ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY: Some Aspects of Thecla Cults and Egeria's Journey

Hiroaki ADACHI*

How women involved with history? Recently, there have been many attempts to scrutinize the women's experiences in history. ln this article, I try to reconstruct the women's traditions in late antique Christian society in the Mediterranean World, by reading some written materials on women, especially about Saint Thecla and a woman pilgrim Egeria. First of all, I briefly summarize the new tide of the reinterpretations of the late antique female hagiographies. In spite of the strong misogynistic tendency of the Church Fathers, Christian societies in late antiquity left us a vast amount of the Lives of female saints. We can easily realize how some aristocratic women had great influence on the society through ascetic renunciation. However, we should bear in mind the text was distorted by male authors. On the account of the problem, I pick out the legendary heroine Thecla. She is the heroine of an apocryphal text called the Acts of Paul and Thecla. In the Acts, she is really independent. She abandons her fiance and her mother and follows Paul in the first part. On the second part, Paul disappears and she baptizes herself in the battle with wild beasts. At that time, crowd of women encourage her. Though there have been many disputations about the mythological Acts, all scholars agree with the "fact" that late antique women accepted the Thecla Acts as the story for themselves. In spite of serious condemnation of Tertullian, Thecla cults flourished throughout the late antique times and a woman pilgrim Egeria visited her shirine Hagia Thecla in Asia Minor. She left us a precious testimony of "real" woman in the ancient times. The analysis of her using the grammatical subject "ego" in her diary is my original idea. Keywords: feminism, linguistic tum, folklore, post-structuralism, subject

* Lecturer, Nara University

Vol. XLI 2006 61 Women's Tradition in History

On 15 August, 1945, my mother's younger sister, my aunt, was in her death bed. When my mother came to her and told her that Japan was defeated and the war was finished, surprisingly, she suddenly waked her body up and shouted "Banzai!" Then, she seemed to be really relieved and spent happy two days until she died. A week later, my mother, who had been pregnant, gave birth to a daughter, that is, my elder sister. Talking with my father, my mother named her daughter Tamiko, which means the daughter of democracy. 1 All of these things occurred before Douglas McArthur's occupation of Japan and I can confirm this story is true because I have repeatedly heard it from my mother directly and she still testifies it. This is a quite different picture of the day of Japanese surrender that we used to watch on the TV programs, which always epitomize the scene of people grieving as if all Japanese did so. Regretfully, I could not have realized the particular nature of my family myth before I met the recent interpretations about the ancient female hagiographies. Before that, I had felt my mother's story was a kind of boring Old Wives' Tale. However, after reading several feminist interpretations on the ancient female saints in the east-Mediterranean world, I became to think that there might be a sort of historical "truth" behind this Old Wives' Tale. Women seem to have been telling quite different histories from men telling. Just a sick-teenager girl without any high-education like my aunt was able to give vent to her own emotional feeling. Probably, so was the Christian history in ancient times. In this article, I will pick out several women's testimonies in late antiquity, especially from the Thecla cults. To begin with the article, the general outline of the growth of the female ascetics and pilgrims in late antiquity will be introduced according to the newest feminist or post-structuralist interpretations. Then, the Thecla cults will be singled out as the best example of women's piety in that age. Finally, I will pursue the path of a woman pilgrim named Egeria who met her close female friend Marthana at Thecla shrine. Although this article is basically a rough summary of my past articles written in Japanese, I have made an attempt to reorganize them and to add further recent knowledge to them. 2

Women's traces left in Church Fathers' texts and in the hagiography "It is very discriminative. There are no women and these men renounced women as if they were the source of seduction." One night, late in the 1980's, my wife craned to look at my draft of an article on the social function of the holy men in

