What is the ultimate aim of the Christian living in the world? Is there only one type of holiness, that of the monk? Or could there be multiple goods, the good of Francis of Assisi and the good of Constantine? How can both the life of a monk, who would rather let himself be killed than harm another in his denial of the will, be the same as the Emperor who must execute the death penalty and wage war for the defense of the Christian state?
And if we who live in the world strive to be like the monk, how can we practice the spirituality of the monk? Would it not be better to aim for the spirituality of the Christian emperor, the spirituality that is not preached from the altar, a hidden, but self evident teaching, to the self that looks inward instead of seeking outward explanations and never ending commentaries ever flowing from the pens of the preachers of self denial?
A teaching that in a more brutal age was the normal thinking of men, the virtue of the righteous conqueror, of Moses who with the blood of the Egyptians on his hands, was the friend of God. Of David who with the 200 foreskins of the Philistines, married the daughter of Saul. Of Constantine who overcoming the Tetrarchy through bloody civil war, became the sole ruler of the Empire. Of Charlemagne who after swearing an oath to the Pope over the relics of St. Peter, united the Franks and forcibly converted them, with the sword.
The lives of these men cannot be harmonized with the life and spirituality of monks and priests, it is a distinct kind of faith that was unique to the Christians of the world, that has been lost. They had a faith that could exist in the world without contradiction. Constantine leading his army to slaughter his personal enemies, the barriers to his supreme power, sees the Cross of our Savior in a mystical vision, encouraging him with the exclusive gift of prophets, the ultimate self assurance that his will is united with the will of God.
The life of the monk is holy we know, unending tomes have been written on them and their virtues, but what of this seemingly contradictory faith and spirituality? Who can know it other than the experiential one, who against the guidance of the Church searches out this way, his selfish will leading him on a path, that is satanic for the monk, but saintly for the king?
"To every thing there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heavens: A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up, a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." - Ecclesiastes
