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Dear Photius,
First let me thank you for the spell checker hint. I thought one was prohibited from importing from other environments.

Next, I am very happy that the writer from the site I mentioned was incorrect. I would also consider that a heresy. That's why I said that soul might not make a good Carmelite.

I used "frown" in an attempt NOT to cause irritation with Orthodox. It seems I miscalculated. My point, though, was that I'm not bothered by you not fasting on Saturday. Fast on another day or days. I'm not trying to make arguments, simply stating that if we all just lower the dialogue a few degrees, we could agree to fast as part of the discipline for the establishment of a Carmel on this Forum.

As far as daily Mass goes I'm sure there are other sacrifices or prayers that could be offered up on a daily basis. I will continue to go to daily mass. That should not bother you and the sacrifice you offer won't bother me. The only point is that our sacrifices be pleasing to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Our Lord.

On the other hand, if you only purpose is to be pedantic and arguementive about every jot and tittle, like whether a term is RC, Orthodox, or Byzantine maybe this whole beautiful idea of different parts of the Body of Christ co-operating for the good of souls is hopeless and pointless. In any event...
Pray without ceasing...Mike

Dear Mike, Christ is Risen!
No, my purpose was not pedantic, although my style is very much affected by my being an engineer, so I'm very precise and analytic, which oft does not go over well in ecclesiastical circles.

Your "attempt NOT to cause irritation with Orthodox" was well received; I just felt it necessary to point out that the notion of not fasting "in the sense of not eating at all" was prohibited in ancient times, and is, therefore, more deeply rooted than you may have guessed.

Beyond that, I suppose you need to be aware that there is a vast gulf between tradition Byzantine and Latin spiritualities, and this prohibits a "one size fits all" approach to the sort of rules you are speaking of. Receiving Communion daily, for example, is virtually unknown in the East, out of an extreme reverence for the Holy Mysteries; even in the highly ascetic monasteries of Mount Athos, this is not the usual practices. And, the more traditional the Byzantine Christian, the bigger the problem will be; in America, much is watered down in most places, and there would be less of a problem than in the Old World.

Also, be warned that there are no religious orders in the Orthodox Churches, and certainly nothing like a "third order", although the Byzantine Catholics have adopted these ideas.

I'm glad to have cleared up the matter of the Holy Theotokos being without sin ... I can't have imagined how anyone calling himself "Orthodox" would write otherwise, as this is clear from our liturgical texts; if it were not for the specific example you gave, I would have assumed some semantic confusion.

Photius, Reader

Dear Photius,
You make my point better than I. It is exactly the "vast gulf" you point to that I am trying to illuminate both for myself and other RC and perhaps even some Orthodox. It is exactly what I would call the "vast treasure" of the Byzantine that I had hope to explore. I thought that is what the "Byzantine Forum" was all about.

As for the other differences between us which I am also aware of, don't you think we could all learn from each other and concentrate on the similarities instead of the differences. Foe instance my love and devotion to my pray rope and the Prayer of the Heart. The plate on my care is even CHOTKI so I can explain the Jesus Prayer to other RC who never heard of it. To my Church's shame, I might add.
Pray without ceasing...Mike

Alex...Have you heard anything from the Administrator? ...Mike

OK! It took me 30 minutes to locate this, but I thought that it would be worth posting again, especially in light of recent discussions.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reditus ad origines
"Iuxta fontem Eliae"

"Go away from here, go east" (1 K 17:3)
Eastern reflections on the Rule of Carmel

Fr Jean Sleiman, O.C.D. Definitor General


To read or re-read the Primitive Rule(1) of Carmel for the Christian East,
it is necessary to approach it in the light of Eastern monasticism. It is
to raise again an historical question, ancient but particularly remote for
our historians today: that of the eastern eremitic origins of Carmel.

In effect, if there are still those who connect Carmel to the East, many
contemporary historians assert the hermits on Mount Carmel were crusaders,
Latins who had never been influenced by the monasticism in the heart of
which they lived. However, here and now, this is not the historical
question forming the subject of my conference.(2)

What I wish to touch upon are the similarities, the affinity and consonance
between the Rule of Carmel and Eastern monasticism. In this way I propose
to highlight this spiritual relationship which the Rule reveals in its text
and its context, in its form and its content, in its organization of the
life of the first Carmelites as a spiritual journey which it set out for
them.


The Primitive Rule and its Eastern echoes

The prologue straight away places the Rule of Carmel into the Eastern
monastic tradition by its reference to "our saintly forefathers" (n� 2) and
more so by the style and content of a text that could be called juridical
yet in the form of a letter of exhortation: "Albert, called by God's favour
to be Patriarch of the Church of Jerusalem, bids health in the Lord and the
blessing of the Holy Spirit to his beloved sons in Christ, Brocard(3) and
the other hermits under obedience to him, who love near the spring of
Elias(4) on Mount Carmel" (n� 1).

The Prologue thus places the Rule in a particular context, that of an
already existing community of hermits, with a way of life inspired by the
Spirit, in a local Church, multifaceted and rich in apostolic, patristic
and monastic tradition. The Patriarch Albert regularized their belonging to
the Jerusalem Church by a Rule in the form of an exhortation, for the
purpose of organizing their life. The hermits themselves had approached him
"for a rule of life in keeping with (their) avowed purpose". In it he
highlights the evocative importance of the place "near the spring". Even
then it had long been known as the "fountain of Elias". Albert opens the
Rule with a pastoral salutation and a blessing in the Spirit rather than
beginning off straight away with the details which would suffocate the
inspiration and spirit. He takes his many ideas from Scripture which he
cites in paraphrase and in abundance. He adopts then a style of
communication which emphasises communion more than legislation so that the
Rule sits badly in the Latin monastic juridical body.

