Preface to the Institutes

The history of the Old Testament tells us that Solomon, the wisest of men, received from heaven “wisdom and understanding in very great measure, and breadth of heart like the sand on the seashore that cannot be counted.” So by the Lord’s own testimony we may say that no one equal to him has arisen in time past or will arise after him. Yet afterward, when he wished to build that magnificent temple to the Lord, we are told that he asked the help of a foreigner, the king of Tyre. A man named Hiram, the son of a widow, was sent to him, and it was through his skill and service that Solomon carried out all the glorious things he had planned at the prompting of divine wisdom, whether for the temple of the Lord or for the sacred vessels. [a]

Here was a power higher than all the kingdoms of the earth. Here was the noble and famous offspring of the race of Israel, and his divinely inspired wisdom surpassed the learning and customs of all the peoples of the East and of Egypt. If, then, he did not at all disdain the counsel of a poor man and a foreigner, you too, most blessed Pope Castor, taught by these examples, rightly see fit to call me to a share in so great a work, worthless creature though I am, and as poor as can be in every respect. You are planning to build for God a true and rational temple, not of lifeless stones but of a congregation of saints; not a building of this passing time that can decay, but one that is eternal and cannot be shaken. You wish also to consecrate to the Lord the most precious vessels, not forged of mute metal, of gold or silver, which a Babylonian king might afterward seize and hand over to the pleasures of his concubines and nobles, but fashioned of holy souls that shine with the uprightness of innocence, righteousness and purity, and carry about within them Christ, dwelling there as King. You are eager, then, that the institutions of the East, and especially of Egypt, should be established in your province, which at present has no monasteries. You yourself are complete in every virtue and in knowledge, and so filled with all spiritual riches that not only your words but your life alone is more than enough as an example to those who are seeking perfection. Yet you ask me, who do not know what to say and am feeble in speech and knowledge, to contribute something from the meager supply of my thoughts toward satisfying your desire. You charge me to set out, however unskilled my pen, the customs of the monasteries that we saw observed throughout Egypt and Palestine, as the fathers there handed them down to us. You are not looking for graceful speech, in which you yourself are especially skilled. You want the simple life of holy men told in simple language to the brothers in your new monastery.

But as strongly as a dutiful desire to grant your request urges me to obey, so strongly do many difficulties and hindrances hold me back when I wish to comply. First, my merits do not match my years, so I cannot trust myself to grasp worthily, with mind and heart, matters so difficult, so obscure and so sacred. Second, we lived among these men from our earliest youth and were urged on by their daily encouragement and example. Yet what we then tried to do, or learned, or saw, we can scarcely keep whole in our minds now that for so many years we have been cut off from their company and from following their way of life. This is all the more true because the method of these things cannot possibly be taught or understood or kept in memory by idle meditation and teaching in words. It depends entirely on experience and practice. And just as these things cannot be taught except by someone who has experienced them, so they cannot even be learned or understood except by someone who has tried with equal care and effort to grasp them. And unless they are often discussed and well worn in frequent conversations with spiritual men, they quickly fade away through carelessness of mind. Third, a discourse that lacks skill cannot properly set out even the things we are able to recall, as the things themselves deserve; it can do so only as far as our condition allows.

To this it must be added that men noble in life and eminent in speech and knowledge have already published several small books on this very subject. I mean Basil and Jerome, and some others. The first of these, when the brothers asked about various rules and questions, replied in language that was not only eloquent but rich in testimonies from Holy Scripture. The second not only published works that were the offspring of his own genius, but also translated into Latin works that had been written in Greek. After such abundant streams of eloquence, I might fairly be accused of presumption for trying to produce this feeble trickle, were it not that your holiness’s confidence encouraged me. I was assured too that these trifles, whatever they were like, would be welcome to you, and that you would send them on to the community of brothers living in your newly founded monastery. And if by chance I have said anything without enough care, may they kindly overlook it and bear with it, granting a somewhat indulgent pardon, and looking for trustworthiness in what I say rather than for grace of style.

So, most blessed Pope, remarkable example of devotion and humility, encouraged by your prayers, I will take up the work you lay on me as well as I am able. Those who went before us left certain matters altogether untouched, because they tried to describe what they had heard rather than what they had experienced. These things I will tell as to an inexperienced monastery, and to men who are truly thirsty. Certainly I will not try to weave a tale of God’s miracles and signs. We have not only heard of many such things from our elders, things past belief, but have also seen them fulfilled before our very eyes. Yet I will leave all of these out, since they give the reader nothing but amazement and no instruction in the perfect life. So far as I can, with the help of God, I will try faithfully to explain only their institutions and the rules of their monasteries, and especially the origin and causes of the principal faults, of which they count eight, and the remedies for them according to their traditions. For my purpose is to say a few words, not about God’s miracles, but about how to improve our character and attain the perfect life, in keeping with what we received from our elders.

In this, too, I will try to satisfy your instructions. If I happen to find that anything in those regions has been either taken away or added, not following the example of the elders established by ancient custom but according to the fancy of someone who founded a monastery, I will faithfully add it or leave it out. I will follow the rule I have seen kept in the monasteries founded long ago throughout Egypt and Palestine. For I do not believe that a new establishment in the West, in the parts of Gaul, could find anything more reasonable or more perfect than those customs. By keeping them, the monasteries founded by holy and spiritually minded fathers since the first preaching of the apostles have lasted even to our own times. I will, however, venture to use this discretion in my work. Where I find anything in the rule of the Egyptians that is impossible in these countries, or hard and difficult, whether because of the harshness of the climate or some difficulty or difference in habits, I will to some extent balance it with the customs of the monasteries found throughout Pontus and Mesopotamia. For if due regard is paid to what is possible, there is the same perfection in the observance, even though the strength may be unequal.