The Angelic Schema Monastic
It has been very many years since one of our number has entered the Great Schema in the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, and in these intervening years we have grown and advanced in our knowledge and self-understanding, as well as in our willingness and eagerness to adapt to modern society in its various permutations. Within the framework of idiorrythmic monastic life, which continues normative within our jurisdiction, we seek to discern how it may be that our Lord and God calls us to aspire to the Angelic Vocation, while remaining within our present lives and circumstances, and without the withdrawal from the world that characterizes the Angelic Schema within other, more traditional jurisdictions. In some traditional societies, one could truly be called a monk only upon entering the Great Schema. Even today, at least in the one of the historic patriarchates, it is said that these monastics fast the entire day, eating only sparingly after dusk; they make five hundred metanias a day, recite almost twice the usual number of formal prayers, restrict food, sleep and drink, and are not permitted to speak more than seven words in any day. Truly, they are hermits, and do not leave their monastic cell more than once a week, and then only to attend the Divine Liturgy.
The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America seeks always to adapt our ancient faith to modern circumstances, so that it does not become a mere artifice or museum-piece. In that connection, it is useful to note that in the very early days of our Christian era, St John Cassian, having described the life and ways of the monks of Egypt, points out how important it is to accommodate practices and traditions to local circumstances and customs: "we ourselves should keep only those things that the situation of the place and the custom of the region permit. For the harshness of the winter does not allow us to be satisfied with sandals. . . or a single tunic[;]. . . we should wear only what is in keeping with the humility of our profession and the character of the climate." Similarly, not just with respect to attire, but in all the ways we live, we seek to adjust our manifestation and living-out of monasticism, according to our historical and geographic locations, social conditions, and personal, employment, and family situations. To do that, we focus not on detailed rules of conduct, but on the spirit and tone of the life to be lived in Christ.
Truly, there are no real changes of any substance, for the monastic life centers naturally on a radical commitment to God, a sense of urgency and a change of life, characterized by the traditional vows of obedience, stability, the reformation of life, poverty and chastity. There is likewise the deep understanding that we stand within a tradition, within an unbroken line reaching back to the very earliest witnesses who fled to the Egyptian Thebaid, the great "northern Thebaid" of Russia - the Kiev Caves and the Yaroslavl Forest, and to the wanderings of the earliest Syriac monastics. Finally, there is the clear understanding that in the end we are all very much alone with God, and that it is as single people in community that we seek to serve God and one another, that God may bring us all to everlasting life, and that God may bring us all to theosis, to perfection.
As with any in the religious life, those who enter the Great Schema take their norm from the letter of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: they should strive to be above reproach, temperate, sensible, dignified, hospitable, an apt teacher, no drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, and no lover of money. They should strive to be serious, not slanderers, not double-tongued, not greedy for gain, faithful in all things, and they must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
The Great Schema is not, precisely speaking, a taking of vows, but rather a reaffirmation of the baptismal covenant and of the perpetual vows taken as a Stavrophor, and a commitment to a radical deepening of the monastic life and experience. In some ways, it may be said that in the Great Schema the monastic withdraws into a greater form of solitude, but in our living-out of this vocation, this does not and really can not generally mean physical withdrawal from the world; rather, it suggests a greater intentional withdrawal from unhealthy attachments to the beauties and delights of the phenomenal world, in order to give greater energy to the life of prayer, and in order to make room in one's personal life for God to enter in more intimately. For some monastics, as for some non-monastic clergy, there is the acceptance of a new name "in religion," particularly at the entry into the Angelic Schema. This is done to signify publicly that conversion, change of life and of focus, separation, seclusion and withdrawal. In the monastic way of life, it is said that it is only when the seed falls to the earth and begins to die that the hull is able to burst with new life. The monastic of the Great Schema strives for transparency, so that the light of life and of Christ may shine without obstruction. It is in monasticism that the sacrificial side of human service of God is best expressed, for monks and nuns are called to love God with a perfect love and to be the personification of God's love in the world.
More than that, the monastic life, very often associated with the symbols and language of adult baptism, is seen not as a negative renunciation but as receiving of the "life-giving" Holy Spirit and as a following of Jesus the Life-giver. At His baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on Jesus, and he becomes known as the "Life Giver," which in Syriac is equivalent to "Savior." As He emerges from the Jordan, He becomes known as the Ihidaya, or the unique one, another term for monastic.
To the seven characteristics of monasticism in the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, discussed previously elsewhere in greater detail and briefly in the following paragraphs, is added an eighth characteristic, that of repentance, specific to those who enter the Great Schema.
Simplicity. The monk or nun is called to greater and deeper simplicity, humility, and gentleness, and is called to teach and model simplicity for others: the entry into the present moment through constant prayer, and to bring that consciousness of the present moment to those with whom the monastic lives, works, and serves.