There are all these traits which give the Rule an Eastern savour and which,
from our point of view, explain the difficulties met by the first Carmelite
emigrants to Europe and which provoked the various amendments. The Rule,
out of its context, suffered a progressive Latinization, a little in the
text but most of all in the interpretation. It was left less true to its
genre of being more biblical than canonical, more a formula of life rather
than a Rule which established a similarity with the monastic rules of the
ancient Christian East. It is, then, the way of life of a well-knit group
of hermits already in existence, resembling the first monastic groups which
inspire the primitive Rule. In becoming a Formula of Life recognised by the
local Church under the jurisdiction of its Bishop, it authenticated what
was being lived and experienced evangelically.

Really, the Rule of Carmel turns out to be a commentary on the Gospel, the
only true Rule of Eastern monasticism, which chose, as did the hermits on
Carmel, the "desert" in the biblical sense to be their favoured place. The
Wadi 'Ain Es-Siyah is a good example of this tradition, hallowed long
before the Rule, of a monastic desert place with its added connection to
Elijah. In calling for a prior elected by the friars, the Rule reminds us
of the place of the abbot in Eastern monasticism, a similarity on which we
will dwell later.

Our Rule also traces in broad outline the organization of the surroundings
and the horarium of the hermits. The structure is that of a Laura, known in
Syrian monasticism: a group of cells or caves in which the hermits lived
together with the prior to form community, celebrate the Eucharist and give
expression to the Church of God. The rule sets out the day, harmonizing
solitude for prayer or meditation and work, along with community,
liturgical and fraternal life in the cenobitic style inaugurated in the
Christian East. It gives the monastery a religious significance as the
house of the Lord, "an interior castle", open to the faithful according to
pure Eastern tradition. It recommends observances which are essentially
evangelical. It also calls even more attention to itself on the level of
its content in proposing an idea of consecrated life and practice very
close to the Eastern milieu in which it saw the light of day. It also
prepared the community of hermits to realize the Eastern monastic ideal
expressed by Unitatis Redintegratio: "Moreover, in the East are found the
riches of those spiritual traditions which are given expression especially
in monastic life. There, from the glorious times of the holy Fathers,
monastic spirituality flourished which then later flowed over into the
Western world, and there provided the source from which Latin monastic life
took its rise and has drawn fresh vigour ever since."(5)

II � Eastern monasticism and the Rule of Carmel.

1. The Rule in relationship with the first monastic tradition
The prologue, as we have already said, at once inserts the Rule in the wake
of the great monastic tradition born in the East, by its explicit and
direct reference to the "saintly forefathers" who by their example and
teachings, defined "consecrated life" and what would be its forms, such as
to "live a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ � how pure in heart and
steadfast in conscience, he must be unswerving in the service of his
Master." (6) Albert grafted the community of hermits on to the tree of a
centuries old tradition of the Church. It is in the traditional sense that
he organizes their surroundings and the horarium of their life. Mount
Carmel, as a place, is specially suited to draw nourishment from this
set-up: the choice of a Laura for living out what was set down; the
recitation of the hours "in the way those holy forefathers of ours laid
down, and according to the Church's approved custom". As a result it is
good to reiterate that the Rule is not constructed as a set of regulations
but is the fruit of a transmitted experience in the Church. The Rule, from
this Eastern approach, is less a legislative text and more a step-ladder,
to paraphrase the Fathers of the desert, to the Kingdom of Heaven. As a
consequence, the Rule is presented as a way within a tradition which is
itself "the rule, the source and the guide to monastic life". (7)

It can be deduced then that we are dealing with but one form of
monasticism, one type of consecrated life where Christ is the sole founder
and the sole model. It is a monasticism which is a point of reference for
all the baptised. There is once again agreement with the East since it
confesses that Christ is the origin of these two charisms in the Church and
observances in consecrated life: i.e. the hierarchy and monasticism. There
is great resemblance also in the original lay dimension of Carmel which
valued, as in the East, baptismal consecration: "In the East, monasticism
has retained great unity. It did not experience the development of
different kinds of apostolic life as in the West. The various expressions
of monastic life, from the strictly cenobitic, as conceived by Pachomius or
Basil, to the rigorously eremitic, as with Anthony or Macarius of Egypt,
correspond more to different stages of the spiritual journey than to the
choice between different states of life. In any event, whatever form they
take, they are all based on monasticism. Moreover, in the East, monasticism
was not seen merely as a separate condition, proper to a precise category
of Christians, but rather as a reference point for all the baptized,
according to the gifts offered to each by the Lord; it was presented as a
symbolic synthesis of Christianity." (8)

2. Christ as founder in the Rule of Carmel
The Christ-centredness of the Rule has often been highlighted and developed
in depth. Carmelites take on their way of life "in allegiance to Jesus
Christ", whom they love and venerate in their prior and in one another,
whom they imitate in their life of prayer, work and in their consecration
and in meditating day and night on the Word and his mysteries.

Eastern monks have as a model Christ calling them to follow him (see Mk 10:
17-21; 8:34 etc.). Like Mary at Bethany, they sit at his feet and choose
the better part (Mk 10: 17-21; Lk 10: 39-42), to grow in mystical union
with him (Jn 17: 21). Christ alone is the founder, in charge and spiritual
father. Also the East does not need schools of spirituality in the Western
sense. Its monastic Rules are commentaries on the Gospel, as is our form of
life, which cannot be compared to other recognized and consecrated Rules of
its time.

Like the Eastern monk, Carmelites are invited to fix their gaze on Christ
and to discern everything by meditating on him: "You other brothers too,
hold your Prior in humble reverence, your minds not on him but on Christ
who has placed him over you" (Rule n� 20).

3. Identification with Christ through obedience

The Rule insists many times on obedience. It states without any hesitation:
"I require you to have a Prior....Each of the others must promise him
obedience � of which, once promised, he must try to make his deeds the true
reflection (cf. 1 John 3:18) � and also chastity and the renunciation of
ownership. (Rule n� 3).

