.

So, while there is a growing tension between the way it was and the ways of the world, decisions have to be made about who joins the community.   St. Anthony, who some believe is buried underneath the monastery, was the first person to withdraw from society to adopt the ascetic approach to faith.  “I love the silence and don’t want to serve anything but God,” states a five-year veteran of the monastery.  “My life began when I came here.”

Most aspirants are not accepted into the community.  The mere desire to escape life’s realities and pressures is not reason enough to gain entrance.  Up to five men each year are allowed in.  Then, a three-year probation period puts the proof into the pudding.

Then what?  Prayers, chants, silence, labor, study, and whatever else they do there.  Other than God and the monks, I’m not sure who is affected by it all.

As I said, it can sound pretty good at times.  But it seems the impact of the faithfulness of the monks is very limited.  It also causes one to wonder how the impact of the church, which supposedly is “in the world, but not of the world,” might compare. 

I guess it all depends on the extent of the “in” and the “of.”