Varieties of Monastic Experience in Byzantium, 800-1453

Alice-Mary Talbot

Description

In this unprecedented introduction to Byzantine monasticism, based on the Conway Lectures she delivered at the University of Notre Dame in 2014, Alice-Mary Talbot surveys the various forms of monastic life in the Byzantine Empire between the ninth and fifteenth centuries. It includes chapters on male monastic communities (mostly cenobitic, but some idiorrhythmic in late Byzantium), nuns and nunneries, hermits and holy mountains, and a final chapter on alternative forms of monasticism, including recluses, stylites, wandering monks, holy fools, nuns disguised as monks, and unaffiliated monks and nuns.

This original monograph does not attempt to be a history of Byzantine monasticism but rather emphasizes the multiplicity of ways in which Byzantine men and women could devote their lives to service to God, with an emphasis on the tension between the two basic modes of monastic life, cenobitic and eremitic. It stresses the individual character of each Byzantine monastic community in contrast to the monastic orders of the Western medieval world, and yet at the same time demonstrates that there were more connections between certain groups of monasteries than previously realized. The most original sections include an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing hermits in the wilderness, and special attention to enclosed monks (recluses) and urban monks and nuns who lived independently outside of monastic complexes. Throughout, Talbot highlights some of the distinctions between the monastic life of men and women, and makes comparisons of Byzantine monasticism with its Western medieval counterpart.

Between the ninth and fifteenth centuries hermits could be found in almost any isolated location in the Byzantine countryside, but they were particularly attracted to mountainous territory. In Greece and Anatolia the dense forests, lofty ridges, deep ravines, natural caves, and vertical cliff faces on mountains such as Athos offered unparalleled possibilities for solitaries to hide away in a secluded spot for years on end in solitude and tranquility. Gradually such mountains attracted sizable numbers of hermits, and subsequently cenobitic monasteries were founded as well. As monastic pioneers, both eremitic and cenobitic, began to tame the wilderness by inhabiting caves and building huts, cisterns, and chapels, then full-fledged monasteries, they also hallowed the landscape. They exorcized demons by recitation of prayers and psalms as they walked the mountainous paths, by making the sign of the cross and carving it on rocks, by the celebration of the liturgy, and by attracting pilgrims. Eventually these mountains attained a sacred character and began to be termed “holy,” in emulation of earlier holy mountains in the Levant, such as Mounts Sinai, Carmel, and Tabor. Among the earliest in the Aegean area were Mount Saint Auxentios near Constantinople (founded in the fifth century), Mount Latros near Miletos (founded in the seventh century), Mount Olympos near Prousa (where monasticism began to flourish in the eighth century), and Mount Athos (where the first hermits are attested in the ninth century). The access of women to these holy mountains, as visitors or residents, was sometimes totally prohibited, as on Athos and at Meteora, or restricted, as on Galesion, which had no nunneries at all on the mountain itself, but permitted the foundation of a single nunnery at the base of the mountain to accommodate female relatives of monks living in the three monasteries on the slopes above. Female pilgrims were frequent visitors to Lazaros’s column, but he strongly discouraged women solitaries, probably due to fears for their personal safety.

The life of the solitary was obviously much more physically and spiritually demanding than that of a cenobitic monk. Common wisdom held that a young monk should first spend a few years in communal life in a monastery, learning to chant the monastic office and accepting the principle of obedience to a superior and a monastic typikon, before setting off on his own in the wilderness. The tenth-century typikon of Athanasios of Athos gave the following conditions for a monk who wished to withdraw to one of the Great Lavra’s five kellia: “…if he has been previously exercised in obedience, if he has learned to stay in a cell with concentration and strict guard over his mind, if he has learned to pray and keep vigil, to control himself, to exercise abstinence, to meditate, to devote himself to the study of the Scriptures with humility, and attach some importance to working with his hands, then let him be permitted to do this.” Athanasios felt that a young monk who had thus gained self-discipline and had been initiated into a rigorous regimen of meditation and prayer would better be able to withstand the physical and psychological perils of a solitary life.