This leads to:
"You other brothers too, hold your Prior in humble reverence, your minds
not on him but on Christ who has placed him over you, and who, to those who
rule the Churches, addressed these words: 'Whoever pays you heed pays heed
to me, and whoever treats you with dishonour dishonours me' (Lk 10:16); if
you remain so minded you will not be found guilty of contempt, but will
merit life eternal as fit reward for your obedience" (Rule n� 20).

In so doing, the Rule retains the original monastic tradition that
obedience makes the monk, by identifying the hermit with "Christ who was
obedient unto death, death on the cross". The foundation of consecrated
life, obedience includes the other passages (see Rule nos 9 and 10) which
found their way into our document later on. It is the driving force for
their whole life in the "formula of conversion" of the hermits on Mt
Carmel: the choice of the site of the monastery as well as distributing the
cells, regulating their goods and their use, fraternal correction and
"matters of discipline", their spiritual life and zeal for souls. All this
falls under obedience. A theological virtue is vowed. Through obedience
truly observed, manifesting itself in works, the friars merit "eternal
life": they reach the object of their consecration, obtain health for their
souls and those of others through their identification with Christ. As in
the Apophtegmes of the Fathers of the Desert, obedience is then the basis
of the original Carmelite life. It is lived as a blessing through all the
day's acts. In the Rule, obedience is grafted on to faith, hope and
charity, as can be seen emphasised in the role attributed to the prior.

4. The prior as alter Christus.

The hermit obeys the Father through Christ in the Spirit. He obeys Christ
through the Prior: the Rule insists on this. At one and the same time, it
presents the prior as the head, an administrator, a friar (primus inter
pares) and as a spiritual father since he received his mission from Christ
himself. Or better still, since his mission is that of Christ himself.

In effect, Carmelite friars, like the ancient Theban anchorites, resemble
the groups which gradually grew up around their spiritual father, who in
our formula of life are addressed as "B. and the other hermits" and whom
the Patriarch exhorts to humility. There is then the spiritual father who
was to become prior. His mandate originally, as in Eastern tradition, would
not be determined nor limited. The prior in the Rule strongly resembles an
eastern abbot: a true spiritual father of "Jesus' family", an icon of Jesus
and a link between the friars and the other monasteries. He is the
pneumatik�s who is called to give witness himself through monastic life in
order to direct the others. It is he who makes the monastery, not the
contrary, in relationship with the sole founder Jesus.
Orientale Lumen throws light on this tradition when the Holy Father states:
"A monk's way is not generally marked by personal effort alone. He turns to
a spiritual father to whom he abandons himself with filial trust, in the
certainty that God's tender and demanding fatherhood is manifested in him.
This figure gives Eastern monasticism an extraordinary flexibility: through
the spiritual father's intervention the way of each monk is in fact
strongly personalized in the times, rhythms and ways of seeking God.
Precisely because the spiritual father is the harmonizing link, monasticism
is permitted the greatest variety of cenobitic and eremitical expressions.
Monasticism in the East has thus been able to fulfill the expectations of
each church in the various periods of its history" (n� 13).

The Holy Father also draws a lesson for Latin Catholics by saying: "In this
quest, the East in particular teaches that there are brothers and sisters
to whom the Spirit has granted the gift of spiritual guidance. They are
precious points of reference, for they see things with the loving gaze with
which God looks upon us. It is not a question of renouncing one's own
freedom, in order to be looked after by others. It is benefiting from the
knowledge of the heart, which is a true charism, in order to be helped,
gently and firmly, to find the way of truth" (O.L. 13).

In brief, the prior in the Rule is invited, like the Eastern abbot, to live
the fraternity of Christ and to exercise the paternity of the Father,
discerning in the Spirit the gift and the will of God. From this comes the
importance of the prior and of listening to him.

5. The hermit's prayer as the Church's prayer

The evangelical call to prayer continues, transmitted by St Paul and well
understood by the Desert Fathers, resounds loudly at the heart of the Rule:
"Each of you is to stay in his own cell or nearby, pondering the Lord's law
day and night (cf. Ps 1:2; Jos 1:8) and keeping watch at his prayers (cf. 1
Pt 4:7) unless attending to some other duty" (Rule n� 8). Cassian writes,
"The whole purpose of the monk and of perfection of heart consists in an
uninterrupted perseverance at prayer. Human frailty is thus helped by
working towards stable tranquillity of soul and perpetual purity". (9)

Continuous prayer is associated with listening to the Word of God and
meditating upon it. Meditate, in ancient monastic language, meant to
listen, to understand with the "heart" in the biblical sense, to
assimilate, memorise and interiorize. The Word itself becomes a prayer in
the contemplative, indeed a vision.

However, in the New Testament the Word of God, his Law, is Christ himself.
From this time, to meditate on the Law of the Lord, is to enter into a
dialogue of intimate friendship with the Lord. It is Teresian prayer which
prepares, accompanies, prolongs and is nourished by the special times of
community prayer: the Eucharist and the liturgy of the hours: "An oratory
should be built as conveniently as possible among the cells, where, if it
can be done without difficulty, you are to gather each morning to hear
Mass" (Rule 12).

Here the Eastern similarities are also profound and numerous. The vigil
hold an important place in the East, in the sense of vigilance (nepsis) as
well as in the sense of nocturnal prayer, i.e. seeing that you watch with
heart and soul to be open to the Spirit and become pneumatophore, a bearer
of the Spirit. The substitution of the canonical hours by the Our Father in
our Rule (n� 9), is an Eastern monastic tradition. The East expresses
watching in continuous prayer as the impatient waiting of the soul
searching for God: "Monasticism shows in a special way that life is
suspended between two poles: the Word of God and the Eucharist. This means
that even in its eremitical forms, it is always a personal response to an
individual call and, at the same time, an ecclesial and community event.

