Quest, Pilgrimage and Crusade

Essays for RS0305 Midterm Exam

By Hugh O’Donnell, March 17, 2005

Essay #1

Exam Question # 2.

Based on your reading of these three works and personal speculation, why do you think the notion of “quest” or “pilgrimage” is so important to Christians and Christianity? (Or is it important?) What differing views of this concept are presented in the works (i.e., internalized, externalized, etc.)? Formulate your own working definition of “pilgrimage” (not Webster’s). What elements of your definition are present and/or missing from the readings? Be specific and provide concrete examples.

Webster defines Pilgrim as “1) a person who travels about; a wanderer 2) a person who travels to a shrine or holy place as a religious act 3) any member of a band of English Puritans who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.” Pilgrimage is defined as “1) a journey made by a pilgrim, especially to a shrine or holy place 2) any long journey, as to a place of historic interest.” Could it be the only Christian pilgrimage of any real interest is the journey to the heart of Jesus? Could it be the only religious act of any real consequence is the non active act of letting go and letting Jesus make a pilgrimage to the center of our own heart?

Sandra S. Frankiel , in her book, Christianity describes a pilgrimage, particularly a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, as an important way Christians, before the 16^th century, could get “special grace” in their “works” toward salvation. After the reformation, Protestants discouraged pilgrimages, emphasizing spiritual reading as a better path to salvation.[1]

The three Christian classics Christian studied: Confessions written by Saint Augustine in the 4^th Century, Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan in the 16^th Century, and The Way of the Pilgrim by an unknown 19^th century author. All address religious pilgrimages and each present a unique interpretation of the term pilgrimage. If one uses Webster’s strict definition, neither of these books describe a true pilgrimage. In fact, the most unique pilgrimage in these books was the pilgrimage that Augustine did not make himself. The only true spiritual definition of pilgrimage and the only important pilgrimage of value for Christians is the journey we allow Jesus to make to the center of our hearts.

The first book read, Augustine’s Confessions, describes the pilgrimage Augustine takes to a holy place located at the center of his own heart. The book is not about a pilgrimage in Webster’s sense, but instead, describes a “Quest.” Augustine’s book is principally a philosophical argument, a teaching treatise, on what is true about his search for salvation. Using a series of confessions, Augustine tells his reader what his beliefs are and how they came to be.

Augustine uses the interesting literary technique of confession to couch his argument. By sharing statements of his beliefs and actions which were wrong before he came to know Christ, he suggests that just the opposite is the right thing to do. The book endlessly details Augustine’s ill-conceived efforts or “works” to know God and to achieve salvation. The progression of admissions to un-Christian “works” reads like a troubled tale of a lost and sleepless pilgrim on a bewildering journey. The travel is portrayed like a journey to a dangerous distant land that crosses numerous spiritual minefields and dodges intellectual dark holes. The quest eventually leads Augustine to the center of his own heart where he finds that he has allowed Jesus to make the pilgrimage instead. In the end, it is his “faith,” and not his “works,” that brings Augustine safely to the Promised Land.

The importance of Confessions for Augustine seems to be his need to lead his reader away from an emphasis on religious “works.” Like John Bunyan, he is certainly not promoting pilgrimages to holy places in the sense of Webster’s definition, but rather tells his reader to have more faith, place less emphasis on the study of great literature, and allow the “Holy Land” to come to us.

This point is illustrated in Augustine’s description of Ponticianus’ tale about his companions in Book VIII:

“They became separated into two groups, Ponticianus and one of the others remaining together while the other two went off by themselves. As they wandered on, the second pair came to a house which was the home of some servants of yours, men poor in spirit, to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs. In the house they found a book containing the life of Anthony. One of them began to read it and was so fascinated and thrilled by the story that even before he had finished reading he conceived the idea …of abandoning his career in the world…in order to become your servant…..’What do we hope to gain by all the efforts we make?....But if I wish, I can become the friend of God at this very moment.’”

This point is also illustrated in Augustine’s description of Victorinus’ conversion in Book VIII :

“(he) preferred to declare his salvation in full sight of the assembled faithful. For there was no salvation in the rhetoric which he taught, and yet he had professed in public.” (VIII pg 161)

At the end of Book VIII, Augustine, resting in the peace just given him by Jesus, and after declaring no need to read further, writes:

“You converted me to yourself, so that I no longer desired a wife or placed any hope in this world but stood firmly upon the rule of faith, where you had shown me to her in a dream so many years before.”

