Abbots & Popes: Lessons from Benedictine Monks

To be frank, I really never thought there would be much practical crossover between the lives of a medieval monk and a 21-st century working mom. There is nothing about daily routines on either side that screams “Similarity!” However, I was mistaken about the crossover; it’s there, but the similarity is revealed in a whisper rather than a scream.

As I mentioned last week when I wrote about Zinzendorf (read it here if you’ve not done so yet), we’re working through centuries of church history in a course at church, and monasticism was covered several weeks ago. Monks of various orders had been interwoven when applicable to our conversations about early theologians and the various periods of persecution and such, but one week late in the spring was dedicated solely to monasticism, and this week happened to occur shortly after our discussion of the crusades and various popes. The contrasts between abbots following Benedict’s Rule and many of the popes could not have been more clear.

On one hand, there’s the pope: addressed as holy, declared infallible, and ruling over the entire Roman Catholic church with what often amounted to a rod of iron utilized for the benefit of himself and his friends and family. When a tenet of the church is that this man can never be wrong, and those best in a position to stand up to his abuses of power were placed in such a position simply because of their connections to that man, wealth, or social status rather than for their character, who will challenge him and push back on his thoughts and ideas? Very, very few, if any; and I think much of the corruption of the Roman Catholic church in the Middle Ages is probably a symptom of this.

On the other hand, there is the Benedictine Rule, which governed a significant number of 9th century Western monasteries. Under this Rule, the abbots served as the heads of the monasteries in which they were placed. They were to be obeyed immediately, but any monk who felt that he could not fully obey the abbot had the opportunity to voice his objections and request reconsideration. Despite his status as head of the monastery, the abbot was still expected to live a life of service to his brother monks and to God, often taking part in the rotation of physical labor and other duties.

Both popes and abbots are the heads of what amount to religious families. Familial language is even utilized in terms of address, with the pope called “Holy Father”, the abbots addressed as “Father”, and the other monks in an order called “brother”. That’s about where the similarities end though, and I was struck by how these two different positions parallel parenthood. We’ve all seen or heard of, if not experienced first-hand ourselves, the dictatorial parent – the one who rules with an iron fist, cannot be questioned, and answers “because I said so” if his/her offspring (and sometimes spouse) dares to ask for an explanation. Such a parent, much like a corrupt pope, is more likely to inspire fear and hatred than loving obedience. In contrast, there’s the parent that still requires obedience in a timely fashion, but is also willing (even after requiring obedience, because it isn’t always possible beforehand) to explain the reasoning behind the request if asked, gently corrects, and still heads the family while serving it at the same time. Sounds much like an abbot to me.

I don’t always get this right, and some days I get it wrong more often than not, but I learned good and worthwhile lessons from our time studying monasticism through the centuries. By the grace of God, it will be more than just head knowledge, and make a practical difference in how I parent my children.