The starting point for the monk is the Word of God, a Word who calls, who
invites, who personally summons, as happened to the Apostles. When a person
is touched by the Word obedience is born, that is the listening which
changes life. Every day the monk is nourished by the bread of the Word.
Deprived of it, he is as though dead and has nothing left to communicate to
his brothers and sisters because the Word is Christ, to whom the monk is
called to be conformed.

Even while he chants with his brothers the prayer that sanctifies time, he
continues his assimilation of the Word. The very rich liturgical hymnody,
of which all the Churches of the Christian East can be justly proud, is but
the continuation of the Word which is read, understood, assimilated and
finally sung: those hymns are largely sublime paraphrases of the biblical
text, filtered and personalized through the individual's experience and
that of the community.

Standing before the abyss of divine mercy, the monk can only proclaim the
awareness of his own radical poverty, which immediately becomes a plea for
help and a cry of rejoicing on account of an even more generous salvation,
since from the abyss of his own wretchedness such salvation is unthinkable.
This is why the plea for forgiveness and the glorification of God form a
substantial part of liturgical prayer. The Christian is immersed in wonder
at this paradox, the latest of an infinite series, all magnified with
gratitude in the language of the liturgy: the Immense accepts limitation; a
virgin gives birth; through death, he who is life conquers death forever;
in the heights of heaven, a human body is seated at the right hand of the
Father.

The Eucharist is the culmination of this prayer experience, the other pole
indissolubly bound to the Word, as the place where the Word becomes Flesh
and Blood, a heavenly experience where this becomes an event.
In the Eucharist, the Church's inner nature is revealed, a community of
those summoned to the synaxis to celebrate the gift of the One who is
offering and offered: participating in the Holy Mysteries, they become
"kinsmen" of Christ, anticipating the experience of divinization in the now
inseparable bond linking divinity and humanity in Christ.

But the Eucharist is also what anticipates the relationship of men and
things to the heavenly Jerusalem. In this way it reveals its eschatological
nature completely: as a living sign of this expectation, the monk continues
and brings to fulfillment in the liturgy the invocation of the Church, the
Bride who implores the Bridegroom's return in a maranatha constantly
repeated, not only in words, but with the whole of his life." (O. L. n� 10)

The approach to prayer in this sense transcends previous Latin opposition
between contemplation and action. The hermits on Mount Carmel who discussed
regularly the subject of health of souls, never posed the problem in terms
of conflict. They knew how to apply what Orientale Lumen say about the
eastern monks: "In the liturgical experience, Christ the Lord is the light
which illumines the way and reveals the transparency of the cosmos,
precisely as in Scripture. The events of the past find in Christ their
meaning and fullness, and creation is revealed for what it is: a complex
whole which finds its perfection, its purpose in the liturgy alone. This is
why the liturgy is heaven on earth, and in it the Word who became flesh
imbues matter with a saving potential which is fully manifest in the
sacraments: there, creation communicates to each individual the power
conferred on it by Christ. Thus the Lord, immersed in the Jordan, transmits
to the waters a power which enables them to become the bath of baptismal
rebirth.

Within this framework, liturgical prayer in the East shows a great aptitude
for involving the human person in his or her totality: the mystery is sung
in the loftiness of its content, but also in the warmth of the sentiments
it awakens in the heart of redeemed humanity. In the sacred act, even
bodiliness is summoned to praise, and beauty, which in the East is one of
the best loved names expressing the divine harmony and the model of
humanity transfigured, appears everywhere: in the shape of the church, in
the sounds, in the colors, in the lights, in the scents. The lengthy
duration of the celebrations, the repeated invocations, everything
expresses gradual identification with the mystery celebrated with one's
whole person. Thus the prayer of the Church already becomes participation
in the heavenly liturgy, an anticipation of the final beatitude.

This total involvement of the person in his rational and emotional aspects,
in "ecstasy" and in immanence, is of great interest and a wonderful way to
understand the meaning of created realities: these are neither an absolute
nor a den of sin and iniquity. In the liturgy, things reveal their own
nature as a gift offered by the Creator to humanity: 'God saw everything
that he had made, and behold, it was very good' (Gen 1:31). Though all this
is marked by the tragedy of sin, which weighs down matter and obscures its
clarity, the latter is redeemed in the Incarnation and becomes fully
theophoric, that is, capable of putting us in touch with the Father. This
property is most apparent in the holy mysteries, the sacraments of the
Church" (n� 11).

6. The community of the Rule and the Jerusalem community

The first Christian Jerusalem community is one of the first models for
Eastern cenobitical monasticism. Certain historians and commentators on the
Rule insist on the Jerusalem community as an archetype for the Mount Carmel
community. That is not unlikely. It is true it spoils their reasons for the
links with the crusaders. The hermits, after the fall of Jerusalem would
have wanted to remake another type of Jerusalem, a copy of the heavenly
one. On the other hand it would be much more reasonable and simpler to
refer to the original tradition which is long before the Crusades, and
which was inspired by the Acts (2:42, 47; 4: 32-35) or, as in the
Alexandrine tradition, by Mt 19: 16-30. The previous exposition on prayer
is an argument in this sense. The other recommendations of sharing goods,
fraternal correction, the election, of discerning what is for order and the
good of souls, help put into practice the communion found similarly in
Eastern monastic tradition inspired by the first apostolic community in
Jerusalem.

7. The eschatological and theological virtue dimension of asceticism in the
Rule and its eastern relatives

Asceticism in the Rule is without a doubt eschatological and related to the
theological virtues. The observances the Rule recommends are based on the
gospel. Continual prayer is itself recommended by the Lord. This prayer
which is grafted on to the life-giving force of the theological virtues and
which is referred to as vigilance/waiting, influences the practical
organization of personal and community life. So also for silence (Rule n�
15) and the fast (Rule n� 14) which are themselves evangelical practices of
the Lord Jesus (Mt 9:15). It is the same for abstinence (Rule n� 15) and
the service of fraternal love (JN 13:34; 15:12; Rm 13:8 and the first
letter of John), of detachment from the world (Jn 15:18ff; 16:20; 1Jn
12:25; 17:9; Ga 6:14), as well as a sober, poor and humble life (the
Beatitudes as a Rule in Mt 5 - 7).