The “quest” or “pilgrimage” to salvation, to God, marked by Augustine’s prior “works,” bore little fruit, except to bring him to his knees, under the fig tree, in his own garden of Gethsemane, bowed before the Lord.[2]

The second book studied, John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, describes the pilgrimage of its chief protagonist, Christian, on a journey to a holy place called the Celestial City. The destination of Christian’s journey however is anything but a physically sacred place. It is anything but a religious act we could make during one of our vacation periods. Rather, Christian’s journey takes us to a very abstract place, located just over the bridgeless river with the disappearing bottom. Christian’s pilgrimage is a fictitious journey that does not wander aimlessly, but follows a very narrow path to a mystical Holy Place from which no one has returned. Bunyan describes this place as”…the heavenly Jerusalem, the innumerable company of angels, and the spirits of just men made perfect.”

In a second sense, the pilgrimage described in Bunyan’s book is again not a true pilgrimage in that it is anything but a journey to accumulate special graces. John Bunyan, being an English Pilgrim, seems very dedicated to Puritan Protestant theology. Most Calvin based theologians, like Bunyan, living in 16^th century England, would have rejected the Catholic idea of a pilgrimage to accumulate special grace. The book certainly is not promoting holy pilgrimages for special grace; rather, the book’s purpose is to teach. Bunyan makes use of a fictional literary tale about a theoretical pilgrimage down a narrow and well described road to promote a brand of closed-minded Protestant theology which concentrates on the exclusive importance of “works” in achieving salvation. The last thing John Bunyan promotes is a “faith” journey to a physical place, a place like Jerusalem, to accumulate special graces.

The only other semblance of relevance to Webster’s definition of pilgrimage and pilgrim in John Bunyan’s book is the fact that Christian appears to be an English Puritan by religion. Certainly, both Bunyan and Christian fit Webster’s definition of “any member of a band of English Puritans. “ However, neither John Bunyan nor Christian ever traveled to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.[3]

The third and most recent book studied was written by an anonymous author in the 19^th century. The principal protagonist is a character called Pilgrim. Although the book on the surface describes an actual Pilgrim’s journey to Jerusalem, the book is anything but a tale of a true pilgrimage. The book describes a crusade rather than a pilgrimage. Pilgrim is on a crusade for the Jesus Prayer and the reading of the book Philokalia.

If the book is read with the hypothesis that it was written as a literary teaching devise, one can conclude Pilgrim’s tale is not an actual autobiographical pilgrimage story. Analyzing the probability of one person encountering all the distinctly varied and scarcely believable incidents described by Pilgrim, one concludes the story is most likely not a factual account.

The author seems more to have contrived the tale to teach his reader about the method and power of the Jesus Prayer. The author also seems to be promoting reading of the Philokalia. He seems to be encouraging his reader to carry and read both the Bible and Philokalia in their faith pilgrimages. It is interesting to remember that in 19^th century Europe, Christianity placed an emerging emphasis on lay Christians reading the Bible themselves rather than having it interpreted by religious ministers. The author appears to be placing the Philokalia on the same altar as the Bible.

The Philokalia is a series of writings “compiled by twenty-five holy Fathers.” During Pilgrim’s travels, he constantly tells people about the Philokalia, detailing sections of the book to read for each person he meets who seems to need a different section of the Philokalia explained to them. By the end of the pilgrimage, value of the Jesus Prayer is explained, benefits of practicing ceaseless prayer are described, and the kinds of people who can grow and develop from ceaseless prayer are vividly portrayed.

For each person the Pilgrim meets during his pilgrimage, the specific circumstances of that person’s life, all too conveniently, prompt Pilgrim to reveal a different reference in the Philokalia. The Officer in Charge, the Woodsman, the Judge’s family, the Polish Manager, the blind friend, and the young cook are all characters whom Pilgrim encounters. Each has a unique story that lends itself to explaining a different aspect of the Jesus Prayer. By the conclusion of Pilgrim’s journey, the methods of saying and using the Jesus Prayer are explained and a complete list of relevant references in the Philokalia are cited for the how, what, why, when and where of the Jesus Prayer.

