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On the Kinds of Monks
May 9
It is well known that there are four kinds of monks. The first kind are the Cenobites: those who live in monasteries and serve under a rule and an Abbot. The second kind are the Anchorites or Hermits: those who, no longer in the first fervour of their reformation, but after long probation in a monastery, having learned by the help of many brethren how to fight against the devil, go out well armed from the ranks of the community to the solitary combat of the desert. They are able now, with no help save from God, to fight single-handed against the vices of the flesh and their own evil thoughts.
Reflection
Two kinds of monks are described here – those who live in community, and those who go forth from the monastery, after a long period of probation, to engage in single combat with the devil in the desert. However, the desert also comes to those who stay inside the cloister because they also have to fight with many difficulties. The life of the monk, (and that of the oblate) is a combat, a daily combat made with the support of the prayers of the abbot and the brethren. And always and above all with the help of God at our side.