The ascetical array of the Rule is set out as the armour of God which
protects people from the world, themselves and the devil: "Since man's life
on earth is a time of trial (cf. Job 7:1) and all who would live devotedly
in Christ must undergo persecution (cf. Tim 3:12), and the devil your foe
is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for prey to devour (cf. 1 Pet
5:8), you must use every care to clothe yourselves in God's armour so that
you may be ready to withstand the enemy's ambush (cf. Eph 6:11).

Your loins are to be girt (cf Eph 6:14) with chastity, your breast
fortified by holy meditations, for, as Scripture has it: 'Holy meditation
will save you' (Prov 2:11). Put on holiness as your breastplate (cf. Eph
6:14), and it will enable you to love the Lord your God with all your heart
and soul and strength, (cf. Deut 6:5), and your neighbour as yourself (cf.
Mt 19:19; 22:37-39).

Faith must be your shield on all occasions, and with it you will be able to
quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one (cf Eph 6:16): there can
be no pleasing God without faith (cf. Heb 11:6). On your head set the
helmet of salvation (cf Eph 6:7), and so be sure of deliverance by our only
Saviour, who sets his own free from their sins (cf Mt 1:21)

The sword of the spirit, the word of God (cf. Eph 6:17), must abound (cf
Col 3:16) in your mouths and hearts (cf Rom 10:8). Let all you do have the
Lord's word for accompaniment (cf Col 3:17; 1 Cor 10:31)" (Rule n� 16).
Besides this array being biblical, you find here the traditional monastic
exhortations. Anthony the Great says, "A pure life and a firm faith in God
are powerful armour for battling and winning. Because (the devils) dread
the fasts of solitaries, their vigils, their prayers, their gentleness, the
tranquillity of their spirit, their voluntary poverty, the contempt they
have for honour, their humility, their charity for the poor, their mercy,
their habit of overcoming anger and, above all, their sincere love with
which they burn for Christ Jesus".(10)

This is certainly a good distance from certain interpretations which, to
establish the Latin and Crusader origins of the pilgrims become hermits,
and to prove that the primitive Rule belongs to the Latin monastic body,
make use of arguments such as the conversion of the crusader military gear
into ascetic gear. Biblical inspiration and imitation of Eastern
monasticism are a better explanation of the eschatological and ascetical
dimension of the Rule.

Work, silence, the fast, poverty and the practice of the vows are written
about in the same eschatological ascetic vein. The Rule reflects the
preoccupation the Fathers of the Desert had about idle monks, open to
temptation. Their love for silence, notably interior silence is well known.
The following statement is a contribution of theirs to the Rule: "You must
give yourselves to work of some kind, so that the devil may always find you
busy;(11) no idleness on your part must give him a chance to pierce the
defences of your souls. In this respect you have both the teaching and the
example of Saint Paul the Apostle, into whose mouth Christ put his own
words (cf. 2 Cor 13:3). God made him preacher and teacher of faith and
truth to the nations (cf. 1 Tim 2:7): with him as your leader you cannot go
astray.

'We lived among you � he said � labouring and weary, toiling night and day
so as not to be a burden to any of you; not because we had no power to do
otherwise but so as to give you, in our own selves, an example you might
imitate. For the charge we gave you when we were with you was this: that
whoever is not willing to work should not be allowed to eat either. For we
have heard that there are certain restless idlers among you. We charge
people of this kind, and implore them in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that they earn their own bread by silent toil' (2 Thess 3:7-12). This is
the way of holiness and goodness: see that you follow it" (cf. Is 30:21)
(Rule n� 17).

As regards silence, it is the corollary of vigilance in prayer. In effect,
"the Apostle would have us keep silence for in silence he tells us to work
(cf. 2 Thess 3:12). As the Prophet also makes known to us: 'Silence is the
way to foster holiness' (Cf. Is 32:17). Elsewhere he says: 'Your strength
will lie in silence and hope' (Cf. Is 20:15).
For this reason I lay down that you are to keep silence from after Compline
until after Prime the next day. At other times, although you need not keep
silence so strictly, be careful not to indulge in a great deal of talk,
for, as Scripture has it � and experience teaches us no less � 'Sin will
not be wanting where there is much talk' (Prov 10:19), and 'He who is
careless in speech will come to harm' (Prov 13:3); and elsewhere: The use
of many words brings harm to the speaker's soul (cf. Sir 20:8). And our
Lord says in the Gospel: 'Every rash word uttered will have to be accounted
for on judgement day' (Mt 12:36).

Make a balance then, each of you, to weigh your words in; keep a tight rein
on your mouths, lest you should stumble and fall in speech, and your fall
be irreparable and prove mortal (cf. Sir 28: 29-30). Like the Prophet,
watch your step lest your tongue give offence (cf. Ps 38:2), and employ
every care in keeping silent, which is the way to foster holiness (cf. Is
32:17) (Rule n� 18).

Spiritual combat in the Rule, as with the Eastern Fathers, lies within
obedience, in a context of poverty and profound self-detachment: "None of
the brothers must lay claim to anything as his own".

Orientale Lumen synthesises this comparison between the Rule and Eastern
monasticism by saying: "The monk turns his gaze to Christ, God and man. In
the disfigured face of Christ, the man of sorrow, he sees the prophetic
announcement of the transfigured face of the Risen Christ. To the
contemplative eye, Christ reveals himself as he did to the women of
Jerusalem, who had gone up to contemplate the mysterious spectacle on
Calvary. Trained in this school, the monk becomes accustomed to
contemplating Christ in the hidden recesses of creation and in the history
of mankind, which is then understood from the standpoint of identification
with the whole Christ.

