Jerusalem monks
Walk around the Christian Quarter of the Old City, and you will see monks and friars of every denomination, clothed in humble raiment in contrast to the more elaborately dressed priests. Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and more stroll the alleys...
To be a monk requires a fierce devotion, a comfort in
austerity, and a complete renunciation of nearly all pursuits and
pleasures apart from the spiritual plane. It is, perhaps, unsurprising
in a society that places little value on austerity that a Westerner
could easily go an entire lifetime without coming across a single
Christian monk. But it is a great wonder that that same person, upon
arriving in Jerusalem, could easily see hundreds.
For all the
Christian faith's abundance of schisms, Jerusalem is universally
venerated, the font from which all faith flows. Rare is the Christian
sect that has not established a foothold on the holy ground of the city,
and with the many schools of Christianity inevitably come their
respective orders of monks - for how could anyone who lives to draw near
to God not feel closer in the Holy City?
Few have ever been called to the monastic life, and fewer still
take the
vows upon themselves in the modern era - even if personal religiosity
among Christians may remain undimmed, rare is the Christian today whose
faith compels him to cloister himself away from his fellow man and
devote the rest of his life to the pursuit of an esoteric union with
the Creator.
Photos courtesy of beepbeep_car, Flavio@Flickr, louisepalanker, Claudius Prößer, ygurvitz, serenity_now, and Postmaster-D from Flickr under a Creative Commons license, and by Flash90 for GoJerusalem.com.
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