Monks and Monasteries in Late Antique Egypt by Ewa Wipszycka (Review)

The Second Gift of the Nile: Monks and Monasteries in Late Antique Egypt by Ewa Wipszycka (review) Caroline T. Schroeder Journal of Orthodox Christian Studies, Volume 3, Number 1, 2020, pp. 111-113 (Review) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/joc.2020.0011 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/757671 [ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ] BOOK REVIEWS 111 Ewa Wipszycka. The Second Gift of the Nile: many of the work’s themes, including Ant- Monks and Monasteries in Late Antique ony’s life and death, his literacy and educa- Egypt. Trans. Damian Jasiński. The Jour- tion, the theological stances of the text and its nal of Juristic Papyrology Supplement 33. central figure, politics, demons, monasticism, Warsaw: University of Warsaw, 2018. xxxvi and literary conventions. Wipszycka reviews + 565 pp. 25 maps & figures. select prior scholarship and the status quaes- tionis for each topic, compares the VA to In The Second Gift of the Nile, Ewa Wipszycka other ancient sources, and walks the reader has produced an expansive survey covering through her own reasoning and conclusions. almost every aspect of Egyptian monas- She identifies literary tropes and simultane- ticism in late antiquity. Wipszycka’s prior ously holds fast to a quest to sift history from work on Egyptian economic and social his- literary embellishments. Two examples must tory is well known. This book marks a turn- suffice. The historical accuracy of the saint’s ing point for the author in two ways, first by “conversion” story is analyzed in the context including hagiography and other literary of a variety of early Christian “conversion” texts as sources for monastic history along- narratives and New Testament passages. An side her usual papyri, ostraca, inscriptions, investigation into Antony’s correspondence and material culture. Second, the book is with Roman emperors compares the VA also published in English; Damian Jasiński to other sources. For the former, Wipszy- translated Wipszycka’s original Polish text cka concludes that Antony’s “conversion” is prior to publication. The book consists of fif- a narrative of Athanasius’s, decorated with teen chapters divided into two sections enti- details from his historical period, not Ant- tled “The Great Monastic Texts” and “How ony’s youth. In the latter, she finds a kernel the Monks Lived,” plus an introduction and of historical truth: Antony and Constantine epilogue. Second Gift is richly illustrated corresponded. with maps, plans, and photographs and is Shorter chapters on the History of the a consequential book. Anyone working on Monks in Egypt, the Lausiac History, John Egyptian monasticism (even tangentially) Cassian, the Sayings of the Desert Fathers or needs to consult this volume. Apophthegmata Patrum (AP) follow. Each The foreword and introduction provide chapter summarizes some of the scholarly context. Second Gift, as the author herself positions with the author’s own analysis pep- notes, marks her third book on Egyptian pered throughout. Despite authoring several monasticism, revising and reworking previ- “great monastic texts,” Evagrius Ponticus has ous research areas and expanding into new no chapter of his own, appearing instead ones. Her introduction situates Egyptian within the Lausiac History chapter. The ex- monasticism in material terms: the desert, amination of Cassian appropriately cautions Alexandria, church hierarchy and theology, readers about his idealizing tendencies. The and Coptic language and literature. Much of chapter on the AP, however, could do with this material will be helpful background for a bit more caution. The AP are presented as students and for scholars of other regions or potential sources for early monastic history time periods. “The desert,” Wipszycka rightly since they preserve a “fundamentally Egyp- stresses, was “strange and frightening, but tian core.” (183) Research calling such fun- nonetheless familiar” and thus “refuge” in damentals into question needs consideration the desert would have been “entirely natural, here (see Lillian Larsen’s articles and her obvious, and self-explanatory” to late antique co-edited volume on education with Samuel Egyptians (7). Rubenstein). Part 1 begins with the Life of Antony Chapters 6 and 7 turn to cenobitism in (VA). It addresses the text’s manuscript tra- the “Pachomian dossier” and Shenoute’s writ- dition, authorship, and circulation as well as ings. (Shenoute’s successors, such as Besa, are 112 JOURNAL OF ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN STUDIES not under consideration.) Again, the author buildings. The ornamentation of some sur- provides an overview of sources, biographies viving cells, chapels, and basilicae proves that