62 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY Syria and Egypt, which was mainly influenced by Peter Brown's works [Brown (197la,b, 1978, 1981 and so on)3 and said as above. I responded to her accusation as it was a culture which had been long neglected and I was struggling to restore its value in history. Indeed, as many scholars admitted, Brown's new approaches provoked a tremendous 'cultural turn' in late antique studies.4 Applying the cultural anthropological method, especially hints from Mary Douglas, to the traditional church history, he efficaciously depicted the social role of the low level 'holy men' as the arbiter in the late antique society. His 'holy men' almost wiped out the out-dated, melancholic images about the late antiquity since Edward Gibbon. I still believe that I made a few contributions to rob of the expired old view about late antiquity by introducing the Brown's Works in Japan.5 However, it was just Sumo or Koya-San (a Japanese sacred complex consists of temples and mountains and it totally excludes women) kind of things for her to see these religious men. She said: "What is culture, if it contains discrimination? History of the black people in the United States has also been long neglected and the male leaders disliked and, in fact, tried to squash Alice Walker's Color Purple. However their attempts failed." She continued that everybody then became to know that to understand the women's real miserable status in the suppressed people would lead people to the correct understanding of their culture. That night was the starting point of my wandering into the women's world in late antiquity. Just as she said, the Desert Fathers, Brown's prime model of the holy men, also testified: "there are no women". 6 Antony, Pachomius, and Symeon the Sty lite Elder are famous but there are few Desert Mothers. We know many names of the Church Fathers from Tertullian, Cyprian, Jerome, Augustine, Origen, John Chrysostom, Nestorius and so on but we never know any "Church Mother". Furthermore, these Fathers disdained women like serpents. When the Desert Fathers saw women, they went further in the desert lest they see women. Again, all Church Fathers were, without exception, left a large number of misogynistic writings. According to Tertullian, women are the gateway to the sin and the descendants of Eve. 7 It was she who abandoned God's commandment first and lured Adam to commit the same sin. Unlike Tertullian and the other Early Fathers, Augustine thought of women as the important partner of men. Adam and Eve before the Fall in the Paradise of Eden could be the best model of the married couple. 8 However, he was also strongly convinced that a woman should obey to her husband. Eve lured by the serpent was the worst model for

Vol. XLI 2006 63 him too. In the scene of the Fall, it was an ominous sign that Eve spoke first and Adam followed her. It implied a reversal of the natural order of God. 9 However, if we look through the materials carefully, we can find scattered evidence of women in the age. Again, the discourses of the Church and Desert Fathers' are full of women and sexuality, even though they are distorted. Soon after the disputation with my wife, I noticed that Professor Peter Brown himself had already published his massive spectacular, Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity [Brown (1988)], 10 which sketches out vast amount of texts from late antique Christianity related to sexual renunciation. He reinterpreted materials by following the new guide of gender studies, especially the last work of Michel Foucault. 11 It seemed at the time that the rapid stream of gender studies had already become irresistible. In Memory of Her by one of the most influential feminist theologians, Elizabeth S. Fiorenza, had been accepted as an instant classic soon after its publication (Fiorenza 1983). In late antique fields, an anthology of Elizabeth A. Clark (Clark 1986) and especially her article "Ascetic Renunciation and Feminine Advancement: A Paradox of Late Ancient Christianity" (Clark 1981)12 could be treated as a decisive and epoch-making work. Its viewpoint is still accepted widely. Clark epitomizes the social function of the ascetic renunciation that raised women to higher status in society. She especially takes the cases of Western aristocratic women. Although it seems absolutely lonely life to live under the harsh rule of renunciation, the aristocratic women devoted themselves to God 'were more honored as ascetics than they were as mothers, wives, and daughters of the senatorial aristocracy' .13 Their exhortation reaches at an even extravagant level. When a certain lady named Demetorias made her vow of chastity, Jerome praised it as follows, All the African churches leaped in exultation .... All the islands between Africa and Italy were full of the news .... Then Italy shed her mourning Garments and the half-ruined walls of Rome regained in part their former splendor .... 14 Clark enumerates many other aristocratic women who became to be highly respected, for example; Marcella, Paula, Eustochium, Melania the Elder, and Melania the Younger. The exhortations of them were really exessive but we can't dismiss them as mere exaggerations. Indeed, these women had absolutely tremendous authority over the church and, sometimes, over the state. Their own properties were at their disposal. They managed to move from their home town to the Eastern Holy Land as pilgrims. They sponsored the Church Fathers and

