"Whenever weighty matters are to be transacted in the monastery, let the Abbot call together the whole community, and make known the matter which is to be considered. Having heard the brethren’s views, let him weigh the matter with himself and do what he thinketh best. It is for this reason, however, we said that all should be called for counsel, because the Lord often revealeth to the younger what is best."
St. Benedict believed a concerted effort at consensus building should always proceed executive decisions.
While he believed in the patriarchal authority of the Abbot, this was not to be misconstrued as arbitrary or impulsive authority.
If you pay attention to his words (e.g. use of the words "weigh", "counsel", etc.), there were reciprocal duties and obligations at the heart if this complimentary "social contract" if you will that places the Abbot as a kind of Solomon before a legal case with two sides of an argument:
"But as it becometh disciples to obey their master", Benedict concludes of this day, "so also it becometh the master to dispose all things with prudence and justice."
Yes, the father must excel all in these virtues.
How can a good fatherly figure execute sound judgements for the greater good if he doesn't have the input of those impacted by his decisions?
He cannot.
Therefore, the man with the greatest obedience-- that is, quite literally the greatest ear-- is the one who would happen to have the most authority.
On this point, we must note the subtext of the Rule: It is never said openly but strongly implied that the Abbot himself would have been previously shaped by this Holy Rule. Like a dutiful NCO, the Abbot will not ask others what he has not already done himself. The greatest leaders have followed so dutifully what was ordered of them that they know how the rule should be executed all the way down to the lowliest members.
This is authority in a monastic setting where it achieves true harmony of the parts and the whole where there is to be no privledge of birth.
Nobody here cares who your father is. They care immensely who your Abbot is.
And as the Lord reminds us, there is a world of difference between the two:
"Think ye, that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, no; but separation. "For there shall be from henceforth five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three."The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against his father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law." (Luke 12:51-53).
Rather, it is by an otherworldly noblesse oblige that is uniquely Christian such that the first truly can be said to be last and the last, first. As we look at the role of the Abbot, we see this dictum of the Christ materialise in godly authority.
Godspeed, dear reader!
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