St. Benedict of Nursia passed away on this day in 543. When Constantine the Great transferred the capital to the Bosphorus, it was just a matter of time for the West to survive on its own. In 476, the Barbarian leader Odoacer spared the life of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus. It took the Franks to stop the disintegration process. In 508, Emperor Anastasios elevated their leader Clovis I (466-511) into the rank of Roman proconsul. This was the time of St. Benedict of Nursia (born c. 480). St. Gregory the Dialogist, in his Dialogues, provides St. Benedict’s biography. He was born in Umbria, modern-day Italy, and received his education in Rome. Then, similarly to St. Anthony the Great, he withdrew from the world and founded the monastic house in Monte Cassino (a middle point between Rome and Naples). Until today, this place exists as the capital for all Benedictines. St. Benedict succeeded in composing monastic rules design for an average monastic candidate. His work had a foundation on St. Basil the Great, Blessed Augustin, and St. John Cassian. St. Benedict’s sister Scholastica adopted her brother’s rules for female monastics. The essence of this rule – ora et labora (prayer and work) - would very much resonate with life of our Holy Trinity Monastery. There was also a system of checks and balances where monks of one monastery could appeal to the abbots of other monastic communities in case of problems with their rector. Source: Luke Timothy Johnson, Ph.D. Professor, Emory University, “The History of Christianity: From the Disciples to the Dawn of the Reformation,” Lecture 25: From Roman Empire to Holy Roman Empire, thegreatcourses.com. |
