Mendicant
Mendicant refers to begging or relying on charitable donations, and is most widely used for religious followers or ascetics who rely exclusively on charity to survive. The idea of a minister of the Kingdom of God appointed by Jesus who was the Christ to his called out ministers needing to beg from house to house[1] is contrary to the Doctrines of Jesus.
In principle, mendicant orders or followers do not own property, either individually or collectively, and have taken a vow of poverty, in order that all their time and energy could be expended on practicing or preaching their religion or way of life and serving the poor. But what people do not understand is that the vow of poverty is to simply help keep the ministers who come in one accord separate from the world.
When the Levites were the called out or Church in the Wilderness they were similar to the mendicant monks for a brief moment in time until the Golden calf was dismantled. When they stepped out of that system set up around that Golden calf they left their wealth behind. That took courage and faith.
They were poor and their faith in righteousness gave them that courage. But their purpose was not to be poor and mendicant but to serve the tents of the congregations of the people. They were eventually given land that they held in common when they entered the promised land.
They were also given Breeches by the people.
Understanding the Levites may help us understand the early Church and the kingdom of God.
When the ministers of Christ were sent out without purse for a season they were mendicant.
- Mark 6:8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:
- Luke 10:4 Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.
But later like the Levites who came out with little or nothing of their national right to the estate of the the Walled_camp of the Golden_calf they were allowed a purse.
- Luke 22:36 Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take [it], and likewise [his] scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.
So while all ministers may experience a certain training time with little or no purse God knows that ministers must also care for their families. The early Church ministers were almost always married and even appear as husband and wife teams. This is The Way of God.
The ministers of God were not meant to be like some of the mendicant monks of the middle ages which evolved into little more than religious beggars like the ascetic sadhus of India. They wear their poverty as a badge of righteousness taking pride in their beggar status. Their poverty becomes their treasure and the purse of their true heart.
The mendicant or Sadhu ideology makes the priests of society a burden to society. It provides no daily ministration, no alternative to the Corban of the Pharisees which makes the word of God to none effect, although it may provide a feeling of self-righteousness for the practitioner. Better to preach the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
This displaying of humble poverty will not bear the fruitful nature of God's spirit and does little to strengthen the poor. The Vow_of_poverty is only an outward sign and personal discipline that helps govern the nature of Christ's Holy Church in faith and also helps the Church remain separate from the world.
It is the Spirit that giveth life.
Mendicant Psychology
"King Jnaka preparing to renounce everything, shaved ff his head and wor the clothes of a mendicant. When his wife saw him thuse she reproved him by saying that having abandoned abundant wealh and corn, he had by this action reduced himself to desir a handful of baley. How could he now garify his guestsn dods, the seers and the ancestors? As a renunciate he had cast of all action but he had been supporting thousands of brahmanas, and many more besides. How couod he now beg the same people for his own food? His mother had been made sonless by him and his wife a widow. Rendering them helpless, what regions did he hope to atain. What he was doing was sinful and he would have neither this world nor the other. He wanted to wander around as a mendicant, but he had been like a large and sacred lake to all the creatures whose thirst he had quenched and susstained. ... Mendicants were supported by householders. A giver of food was the giver of life. Coming out from among those who led a domestic life, mendicants depended on charity. A true mendicant was one who renounced the possessions and pleasures of the world in a sincere fame of mind. Unattache heart, though attached in outward show, standing aloof from the world having broken all his bonds, and regrding friend and foe equally, he was truly emancipated." Foundations of Indian Psychology, Volume 1: Theories and Concepts By Misra Cornelissen Verma
MENDICANCY . As a religious term, mendicancy (from the Latin mendicare, "to beg") denotes renunciation of all worldly possessions and the practice of begging alms from door to door.
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