Vocations

The monastic life is a radical response to Christ’s call to repentance—a life of discipline, prayer, and self-offering. It is not the only way to walk in repentance, but it is a way that is wholly set apart, shaped by an unwavering commitment to asceticism and spiritual vigilance. The Fathers call it the “angelic life” because, in striving to shed the distractions of self-will and the burdens of earthly attachments, the monk seeks the freedom of the Bodiless Powers of Heaven, turning his heart and mind entirely to God.

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Let them prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may He bring us all together to everlasting life.

Our Holy Father Saint Benedict of Nursia

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Yet asceticism is not an end in itself. The fasts, vigils, and disciplines of the monastic life are tools—a means of cultivating the true repentance that opens the soul to grace, of forming a heart capable of love, and of shaping a life that bears unceasing witness to Christ. The vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience—expressed in the Rule of St. Benedict as Stability, Fidelity to Monastic Discipline, and Obedience—are nothing less than the way of the Cross lived out in daily self-denial. They offer the monk a path of martyrdom, not in blood, but in the slow and steady dying to the world that is rarely possible for those called to serve Christ in marriage, family, and the demands of secular life.

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To embrace this life is to step into the long tradition of those who have sought to follow Christ with an undivided heart, forsaking all to find the One who alone is necessary.

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God, in His infinite mercy, has poured out upon us every good thing, holding nothing back—not even Himself. In love and humility, He took on flesh, lived among us, and willingly endured the agony and shame of the Cross at the hands of sinful men. His love is beyond measure, beyond language, beyond comprehension. Does this love stir your heart? Does it break it, strengthen it, and inspire you to respond—not in part, but with the fullness of your being? Do you long to return love for Love, to lay down your life in service, sacrifice, and devotion to Him who has given all for us?

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From the time of the Apostles, Orthodox Christians have sought to offer their lives wholly to God—dedicating themselves to repentance, prayer, worship, study, work, and charity. Across the centuries, countless men and women have discovered in the monastic life the path to holiness, leaving behind the fleeting vanities of the world to seek the one thing needful. By God’s grace, they have been sanctified, even as the world around them rushed heedlessly toward destruction, blind to the abyss that life without God inevitably becomes.

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Our own time is no different. Like the decaying Roman Empire in which the Church was born, or the troubled 5th-century Italy in which St. Benedict laid the foundations of Western monasticism, our world is drunk on illusions, calling evil good and good evil. Yet God still calls, still waits, still draws souls to Himself. He unmasks the false wisdom of the age, revealing its emptiness, and invites us instead to embrace the 'foolishness of the Cross'.

 

Behold, brothers, the days of salvation are here. Let us watch and take heed,

let us run while we have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake us.

-St. Æthelwold of Winchester

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Is God calling you to step apart from the world—not in rejection of it, but for its salvation? To take up the struggles and blessings of monastic life?

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Can your heart be enlarged enough to contain the boundless sweetness of divine love? Can you surrender all to Him, that you may receive Him in return?

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At Botel Abbey, the Monastery of Saints Alban and Æthelwold, we invite you to discern whether Orthodox monastic life, in the tradition of St. Benedict, is the path God has set before you—a faithful, time-tested way of responding to His love with your whole life.