Success always extracts its price. Even discounting the claims of some Protestants (which the most influential sixteenth-century Reformers, Luther and Calvin, did not make) that the church had lost its way by the end of the fourth century, many scholars agree that some of its success in becoming the empire's favored religion cost it some of its previous innocence and holy zeal. For example, one bishop is said to have considered Emperor Constantine an “angelic being,” who would rule in some capacity alongside or under Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven.

But that was not an opinion the emperor himself claimed or that most Christians shared. Constantine made reforms that demonstrated the seriousness of his newfound profession of faith in Jesus. For example, for the first time in Roman law the abduction of girls was criminalized; divorce was made more difficult; Sunday was elevated to equality with pagan feasts; and Christian Passover (Easter in English-speaking countries) was declared a holiday. Constantine also encouraged owners of slaves to emancipate them.

Martyrdom Missed

But the loss that was most widely felt throughout the church of the empire, surprisingly to anyone with modern priorities and values, was the loss of martyrdom. By 313, the call to sacrifice one's own life or that of a loved one to the Jesus movement had occurred for nearly three centuries. The “opportunity” to be a victim came to be seen as its own reward, and many instances are recorded of “collateral martyrs” coming forward, when someone they loved was about to be sacrificed, and boldly proclaiming, “I stand with Jesus, too!”

Those devout believers who most regretted the loss of such opportunities became founders of the monastic movement. Following the footsteps and example of John the Baptist, the prophets of the previous covenant, and of Jesus himself, they sought the desert and lives of ascetic struggle. The ascetic life was a substitute form of martyrdom, of sacrificing normal life for the life centered, in every moment, in Christ. It was not ever considered an escape from life, but rather the removal of the distractions of the world that keep believers from staying in constant communion with the Lord.

Monasticism Begins

Post-New Testament monasticism began in the very first generation after the Edict of Milan, in the Egyptian desert by Anthony the Great (Antony in Greek), c. 252–357. His biographer, St. Athanasius, indicates early monasticism was then much different than the way most Western people may encounter it at beautiful, prosperous-looking, campus–like monastery and convent settings. The early monasteries were in poor and bare quarters, often caves in the desert hills, and Spartan huts.

Within a century, accounts were circulated of pilgrims going to visit monks in Egypt and finding communities, sometimes numbering thousands, who had rejected secular life. But despite the comparative austerity of primitive monasticism, Anthony was typical of all Orthodox and Catholic monks from the beginning until now, in renouncing property and a sex life (not to say all succeed, of course). And although Anthony started out alone, and therefore had no vow of obedience to other ascetics, within a short time he had been joined by other faithful who were required to choose obedience to their spiritual father and the rules that his experience in the life produced.

Monasticism is from the Greek monos, meaning alone. Though most monastics from early times have worked at tasks from agriculture to copying manuscripts to creating items for sale to the public, their main task is continual prayer, with those employed learning how to pray even while doing other tasks. From the time of Anthony they have also ministered to the faithful by giving spiritual counsel and instruction to pilgrims and the brothers and sisters in their communities less advanced in their journeys.