19101057

Tanrı’ya Adanmış Bir Hayat: Hıristiyan Manastır Yeminleri

Yemin, gelecekte yapılacak ya da yapılmayacak bir davranış ile ilgili olarak kişinin kararlılığını güçlendirmek için değer atfettiği bir varlık adına verdiği sözü ifade etmektedir. Manastır literatüründe ise yemin, en temel anlamıyla Tanrı’ya verilen bir söz olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Ahlakî anlamda, verilen bir sözün yerine getirilmesi o sözü veren kişinin sosyal çevresiyle ilişkisini etkilerken, dini anlam yüklendiğinde yemin, yerine getirilecek vaadin gerçekleştirilme olasılığını ve kişi üzerindeki sorumluluğu da arttırmaktadır. Bu sebeple manastır hayatı yaşayacak bir keşiş, manastır hayatındaki zorluklar karşısında insânî birtakım zaaflardan korunmak gayesiyle, terk edildiğinde belirli sonuçları olan manastır yeminleri etmektedir. Yemin çeşitleri farklı dinî tarikatlara göre değişkenlik gösterse de hepsinin özü bir şeylerden feragat etmeye indirgenmiştir. Bu vazgeçiş duyusal zevklerden, cinsel hazlardan ve benmerkezcilikten feragat etme şeklinde sıralanabilir. Böylece Hristiyanlığın ilk dönemlerinden itibaren asketik bir yaşam sürme çabasında olan keşişlerin yazılı olmayan kurallar çerçevesinde kendilerine birtakım mesuliyetler yükleyerek bu hayatı daha yaşanılabilir kılmaya çalıştıkları görülmüştür. Nitekim her insanın belirli ölçüde hayatını sürdürebilmesi için mal mülk edinme ve doğuştan getirdiği cinsellik gibi birtakım ihtiyaçları olduğu bilinmektedir. Bu noktada kişinin birtakım doğal ihtiyaçlarını yeminler aracılığıyla belirli bir otoritenin buyruğu altında köreltebileceği ya da en azından bastırabileceği düşünülmektedir. Hristiyanlık özelinde bakıldığında manastırlar bu amaç için daima en doğru yer olmuştur. Çünkü manastır yaşamının nihai hedefi, ruhun tutkulardan ve nefsin kötü arzulardan arındırılmasıdır. Bu arınma somutlaştırıldığında keşişin asıl hedefi yoksulluk, bekarlık, itaat ve istikrar kavramları çerçevesinde bir hayat sürmek olmaktadır. Böylece İsa Mesih’in öğretilerinden hareketle kusursuz olmak isteyen dindar kimselerin takip etmesi gereken birtakım ilkelerin zamanla manastır yeminlerine dönüştüğü görülmektedir. Hristiyanlığın erken dönemlerinden itibaren asketik bir hayatı benimseyen münzeviler, kendilerini dini hayata bağlayan ve her birinin ihlal edildiğinde açık hukuki sonuçları olan itaat, istikrar ve conversatio morumdan oluşan Benedikten Yeminleri’ni ve 13. yüzyıldan itibaren de yoksulluk, bekarlık/iffet ve itaat yeminlerinden oluşan Evanjelik nasihatleri yerine getirme sözü vermektedirler. 6. yüzyılda Aziz Benedikt ile sistemli ve kurumsal bir kimliğe bürünen Hristiyan manastırlarının bu döneme kadar sistemli bir şekilde uyguladıkları manastır yeminlerinden söz edilememektedir. Bu sebeple manastır yeminlerinin Benedikt Kuralı ile manastır literatürüne girdiğini söylemek mümkündür. Bu noktada manastırların kurumsallaşması ve varlığını yüzyıllar boyu sürdürmesinde Benedikt’in benimsediği manastır yeminlerinin büyük etkisi olmuştur. Nitekim manastır iş ve işleyişinin sekteye uğramaması için alınan koşulsuz itaat yemini, manastırda ölene dek kalmayı taahhüt eden istikrar yemini ve manastır yaşamına sadakati ifade eden conversatio morum yemini ile bu kurumların sağlam bir altyapıya sahip oldukları görülmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Hıristiyanlık, Manastırcılık, Manastır Yeminleri, Benedikten Yeminleri, Evanjelik Nasihatler