64 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY they made a great financial support for the desert monks in Egypt. If it had not been for them, the Church itself would have faced the crises in finance and authority. The most remarkable example that Clark mentions is the case of Melania the Younger. 15 She was born into the wealthiest senatorial family in Rome and married a rich Senator named Pinianus. Melania persuaded her husband to enter the ascetic life with her, but he told her to wait until they would have two children. The children, however, died when they were little. Melania persuaded him again and the husband complied with her request. They visited the North Africa then moved to Egypt, the home land of monks. She sponsored monks in the Scetis. Later, she came to Constantinople, the Eastern Capital. While in the city, she gave a spiritual lecture at the court of the Emperor Theodosius II. After her husband's death, she constructed a monastery on the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem, which would become a convent attracting many female pilgrims and monastic applicants. The more obscure her husband became, the more Melania became conspicuous. Her investment in the monastic foundation reminds us of the Evergetism in more classical period. 16 However, she did it through the new religious life and became more authoritative. How did these aristocratic women manage to attain such extraordinary or even extravagant authority? Clark thought there were two reasons. First, "the fact that these women lived in a fashion similar to that of male monastic gave them freedom to pursue activities that would not have considered entirely proper for Christian matrons in the world." 17 Under the name of pilgrim, their wandering was accepted by church men. Secondly, "their instructional and intellectual efforts were rewarded." 18 They were not only mere financial sponsors but also the instructors of church leaders. In a word, they were of such important women that the church male leaders couldn't reject their hope to enter into ascetic life. Fathers might have thought it would be better for them to admit these women's activity to develop their church organization. In addition to the example of Western ladies, of whom Clark mentions above, we can add some wealthy or powerful ladies from the East. The most extraordinary example was Pulcheria the Augusta. She was the eldest sister of the surviving siblings of Theodosius II. According to Kenneth Holum, Pulcheria opened a new way of queenship by Christian asceticism. 19 Many imperial women could already have wielded the scepter of the Roman Empire, but they could have done so as the mother or the wife of the emperor. Pulcheria, however, abandoned the marriage and childbearing. She took a totally opposite way to raise her authority in the Empire.

Vol. XLI 2006 65 When she was fourteenth, before July 413 CE, she devoted her virginity to God to defeat the ambition of a eunuch Anatolius and an ambitious praetorian prefect Anthemius, who had been planning to take over the Empire by marrying his son to Pulcheria. Just after her vow of chastity, Anthemius disappeared and Theodosius, her docile younger brother, proclaimed Pulcheria Augusta. By dedicating herself to God, Pulcheria raised herself above anybody in the world. She was chosen by God so that no living man in the world was able to match her power. Stephen Protomartyr told her in a dream where his relics were and she found them according to his indication. She deposited them to a splendid chapel. 20 The foundation of relics was a political drama. She also excavated the bones of the other martyrs and organized a procession of bringing them for Constantinople.21 She reigned over the Empire in fact for nearly fifty years and presided at both the Councils of Ephesus in 431 and Chalcedon in 451. Cyril of Alexandria and the Pope Leo never wrote to the emperor, Theodosius II, but to Pulcheria. 22 Everybody in the empire knew who was the real ruler and shouted "Many years to Augusta! You are the light of orthodoxy!"23 Thus, she opened the new way of the queenship in the European history. The late antique times, therefore, witnessed a considerable progress of women's "freedom" even though it was confined to the narrow and limited space of religious life. Clark says, "The fact that they were exceptional should not preclude our understanding them as harbingers of the future: in the process of social liberation, one century's exception becomes the commonplace of the next."24 Nevertheless, we shouldn't forget even Pulcheria could not become the emperor. Her case was quite exceptional. Most of the women, even Melania the Younger didn't leave their own writings. Their hagiographies were written by men who must have had their own political interests. Influenced by the so-called "linguistic tum" in historical studies, many scholars are now skeptical about the "reality" of the aristocratic women appeared in these panegyrics. According to the theories of the recent linguistics or post-structuralism, any text reflects not the fact itself but only the intention of the author or the unconscious expression of the cosmic view shared in the age. For example, according to Kate Cooper,25 we can never know how "real" Cleopatra was. We can only know by the texts how the Romans saw her. 26 The same is true in the case ofMelania the Younger. Indeed, recent Clark's ·works strongly inclined to the new tide of the linguistic tum and confessed that the feminist approaches face a dilemma. 27 However, it seems a swing of the pendulum from the one extreme end to the other. Certainly, it is true that we should be careful when we meet any

