Godly Comparisons

       An Abbot is someone who brings together the community and brings to light the situation at hand so that the matter can be discussed and be put into action. This can be compared to the House of Representatives  the Senate and Head of State. These people are persons who bring the community together to inform them of the happenings in the society and what course of action needs to be taken for the people to live out their lives to the best of their abilities. In my opinion an Abbot is not an Abbot because of political office, but, rather, they are persons who are capable of bringing people together and performing the needs of prudence and justice. They are given power by being representatives of the majority of the people that they rule and bring to congregation. They are not in themselves Abbots without the characteristics of honor, loyalty, fairness and justice. Their qualities must be above the layman’s in these characteristics to be true Abbots.

      An Abbess is someone who is worthy to serve in the place of God. She should possess qualities that allow her to teach and command with divinity. She should seek to be able to mold into her disciples the divine teachings and instill obedience in her disciples. An Abbess can be compared to heads of churches, mosques, temples or any religious institute. These people teach the teachings of God and lead their people to paths of peace, happiness, fulfillment and divine justice. An Abbess is someone who truly cares for the people and answers to God for her method of teaching. She or he, in this contemporary view, possesses the ability to teach to the people the ways of religion or spirituality. It is her or his job to lead the people (the disciples) to obedience, love, self-respect and glory.

     The Cenobites are those who live in religious factions and serve the Abbot. Cenobites can be seen as priests or priestesses that serve the people through serving the Abbot and the Abbess. It is a combination of a Godly view and a communal view where the community is represented by the Abbot and the ideals of God are represented by the Abbess. The purpose of the Cenobites is to serve. They serve the community by combining religious or spiritual factors with communal needs and realities. Cenobites can also be likened to the lower branches of government such as the judicial branches. They serve the Abbot through execution of the law.

     The Anchorites or Hermits are the people who fight for god and against the devil. They fight temptation and their own evil ideas. These people can be paralleled with the military. The soldiers fight to protect the nation or the community from evils and to persevere over adversity in the name of their beliefs. They are connected to the Abbess in their Godliness, but they serve the Abbot in his communal needs. To be an Anchorite one must be dedicated to their country and must possess many of the qualities of an Abbot. They must seek out honor, loyalty, fairness and justice. The Anchorites of Hermits seek out justice in the name of their Abbot.

     The Sarabaites seek out self-gratification and call holy only the things that they enjoy, while calling those things that they cannot enjoy unholy. These people can be compared to the public. The public is often ruled by self-serving desires and can only see things from their own perspective. They are not bad per se, rather they are ruled by emotion and gratification. These people have a personal law and are not directly connected to being ruled by an Abbot or an Abbess. They are the everyday person who may be represented by the Abbott or government, but is not ruled by the same characteristics of an Abbot or Abbess in their daily lives.

     Gyrouagues are those that are unstable and constantly moving. They abide by no law and are not directly associated with the Abbot or the Abbess. They make their own way through life never settling long enough to acquire the necessary tools of skills of being a regular citizen (or Sarabaite in this analogy). Their unruly emotions and unstable temperament requires them to be in a state of constant change, never adapting to the norms of society.

     Our society is set up not unlike that of the Rule of St. Benedict. We have a government, which is like the Abbot, religious or spiritual leaders, which are like unto the Abbess. We have Cenobites that are priest and priestesses of the Abbess or the judicial branch of government that serves the Abbot in his needs to execute the law. Anchorites or Hermits that fight against the devil and temptation and their own thoughts are the military personnel. These people still serve the Abbot. Sarabites are the lay-persons of our society and the Gyrouagues are the people who tend to be outcasts of society. The Rule of St. Benedict stands true even today.