by Dennis Beesley

Created on: August 13, 2011

Deserting Distraction: The Goals of Monasticism

The 3rd and 4th Centuries of the Early Christian Church contained a peculiar group of Christians, particularly known as the Desert Fathers. The Desert Fathers were hermits, separated from the world and often separated from each other. While their lifestyle may seem awkward or even ridiculous to the modern reader, understanding what it was they wished to accomplish in monasticism can benefit any individual in understanding those distractions that we must all overcome in perfecting our lives.

The Desert Fathers were in search of spiritual purity and peace that included the need of separating themselves from the distractions of the world. By leaving the world behind, they were able to escape the distractions that the world provided, but there were yet distractions to overcome. While alone, or while serving in monasteries, they were then faced with the challenge of separating their own minds from the distractions of the physical self, seeking the purity and spiritual awakening that meditation and quiet brought. It was a two-step process in attaining spiritual purity and peace. It began by overcoming the distractions of the world and ended by overcoming the distractions of the self.

The Desert Fathers believed that the nature of man is below that of God and that they were subject to physical senses that needed to be restrained in order to grow in their spiritual senses. By seeking the quiet solitude found in caves and cells, they believed they could achieve self-mastery over imaginations and lusts. Though many believed such solitude from humankind was necessary for the rest of their lives, others saw the isolation as an attempt to overcome the natural man while recognizing the importance of serving amongst others to edify and improve mankind after attaining spiritual purity.

The first step in achieving spiritual purity was to separate oneself from the rest of the world. In The Life of St. Paul The First Hermit, St. Jerome explains the importance of being distant from the world to escape its evils. “When the storm of persecution began its thunder,” St. Jerome explains, “[Paul] betook himself to a farm in the country, for the sake of its remoteness and secrecy.”[1] Paul was known as the first hermit, having left the world out of the need to escape persecution, but stayed out of choice, living “his life through in prayer and solitude.”[2]

In the History of the Monks of Egypt, translated

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