66 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY panegyric, but it is quite surprising to see a distinguished scholar who had once read out the ·optimistic panegyric of women saints now casting the strongest suspicion. We never know how "real" Cleopatra was. However, we should not forget the "fact" that she was not a mere creation by the Romans. If we deny the "fact" totally, then we dismiss not only Cleopatra but also the Native Americans only appearing in the distorted descriptions of the White people, the testimonies about the Holocaust, the testimonies about Atomic Bomb, the testimonies on the massacre of Nan king and my mother's testimony about my aunt, all of them, come to vanish like airy wraiths. The work of the historian is very much like a work of drawing water from a pond by bucket. Act of drawing water is really arbitrary, but the water in the bucket is still the water from the pond. The researcher can still speculate many things about the pond by analyzing the water in the bucket. Church Fathers' texts and the hagiographies also convey some "truth" reflecting the "real" women of late antiquity. A feminist historian, Joyce Salisbury, gives us a precious insight on the problem. In her book (Salisbury 1991 ), she introduces a very interesting episode of the correspondence between a lady named Ecdicia and Augustine. 28 Ecdicia appears in the Augustine's Epistle 262.29 She and her husband had taken a vow of chastity but the husband betrayed the vow and had an affair with a mistress. Then, aggrieved Ecdicia wrote to Augustine, seeking a benevolent answer. His reply was instructive but not benevolent. At least, it must have been quite different from what she had expected. For, it was not her husband but she that Augustine reprimanded on the affair! Why? Because she hadn't obeyed her husband. Ecdicia had given her property to two wandering monks without consulting her husband. Augustine thought the husband felt scorned and broke his vow of continence. Therefore, Augustine counseled her to apologize to her husband and obey his will. In Augustine's thinking, obedience to her husband was the first responsibility of a wife and the chastity was second. Salisbury gives two types of views on sexuality and chastity. Augustine's view is one thing and Ecdicia 's another. We can directly understand the distorted and unfriendly attitude towards women from the authoritative Fathers' discourses. What about Ecdicia 's? There are no surviving direct testimonies. Nevertheless, Augustine's threatening letter eloquently shows that even the woman who kept contact with a representative Church Father could think very differently from him. She understood that the chaste life was superior to the supremacy of husband in the world or superior to the family bond in general. Augustine felt it dangerous but her understanding of the chaste life was common

Vol. XLI 2006 67 in the asceticism in Egypt and Syria where the homeland of the Christian asceticism.30 The letter leaves a testimony about the "wandering monks" to whom Ecdicia passed her property. They attracted not only men but also women. Compared to the Church Fathers, Salisbury enumerates seven women; that is, Constantina, Mary the Egyptian, St. Helia, Egeria, Melania the Younger, Pelagia the Antiochian, and Castissima. Egeria will be further analyzed later. Here, I will pick out Helia31 among them, for she provides the most simplest and most understandable model for the present controversy. According to her Vita, she was born of a noble family in Pannonia. She longed for the chaste life "not to be subject to the curse of Eve, but rather to participate in the blessings of Mary. "32 A priest visiting her recognized her secret vocation and gave her the sacred books. Although her mother tried to persuade her to give up the ascetic discipline, her attempt at persuasion failed and Helia's mother brought her to the Judge in the province. The judge said "No women may be saved unless it is by bearing children." Helia confidently replied that impious Cain could hardly confer salvation upon his parents. Instead a life of marriage with a man on the earth, she decided to marry One Who Presides in Heaven. In this dialogue, we can easily understand that she wouldn't abandon her female gender. She wanted to bear the spiritual children in heaven. In a sense, she would rather intensify her female nature. Compared to the negative women images held by the Church Fathers, Helia 's female identity is really affirmative. In addition to Salisbury's study, it can be thoughts of the habit of the male disguised women saints in the age as independent virgins. The legendary tales of the disguised female saints were too often dismissed as the mere fictional romances. 33 However, the condemnations on them testify to their social "reality". For example, the synod of Gangra in Asia Minor in fourth century CE condemned the women who followed Eusthatius. 34 The synod threatened the women to expel from the Catholic Church, for they abandoned their family, wandered, shoved their head and wore the male-like clothes. Their disguise was not a mere negative attempt to overcome their own inferior sexual identity. On the contrary, we might think they would rather renounce their fixed gender role in the world by abandoning their womanly costume. For example, St. Matrona successfully pretended herself as a eunuch named Babylus and separated herself from her dominant husband Domitianus. Posing as a man, she went around and teaching people. 35 Therefore, there might be diverse traditions in late antique Christianity. The aggressive campaigns of the Church Fathers against women's sexuality imply

68 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY how strong their opponents were. We do not have to confine ourselves to the asceticism in a small highest circle. Rather, we should suppose such wide spread of the wandering ascetic movement that the Church Fathers felt the need to control it. They exalted some high ranking aristocratic women because they were requisite elements for the development of the church. On the other hand, the Fathers severely purged the church of other women who wanted to escape from their family bond or to wander from their own homes. On this point, I will examine the Thecla legends in the following chapters. Thecla is the one of the most famous legendary heroines throughout the ancient times. She is well-known for the apocryphal Acts but there are many other materials related to her throughout the Mediterranean World from second to seventh century and even later. All scholars who have an interest in women's activities in ancient times have mentioned about Thecla. Therefore, an investigation of Thecla legends could provide a good perspective on the ascetic freedom of women in late antiquity.

