That's kind of Monkish


Tonight, 2/2/2019, at Vespers for the Synaxis of the Righteous God-receiver Simeon and Holy Prophetess Anna, I made a vow.

The vow was to initiate my first year as a Novice Oblate of St. Benedict, administered by and with the blessing of my Priest and spiritual father.
What does that mean? 
Oblates are lay persons or clergy living and serving Christ in the world, who wish to model their lives on the Rule of Saint Benedict, in affiliation with a monastic community. Oblates are sometimes known as "third-order monastics." At the conclusion of the rite, I became "Brother Arsenios of the Benedictine Fellowship of Saint Laurence."
Essentially, I will commit to prayer, "Lectio Divina" or meditative Scripture reading, and to study and live by the Rule of Saint Benedict. During the first year, the Novice year, I will be assigned a mentor and will go through a sort of study program where I will complete a brief lesson each month and answer some questions about what is covered in the lesson. At the end of the first year, if I feel like the call to be an Oblate is confirmed, I will make another vow and become a regular Oblate.
Subsequently, I will renew my vow each year. Vows and association with the monastery and everything about this is completely voluntary and of my own free will, and can be ended at any time.

Who is Saint Benedict?
Saint Benedict is a pre-schism saint of the West who lived in Italy and reposed in 547. He is regarded as "The Father of Western Monasticism" and is credited with preserving the faith and culture of the West through the dark ages by creating monasteries that provided education and preserved holy texts while the
 empire crumbled.
St. Benedict saw the monastery as a family, and so the Rule applies well to families in the world as well as monastics who have "left the world" and thus, the status of Oblate is available for people who feel called to it, but who, for whatever reason, can't leave all things and become "first-order" monastics, or monks proper.
For a very good look at this saint, you can read a Master's Thesis written about Saint Benedict HERE.
Oblates (from the same root as "oblation" or "offering") seek to "present your bodies as a living sacrifice" (Rom12:1) through prayer and the Rule.






The Monastery

I am affiliated or attached to the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America's Monastery of Our Lady and Saint Laurence in Canon City, Colorado, a part of the Western Rite Vicariate.

More about Oblates and the monastery can be found here:
https://www.ladyminster.com/photos




FAQs
Am I becoming Roman Catholic?
No. St. Benedict and his rule are Orthodox, from the time when the Church was One Body united throughout the world.
Am I a monk?
No, but I am "monastic" or monk-like. I don't wear a cassock or alb, I'm not moving into a monastery. I am trying to live according to a monastic rule as far as reasonable within my current station in life. I promised to pray twice daily (at least), read the Scriptures and the Rule of St. Benedict daily.
Am I going to the Western Rite Vicariate?
No. I will continue to pray from the Eastern Orthodox Horologion and observe the Eastern calendar. When I make pilgrimages to my monastery, the monastery I have been attached to via my rites, I will pray the Western rite prayers because that's what they do.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Please pray for me!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Unbearable Burden of Raising a Child with Down Syndrome

Image
A couple weeks ago I read the supposition that newborns are “ morally irrelevant ” and children with conditions like Down syndrome can be an “ unbearable burden on the family and on society as a whole.”   Shortly after that I read of a couple that sued a hospital for “wrongful birth,” saying that they would rather have aborted their baby if they would have known she had Down syndrome.   So many things crossed my mind when considering these ideas and the people behind them, but I have come to the conclusion that it’s true, there is a nearly unbearable burden in having a child with Down syndrome. My son, the youngest of six, has Down syndrome, so I know about the burden.  He has Trisomy-21, the most common form of Down syndrome, and the most common genetic disorder in the world.  It means he has three copies, instead of the typical two, of the 21st gene set.  Typical people have 23 pairs of chromosomes.  Today is World Down Syndrome D...
Read more

Israel, the Church, The New Israel, Replacement Theology, Judah, The People of God, and So On...

 In the beginning, God created a home that He shared with Adam and Eve. After a while, Adam and Eve left. When they were outside the home and the locks were changed, they were exceedingly sad. God promised them that One would come from her offspring and would bring the key to a new home. This created the Church; the People of God who lived with hope and faith in the Promise God made. Adam and Eve had sons. Cain did not want to be in the Church. His ego and pride were so great that what happened in the Church made him so mad he killed his brother. This created another church, a false church with the self as its god, culminating in Lamech, the archetypal sinner. Mankind grew and spread out over the earth. The church of the self grew also and was a blight upon creation. God baptized the world to wash away sin. Noah, his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, 8 souls in all remained after the baptism. They were the Church; the People of God, and they settled the land. Ham, unable to live...
Read more

A Challenging Lent Suggestion

Image
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5 “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2 Inspired by Father Barnabas Powell, St. Macarius the Great, and, of course, the Scriptures, I offer this encouragement to my fellow Christians as a sort of “Lenten Challenge.” Ash Wednesday is this week, March 6, for Western Christians, and the first day of Lent for Eastern Christians is Monday, March 11. Lent, as you know, is a time of repentance and preparation for the events of Holy Week and, ultimately,  Easter or Pascha. Traditionally, whether Eastern or Western, Christians have utilized certain tools to aid them in their repentant preparation: Fasting, Prayer, and Alms-giving. However, the fathers of the church have said that observing a fast to the strict letter of the law is worthless if we still harbor anger, resentment, and other vices when it comes t...
Read more