This gaze progressively conformed to Christ thus learns detachment from
externals, from the tumult of the senses, from all that keeps man from that
freedom which allows him to be grasped by the Spirit. Walking this path, he
is reconciled with Christ in a constant process of conversion: in the
awareness of his own sin and of his distance from the Lord which becomes
heartfelt remorse, a symbol of his own baptism in the salutary water of
tears; in silence and inner quiet, which is sought and given, where he
learns to make his heart beat in harmony with the rhythm of the Spirit,
eliminating all duplicity and ambiguity. This process of becoming ever more
moderate and sparing, more transparent to himself, can cause him to fall
into pride and intransigence if he comes to believe that these are the
fruits of his own ascetic efforts. Spiritual discernment in continuous
purification then makes him humble and meek, aware that he can perceive
only some aspects of that truth which fills him, because it is the gift of
the Spouse, who alone is fulfilment and happiness.

To the person who is seeking the meaning of life, the East offers this
school which teaches one to know oneself and to be free and loved by that
Jesus who says: 'Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest' (Mt 11:28). He tells those who seek inner healing to go on
searching: if their intention is upright and their way is honest, in the
end the Father's face will let itself be recognized, engraved as it is in
the depths of the human heart" (n� 12).

8. From community to communion

The Rule is concerned to build community among the hermits in view of
communion in its two senses: with God and with neighbour. The community
builds communion through a life of allegiance to Jesus Christ, in the
choice of prior, in being nourished together at both tables of the
Eucharist and Scripture, as in pooling their goods together, in praising
God in the choir, just as much as in gathering for correction and concern
for order and the health of their souls, as laid down in n� 13 of the Rule:
"On Sundays too, or other days if necessary, you should discuss matters of
discipline and your spiritual welfare; and on this occasion the
indiscretions and failings of the brothers if any be found at fault, should
be lovingly corrected." The community develops as Church and reproduces the
image of the Triune God. Theologically and spiritually we lie at the heart
of Eastern theology which is inseparable from its spirituality. The
cenobitic community, around its spiritual father, builds up its communion
with God and with creation: "Precisely in gradual detachment from those
worldly things which stand in the way of communion with his Lord, the monk
finds the world a place where the beauty of the Creator and the love of the
Redeemer are reflected. In his prayers the monk utters an epiklesis of the
Spirit on the world and is certain that he will be heard, for this is a
sharing in Christ's own prayer. Thus he feels rising within himself a deep
love for humanity, that love which Eastern prayer so often celebrates as an
attribute of God, the friend of men who did not hesitate to offer his Son
so that the world might be saved. In this attitude the monk is sometimes
enabled to contemplate that world already transfigured by the deifying
action of Christ, who died and rose again.

Whatever path the Spirit has in store for him, the monk is always
essentially the man of communion. Since antiquity this name has also
indicated the monastic style of cenobitic life. Monasticism shows us how
there is no true vocation that is not born of the Church and for the
Church. This is attested by the experience of so many monks who, within
their cells, pray with an extraordinary passion, not only for the human
person but for every creature, in a ceaseless cry, that all may be
converted to the saving stream of Christ's love. This path of inner
liberation in openness to the Other makes the monk a man of charity. In the
school of Paul the Apostle, who showed that love is the fulfilling of the
law (cf. Rom 13:10), Eastern monastic communion has always been careful to
guarantee the superiority of love over every law.

This communion is revealed first and foremost in service to one's brothers
in monastic life, but also to the Church community, in forms which vary in
time and place, ranging from social assistance to itinerant preaching. The
Eastern Churches have lived this endeavour with great generosity, starting
with evangelization, the highest service that the Christian can offer his
brother, followed by many other forms of spiritual and ministerial service.
Indeed it can be said that monasticism in antiquity--and at various times
in subsequent ages too--has been the privileged means for the
evangelization of peoples. (OL 14).

9. Discretion in the Rule: a truly Eastern virtue

The Rule finishes with these words: "Here are the few points I have written
down to provide you with a standard of conduct to live up to; but our Lord,
at his second coming, will reward anyone who does more than he is obliged
to do. See that the bounds of common sense are not exceeded, however, for
common sense is the guide of the virtues"(12) (Rule 19).

To understand discretion in the Rule, it is necessary to go back to the
first monasticism. In its vocabulary, discretion translates two Greek
words: diacrisis or discernment and metron or measure. Cassian was the
first to use discretion in the sense of a measure which preserves zeal for
perfection from all doubtful excess. It was probably from Cassian that
Albert would have found discretion as "the watchful mother and moderator of
all virtues".(13)

In fact, it is in Anthony the Great that discretion is stated to be part of
the spiritual journey and is taken in the sense of discernment or a
measure. The fathers of the desert recommend it regularly. In being
inspired by them the Rule of Carmel partakes also of their prophetic
charism.

10. The Rule in its Elijan and Marian dimensions forms part of an eastern
tradition.

There is no mention of Our Lady in the Rule. Historians speak of the chapel
dedicated to her around which the cells were built and in which the hermits
met for the Eucharist and prayer. This chapel is right beside the "spring
of Elias".

The question that springs to mind is: are these two elements sufficient to
found an Elijan and Marian spirituality so complex and rich as Carmel's
without resort to the East?

Sr Eliane Poirot rightly stressed the radical importance of the prophet
Elijah for primitive Eastern monasticism.(14) On the other hand the Marian
theology of the East is, furthermore, that of the Fathers, many of whom
were monks themselves. Most probably the Order owes its privileged links
with the great biblical figures of Elijah and Mary to the Christian East.
The East continues to venerate St Elijah in its three great religions and
in all its Churches. The same cannot be said of the West. It would be quite
interesting to compare Eastern Mariology and Carmel's Mariology, especially
that of the Order's great saints with the Fathers of the Eastern Church. In
effect, their Mariology is not devotional. It is deeply soteriological and
mystical.