The social world of the Apocryphal Acts ofPaul and Thecla

In the beginning of the third century, African Father Tertullian condemned as a viper the female preacher who came to his bishopric. He wrote: A viper of the Cainite heresy, lately conversant in this quarter, has carried away a great number with her most venomous doctrine, making it her first aim to destroy the baptism. 36 He wrote On Baptism for defending the way of baptism in the catholic church against the Gnostics, the Marcions, or the Cainites. He soon realized many women who had nothing to do with the Cainites believed Christianity very differently from him or his fellow churchmen. They believed that a woman named Thecla baptized herself and got Apostle Paul's permission to teach people. But, in the catholic church, women shouldn't baptize themselves and shouldn't teach people. This kind of deed is contrary to women's nature given by God. Therefore, he warned these women as follows. But the woman of pertness, who has usurped the power to teach, will of course not give birth for herself likewise to a right of baptizing unless some new beast shall arise like the former: so that, just as the one abolished baptism, so some other should in her own right confer it! But if the writings which wrongly go under Paul's name claim Thecla's example as a licence for women's teachings and baptizing, let them know that, in Asia, the presbyter who composed that writing, as

Vol. XLI 2006 69 if he were augmenting Paul's fame from his own store, after being convicted, and confessing that he had done it from love of Paul, was removed from his office. For how credible would it seem, that he who has not permitted a woman even to learn with over-boldness, should give a female the power of teaching and of baptizing! "Let them be silent," he says, and at home consult their own husbands."37 This is the oldest mention about The Apocryphal Acts ofPaul and Thecla. It was supposedly written in the middle of the second century, because it must have circulated before Tertullian 's condemnation. Tertullian's testimony is negative but explicit. There were some "real" women who believed Thecla had a licence to teach people. No scholar, including the linguistic turn minded ones, has ever doubted the "reality" of his testimony. Furthermore, we shouldn't forget the "fact" that a "presbyter" was removed from "his" office. Tertullian thought these women misunderstood the true Paul's teachings. He was aware of Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians. In the epistle, Paul orders women to keep silent and get back home if they want something to know.38 However, Tertullian's anger lights up a different tradition of Paul that was combined with Thecla and a "father" expelled from the church by using this different Paul image. Who was, Thecla then,? Why she and Paul were combined? Who created this story? There have been hottest arguments for a century or more. At first, the disputations were among the Biblical scholars and, more recently, between feminist folklorists and the linguistic or post-structurist scholars. According to the surviving text of the Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla, Thecla was a well-to-do daughter of a widow named Theokleia in the city !conium in mid Asia Minor. One day, Paul, the wandering teacher of Christ, came to the city ~nd stayed at the house of Onesiphrus, a pious man. Paul began to preach there but his sermon deviated from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew.39 Blessed are the continent, for to them will God speak, Blessed are they who have renounced this world, for they shall be well pleasing unto God Blessed are they who have wives as if they had them not, for they shall inherit God He continued; Blessed are the bodies of the virgins, for they shall please God, and shall not reward of their purity. Having heard these words, the virgin Thecla sat at the window near by the

