Four central aspects of the moral formation of Christians in antiquity

       “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Since the early Church, moral education has been part and parcel of catechesis. Early Christianity was influenced by both the Greco-Roman and Jewish traditions. The Greek thinkers placed emphasis on the training in the virtues, particularly the four cardinal virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance for directing a man to happiness. Virtue “was not given by nature, it had to be learned, and it was best learned by practice. Moral philosophy was a practical undertaking directed at doing something, not at knowing something. Ethics had to do with the formation of character, the making of a certain kind of virtuous person” (Wilken 49). On the other hand, the Jews in antiquity “had in place a well-developed education system. Its goal was to form people so that all their words, deeds, work, and study were seen as a service to God” (Wilken 51). Yet, “Judaism’s greatest contribution to Christianity’s understanding of moral and spiritual formation was not institutional but theological” (Wilken 51). Man is created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). As such, from the Jewish tradition, Christians “learned that human beings were called to be like God, cleave to God, to walk in God’s ways, to imitate the divine qualities of mercy and compassion” (Wilken 51). Against the above background, we may identify four central aspects of moral formation of Christians in antiquity: preaching by Christian masters; the formation of children in home and family; lives of the saints as models for the Christian life; and community worship” (Wilken 60). This short paper elaborates on each of these aspects.

        Preaching by Christian masters. The Greco-Roman and Jewish traditions shared “an essential technique of ethical formation: the teaching of a disciple by the master” (Wilken 52). For example, Origen had a “school of Origen” which was not an institution in the conventional sense but a group of disciples gathered around him. The disciples learned from the master’s moral and spiritual qualities with the aim of “changing one’s life, being transformed, learning to live virtuously” (Wilken 52). The master must lead by example. He “had first to know and love his disciple before he could cultivate the soul of the disciple” (Wilken 53). He taught his students to live a virtuous life by living one of his own. St. Paul urged Timothy in his second letter to him: “proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2). Origen also exhorted his disciples “by his actions and incited them more by what he did than by what he said” (Wilken 53).

        The formation of children in home and family. Teaching young people to know and love God was “the responsibility of parents, not the clergy or tutors (Wilken 54). For example, St. Basil the Great received spiritual formation from his grandmother, Macrina by means of “sayings” which were “probably based on verses from Scripture, short pithy aphorisms from the Psalms, Proverbs, Sirah, or Wisdom” (Wilken 54). These sacred “sayings” could stay in the minds of children even after they had grown up. Parents are always their children’s first teachers, training them to love the good and hate the evil. St. John Chrysostom encouraged the use of biblical stories, e.g., that of Cain and Abel in the education of children. These stories could be told again and again until the messages they carried were fixed in the memory of children (Wilken 55). Formation “began when the child was malleable, and its goal was to teach a few simple and elementary truths, for instance, to restrain one’s desire and appetites” (Wilken 56). Obviously, as with teaching by the master, parents must also teach by setting a good model for their children or else exhortations would only be “empty words” (Wilken 56).

       Lives of saints as models for the Christian life. Many biblical stories of holy people in the Old Testament serve “more as instances of particular virtues than as iridescent models: Abraham illustrates faith, Susanna modesty, David courage, Job patience” (Wilken 56). Apostles and early martyrs who died for the faith are also important witnesses of Christ. These people, e.g., St. Cyprian, lived a holy life after his conversion and died as a martyr. There was a practice of writing lives, e.g., on their conversion and virtues, and “not simply the martyr accounts of (these) exemplary men and women” (Wilken 56). The life accounts of saints are primarily their virtuous deeds, and not only their sayings. It is these deeds that often impress other people’s most and cause them to imitate. The lives of saints “accentuate repetition, the constant performance of good deeds as the way to progress in virtue” (Wilken 57). To commemorate the saints and their holy acts, Christian art, e.g., icons which are prevalent in Eastern Christianity were made and used to remind the faithful of their moral lives and deeds (Wilken 57).

        Community worship. Biblical readings, sermon, and singing of hymns and psalms in the church community are commonly used methods of teaching in Christian worship. Preaching in antiquity was “the exposition of a text read in the church. Its task was edification to promote spiritual growth and moral zeal” (Wilken 58). Besides positive reinforcement, preachers also made use of “negative sanctions,” such as by citing the example of Judas or Ananias to illustrate how one ought not to live in order to avoid “torments of eternal damnation” (Wilken 58). It should also be noted that worship is not only words, but also ritual, involving symbols and actions. For example, the public act of penance for forgiving a serious sin in the early Church would involve a period of repentance of the person to demonstrate himself to the community that he was determined to repent of his sins. During the period of penance determined by the bishop, “penitents fasted, prayed regularly, gave alms, and were expected to abstain from sexual intercourse. On feast days they kneeled as the congregation stood. They had to stand at church doors pleading with the faithful to intercede on their behalf” (Wilken 59). Baptism was a magnificent ritual not only on its only right, but also together with the rituals in preparation for it, i.e., the rite of election and the scrutinies involving daily exorcism and imposition of hands, which gave the neophytes an unforgettable experience that “was itself transformative, renewing the mind and the will and also the heart” (Wilken 60).

        The above four central aspects of the moral formation of Christians in antiquity hinge on a central theme: cultivate a passion to love God, and then moral actions of loving our neighbor would follow. Modern Christian moral teaching and practice is nothing different. “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) may sound unachievable to us. Yet, the Lord’s golden words set our goal. “The Christian life (is) oriented toward a goal, toward life in fellowship with God. Its end (is) to know and love God as we have been known and loved by God, for only in knowing and loving God and sharing in God’s life would human beings find happiness” (Wilken 62).

Works Cited

Wilken, Robert. “Christian Formation in the Early Church.” Educating People of Faith: Exploring the History of Jewish and Christian Communities (pp 48-62). Print.