Later, in the fourteenth century, when the youthful Maximos the Hutburner arrived at the Great Lavra on Athos, he asked the resident monks which path he should follow first, that of the hermit or the cenobite. The elders strongly recommended that he remain in the monastery for a while to learn humility and submission to an abbot before progressing to a contemplative life in the wilderness. It was essential for the would-be solitary ascetic to be trained in abnegation of the will, which was viewed as taking priority over self-mortification. Thus, when Athanasios, the future founder of the Great Lavra on Mount Athos, first took monastic vows on Mount Kyminas in Bithynia, the superior, Michael Maleinos, “sought to restrain his will.” When he asked to eat only once a week, the abbot ordered him to take nourishment every three days, and when Athanasios requested permission to sleep in a chair, he was told to sleep on the ground on a straw pallet. After four years of this regimen, the abbot permitted him to move to a hut one mile distant from the monastery and live as a solitary. But Athanasios remained under the supervision of the abbot, who instructed him to subsist on dry bread and a little water every other day, except during Lent when he was to eat only every fifth day. He was also expected to attend the liturgy at the monastery on weekends, as was customary for solitaries who belonged to the type of monastery called a lavra. At this time he would also share a meal in the refectory with the other monks, and take back to his hermitage food for the week and supplies for his manual labor.

Some very pious and zealous youths, however, eschewed the trial period in a monastery before embarking on the solitary life, and withdrew to the wilderness at the very beginning of their monastic careers. Here they normally became the disciples of an established and experienced hermit, a geron or elder, who served as a mentor responsible for their spiritual training. In exchange for providing services, such as foraging for food, hauling water, building fires, and carrying heavy loads, the youths would learn submission and obedience to an elder, and how to pray and chant psalms without the structure of church offices and the liturgy.

(excerpted from chapter 3)

Preface

Abbreviations

List of Illustrations

Introduction 1. Monks and Male Monasticism 2. Nuns and Nunneries 3. Hermits and Holy Mountains 4. Alternative Modes of Monasticism

Conclusion

Glossary

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Medieval
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Edad Media
• Byzantine Empire
• Monasticism
• Middle Ages
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 30 avril 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9780268105631
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

VARIETIES OF MONASTIC EXPERIENCE IN BYZANTIUM, 800–1453
The Conway Lectures in Medieval Studies 2014
The Medieval Institute gratefully acknowledges the generosity of Robert M. Conway and his support for the lecture series and the publications resulting from it.
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ALICE-MARY TALBOT
VARIETIES OF MONASTIC EXPERIENCE IN BYZANTIUM, 800–1453
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME PRESS
NOTRE DAME, INDIANA
Copyright © 2019 by the University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Published in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Talbot, Alice-Mary Maffry, author.
Title: Varieties of monastic experience in Byzantium, 800–1453 / Alice-Mary Talbot.
Description: Notre Dame : University of Notre Dame Press, 2019. | Series: The Conway Lectures in medieval studies, 2014 | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002371 (print) | LCCN 2019006928 (ebook) | ISBN 9780268105648 (pdf) | ISBN 9780268105631 (epub) | ISBN 9780268105617 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 0268105618 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780268105624 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 0268105626 (pbk. : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Monastic and religious life—Byzantine Empire. | Byzantine Empire—Church history.
Classification: LCC BX2435 (ebook) | LCC BX2435 .T35 2019 (print) | DDC 271/.81909495—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002371
∞ This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992
(Permanence of Paper).
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
ONE Monks and Male Monastic Communities
TWO Nuns and Nunneries
THREE Hermits and Holy Mountains
FOUR Alternative Modes of Monasticism
Conclusion
Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FIGURE 1 Theodore of Stoudios, eleventh-century mosaic, Nea Moni, Chios (photo: Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC)
FIGURE 2 Katholikon at the Great Lavra, Mount Athos (photo: Robert Ousterhout, Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC)
FIGURE 3 Athanasios of Athos, fresco from Protaton, Mount Athos (photo: Miodrag Marković, Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC)
FIGURE 4 Church of the Lips convent, Fenari Isa Camii (photo: Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC)
FIGURE 5 Lincoln College Typikon (Lincoln College gr. 35), fol. 12 r : group portrait of nuns from convent of Sure Hope (photo: By permission of the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford)