70 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY house where Paul was staying. Through day and night, she listened to the words of Paul about the virgin life and spoke nothing. Her mother Theokleia and her fiance Thamyris tried to persuade her to give up listening but failed. Then, they consulted with the governor Castellius about the matter and the governor imprisoned Paul. However, in the night, Thecla, giving her bracelets to the doorkeeper and also giving her silver mirror to the jailer, sneaked into the jail. She found Paul and kissed his fetter. Next morning, Thamyris and the others found her, so to speak, bound with Paul in affection. Paul was driven out the city but Thecla was destined to be punished more seriously. Affected by the shout of the grieved mother Theokleia, the governor condemned Thecla to be burned alive. However, when they kindled the pyre under her, God caused a noise and sent a cloud pouring rain and hail. The fire was quenched and Thecla saved and escaped to see Paul. This is the first part of the story. More exciting is the second part. Paul and Thecla, then, went to Antioch. There, the second suitor Alexander embraced Thecla in the street. Thecla bravely resisted him. She shouted "Force not the stranger, force not the handmaid of God!" and ripped his cloak and made him a laughing -stock. It is noteworthy that Paul disappeared from this beginning scene of the second part. He went out, leaving baffling words; "I do not know the woman.n Instead of Paul, the crowd of women with children, a queen named Tryphaena, and a strange lioness appeared in the scene to save her. Alexander was a most­ influential citizen in Antioch and he asked the governor to punish Thecla. This time, she was destined to be given to the wild beasts. When hearing the judgment, the women cried out before the judgment-seat "An evil judgment! A godless judgment!" Thecla was to be under the protection of Tryphaena, "a rich woman" or "a queen". In her dream, her dead daughter Falconilla spoke to her; "Mother, thou shalt have in my place the stranger, the desolate Thecla, that she may pray for me and I be translated to the place of the just." On the day of the execution, the women with the children cried out about the evil judgment. When the spectacle began, a bear rushed upon her first but a lioness tore the bear. The women acclaimed. Then the lioness grappled with the lion and perished with it. The crowd of women mourned. In the battle, Thecla, finding a pit full of water but also full of man-eating seals, threw herself into it, shouting: "In the name of Jesus Christ. I baptize myself on the last day!" However, the lightning of God killed the seals and Thecla was saved. The other more terrible beasts were let loose but the crowd of women threw petals, nard, cassia, and amomum. The scent of them overpowered the beasts and they went fell sleep. Finally, when

Vol. XLI 2006 71 Tryphaena fainted and it was mis-reported as her death, the execution was stopped and Thecla was released to the women, who acclaimed her and accepted her as the victor of the battle. After the battle, she met Paul again and he said: "Go and teach the word of God!" Then, receiving clothing and gold from Tryphaena, she went to see her mother Theokleia again, saying: "Whether thou dost desire money, the Lord will give it thee through me; or thy child, see, I stand beside thee." After that, she taught many people and died at Seleucia in Asia Minor. The story is well organized and the details imply many things. It could be interpreted the mythic battle between men and women and the climax is no doubt the scene of the battle between the beasts and Thecla and, especially, the scene of her self-baptism. We should bear in mind it was this self-baptism scene that Tertullian condemned and the authors of the later version of Acts changed or omitted. 40 Tertullian also blamed the scene in the epilogue that Paul permitted her teaching people. In any rate, we can confirm that the protagonist of the story is never Paul but Thecla. Therefore, Thecla Acts, instead of Paul Acts, is proper for its abbreviation. Why was this kind of myth created? There have been lingering controversies since 19th century. One school of the scholars has been called "Folklorists", for they think the story was based on legendary oral tales among people. 41 The other has emphasized the role of the Hellenistic Romances written by the simultaneous pagan writers.42 Recently, however the controversies have flared up in a new mode. Recent folklorists are feminists. They think that Thecla Acts was originated from the oral tradition among women's community. Stevan Davies' The Revolt of the Widows: The Social World of the Apocryphal Acts (Davies 1980) is the first one of this side. Although he began his book with the general analysis of the social background of the Apocryphal Acts, he diverted his concern to the women in the various Apocryphal Acts and concluded that: "the Acts derive from communities of continent Christian women, the widows of their church."43 He thought that the authors of the Acts "were acutely aware of human gender"44 and these stories reflected the desire of the audience, that is , women. 45 Not only Thecla but also many other heroines in the other Apocryphal Acts have stories of a similar structure. There is a woman who is already married or who is already destined to marry. Then, the apostle comes and the heroine is attracted to him. The husband or her family try to punish the apostle and persuade the heroine but their attempts are in all vain; Some examples; Maximilla in the Acts of Andrew, Mygdonia and Tertia in the Acts of Thomas,