Solitude and Prophetic Witness. The one entering the Great Schema continues to publicly proclaim him or herself to be a Christian, but paradoxically seeks to be buried in the world, seeks to fall to the earth that the harvest may be even greater. The monastic seeks always to be 'in the world but not of the world', and at the same time seeks to bring the joy of the charism of Holy Orthodoxy to every encounter, every person, every moment. Greater solitude, greater prophetic witness, even to the point of sacrificial giving and radical hospitality, is expected now. Rather than seclusion within a monastery, our Great Schema monks and nuns are called to the seclusion of the heart, such that they carry around within themselves the silence, sobriety, and vigilance that are central to the monastic vocation. With roots in the Syriac tradition, our monastics see the vocation not as one of seclusion and withdrawal, but rather focused on preparing for the restoration of the kingdom and of accelerating humanity's readiness for the eschaton through prayer and service.
Theosis. As Father Alexander Schmemann said, we are not called simply to do our best; as Orthodox and as Christians, we are called to perfection. "You are Gods, and all of you sons and daughters of the Most High." And again, "God became human that humanity might become godlike." The Great Schema monastic is called always to bear this message to the world, to express that "joyful sorrow" that praises God with tears of joy and repentance, to pray constantly, and to rest always in God.
Stability. Serving often without the luxury of a physical monastery, our monastics are called to bring the value of stability to their hearts, while serving in parish communities, schools, families, and other religious centers. They are called not to wander aimlessly, but to work and support themselves, that they may provide for the hungry, the sick and the suffering.
Conversion. The nun or monk who enters into the Great Schema is called to begin anew each day, each hour, each moment, to repent and return to God. Through all the various traditional prayer forms, the monastic is called to love the world and to pray for its conversion and life. These monastics are called to constant contemplation of God, life in God, and a sort of taciturnity that arises from the interior silence that is the product of constant prayer. The Great Schema monastic is called to a renewal of Baptism and renewed repentance, as one of the canticles suggest: "May this divine image bring transformation of life and transfiguration; and may purification and healing from sin be granted to the servant who comes to Thee."
Obedience and Service. These monastics are called to a greater degree of obedience and service than that with which they are comfortable. They are called, in fact, to discomfort, so that the work of the church may be supported and sustained. They are called to examine critically their financial support of the local and national church, that they may assume something more than their 'fair share,' but without interfering in the work entrusted to it. The 23d canon of the Fourth Ecumenical Council stated that it would be beneficial for monks to be placed directly under the surveillance of bishops, largely to ensure that nuns and monks do not interfere unduly in ecclesiastical and secular affairs. It is important for monastics to guard their hearts, refrain from unnecessary involvement with affairs that do not concern them, and to maintain their focus on the call to pray constantly. Those who take the Great Schema are called to be like the angels, called to open themselves to God, and to the service of God, that a degree of spiritual perfection may be granted to them.
Mentorship. As monastics of the Angelic Schema, they are called to serve as spiritual directors, advisors, confidantes, and mentors for any and all that approach them. They are called to teach, preach, and live out the monastic vocation in such a way as to encourage the faint-hearted and to give the strong something for which to strive. Likewise, they are called to mutual mentorship of one another, that the monastic life may be encouraged, strengthened, and developed, that it may continue to nourish the church and the world.
Repentance. These monastics work seriously at salvation, not only for themselves but for the world. They take upon themselves the obligation to teach and live out the work of daily repentance: understanding that sin is sickness and that it is only God, the great physician, who can by divine uncreated grace heal, strengthen, and restore us and bring us to the full humanity that is our birthright as sons and daughters of the Most High God. This repentance is truly the work of transformation, of transfiguration, and of conversion. The monk or nun of the Great Schema prays daily with all the church that we may spend the rest of our days in peace and repentance, and for "a good defense before the dread Judgment Seat of Christ."
It is to be understood that entry into the Angelic Schema is a sacramental act, a serious obligation, a covenant with God, and a perpetual alteration in the individual's relationship with God, the church, and the world. The nun or monk who takes this step enters irrevocably into the desert experience while simultaneously the desert with its stark solitude enters into the monastic. This inner desert, this inner silence, is a constant companion, always calling the monastic to greater and greater humility, love, gratitude, prayer and service.
Monastic Habit of the Great Schema (Angelic Schema)
The monastic may choose either Greek or Slavic style garments and the color will always be black.
The garments required are:
1. klobuk or skufia, or apostolnik (no cross to be embroidered on the head covering)
2. inner/undercassock
3. outer cassock
4. leather belt worn on the inner/undercassock
5. Great/Angelic Schema "stole" on the inner cassock (Greek style)
6. polystavrion (optional)
7. mandiya when in chapel (optional)
8. prayer rope on the left wrist
9. Crosses to be worn:
Clergy Monastics:
-- Deacons - wood
-- Priests - silver metal
-- Bishops - panaghia
Non Clergy Monastics -- no cross
