Echoes of the Eastern monastic tradition in the Carmelite way of life

Abstract

“Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel” is the name given to the Carmelite hermits who settled on Mount Carmel around the chapel dedicated to Our Lady in Palestine, the land where the Blessed Virgin and the Prophet Elijah, the Patroness and “Founder” of the Order lived. This is the reason why these Carmelites are deeply devoted to these two outstanding figures. The Way of Life given by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem St Albert of Vercelli expresses in written form the propositum of the first Carmelite hermits to balance the same eremitic and coenobitic lifestyle of their predecessors. This dissertation purports that similarities converge with the experience of the neighbouring Egyptian desert fathers of the fourth century. This lifestyle perhaps mirrors the “familiarity” that these Latin Carmelite hermits had with the Eastern Oriental tradition, especially the Pachomian communities who lived a monastic ascetical life in the desert. Both traditions practised the same prayer life by celebrating the Holy Eucharist and the liturgy every day at specific times of the day, as well as vigils. The deep spirituality of the desert people aiming at reaching perfection, as well as the way of life followed by the early Carmelites who always sought to have a pure heart to finally attain union with God, provides the theme for this study aiming to show points of contact between the East and the West through the ascetical life.