11. The Rule, the charism and the structures: lesson of the East.

Eastern monasticism has always sought a maximum of charism in a minimum of
structure. The Rule of Carmel applies this to the letter, our Holy Parents,
Teresa and John, excelling. As, for example, Syrian monasticism, the Rule
combines a great liberty hand in hand with a minimum of regulation.

The East never separates contemplation and action. Its spirit is expressed
in our Rule where "matters of discipline and your spiritual welfare" mean
apostolic zeal, taking our saintly forefathers and Elijah as an example.

The Rule shows the hermit the way to follow, not as a regulation but as the
fruit of the experience of those who have gone before. Albert does not
write simply ex propria scientia et experientia, nor to displease our
learned Fr Cicconetti, but from the science and the experience of the
elders whom the hermits knew and imitated for their Christ-centredness,
their obedience, their respect for the cell, for silence, poverty, work
with the hands, the fight against evil, organization of the day, a highly
apostolic contemplative life.... of help are the structures in an Eastern
manner, in the manner of the Desert Fathers for whom prayer is the
continual remembrance of God and meditating on his works and his
commandments.

III � Conclusion

The primitive Rule of Carmel has a double message for us today. A message
for the East and for Carmel.
To the Eastern Churches, notably the Catholic ones, it recalls the wealth
of their monasticism which is quickly disappearing as such. The Motu
Proprio Postquam Apostolicis Litteris of 9th February, 1952, recognizes the
monastic forms of Catholic East as the most authentic. Our Rule gives new
life to monasticism as a presence to the Lord and to the world, as
vigilance and waiting, as communion.

To today's Carmel, the Rule repeats the injunction of God to the prophet
Elijah: "Go away from here, go east" (Kings 17:3). The Rule invites Carmel
to re-find its East. Not alone in its spirituality but also in a return in
force and in a profound inculturation.

1. The Rule was given to the Carmelites by St Albert, patriarcy of
Jerusalem, between 1206 and 1214. It was approved by Honorius III on 30th
January 1226, then by Gregory IX on 6th April 1229, and finally on 8th June
1245 by Innocent IV, who confirmed it on 1st October 1247. The text that is
found in the Bull Quae honorem Conditoris (Reg. Vatic. Ff. 465v-466r) has
been transcribed for us here, but in a modern way of writing. Biblical
references have been added, as well as titles and numbers of chapters,
which are not found in the original text.
2. See J. Baudry, "Origines orientales du Carmel? Le mythe et l'histoire"
in Carmel, 1979, n�4, p. 327-344.
3. The original Register of Pope Innocent IV preserved in the Vatican
Archives and the older codices indicate simply the initial B, which was
later interpreted as Brocard.
4. The words 'of Elias' are not found in the original Register or earlier
codices: these words were added later.
5. n� 15.
6. See 2 Cor 10:5; 1 Tim 1:5; Rule 2.
7. See the important article of Eliane Poirot, "La R�gle du Carmel et la
tradition monastique orientale", in Carmel, 1979, n� 4, p. 354-372.
8. Orientalis Lumen 9.
9. Quoted by Sr. Eliane Poirot, in art. cit. p. 362.
10. Vie de Saint Antoine.... quoted in Poirot, o.c. p. 367.
11. This advice is taken literally from Letter 125 of St Jerome to the Monk
Rusticus (ML 22, 1078).
12. The expression is from John Cassian, Conferences 2,4 � ML 49, 528.
13. Poirot, o.c. p.371.
14. Elie, arch�type du moine, "Spiritualit� Orientale", n� 65, Belle
Fontaine, 1995;: Le Saint Proph�te Elie d'apr�s les P�res de l'Eglise (ib.
N� 53 and n� 59

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"Receiving Communion daily, for example, is virtually unknown in the East, out of an extreme reverence for the Holy Mysteries; even in the highly ascetic monasteries of Mount Athos, this is not the usual practices. And, the more traditional the Byzantine Christian, the bigger the problem will be; in America, much is watered down in most places, and there would be less of a problem than in the Old World."
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Dear Photios,

I know that Saint Makarios of Corinth in the early 19th century stated the the Latins were more correct in receiving the Eucharist often. I believe that it might have been a new inovation in the Latin Church, since I heard that people in Southern France at the beginning of the 19th Century were still receiving twice or three times a year...just like the Greeks.

We are now told in the Greek Orthodox Church, that if one receives every week or every second week, they are not required to fast other than the normal fast of Wednesday and Friday. I see no problem with receiving everyday, if the opportunity should arise and one is totally prepared in every way.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Alex,

I would love to read your Akathist to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Unfortunately I am unable to get it on my computor. Your talents by the way, never cease to amaze me.

Zenovia

CaelumJR...I for one very much appreciate your finding that. Could you possibly send me the link? There is a lot of meat in the article and I'd like to print it out and study it. Of course, being Ancient Observance rather than dis-calced, (I am really becoming weary of all these tags) I will consider Our Lady Of Mt. Carmel as my Mother not the magnificant St. Teresa). I was going to post the fact that the name Carmel originally comes from the words "Karem El" but the great article says it in spades.
Pray without ceasing...Mike

Dear Mike,

The Administrator is all right with this as long as we have the blessing of Fr. Elias here, as he is a Byzantine Carmelite Priest.

Bless, Father Elias!

We ask for your blessing to group together as an internet Carmel here to mutually support one another in the spirituality of Mt. Carmel, by the prayers of the Holy Greek and Latin Fathers and great ascetics of Mt Carmel!

We will do nothing without your blessing, Fr. Elias and so we await your word!