72 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY Druciana and Cleopatra in the Acts of John. Davies suspected these similar stories were "written by persons who had a highly positive view of female Christians"46 and concluded they were women. There were such strict gender divisions in the church that women must have taught the other women in many cases. Davies believed the Apocryphal Acts were made and used by women to instruct the other women in the church. 47 After Davies' groundbreaking work comes Dennis R. MacDonald's The Legend and the Apostle : The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (MacDonald 48 1983) • MacDonald is a skillful scholar of the New Testament. He thoroughly compared the Pastoral Epistles with the Thecla Acts and concluded there were two traditions of transmitting the Paul's message. One was the authoritative, written tradition of male leaders from the Bible authors to Tertullian, but there was another oral tradition plausibly derived from women's community. He thinks that The Pastoral Epistles, which we now know were not written by Paul but by the later authors who used his name, were the attempts to suppress the oral tradition and women's activity.49 MacDonald's speculation is the mixture of folklorist theory after Orlik50 and the normal procedure of the biblical studies and its conclusion seems quite natural. To Davies and MacDonald, we can add Virginia Burrus. In her Chastity as Autonomy: Women in the Stories ofApocryphal Acts (Burrus 1987),51 she looked over the wide range of the Apocryphal Acts and put them in order based on the folklorist theory, from Vladimir Propp to the more recent scholars who converged on women's folklore. 52 She dissects the stories into pieces of each element and chart them. First, the Apostle arrives, secondly, the woman goes to the Apostle, then the woman vows chastity, the husband or parents try to persuade her, and the story goes on. We can easily understand many Acts share the common elements and structure. Burrus, then, puts together these pieces and concludes that these stories have "a female viewpoint. "53 Probably they originated from story-tellings reflecting the response of the audience of women. Heroine produced by the community of women "is crossing the boundaries intruding into the male world and provoking disapproval, hostility" but finally conquering it. 54 The Acts are the fantasies, but they reflect the social structures that confront women. 55 Thus, feminist interpretations of the Acts flourished in 1980's. However, in the 1990's, the scholars inspired by the newest linguistic theory threw doubt on this optimistic view. Kate Cooper's The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity (Cooper 1996)56 is the one of the most excellent example of those studies. She emphasized the influence of the Hellenistic

Vol. XLI 2006 73 Romances or the ancient novels. She begins with the first chapter of her book by quoting the ironic words of a Roman senator. According to him, the first valued man violated his wife, his serving women and his attendants but the second ranked man, no longer having power in the wider society, invents conjugal and sexual morality. 57 Strongly influenced by Foucault and the social linguistic theory, she tries to scrutinize the discourses of the ancient texts. For example, she discusses Cleopatra depicted by Plutarch in his Parallel Lives. The Cleopatra episode that I mentioned was borrowed from her book. She thinks Plutarch's description reflects not the historical facts but the sexual morality of the Romans. 58 In his "drama", Octavia, the legitimate wife of Antony, is a woman of order and moderation. On the contrary, Cleopatra is a symbol of allure and destruction. Antony, who abandons the former legitimate one and succumbs to the latter, betrays his state and he wrecks. Plutarch can not unveil the "real" Cleopatra, Octavia, and Antony but he can eloquently tell the moral standard of the Romans. Cooper emphasizes the ancient people didn't make a clear distinction between private and public affairs. Rather, the private life is also public or political life. Each member was embedded in his or her community and there were no "private" life separated from the society. The episode of Antony and Cleopatra is also private but public. Then, Cooper compares "history" written by Plutarch with the romantic novels in the age and analyses the image of women. The ancient Romances were totally fictious. However, they also reflect the public moral standard. Therefore, Cooper analyzes both the historical writings and the novels on the same level. She enumerates five Greek novels: Chaereas and Callirhoe by Chariton, An Ephesian Tales by Xenophon of Ephesus, Leukippe and Kleitophon by Achilles Tatius, Daphnis and Chloe by Longus and An Ethiopian Story by Heliodorus. There is no enough space to introduce the details of each story and Cooper quotes from Professor Reardon's succinct sammary. Hero and heroine are always young, well born, and handsome; their marriage is disrupted or prevented by separation, travel in distant parts, and a series of misfortunes, usually spectacular. Virginity or chastity, at least in the female, is of crucial importance, and fidelity to one's partner, together often with trust in the gods, will ultimately guarantee a happy ending. 59 Cooper calls these heroes and heroines "civic actors. "60 An ideal of marriage based on romantic love may have been perceived as an attempt to

