Here is one
of the classic episodes from the Sayings of the Desert Fathers: Abba
Theophilus the archbishop came to Scetis one day. The brethren who were assembled said to Abba
Pambo, “Say something to the archbishop so that he may be edified.” The old man said to them, “If he is not
edified by my silence, he will not be edified by my speech.”
Well you
might think that’s a little hard on the archbishop. Abba Pambo is not going to make even a polite
and brief speech of welcome. Imagine
that on a marae. It would be seen as
rude and neglectful. But in general,
bishops were only marginally welcome out in the desert. Bishops, church leaders, organisers, inspirational
motivators, were one part of what the Desert Fathers and Mothers of the 3rd
and 4th centuries had escaped.
Indeed, there were Desert Fathers who had been themselves bishops, once
upon a time. They fled to the desert to
save their faith. What do you think is
the modern equivalent? Anyway, Abba
Pambo is altogether too unimpressed and underwhelmed to be in raptures at the
episcopal presence. Abba Pambo chooses
silence.
Contemplatives
have their own set of clichés about silence.
Silence is the language of God…
for instance. Or the injunction, Don’t speak unless you can improve the
silence… But these sayings, however
clever, are only more or less true. What
is true is that once you have made friends with silence, so that you look
forward to it, and are certainly not afraid of a time of stillness, silence, even
solitude, there is often a developing impatience with nice speeches and all the
warbling on most of us have had to do at times, as we thought it
appropriate. The other end of the
spectrum from chosen silence may be seen at Hanmer Springs, the lovely alpine
town surrounded by mountains and replete with giant trees – and yet it is
thought necessary there, at the height of the tourist seasons, to provide bars,
casinos, eating places everywhere with deafening amplified music, lest anyone
feel bored or unentertained.
The
archbishop, poor old Theophilus, no doubt had something he wanted to say. Abba Pambo thinks the archbishop should learn
silence, and that in this regard he might be edified by the silence of Pambo
and his brothers and sisters at Scetis.
In his book Silence and Honeycakes,
Rowan Williams, another perhaps better informed archbishop, writes at length
about the Desert tradition – and in one place he contrasts Abba Arsenius, who sat with the Holy Spirit of God in complete
silence, with Abba Moses (Moses the Black, he was called, evidently an
Ethiopian, and he was famous for having been at one time a highwayman). Abba Moses was found out in a boat on the
Nile with the angels of God and they were
all eating honey cakes. But Abba
Moses was part of the same contemplative tradition as Abba Arsenius. Perhaps on the boat they ate honey cakes
silently, but I doubt it. We have all
types, and in contemplative life we have come to cherish the difference between
discernment, which is understanding, and discrimination, which divides.
Silence is
more and more, in our kind of world, an essential part of Christian discipline
-- for Abbas Arsenius, as equally for Abba Moses. Silence is something to be learned and practised,
and befriended. Rowan Williams wrote
(and he wrote this in the midst of huge turmoil in the Anglican Communion: A church without some quite demanding forms
of long-term spiritual discipline – whether in traditional monastic life or not
– is a frustrating place to live. That
was a heartfelt comment from a beleaguered archbishop. He himself knew where the silent springs are
to be found, but he grieved for all others, inside the church or not, as we do,
who think differences are solved and healed on the level of who wins in
argument or conflict. It is not so. It is in our hearts, and it is there we are
changed and brought to silence.