Alex

Alex...My sentiments exactly. You express me better that I.
Pray without ceasing...Mike

Dear Zenovia,

If you like, you can send me a pm with a mailing address and I will be pleased to send it to you!

Alex

Dear Alex...We may not hear from Father Elias. Perhaps he did take a stand of sorts and in the fireworks that persued our discussion (NOT FATHER ELIAS) his feelings went unheard.

I have investigated the site. I must confess I was rather under-impressed from my prospective. I'm sure it's a wonderful site but a little to restrictive for any but RC. Before I catch a full broadside, let me state loudy that's just my opinion.
Pray without ceasing...Mike

Dear Mike,

Yes, I believe Fr. Elias has given us an "Augustinian" blessing . . . remember how St Augustine talked about daily Communion? ("Neither approving nor disapproving!")

Let's go ahead with this, then. We are supporting one another in prayer and spirituality and I do believe that's not in violation of the rules governing this forum!

The Administrator has made some suggestions that I believe are excellent:

1) Whenever we post on a Carmelite matter, we should identify the post as being on a Carmelite matter and should preface the post with a Carmelite ID. (Do you have any suggestions for such an ID?)

2) We should keep our posts on these matters on the second, Faith and Worship, forum to keep them located in one place.

I think that, should our group really take off, we might petition the Administrator for a separate section for ourselves - together with a possible commitment from ourselves to make a yearly financial contribution to cover costs of maintaining the Forum or something like that (Is this not fair?).

Perhaps each member of this community who would wish to belong to our community of Mt Carmel, could have an ID of some sort with "Carmelite" in it or a number.

I would suggest that membership in our Internet Carmelite Community (ICC?) would be open to Catholics and Orthodox alike.

The Scapular would be the outward sign of our commitment to the spirituality of Mt Carmel with an emphasis on its Eastern well-springs especially!

Anyone who is not a member of our Carmelite community here may, of course, participate in the discussions and offer their own perspectives on matters, such as Photius has (and he is, of course, always welcome to join it, if he would like).

Our focus would be on the Mother of God of Mt Carmel, on her who pondered on the Word of God, keeping all these things in her heart, on liturgical prayer of the Divine Liturgy and the Hours (each according to one's own tradition), on the Psalter, on the Jesus Prayer and the Rule of the Theotokos and all manner of prayer, as time and circumstances permit, especially intercessory prayer (and intercession for the intentions of the Prayer section here).

Then there is spiritual reading and learning more about the Way of the Lord from others here, following suggestions for spiritual reading and sharing difficulties we have in the spiritual life (without compromising our privacy etc.).

Alex
ICCBF (Internet Carmelite Community of the Byzantine Forum)

Dear Zenovia, Christ is Risen!
That is absolutely correct! I was simply noting what is actually done, not what should be done. And, in places where there is a daily Liturgy, it is rare for anyone to partake daily.

Anyone one who observes the Church's fasts and who is not under epitimia or has any canonical impediment, and who has prepared himself with fasting and abstinence from the night before, prayer, and Holy Confession recently, should receive the Holy Mysteries why attending the Holy Liturgy.

The old three-day fast still practiced in Greece is wrong. This stuff arose during the Turkish occupation where there was no was to educate priests; as a result, only priestmonks (who were informally educated in their monasteries) were allowed to preach or hear confessions, and these priestmonks traveled during the fasts to confess people, and so people came to receive the Holy Mysteries only when a traveling confessor was in town. Now that the godless Mohammedans have long been expelled from Greece, there is no reason to keep this sad and wrong custom.

Saint Macarios of Cornish and Saint Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, who were contemporaries, both preached the Continuous Communion of the Divine Mysteries. The second icon I painted (when I was 14 or 15) was of Saint Macarios. Later, I visited many of the places where Saint Nicodemus lived, and was struck by the irony of how he is venerated by many who eschew his views on Continuous Communion. Still, the trend is catching on after a couple of centuries (and Saint Nicodemus' treatise on "The Schema of Monks" long ago caught on in Greece, where the "Little Schema" is now all but obsolete) and there are monasteries where daily Communion is now practiced. On the other hand, I remwmber vivedly observing the three-day fast for Communion every other Saturday on Athos on the feast of Saint Nicodemus, and hearing his life read in the trapeza, and hearing his opposition to the three day fast even as it was being observed!

Photius

Dear Mike,

I have been following this thread and I wish you all the best in forming a cyber-Carmel community.

You might be interested to know that the author of "Eastern reflections on the Rule of Carmel" posted above is, ritually, a Maronite friar. I say ritually because, since January 2001,he is the Roman-rite Archbishop of Bagdad.

Are you aware that the Syro-Malabar Church has its own Carmelite congregation, the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate? The CMI website is:
http://www.cmicongregation.org

I do have one question. Why do you refer to your brothers and sisters on the other side of the Carmel pond as "Dis-calced"? They certainly do not hyphenate the word when referring to themselves "Discalced Carmelite Order" - see their website:
http://www.ocd.pcn.net/index_en.htm

I have both O.Carm. and O.C.D. friends and I have never seen any of them refer to the OCDs as "Dis-calced." In fact, in the brief history of the Carmelites on the O.Carm. website, I found the following:

"In 1592 this reform, called that of the "Discalced Carmelites" or of the "Teresians", became independent from the Carmelite Order and grew rapidly in the congregations of Spain and Italy which were then united in 1875. Thus there are two Orders of Carmelites: "The Carmelites", also known as of the "Ancient Observance" or "Calced", and "The Discalced Carmelites" or "Teresians" who consider St. Teresa of Jesus their reformer and foundress."
http://www.ocarm.org/eng/index.htm

and click the "Friars" link on the left side of the page.

I wish you peace.

Charles

Dear Friends,

O.K., membership in the Internet Carmelite Community of the Byzantine Forum are now being accepted!

I thought I heard Jakub say he was in.

Who all else?

Alex
ICCBF