[blue-duncan]

"Monasticism there was the equal to that found in the Desert before the Mohammedan Conquest. Not vibrant indeed!"

Please explain how monasticism can be said to be vibrant when it spiritually benefited only the few while keeping the people in ignorance and superstition. It was able to protect the scriptures from the Muslim hoards but it did little to increase the literacy of the common folk so they could read the scriptures for themselves. It can be argued that there weren't the complete scriptures available but there certainly could have been portions of scriptures posted in public places for the people to read just as the laws of the realm were posted. The problem was the professionals did not trust the common folk with the Word of God or the promise that the Holy Spirit would lead them into the truth that would set them free from their sin.

[Kolokotronis]

"Please explain how monasticism can be said to be vibrant when it spiritually benefited only the few while keeping the people in ignorance and superstition."

Well, monasticism is the crown jewel of The Church. It may very well be that the monastics of the Church today as well as in the past, in their unending prayer, are exactly what keeps sin from totally destroying the world, but that's another discussion. In any event, it wasn't the monks who kept the people ignorant and superstitious, at least in the East. And out there, as I said, things were different than in the West. For starters more people could read...and did. It may well be that The Church in the West kept people ignorant. That simply isn't true for the East. try not to be so Western Christianity arose in the East and spread to the West. You think about it with the mind of the "Enlightenment", but that isn't where it came from at all.

[MarMema]

Please explain how monasticism can be said to be vibrant when it spiritually benefited only the few while keeping the people in ignorance and superstition.

I think the Orthodox view of sin as illness, rather than rule-breaking, answers this. There is evil in the world because of the pollution of our sins. Our selfishness and cruelty don't merely hurt those around us, but contribute to setting the world off-balance, out of tune. It has a corporate nature. Anyone can observe that life isn't fair; bad things happen to “good” people. But even good people contribute some sin to the mix, and we all suffer the consequences of the world's mutual sin.

If you have never walked in a country with a people who are at least 95% Christian, you can only imagine the difference between life there and here. I have spent time walking in such a country, where monastics are everyday sights on the streets, and where the very air itself is filled with the love of Christ.