Prayer and Work
Photograph taken by Grant Whitty
“When the holy Abba Anthony lived in the desert he was beset by accidie, and attacked by many sinful thoughts. He said to God, 'Lord, I want to be saved but these thoughts do not leave me alone; what shall I do in my affliction? How can I be saved?' A short while afterwards, when he got up to go out, Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his work, getting up from his work to pray, then sitting down and plaiting a rope, then getting up again to pray. It was an angel of the Lord sent to correct and reassure him. He heard the angel saying to him, 'Do this and you will be saved.' At 7 these words, Anthony was filled with joy and courage. He did this, and he was saved.” -Sayings of the Desert Fathers (Abba Anthony the Great paragraph 1)
When many people think of monks, they think of people who just pray and do nothing else. This is not what Christian monks do. I’m not saying that they don’t have intervals of when they pray in silence, but that is not all that they do. It is known among the Benedictines as “Ora et Labora”, prayer and work. But this also can sometimes confuse people. It can make us think that prayer and work are two separate activities.
For a monk, their work is infused with prayer. In a very concrete way their work can, and should, be a prayer. They offer up the work of their hands for their sanctification and the salvation of the world, in addition to doing it for the material benefits such as cooking, or cleaning.
On the other hand, it is often said that a monk’s primary “work” is to pray. In this way their work is also prayer. In short, a monk’s primary vocation in to pray, and in this way it becomes his “work”. The work and prayer of a monk are so intertwined into each other that they should always overlap.
We see this in the excerpt about Saint Abba Anthony. It is said that he is beset by accidie (acedia) which is spiritual or mental sloth and apathy, along with sinful thoughts. He recognizes that he needs help and a way to battle his sinful thoughts, so he prays to God and asks, “How can I be saved?” When he went outside he saw God’s response as clear as day.
“…Anthony saw a man like himself sitting at his work, getting up from his work to pray, then sitting down again and plaiting a rope, then getting up to pray. It was an angel of the Lord sent to correct and reassure him. He heard the angel saying to him, ‘Do this and you will be saved.’”
This is basically Ora et Labora, about 250 years before St. Benedict even founded the Benedictine Order . This is the true foundation and vocation of Christian monks.