Course 3 · Solitary Christian
The Rule of Life
Learn how Christians have ordered their days around prayer, Scripture, fasting and rest, and build and test a rule of life of your own.
Overview
A rule of life is a written and realistic pattern for the day, the week and the year. It says when you will pray, what you will read, when you will rest, how you will fast and give, and how you will serve the people around you. The idea is old. Pachomius, Basil of Caesarea and Benedict of Nursia each wrote rules for communities, and their rules have been adapted for ordinary Christians in every century since.
This course is about practice. It teaches the main elements of a Christian rule in the order a beginner can use them: the hours of prayer, the Psalms, slow reading of Scripture, the short prayer of the heart, fasting and almsgiving, the Sabbath and the church year, examination of conscience, and the seasons of silence and retreat. It also takes up the parts of a rule that are often neglected: work, hospitality, dryness, boredom and the temptation to quit.
Each tradition is described as its own members would describe it. Catholic and Orthodox Christians teach that confession of sins to a priest and the Eucharist belong to the ordained ministry of the church. Many Protestants teach that confession to God is direct and that confession to a trusted Christian is helpful, and they differ on who may preside at the Lord’s Supper. The course states these positions plainly and then shows what a person can do alone in each case. It does not assume that you intend to join a church or denomination, and it does not claim that private prayer replaces communal and sacramental life.
The course is taught through short lessons, primary readings from the tradition, daily Scripture practice and a thirty-day trial. By the end you will have written a rule, kept it, recorded what worked and what failed, revised it, and identified honestly which of its parts your own tradition says require a church or an ordained minister.
Objectives
- Describe what a rule of life is and compare the rules of Pachomius, Basil and Benedict in their purpose and structure.
- Explain the origin and structure of fixed-hour prayer and the Divine Office, and design a simple version for your own day.
- Pray the Psalms as the church has prayed them, and identify the main kinds of psalm.
- Practice lectio divina and explain the Jesus Prayer, with its history and its cautions.
- Place fasting, almsgiving, Sabbath rest and the church year in a weekly and yearly pattern.
- Carry out an examination of conscience, and state what Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions teach about confession and what a person can do alone.
- State which acts of worship the traditions say require a church or an ordained minister, and which can be done alone.
- Plan seasons of silence and retreat, and fit work, rest and hospitality into a rule.
- Recognize dryness, acedia and doubt, and apply the traditional counsel on perseverance.
- Draft, keep for thirty days, review and revise a personal rule of life.
Course outline
Module 1 The Idea of a Rule
Learn what a rule of life is by reading the three great rule-writers of the early church and discovering what they share.
Topics
- The rule of life in the monastic tradition (Pachomius, Basil, Benedict)
Lessons
Module 2 The Hours and the Psalms
See how Christians sanctify the day through fixed times of prayer, and learn to use the Psalms as the church’s own prayer book.
Topics
- Fixed-hour prayer and the Divine Office
- The Psalms as the prayer book of the church
Lessons
Module 3 Scripture and the Prayer of the Heart
Learn to read Scripture slowly as prayer and to pray with few words, using the traditions of lectio divina and the Jesus Prayer.
Topics
- Lectio divina and meditative Scripture reading
- The prayer of the heart and the Jesus Prayer
Lessons
Module 4 Fasting, Giving, Rest and the Year
Place the body, money and time inside the rule through fasting, almsgiving, Sabbath and the rhythm of the church year.
Topics
- Fasting, almsgiving, Sabbath rest and the church year
Lessons
Module 5 Conscience, Confession and Worship Alone
Practice self-examination, learn what the traditions teach about confession and the sacraments, and sort what can be done alone from what cannot.
Topics
- Examination of conscience and confession: what traditions teach and what can be done alone
- Worship alone: what can and cannot be done without a church or ordained minister
Lessons
- Examination of conscience: methods old and new
- Confession in the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions
- Repentance, confession to God and to a trusted person when no minister is available
- What worship alone can include: prayer, Scripture, song, the hours
- What the traditions say requires a church or ordained minister
Module 6 Seasons and Ordinary Duties
Learn how silence and retreat fit into a year and how a rule serves, rather than replaces, work, rest and hospitality.
Topics
- Silence, retreat and solitude as seasons
- Work, rest, hospitality and the duties of ordinary life
Lessons
Module 7 Dryness, Perseverance and Review
Prepare for the days and months when prayer feels empty, and build the review habits that keep a rule honest.
