Monasticism: The All-Embracing Gift of the Holy Spirit. An Approach to the Monastic Legacy of Saint Sophrony

by Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou of Essex

Monasticism is a paradoxical phenomenon on earth. It is life ‘outside the camp of this world.’ It reveals, in the present age, the life of the Kingdom to come and is governed by the Holy Spirit. It is the closest imitation of the path of Christ—first of His kenotic descent, even to the nethermost parts of the earth, and then of His glorious ascent above the heavens. By this path, the gifts of the Holy Spirit descended as rain watering the earth. Monasticism is bears the charismatic power of humility. Its prophetic character reflects the supra-cosmic otherness of Christ’s ethos – the truth of God. The monk is an image of the Resurrection, having passed ‘from death to life,’ and an image of Pentecost, when he bears in his chest the living flame of the Paraclete. The monk’s mission is to be a witness to the humble ethos of Christ, through which He brought to the world in these latter days His great and perfect salvation.