The book concludes without ever addressing how the pilgrimage to Jerusalem ends. The reader is left wondering about the authenticity and authorship of the story. History tells us the book was found hidden in a Greek monastery with no author’s name on the manuscript. Chances are the author never made a long, wandering, lonely, pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but rather spent his life meditating on the Jesus prayer and rereading the Philokalia. He probably spent the better part of his life secluded away in some mountain religious community. His life, like Augustine’s, was most likely a pilgrimage within his own heart where the Jesus Prayer was the door that allowed Jesus to enter.[4]

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Essay #2

Exam Question # 3.

Human beings all face periods of solitude and community in their lives. What is the relationship of these two poles of experience in the featured works? What communities (include here friends, family, church, etc.) appear in each story and how do they help or hinder the protagonist in his journey? Do the books present a common vision of community, and, if not, in what specific ways do they differ?

The three classic Christian literature books studied the past two months include Confessions by Saint Augustine in the 4^th Century, Pilgrim’s Progress written by John Bunyan in the 16^th Century, and The Way of the Pilgrim by an unknown 19^th century author. All describe individuals facing periods of solitude and community in their lives. The dynamics between these two opposite poles are significant and necessary for Christian growth.

Science teaches us the first particle to be formed after the big bang was a neutron-like particle that quickly split into oppositely charged particles (electron and proton) beginning a circular dance that formed the first community know by chemists as a hydrogen atom. Science tells us the universe evolved from simple hydrogen atoms to very complex atoms and compounds. The hydrogen atoms in stars need to self destroy their communities by sacrificing their identity as hydrogen atoms in order to form new communities of more complex atoms such as helium.

Today, in the star called our Sun, four individual hydrogen atoms are constantly, in huge numbers, sacrificing their egos, their own independent identities and fusing into a single, more complex, helium atom. The new communities of hydrogen and helium atoms are highly interdependent chemical systems. Hydrogen, in the process of fusing into helium atoms, releases a small amount of mass that is converted into energy and light, the same light that forms the highly complex, interdependent, biology systems that support life on earth. Since the beginning of time, countless hydrogen atoms have died, becoming interdependent in the massive community of various atoms we call the human body.

On our planet Earth, life, particularly human spiritual life, seems to be a directed movement from community to solitude and then back to community in very much the same way galaxies are formed. However, the vector, the direction of movement, is not random oscillation, but rather a flow from a community of dependence, to the solitude of independence, and finally to a community of interdependence. Interdependence is characterized by non egocentric independent individuals, living in mutually supportive communities. The ultimate goal of interdependence for an independent Christian would be union with the mystical Body of Christ; a union that occurs on this planet with fellow Christians.

Each of the three main protagonists in the books studied this semester is described as undergoing evolution from his birth community of dependence, to his independent period of trial and transformation in solitude, and eventually to a somewhat more interdependent community which directly enhances his salvation progress. The protagonists all undergo cycles in and out of community and solitude, but a clear movement toward a community of increasing interdependence is evidenced, particularly in the story of Augustine.

The birth of a child into a family is an example of pure dependence for the newly born infant. The next several years of growth are marked by both progressive steps toward independence and solitude as well as great trials and tribulations. Only after secure independence and freedom of independent choice are experienced can humans become free to shed their original slavery, becoming interdependent, in a larger, more complex community.

The journeys of three spiritual beings, Saint Augustine in Confessions, Christian in Pilgrim’s Progress, and Pilgrim in The Way of the Pilgrim, depict similar growth dynamics, in the spiritual sense. The dynamic involves breaking free from dependence on their birth communities, undergoing great periods of solitude while struggling with the choice of whether or not to sacrifice their own egos, and finally becoming interdependent in a larger, spiritually oriented, more complex religious community.

Saint Augustine, in Chapter 18, Book 1, writes;

“The path that leads us away from you and brings us back again is not measured by footsteps or milestones. The prodigal son of the Scriptures went to live in a distant land to waste in dissipation all wealth which his father had given him when he set out. But, to reach that land he did not hire horses, carriages, or ships; he did not take to the air on wings or set foot before the other. For you were the Father who gave him riches. You loved him when he set out and you loved him still more when he came home without a penny. But he set his heart on pleasure and his soul was blinded, and his blindness was the measure of the distance he traveled away from you, so that he could not see your face.”