Topics
- Dryness, acedia, doubt and perseverance
- Keeping a rule honest: accountability and review
Lessons
Suggested schedule
| When | Work |
|---|---|
| Week 1 | Module 1: The Idea of a Rule |
| Week 2 | Module 2: The Hours and the Psalms |
| Week 3 | Module 3: Scripture and the Prayer of the Heart |
| Week 4 | Module 4: Fasting, Giving, Rest and the Year |
| Week 5 | Module 5: Conscience, Confession and Worship Alone |
| Week 6 | Module 6: Seasons and Ordinary Duties |
| Week 7 | Module 7: Dryness, Perseverance and Review |
| Week 8 | Independent assignment and self-assessment |
Readings
Required
- Benedict of Nursia, The Rule of St. Benedict
The short, sensible rule that shaped Western monastic life. The best model for writing a personal rule of life.
How to use it: Read the Prologue, chapters 8 to 20 on the hours of prayer, chapter 48 on daily manual labor, and chapter 53 on hospitality. Note how the Rule sets measure and moderation above heroics.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library)Another translation (Project Gutenberg) In the library - John Cassian, The Institutes
Practical instruction for monks, gathered from the Egyptian desert. A rich source for the daily rule.
How to use it: Read Books 2 and 3 on the canonical hours and psalmody, and Book 5 on the eight vices, noting what Cassian says about acedia in Book 10. Read selectively.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - John Cassian, The Conferences
Conversations with desert elders about prayer, discernment and the inner life. Core reading for Courses 17 and 20.
How to use it: Read the conferences on prayer and on perseverance. Use them for the discussion of ceaseless prayer and the practical difficulties of keeping a rule.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - Benedicta Ward, trans., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection
The standard English translation of the short sayings of the desert elders. Read a few every day.
How to use it: Read a few sayings each day. Look for advice on perseverance, on discouragement and on the cell. Copy three into your notebook.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library - Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church
The authoritative modern summary of Catholic teaching. Read it to understand what Catholics actually claim, in their own words.
How to use it: Read Part Four, on Christian prayer, and the sections on the sacrament of penance. Use them to learn the Catholic position on prayer and confession in its own words.
Read online (Vatican) In the library - Martin Luther, The Small Catechism
Luther’s short teaching on the Commandments, the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the sacraments.
How to use it: Read the Lord’s Prayer, the short morning and evening prayers and the section on confession. Compare them with the Catholic text.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library
Recommended
- Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God
Short letters and conversations of a lay brother who learned to pray while washing dishes. Ideal for solitary practice.
How to use it: A short and practical model of prayer woven into ordinary work.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Thomas a Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
A quiet devotional classic loved by Christians of every tradition.
How to use it: Read selectively for advice on interior life, inner peace and the reading of Scripture.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Athanasius of Alexandria, Life of St. Anthony
The story of Anthony of Egypt that spread the ideal of the desert across the Christian world. Central to the solitary tradition.
How to use it: Read selectively for Anthony’s habits of prayer, work and discernment, and for how a rule begins.
Read online (New Advent (Church Fathers)) In the library - John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion
The most influential Reformed theology. Book IV is the best statement of the Reformed view of church and sacraments.
How to use it: Read the part of Book 3 on prayer for a Reformed teaching on how and why to pray.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Zacharias Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism
A warm, pastoral Reformation catechism. A good short example of how Protestants teach the faith to beginners.
How to use it: Read the section on the Lord’s Prayer for a Protestant catechetical approach to daily prayer.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Westminster Assembly, The Westminster Confession of Faith
The classic confession of English-speaking Reformed and Presbyterian Protestantism. It is printed in Schaff’s volume of Protestant creeds; use the contents list to find it.
How to use it: Read the chapters on repentance, worship and the Sabbath for a Protestant confession on these subjects.
Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3 (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Timothy (Kallistos) Ware, The Orthodox Church
A widely used introduction to Orthodox history, worship and belief written by an Orthodox bishop.
How to use it: Read selectively on Orthodox worship, the Jesus Prayer and the Orthodox understanding of confession.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library - Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World
A short and widely loved Orthodox introduction to the sacramental view of life and worship.
How to use it: A short Orthodox reflection on worship, time and the daily world.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library - Pachomius, The Rules of Pachomius (English translation by G. H. Schodde, from the Ethiopic)
The oldest rules for common monastic life, from the founder of the Egyptian communal monasteries. This English version translates the Ethiopic collection, not Jerome’s Latin version (c. 404), which is listed in the Fourth Century Christianity catalog. Read it beside the Rule of Benedict.
How to use it: Read selectively to see the oldest surviving rule for common life. This is an English version of the Ethiopic text, not Jerome’s Latin.
Read the PDF (Westminster Abbey, Mission, B.C.)Catalog entry for Jerome’s Latin version (Fourth Century Christianity) In the library - Basil of Caesarea, The Ascetic Works of Saint Basil (the Long Rules and Short Rules), translated by W. K. L. Clarke
Basil’s answers on how to live the monastic life in community, in the Longer Rules and the Shorter Rules. Clarke’s introduction and notes help a first-time reader. The Rule of Benedict and Orthodox monastic practice both draw on this work.
