Folia Canonica 5. (2002)
STUDIES - W. Becket Soule: Hermits in Current Eastern Catholic Legislation; CCEO cc. 481-485
156 W. BECKET SOULE III. REQUIRED PREPARATION FOR THE EREMITICAL LIFE Can. 482 - Ad vitam eremiticam legitime aggrediendam requiritur, ut sodalis licentiam Superioris monasterii sui iuris, ad quod pertinet, de consensu eius consilii obtinuerit et saltem sex annos a die perpetuae professionis computandos vitam in monasterio peregerit. Can. 482 - In order to undertake the eremitical legitimately, it is necessary that the member obtain the permission of the superior of the monastery sui iuris to which the member belongs, with the consent of the council, and has lived in the monastery at least six years calculated from the day of perpetual profession. The hermit does not lose the status of a monk, and remains subject to the monastic superior. This form of life, indeed, may not be undertaken without the permission of the superior of the monastery sui iuris; the superior may grant the necessary permission only under the conditions prescribed by the law: (a) that the superior has obtained the consent of the superior’s council; (b) that the monk has been in monastic profession for at least six years, calculated from the date of perpetual profession. It is not sufficient to calculate the six years from the date of first profession, if that was temporary profession; (c) the monk must have lived in the monastery sui iuris for at least six years. Thus, a monk who has been perpetually professed but has lived in another monastery for part of the time since that profession, must live for at least six years in the monastery from whose superior permission is sought (the time spent in the monastery from which a transfer was made cannot be counted in the computation of the six years). In order to give the permission to lead an eremitical life, it is not sufficient to follow only the norms of cc. 481-483, but a period of adequate preparation is important as well as the acquisition of the necessary requisites for leading this new life. Theodore Balsamon, commenting on c. 41 of the Council in Trullo (691), paid special attention to the preparation necessary to live the eremitical life: It is a great matter to live the eremitical life in solitude, and something truly audacious to undertake. It is to enclose one’s self in a tiny little dwelling, as if one were dead for the entire rest of one’s life. Therefore it was determined by the Fathers, that not everyone could be enclosed, or just anywhere, or in any fashion, without a diligent investigation. Rather, it is only for him who wished to do this, after he has shown himself to be subject and docile to the one who governs the monastery for three years, and who declares fully from what has gone before what was his way of life in the past. He is to do this under the probation and examination of the bishop of that region. Then he is to carry himself bravely outside of the cloister for 26 G. A. Rhalles-M. Potles, (edd.), Só vary q a twv 0eiwv koci iepwv Kavovwv, Athens 1852, II, 403. one year. 26 26
