A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

441deny that they were Christians should begin to live accordingto Christ's will; being now Christians they should reject thosethings conceded that they might become Christians.§ 77. The Extension of Monasticism Throughout the EmpireAsceticism arose within the Christian Church partly as the practicalexpression of the conviction of the worthlessness of thingstransitory and partly as a reaction against the moral laxity ofthe times. As this laxity could not be kept entirely out of the [402]Church, and Christians everywhere were exposed to it, thosewho sought the higher life felt the necessity of retirement. Fromthe life of the isolated hermit, asceticism advanced naturally tothe community type of the ascetic life. There were forerunnersin non-Christian religions of the solitary ascetic and the cenobitein Egypt, Palestine, India, and elsewhere, but all the essentialsof Christian monasticism can be adequately explained withoutemploying the theory of borrowing or imitation. For the principalpoints of development, v. §§ 53, 78, 104. When monasticismhad once made itself a strong factor in the Christian religiouslife of Egypt, it was quickly taken up by other parts of theChurch as it satisfied a widely felt want. In Asia Minor Basilof Cæsarea was the great promoter and organizer of the asceticlife; and his rule still obtains throughout the East. In the WestAthanasius appears to have introduced monastic ideas during hisearly exiles. Ambrose was a patron of the movement. Martinof Tours, Severinus, and John Cassian did much to extend it inGaul. Augustine organized his clergy according to a monasticrule which ultimately played a large part in later monasticism.(a) Palladius, Historia Lausiaca, ch. 38. (MSG, 34:1099.)The Rule of Pachomius.