A Life Dedicated to God: Christian Monastic Vows

Vow expresses a promise to be made on behalf of an entity that he cares about to strengthen a person’s determination in relation to a behavior that will or will not be done in the future. In the monastic literature, it defines vow as a promise given to God in the most basic sense. In a moral sense, fulfillment of a promise affects the relationship of the person who made the promise with his social environment, while the vow increases the possibility of realizing the promise to be fulfilled and the responsibility on the person when religious meaning is taken. For this reason, a monk who will live a monastic life takes monastic vows with certain consequences when abandoned, in order to protect himself from certain human weaknesses in the face of the difficulties in monastic life. Although the vows vary according to different religious sects, it reduced the essence of all of them to renunciation. This renunciation can be listed as renunciation of sensual pleasures, sexual pleasures, and egocentrism. Thus, it has been observed that monks, who have been trying to lead an ascetic life since the early periods of Christianity, try to make this life more livable by imposing certain responsibilities on themselves within the framework of unwritten rules. As a matter of fact, it is known that every person has certain needs such as acquiring property and innate sexuality in order to continue his life to a certain extent. At this point, it is thought that a person can dull or at least suppress some of his natural needs under the command of a certain authority. When viewed in Christianity, monasteries have always been the right place for this purpose. Because the goal of monastic life is the cleansing of the soul from passions and the soul from dangerous desires. When this purification is embodied, the primary goal of the monk is to lead a life within the framework of the concepts of poverty, celibacy, obedience and stability. Thus, based on the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is seen that certain principles that should be followed by religious people who want to be perfect have turned into monastic vows. From the early stages of Christianity, the ascetics who have adopted a reclusive life have adopted the “Benedictine Vows” of “obedience, stability and conversatio morum”, which bind them to religious life and each have clear legal consequences when violated, and since the 13th century, they have pledged to fulfill the “Evangelical Counsels” comprising vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Christian monasteries, which assumed a systematic and institutional identity with Saint Benedict in the 6th century, cannot be mentioned about the monastic vows that were systematically applied until this period. For this reason, it is possible to say that the monastic vows entered the monastic literature with the Benedictine Rule. The monastic vows adopted by Benedict had a significant effect on the institutionalization of monasteries and their survival for centuries. It is seen that these institutions have a solid infrastructure with the vow of unconditional obedience taken in order not to interrupt the work and operation of the monastery, the vow of stability that promises to stay in the monastery until death, and the conversatio morum that expresses fidelity to the monastery life. Although it is known that the social, political and cultural developments of the period were among the reasons that led Saint Benedict to formalize these vows, it is also seen that these vows served under the purpose of “reaching the spiritual goal” of a monk devoted to the monastery. It is known that the Benedictine Rule, which was the most widely used monastic rule in Europe from the 6th to the 13th centuries, lost its effectiveness with the emergence of mendicant orders such as the Franciscan and Dominican orders. Apparently reformed according to the conditions of the period and called “Evangelical Counsels”, these new monastic vows were recognized not only by the monasteries but also by the Church. It is required to give up money and material properties, which are an important obstacle in front of focusing on God with the vow of poverty. It is expected that the vow of celibacy / chastity, which requires the practice of self-control and sacrifice, and sexuality and desire to be a parent, are presented to God as a gift. With the vow of obedience, it is required to surrender to the will of God. Today, the Catholic Church officially recognizes these three vows as the defining element of “consecrated life”.

Keywords:

Christianity, Monasticism, Monastic Vows, Benedictine Vows, Evangelical Counsels,

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