of key figures, and major features of the mo- monastic living was not necessarily visually nasticism described in each corpus. Regard- austere. Readers should also consult Darlene ing Shenoute, Wipszycka rightly questions Brooks Hedstrom’s recent Monastic Land- Bentley Layton’s classification and extraction scape of Late Antique Egypt (2017). of specific passages as rules; disappointingly, Education, monastic formation, and the book follows his numbering system in entering the monastery are subjects of chap- the notations (250; Layton 2014). The au- ter 10. Only at some cenobitic communities thor praises Ariel Lopez’s book focusing on were monks required to renounce personal poverty and politics in Shenoute’s writings property, and the concept of the novitiate and questions Rebecca Krawiec’s argument was not yet formalized. Different commu- that Shenoute’s letters to women monks nities required different processes for those have a gendered discourse (though Wipszy- seeking to join. Monks frequently traveled cka appreciates Krawiec’s scholarship on the and even changed monasteries. Wipszycka’s women as a whole). The author’s own dis- attention to debt and financial obligations ciplinary preferences may be at play here. is particularly important. Not only an indi- Paul Dilley’s book, Monasteries and the Care vidual’s assets were of concern; monasteries of Souls was published too recently for con- were cautious not to take on the debt an as- sideration and should also be read alongside pirant might carry. these chapters. Overall Part 2 (along with chap. 8) Monastic literature surviving in papyri, provides the book’s most significant con- ostraca, and inscriptions comes under scru- tributions to scholarship. The dense details tiny in chapter 8. Wipszycka meticulously as- prevent substantial engagement in a brief sesses material from every corner of Egypt. review. Remaining chapters explore the size Gems include the fourth-century archive of of monasteries, women’s monasticism, or- Paphnutius and a collection of letters ad- dained members of monasteries, economy, dressed to John of Lycopolis. All scholars of and a detailed case study of the community monasticism or late antique Egypt—espe- at Cellia. cially those like me who work primarily with The epilogue narrates the history of literary texts— must read this chapter. monasteries under the early period of Arab Part 2 considers “How the Monks rule. Initially, the large institutions survived Lived” by integrating evidence from litera- the conquest and thrived. Wipszycka then ture, archaeology, and documentary sources. documents the adverse effects of later taxes Throughout, Wipszycka underscores the and travel regulations. Additionally, Egyp- importance of monastic economies— indi- tians avoiding new governmental compul- vidual finances, communal resources, and sory labor requirements fled to monasteries, underlying structural economics. Buildings, and the state cracked down on both the “fu- labor, commodities, donations, and networks gitives” and their institutions. all factor into the analysis. Monks very much Occasionally the book makes assertions lived “in the world” of the Egyptian economy. that are either undocumented, overlook ev- On “Monastic Habitat,” chapter 9, de- idence, or fail to consider existing scholar- scribes and analyzes the sites of major ship. The introduction posits that Egyptians monastic centers—their space, usage, and not fluent in the Greeklanguage would be habitation. Maps, site plans, and photo- unable to understand much monastic lit- graphs illustrate the diversity of structures, erature due to the Greek vocabulary in the including rock-cut tombs, lavrae residences sources; despite Wipszycka’s claims that lin- for monastic pairs, and non-residential guists are “convinced” of this position, the BOOK REVIEWS 113 question is by no means settled (see Gross- Oxford and Notre Dame. Its subtitle neatly man et al. 2017, Papaconstantinou 2010). The divides its contents by three horizons within section on “nuns in the desert” does not take which they treat the doctrine of creatio ex into account male and female monks associ- nihilo: the Bible (origins), reflections from ated with the White Monastery living as her- figures in Judeo-Christian traditions (devel- mits in nearby desert caves. The epilogue is opment), and various issues prompted by occasionally marred by sweeping judgments, modern philosophy, theology, and science such as an isolated reference to “the grow- (its challenges). Most of the essays are histor- ing hostility of the Muslim crowd” (531) as ical: save Soskice’s and the final four, the rest a cause for Christian monasticism’s decline. report and analyze how the doctrine appears Second Gift provides an interdisciplin-

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