“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”
-Psalm 46:10
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Thoughts About the Old Monasticism:
“The expansion of Christianity and the increasing secularization of the Church caused the awareness of Costly Grace to be gradually lost…
It was decisive that Monasticism did not separate from the Church and that the Church had the good sense to tolerate Monasticism.
Here, on the Boundary of the Church was the place where
the Awareness that Grace is Costly and that Grace includes Discipleship was Preserved.
Monastic life thus Became a Living Protest Against the Cheapening of Grace.”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship (P.46)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Thoughts About A New Monasticism:
“...the restoration of the church will surely come only from
a new type of monasticism
which has nothing in common with the old but a complete lack of compromise
in a life lived in accordance with the Sermon on the Mount in the discipleship of Christ.
I think it is time to gather people together to do this…”
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Extract of a letter written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his brother Karl-Friedrick on the 14th of January, 1935.
(Source: John Skinner, Northumbria Community)
“Someone once asked
St. Anthony,
What must I do
to please God?’
The old man replied,
‘Pay
attention
to what I tell you:
Wherever you go, always have
God before your eyes.
Whatever you do,
do it
according to the testimony
of the Scriptures.’
Some of the Brothers were not
satisfied with this reply and
said to him,
‘Abba Anthony, we
would also like a word from
you.’
Then Monk Anthony told them,
‘The Gospel says,
If someone strikes you on the
right cheek,
turn the other to them also.’
They answered, ‘We cannot do
that.’
Anthony said to them,
‘If you
cannot offer the other one,
at least allow them to strike you
on one cheek.’
They replied, ‘We cannot even do
that.’
If you cannot even do that,’ said
Monk Anthony,
‘do not pay back the evil that you
have received.
The Brothers answered, ‘We
cannot do this either.’
Then the old man said to one of
his disciples,
‘Prepare a little broth for
them, for they are ill.
If you cannot do this, and you will not do that,
what can I do for you?
You are in need of prayer.’”
-Sayings of the Desert Fathers
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