Letter 16: To the beloved brother Fructuosus, servant of God,

To the beloved brother Fructuosus, servant of God, Your reputation as a founder of monasteries and a guide of souls has reached us here in Zaragoza, and I write partly out of admiration and partly because a mutual friend mentioned that you have been wrestling with some questions of monastic discipline that I might be able to help with. On the question of the correct relationship between eremitical and cenobitic life [solitary hermit-style monasticism versus community life]: I think the Rule of Benedict offers the wisest guidance here. The hermit life is demanding in a way that community life is not, but it is also exposed to spiritual dangers that community life guards against. A monk who has been formed in the discipline of the community — who has learned obedience, who knows his own weaknesses through the friction of living with others — is far better prepared for solitude than one who retreats to a cell before he has learned what he is retreating from. My counsel is to be cautious about encouraging the solitary life in monks who have not spent sufficient years in community. On the question of manual labor and study: both are necessary and neither should crowd out the other. A monastery where the monks work so hard that they have no time for lectio divina [sacred reading] has confused the means with the end. But a monastery where the monks read all day and the fields go untended is a monastery that will not long survive its idealism. I hope to meet you in person one day. Your brother in Christ, Braulio