FIGURE 6 Lincoln College Typikon (Lincoln College gr. 35), fol. 11 r : Theodora Synadene with her daughter Euphrosyne (photo: By permission of the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford)
FIGURE 7 Portrait of Maximos the Hutburner from vita by Ioannikios Kochylas, Vatopedi 470, fol. 1 r (photo: Patriarchal Institute of Patristic Studies, Mone Vlatadon, Thessalonike)
FIGURE 8 The hermitages of Saints Gregory and Anthony, close to skete of St. Nicholas of Badova. Meteora, Greece. (photo: Hercules Milas / Alamy Stock Photo)
FIGURE 9 Cell of Neophytos the Recluse at his monastery near Paphos (photo: Image Collection and Fieldwork Archives, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC)
FIGURE 10 Luke the Stylite from Menologion of Basil II (Vaticanus gr. 1613), p. 238 (photo: ©Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
PREFACE
The theme of this book is the variety of monastic experiences in Byzantium, the many ways in which pious men and women renounced the secular world in order to devote their lives to prayer and the service of Christ. The most basic division between monastics was their choice of the communal life in a cenobitic monastery or a solitary existence as a hermit (eremitic). Many monks espoused both forms of monasticism sequentially during the course of their careers, and there was much discussion in monastic circles about which form of spiritual life was superior. A monastic founder of the early fifteenth century, the patriarch Matthew I (1397–1402, 1403–10), commented, “There are many paths of piety for athletes, since our heavenly Father also has ‘many mansions,’ or rather, since there are many paths, there are also many mansions.” 1
This book is not intended to be an overall survey of the history of Byzantine monasticism. I have more modest aims here: a typological overview that outlines the varied forms that the Byzantine monastic experience could take, and an examination of the special phenomenon of the Byzantine holy mountain, inhabited by both cenobitic monks and hermits. I emphasize the lifestyle experienced in various monastic environments rather than the differences in structure, organization, and patronage among imperial, patriarchal, and private monasteries (though I do mention this). I also discuss differences between urban and rural monasticism, and between male and female monasteries, and describe unusual institutions, such as double and idiorrhythmic monasteries, and monastic houses restricted to eunuchs. Finally, I investigate those who chose alternative lifestyles: wandering monks, transvestite nuns, holy fools, recluses, stylites, and the shadowy figures of quasi-autonomous monks and nuns who lived in a city or village outside the confines of a monastery and the authority of a superior, sometimes in their own or others’ homes. I cover the ninth to fifteenth centuries and with rare exceptions focus on the heartlands of the middle and late Byzantine Empire, Greece and Anatolia, with occasional forays into Italo-Greek monasticism.
It is somewhat surprising that no book-length synthetic overview of Byzantine monasticism exists in any language. So far, Peter Hatlie has been the only scholar brave enough to attempt to meet this need. In 2007, he published The Monks and Monasteries of Constantinople, ca. 350–850 , but it is limited in geographical scope to the imperial capital and covers only the first half of the history of the empire. He has announced a sequel, Byzantine Monasticism, ca. 850–1450 , which promises to expand its geographical coverage beyond Constantinople. The time is now ripe for such a publication, since many of the primary sources on monasticism have been made accessible in recent decades through exemplary editions and translations. I am referring, for example, to the splendid series of the Archives de l’Athos, which is publishing the surviving documents from twenty Athonite monasteries—to date twenty-two volumes have appeared—and to the five-volume collection of monastic foundation rules in translation published by Dumbarton Oaks in 2000, Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. Also essential are the reference works prepared by the Assumptionist Fathers in Paris, such as Raymond Janin’s monumental tomes on the monasteries and churches of Constantinople and the provinces, and the Regestes of the patriarchal acts edited by Venance Grumel, Vitalien Laurent, and Jean Darrouzès. The other indispensable sources for this study are the numerous saints’ lives published over many years in Brussels by the Bollandists in the Acta Sanctorum , Analecta Bollandiana , and volumes of the Subsidia Hagiographica. These have been supplemented in recent years by a spate of English translations of Byzantine hagiographical texts in different series.
I have long had an interest in Byzantine monasticism, especially in convents for nuns, and in the tensions between the communal regimen of the cenobitic monastery and the solitary life of the hermit; as a result, much of my scholarship has involved the editing and translation of texts relating to monastic rules and the lives of monks and nuns. Thus, in 2011 when I was invited by the late and lamented Olivia Remie Constable to deliver the 2014 Conway Lectures at the University of Notre Dame, I thought the time was right to focus on the forms of Byzantine monasticism that prevailed during the second half of the Byzantine Empire, approximately 800–1453. The three lectures I delivered—on cenobitic monks, nuns, and hermits—have been revised and expanded and make up the first three chapt