There is a scene in the movie The Da Vinci Code where Silas, the mad Opus Dei monk is seen whipping himself in imitation of the flogging of Christ, and using the cilice (a chain wrapped around either the thigh or stomach – pictured below) to cause discomfort. In fact the actual penitential practice of Opus is more restrained, but this is what many think of when the word 'asceticism' is mentioned.
You see a much more subtle form in the film Into Great Silence. For the hermit-monks of the Carthusian order, the strictest in Catholicism, asceticism consists of silence, slowing down, and of a continuous, life-long daily routine of discipline, prayer and contemplation.
Asceticism was always an essential part of Christian spirituality. The word is derived from Greek askesis meaning 'exercise' or 'training'. The term can be traced back to Stoics, Cynics, and to eastern religions including Buddhism.
It is also a core part of the teaching of Jesus. "If anyone would come after me let them deny self and take up the cross and follow me". In the gospels it contains two elements: Leaving the self behind, and following Christ. The call to follow Christ involves a constant watchfulness — "Keep awake for the Lord is coming", a commitment to the poor, and fasting. In the case of some followers it also involves renunciation of possessions and celibacy. The same ideal can be found in St Paul: "I punish my body and enslave it so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified".
In the early church and during the Roman persecutions, martyrdom was the ideal form of asceticism. After Constantine the cult of martyrdom transmuted in a cult of virginity. This began with the hermits in the desert and developed into monasticism.
Not all of these developments led to positive results. A profound devaluation of the body infected Christianity, which continued on into the Middle Ages and in some forms is still with us. Notions of asceticism were rejected at the Reformation and the humanist ideal was resurrected during the Renaissance, although an emphasis on asceticism continued in the Catholic church.
What does this mean today? Does it have any application to our lives?
Christian asceticism today is not so much about disciplining the body as living in a world where the cultural and religious structures that supported spiritual commitment in the past seem to