How to use it: Read selectively in the Long and Short Rules, noting how Basil ties solitude to life in community.
Read or download (Internet Archive) In the library - Anonymous (Russian, 19th century), The Way of a Pilgrim (translated by R. M. French)
The story of a Russian wanderer who learns to pray the Jesus Prayer without ceasing. The best known popular book on Orthodox prayer. French’s translation is from the Russian.
How to use it: A narrative of the Jesus Prayer in practice. Read it with the cautions in Course 17 in mind.
Read online (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) In the library - Evagrius Ponticus, The Praktikos and On Prayer (in Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus, translated by Robert E. Sinkewicz)
The desert teacher who first set out the eight evil thoughts and a method of pure prayer. His ideas shaped Cassian and later monastic teaching. Some of his speculative theology was condemned later, so read him with a guide. No free English text was verified, so this entry points to library and bookstore catalogs.
How to use it: Read the Praktikos on the eight thoughts and On Prayer. A catalog search, since no free text was found.
Find in a library or bookstore catalog (Open Library) In the library
Passages in the Scripture Study
- Psalm 119:164 Praise seven times a day, one root of the practice of fixed hours.
- Daniel 6:10 Daniel prays three times a day, an example of fixed times of prayer.
- Acts 3:1 Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer.
- Luke 11:2 Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer, the model of Christian prayer.
- Psalm 1:2 The one who meditates on the law day and night, a root of meditative reading.
- Luke 18:13 The tax collector’s short prayer, which later writers connect with the Jesus Prayer.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing, and how the tradition understood it.
- Matthew 6:16 Jesus on fasting without display.
- Isaiah 58:6 The fast God chooses: justice and care for the oppressed.
- Exodus 20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, the commandment behind weekly rest.
- Mark 2:27 The Sabbath was made for humankind.
- Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God: a prayer for self-examination.
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive.
- James 5:16 Confess to one another, a text read differently by the traditions.
- Luke 10:41 Martha and Mary: the balance of service and attention.
- Hebrews 13:2 Hospitality to strangers.
Independent assignment
A Thirty-Day Rule of Life
- Purpose
- To design a realistic personal rule of life, keep it for thirty days, record what happens, and revise it honestly.
- Instructions
- Write a short account of your present day: when you wake, work, eat, rest and sleep, and where prayer and Scripture reading could fit without distorting your duties.
- Draft a daily pattern: the times and lengths of prayer, the Scripture you will read, a short examination of conscience, and a form of the Jesus Prayer or other short prayer if you choose.
- Draft a weekly pattern: a day of rest or worship, a fast if you will keep one, an act of giving or service, a longer period of reading, and any meeting with a trusted person.
- Draft a yearly pattern: the church seasons you will keep, any retreat days, and the dates on which you will review the rule.
- State plainly which practices in your rule your own tradition says require a church or ordained minister, such as the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper, absolution, baptism and blessing. Say what you will do about each: take part elsewhere, wait, or hold a different conviction, and give your reasons.
- Name your safeguards: the sacrifices you will not make (such as sleep, family time or work), the person to whom you will report, and the signs that would tell you the rule is harming you.
- Keep the rule for thirty days. Each day write two or three lines: what you did, what you skipped, how you felt and what you noticed.
- At day fifteen, review the record honestly and make one change. At day thirty, write a longer review: what worked, what failed, why, and what you will change.
- Write the revised rule as a clean copy, with a date for the next review.
- Required sources
- At least three of the required readings.
- At least six of the Scripture passages listed for this course.
- At least one Catholic, one Orthodox and one Protestant source on prayer, confession or the sacraments.
- Length and scope
- The rule itself should be two to four pages. The daily record is a few lines a day. The final review is about 1,000 to 1,500 words. Keep all of it in your own notebook or document. Do not send it anywhere.
- Questions to address
- What is the purpose of each element in my rule, and what would I lose if I dropped it?
- Which practices does my own tradition say require a church or ordained minister, and what will I do about them?
- What did I fail to keep, and was the cause the rule, my circumstances or my effort?
- Where did dryness, boredom or resistance appear, and what did I do?
- Who will tell me honestly whether the rule is helping or harming me?
- Expected output
- A written rule of life with daily, weekly and yearly patterns, a statement on practices needing a church or minister, a thirty-day record, and a revised rule with a review date.
- How it will be evaluated
- The rule is realistic for the circumstances of the student’s actual life.
- The daily, weekly and yearly patterns are concrete and can be checked.