This passage, plus many others depicted in Confessions, demonstrates an understanding of his own passage from a family who forced him to study Greek literature, to a lonely soul separated from his former Manichean religion, and eventually to pastor of the first combined monastic community and secular seminary in the Catholic Church, a community very much like one in existence today at Saint Vincent’s Seminary in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

John Bunyan, a member of the Protestant Puritan sect in 16^th century England, is a somewhat more surprising example of the spiritual growth dynamic. It is a surprising example in the sense that Protestants, according to Sandra Frankiel, generally do not like monastic communities. The protagonist in Pilgrim’s Progress leaves his birth community, the City of Destruction, and undergoes a journey down a very narrow, frequently lonely path, to the spiritual community of the Celestial City.

Christian spends great periods in solitude during his travels followed by short periods in community. The periods in community show a very slow evolution toward interdependence. However, a clear trend toward interdependence near the very end of his journey is evident. In the scene by the river, just before reaching the Celestial City, Christian exhibits a definite sign of interdependence as evidenced by the dialogue with his traveling companion, Hopeful.

“Hopeful therefore here had much ado to keep his brother’s head above water. Yea, sometimes he would be quite gone down, and then ere a while he would rise up again half dead. Hopeful also would endeavor to comfort him, saying, “Brother, I see the gate, and men standing by it to receive us.” But Christian would answer, “’Tis you, ‘tis you they wait for. You have been Hopeful ever since I knew you.” “And so have you,” said he to Christian. “Ah, brother,” said he, “surely if I was right, he would now arise to help me; but my sins he hath brought me into the snare, and hath left me.” Then said Hopeful, “My brother, you have quite forgot the text, where it’s said of the wicked, ‘There is no band in their death, but strength is firm, they are not troubled as other men, neither are they plagued like other men.” [Psalms 73:4-5]

Psalm 73 is a reminder of the arrogance, and resulting loss, that comes from a heart enslaved by its own ego.

In The Way of the Pilgrim, the chief protagonist, Pilgrim, describes the destruction of his birth family’s home and the death of his wife leading to the pilgrimage story that follows these tragic losses. During his pilgrimage, Pilgrim undergoes long periods of solitude as he wrestles with demons that take him away from his desire for spiritual growth or union with Jesus. The book ends with him continuing his lonely journey and never quite understanding that the short periods of close community he had with the Woodsman and the Judge’s family, are the real union, the real interdependence he seeks. The concept of evolution into the interdependent mystical body of Christ would be strange to Pilgrim the way he is described in this fictional account. Further down the road of his pilgrimage, if indeed this is not fictional, we might expect Pilgrim to finally understand that solitude and ceaseless prayer are only stepping stones to union with the people of Christ’s Church here on Earth.

Pilgrim is the least interdependent of the three protagonists described by these books. Paradoxically, the author of this book may have been the most interdependent of the three writers.

Many people believe the unnamed author of The Way of the Pilgrim was a monk because the book was found hidden in a Greek monastery. The pilgrimage story depicted by this author does not seem to be an autobiographical tale about a person who latter embraced monasticism.

The Pilgrim’s story, like John Bunyan’s tale, is a most likely a literary device, a fictional story of pilgrimage meant to teach Christians about the importance of praying ceaselessly, praying the Jesus Prayer, and reading the Philokalia as well as the Bible. Surprisingly, the lonely Pilgrim constantly points out writings contained in the Philokalia authored by monks whose lives are marked by the interdependence of monastic communities.

In the scene with Pilgrim and the Polish Manager, the following dialogue occurs. The manager has just rebuked Pilgrim for his constant dependence on the Jesus prayer. He tells Pilgrim that the Lord’s Prayer, said once a day, is sufficient. The Pilgrim replies:

“My dear sir, do not say such things about this holy book (Philokalia). It was not written by ordinary Greek monks but by the ancient holy men whom even your Church recognizes, such as Anthony the Great, Marcarius the Great, St. Mark the Ascetic, St. John Chrysostom, and others”.

Anthony the Great, the Desert Father, is considered by many Christians to be the father of Christian monasticism. Monasticism is one of the great examples of humans living in an interdependent community consciously designed to give birth to the highly interdependent mystical body of Christ. Even though the Pilgrim in this fictional pilgrimage tale shows little progress toward interdependence, the author may have been very comfortable with the concept of interdependence in the mystical body of Christ.

The three galaxies of human experience described in these books all generate a bright light. The three pilgrimages to interdependence described all show humans sacrificing the great gift of free independent will after escaping the dependence of a God who never wanted to forever enslave them. All show significant spiritual growth after undergoing loss of their birth families. All struggle during their periods of independence from God. And all show signs of movement toward more interdependent families as they come to know the Lord.