Monks on the Move

 by Brother Christopher

 

It is not often that monks get to travel, given that our focus is on living the monastic life in this particular community. However, occasionally situations come up when travel is warranted, and one such opportunity presented itself recently for Brothers Christopher and Theophan. The Institute for the Study of Eastern Christianity at Catholic University of America was hosting a conference titled “Ascetic Practices and the Mind: Mental Healing in Eastern Christianity” on March 1-2. We found out about the conference when Robin Darling Young, one of the theology professors at Catholic U and an organizer of the conference, paid a brief visit to New Skete last fall. During the course of her visit she learned that Brother Theo had a background in neuroscience, and she mentioned to us how the conference planners were looking for an Orthodox participant(s) whose interests were in both spirituality and neuroscience. She took advantage of the synchronicity to inquire whether it might be possible for Brother Theo to participate in the conference by presenting a paper. We told her that it was something worth thinking about and left it at that. However, Dr Young got back to Brother Theo several weeks later with a formal invitation. After making sure that Brother Theo was willing to accept, the community decided it was a particularly rich opportunity. Not only was he uniquely qualified to speak on the topic, it would be an important means of making new contacts with professionals and others interested in Eastern Christianity, neuroscience, psychology, and contemplative spirituality. Because of my own interests, I was able to tag along and enjoy listening to the presentations and making new friends... without the pressure of having to present!

            We were delighted to discover that Metropolitan Tikhon was invited to open the conference with an invocation, and he attended the first day’s morning talks. It was a joy to be able to greet him and briefly catch him up on recent happenings at New Skete. As for the conference itself, it boasted a distinguished group of Orthodox and Catholic scholars and monastics, and the talks were live streamed so that a much broader audience was able to tune in. Given that modern neurological and psychological research has confirmed the effectiveness of monastic meditative practices in accomplishing mental healing, one of the aims of the conference was to investigate how early Christian and Byzantine traditions of monastic training could engage with current medical therapies derived from neurological research and therapeutic practice. What stood out to me was the consistent quality of each presentation. The first day focused broadly on the tradition of contemplative prayer in Christianity both East and West. With topics ranging from contemplative psalmody, prayer of the mind in early Christianity, and the renaissance of prayer in the 20th century on Mount Athos, to contemplative prayer in the Carmelite tradition as well as in Isaac of Nineveh, the presentations gave a firm foundation from which to engage with the neurobiological and spiritual perspectives planned for the second day. One of the highlights of the conference was the question-and-answer sessions that followed each group of two presenters on both days, allowing for a fuller exploration of themes raised in the talks.

            The second day focused more explicitly on the intersection of modern neurobiology and contemplative spirituality, especially the talks by Brother Theo and Fr Stephen Muse, an Orthodox priest of the GOArch serving in Georgia. There were also presentations on the possibility of studying Christian contemplative practice empirically by Jennifer Herdt of Yale Divinity School and the challenges of laicizing contemplative practices originally coming out of the monasteries by Carrie Frost, an Orthodox theologian teaching in Washington State and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. Since all of the presentations are available for viewing on the Institute’s YouTube channel, for the purposes of this article let me simply briefly summarize Brother Theo’s talk, “Theōsis in Light of Modern Neurobiology.”

In his talk. Brother Theo sketched out a direct bridge between a rich Patristic understanding of the human mind with modern findings on the human brain, neuroplasticity, and inner transformation. The first half of the talk focused on offering a “diagnosis” of what happens when the mind (and brain) functions in a relatively automatic, mechanical, and conditioned mode, resulting in fragmentation within and between persons and the rest of creation. Then he traced the journey of theōsis as a path toward psychosomatic and spiritual wholeness, with special emphasis on how contemplative prayer offers the hope of healing our scattered attention and connecting us to our body (especially the deep heart) and the wider world. The combination of awareness/watchfulness/nepsis and contemplative prayer was highlighted as a path toward positive or intentional neuroplasticity through which human beings can become conscious stewards, remolding their mind and brain along a Christ-centered trajectory, allowing for increased inner freedom, transparency to grace, and holistic integration. The talk helped to make the wisdom of the spirituality found in the Philokalia enter into a dialogue with today’s brain and psychological sciences.

            Whew! All of that in little more than half an hour! However, what I noticed was that the audience was deeply connected throughout the talk, and Brother Theo was able to present some potentially complicated ideas in a clear and engaging way. The response of the audience showed the relevance of what he presented, and I noticed any number of people throughout the rest of the day pulling him aside to ask further questions. He engaged with them in a humble and relaxed way. Any doubts as to whether it was the right decision to let him present (even as a novice monk) vanished.

            The conference ended with Orthodox vespers celebrated in the crypt of the Immaculate Conception Basilica by two monks from the Holy Mountain, followed by a concluding dinner. There was such a spirit of friendship and comradery at the meal that it was not at all surprising to hear several participants remark that this was one of the best conferences they had ever attended. Kudos go to Dr Young and Fr Stephanos, who were responsible for organizing the event.

Since the conference ended late Saturday, we decided to stay in Washington Sunday and attend Divine Liturgy at St Nicholas Cathedral. The cathedral is awesome, with stunningly beautiful iconography in a space I’d describe as intimate. Our friend Fr George Kokhno welcomed us warmly and after liturgy shepherded us to an authentically Ukrainian luncheon that was a fundraising event for those suffering in Ukraine. Afterwards, he invited us to address the young adults’ group in the parish hall, and we both enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them and respond to the questions they raised about monastic life, our own vocations, and spiritual life in general. By the time we got back to our hotel it was early afternoon, so after a brief rest we decided to walk to the National Gallery of Art, where we were able to spend a couple of hours viewing a very impressive collection. An enjoyable way to conclude the day!

We returned home early the next morning by car, a trip of about 7 hours. All in all it was a rich experience, one both of us enjoyed, and we look forward to staying in touch with some of the people we met at the conference. Catholic University of America Press will publish the papers in a collected volume, with a tentative release date sometime before Christmas. For those interested, I would recommend subscribing to the Institutes YouTube channel and viewing the presentations.