- The statement about practices needing a church or minister is accurate, fair to the relevant tradition and honest about the student’s own choice.
- The record is honest about failures as well as successes.
- The revision follows from the record and not from preference alone.
- Sources are used and cited correctly, from the traditions’ own texts.
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Writing a rule so demanding that it cannot be kept for a week.
- Treating a rule as a way to earn God’s favor instead of a way to order attention.
- Giving up sleep, family time or work for the sake of the rule.
- Describing what a tradition teaches from memory or from critics, not from its own texts.
- Recording only successes in the thirty-day record.
Knowledge check and self-assessment
What is a rule of life, and what is its purpose?
A rule of life is a pattern of prayer, reading, work, rest and service that a person or community agrees to keep. The word rule comes from the Latin regula, a measuring stick or guide. Its purpose is not to earn God’s favor but to give daily life a shape in which attention to God becomes habitual. Benedict called his Rule a school for the Lord’s service, and said he intended nothing harsh or burdensome.
Who were Pachomius, Basil and Benedict, and what did each contribute to the idea of a rule?
Pachomius (c. 292 to 346), an Egyptian, organized monks into communities with a common life and is traditionally credited with early written rules. Basil of Caesarea (c. 330 to 379) wrote the Long and Short Rules, which shaped Eastern monasticism and stressed life in community and service to the poor. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 to c. 547) wrote the Rule of St. Benedict, a moderate and balanced rule that became the foundation of Western monasticism.
What is the Divine Office, and how does it relate to fixed-hour prayer?
The Divine Office, also called the Liturgy of the Hours, is the set of daily prayers, mainly Psalms and readings, that the church prays at fixed times. In the West the hours include Lauds, Vespers and Compline. In the East the daily cycle is arranged differently. Both grow from the older practice of praying at set times of the day, as in Daniel 6:10 and Acts 3:1.
Why do Christians call the Psalms the prayer book of the church?
Because the church has used them for prayer from the earliest centuries, in services and in private. The New Testament quotes the Psalms often, and Christians read them as prayers that Christ himself prayed and that the church prays in him. Psalms cover lament, praise, thanksgiving, trust and instruction, and so give words to many moods. Some are harsh, and the tradition offers ways of reading them, but the Psalms remain the most-used prayers in Christian worship.
Describe the four movements of lectio divina and how it differs from study.
Lectio divina has four traditional movements: lectio, slow reading of a short passage; meditatio, thinking about its words; oratio, speaking to God in response; and contemplatio, resting in God’s presence. It differs from study because study asks what the text meant and how it fits the larger picture, while lectio divina listens for how the text addresses the reader in prayer. The two work together and do not replace each other.
What is the Jesus Prayer, and what cautions does the tradition give about it?
The Jesus Prayer is a short prayer, usually ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner,’ repeated slowly. It is especially valued in Orthodox Christianity but is used by others. Orthodox writers warn against forcing physical techniques, against seeking visions, and against practicing alone without any guidance or without humility. It should be treated as a simple prayer of repentance and trust, not as a method that produces special experiences.
What do the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions teach about confession, and what can a person do alone?
Catholic and Orthodox Christians teach that sacramental absolution is given by a priest, though in different forms. Many Protestants teach that believers confess directly to God and may confess to a trusted Christian, and some, such as Lutherans, retain private confession and absolution by a minister. Alone, a person can examine conscience, repent, confess to God, make amends and ask for forgiveness. Whether this completes forgiveness depends on the tradition; Catholics and Orthodox would say sacramental absolution is still needed.
What is acedia, and what did the desert tradition recommend against it?
Acedia is a spiritual weariness or restlessness, often described as boredom, discouragement and the wish to quit. Evagrius called it the noonday demon, and Cassian described it at length. The tradition recommended staying put, keeping to the appointed work and prayer, doing simple tasks with patience, and telling a trusted elder. The advice is to endure, not to treat the feeling as a command to change one’s whole life.
Judge your own progress
- When you finish the modules, answer the knowledge questions from memory, without notes. Aim for 70 percent or better; if you score lower, reread the relevant module and try again.
- Keep your thirty-day rule and write the review. Wait three days, reread the review and mark every place where you were vague or flattering to yourself.
- Check your work against the evaluation criteria in the assignment. Rate each criterion as strong, adequate or weak and write one sentence on how you would improve each weak one.
- Return to the key ideas of the course after 1 day, 7 days, 30 days and 90 days. At each point, state aloud the elements of your rule, which practices need a church or minister in your tradition, and what you do on a day when you do not want to pray.
- You can explain the main elements of a rule of life and the sources they come from without notes.
- You can state the Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant views on confession and worship so that a member of each would recognize them.
- Your rule is concrete, has been tested, and has been revised honestly from the record.