Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T09:52:56.813Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

‘The prophetycal lyf of an heremyte’: Elijah as the Model of the Contemplative Life in The Book of the First Monks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2013

Valerie Edden
Affiliation:
Theology Department Centre for the Editing of Texts in Religion, Birmingham
E. A. Jones
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Get access

Summary

‘You are at our shoulder, …

… cautioning us

to prepare not for the breathless journeys

into confusion, but for the stepping

aside through the invisible

veil that is about us into a state

not place of innocence and delight.’

(R. S. Thomas)

The ende of þe wyche lyf [þe relygyous lyf of an heremyte] is doble: on þe wych we getyn be the grace of God, helpynge be our labour and vertuows exercyse, and that is to offeryn to God an hooly herte and a clene fro actual fylthe of synne, wych ende we atteyne & neyhyn when we arn perfyth & in Caryth … Anothyr ende of thys lyf ys of þe clene ʒyfte of God ʒeven vnto vs, þat is for to seyne not alonly aftyr deth but now in thys dedly lyf sumwhat to tastyn in herte and prouyn in sowle þe vertu of þe presens of God and þe swetnesse of euerelastynge blysse.

(II ii, fol. 50v)

IN THIS WAY The Book of the Institution of the First Monks describes the aims of the Carmelite life, proposing Elijah as the model of the spiritual life. The Carmelite life is presented as one of solitude, contemplative prayer, a life led to allow the best opportunity for experiencing fully the presence of God in this life.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England
Papers Read at Charney Manor, July 2004 [Exeter Symposium VII]
, pp. 149 - 162
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Print publication year: 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×