Review article

Monasticism and the Gospel Counsel of Poverty

Marinko Pejić orcid.org/0000-0001-7556-3914 ; Franciscan Theology – Institution of Higher Education of Franciscan Province Bosna Srebrena, Sarajevo, Bosna and Herzegovina

Abstract

From the earliest periods of Christianity, life in poverty, among other ascetic elements,has been considered an essential characteristic of radical following of Jesus, i.e. his way of life. In some churches, especially those in the Syrian area, this radical following of Jesus was envisaged for all Christians; this imitatio ascetica has become a condition of life of all true Christians. Every Christian was supposed to follow Jesus in poverty, chastity, and itineration in the same way. Therefore, the ancient monks were fond of the idea that their way of life is simply a following of Jesus’ way of life and the life of his first disciples. Poverty is not evaluated in the Church only in economic categories or through possession of material goods, but primarily as an issue of power. Wealth is actually a certain kind of power. Therefore, poverty represents giving away that power and living in solidarity with those that have been marginalised by the society. This form of poverty has been especially lived in the Church by Francis of Assisi. For St Francis, to be poor means to become »the last and subject to all, so that we might serve all as brothers«. Poverty and littleness (paupertas and minoritas) become one here and are nothing but the Gospel value of love and mutual service. For the Franciscan tradition, poverty represented a concrete option to live in simplicity and renunciation. It meant to opt for solidarity with the little ones, with the marginalised, which often also meant to take the last place in the Church and society. Living the Gospel from the position of weakness, insecurity, and littleness has concrete consequences for the spiritual life of Christians; primarily, it puts one in the position of being close to everyday situations of simple people, which made monks strongly connected with fates of entire nations, while at the same time it influenced the spiritual being of these nations. However, it also means to give up the position of power and an option to seek protection from the powerful and mighty of this world, because those we chose to live with could not count on such protection. If contemporary monasticism, and Christianity in general, wants to live the Gospel authentically and stay faithful to its own roots, it has to continually go back to poverty, that needs to be real and visible. Monastic poverty will only be able to speak to the contemporary world if the people can see the poor face of the Church through monks; the Church that does not want to be triumphalist and powerful, but the Church of the poor and the Church for the poor.

Keywords

Church; monasticism; littleness; renunciation of the logic of power and possession

Hrčak ID:

129345

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/129345

Publication date:

4.11.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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