74 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY stabilize a fundamental institution of social order. The hero and heroine face a serious crisis but finally they conquered it. Their journeys always end up in a happy marriage and they conceive fine children. It is a myth of regeneration of city aristocrats, the curial order, who might be the readers. Then, Cooper moves on to analyze the Apocryphal Acts. She thinks the Acts negatively reflect the Hellenistic Romances. All Acts have very similar structure to the novels but the heros are displaced by the Apostles. Indeed, the Apostles expel the heroes and rob of their wives or fiances. According to Cooper, it is the crucial point of the Acts. 61 She suspects the Acts were the political propaganda by the church men. The church leaders might affirm their heavenly morality is superior to the earthly morality represented by the pagan curial class. The male leaders of the church confirm the Christian virginity dedicated to God is far better than the fertile childbearing of pagan heroines. Pagan heroines also live chaste lives but their virginity is for their husbands. If this hypothesis is correct, Cooper speculates, then the authors of this kind of propagation must have been men instead of women. 62 Furthermore, the protagonist of Thecla Acts is not Thecla but Paul. It is he who saves a beautiful virgin from the carnal world. Cooper assessed the theories of Davies and MacDonald in 1980's were already outdated. 63 Her assertion seems terribly shocking to the folklorists but she goes further. Surprisingly, she strives to restore "real" women in the latter part of her work. She epitomizes the positive role of women as readers of the Acts. Even if enhancement of the hero was the author's intent, "when the text fell into the hands of female readers, some of them proposed a different reading of the heroine."64 The story could be read "not as the icon of obedience to the apostolic word but as a precedent for women's clerical authority." She also notes Thecla's popularity among the late antique matrona, the wealthy aristocratic women. Augustine had to take the trouble to replace the dangerous independent virgin saint with married female martyrs, Crispina and others, whom he was able to trust. Nevertheless, women might still accepted in their own way. Cooper's final aim is to restore the affirmative role of female readers of these martyrs' Lives.65 Her description is so persuasive and the result of her deduction is also so attractive that many scholars of late antiquity might have convicted that it would be the decisive interpretation on the Apocryphal Acts. I, too, am attracted and admit many advantages of her study. However, it is still not decisive and not all scholars agree with her conclusions.66 Certainly, as she points out, it is true that no Apocryphal Acts should be considered as the simply record of the ancient

Vol. XLI 2006 75 independent declaration of women but as the production of the propaganda of the Christian church. However, she neglects the core of the Thecla Acts and a considerable part of the female readers. First of all, she treats Thecla just as a woman docile to Paul. She writes; "The continent heroine is essentially not a speaker but a listener". 67 According to her, "the attractive, aristocratic, attentive young virgin was the type of the ideal listener". On the other hand, "the repulsive, lowly, garrulous, and jaded old woman", in whom MacDonald found the "real" image of ancient women, "was the type of the suspicious speaker. "68 However, Thecla in her Acts was never "listener" but she had grown up to be a resolute, in a sense, garrulous "speaker." Embraced by Alexander, she "cried out and saying: Force not the stranger, force not the handmaid of God! ... she ripped his cloak, took off the crown from his head and made him a laughing-staff."69 Thus, she is not only a "speaker" but even a "fighter." Before the battle with the beasts, she prayed for Tryphaina, weeping and sighing. In the battle, she baptized herself, saying "Now is the time for me to wash."70 After the battle, asked by the governor, she again resolutely replied "I am a hand maid of the living God. "71 From any point of view, Thecla was not a mere "listener" but an active "speaker" or more exactly, a fighter and a wanderer. Cooper's assumption can only be applied to the beginning of the first part of Thecla Acts. Even in the first part, Thecla was already not a mere listener but already the main actor of the story. She was already independent enough. She slipped out of her house in the night to see Paul in jail. Paul was passive and Thecla was active. Paul was driven out the city in the crucial scene in the first part and Thecla was burnt alive and saved by God. She had to bear the trial by herself. After the trial, she went to see Paul and said "I will cut my hair short and follow thee." Paul ordered her to wait but she continued to speak as: "Only give me the seal in Christ!"72 Paul barely dissuaded her at the end of the first part but, in the second part, after everything had been done, he could do nothing but admit her self-baptism. Cooper epitomizes Paul ordered Thecla: "Go and teach the word of God!" but it was not just a word of admission. It was his reply to Thecla's declaration: "I am going to Iconium"73 She had already decided and Paul could nothing but accede it. Cooper refers to the beginning and the epilogue, before she concluding Thecla is a listener. She totally neglects the trial scene in the first part and the battle scene in the second part. However, what Tertullian condemned was not the docile window-sitting scene in the beginning of the first part of the Acts but the self baptism scene in the second part. How should we think about the battle

76 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY between beasts and Thecla? How should we interpret the women crowd? What about the lioness? Can any one think these women and a female beast are very docile to men? If it had been so appropriate for the moral standard of the male church leader, why did Tertullian have had to condemn it? Cooper gives no answer for these questions. Again, Cooper never explains the consistent favor for women in Thecla Acts. Thecla found the spiritual mother in Tryphaina instead of carnal mother, Theokleia. Tryphaina 's daughter Falconila encouraged this religious adoption. I am deeply interested in the episode of the perfume of women. They lulled the virile wild beasts into sleep. This scene praises the seductive power of women in really affirmative form. I never know this kind of positive description of women's seductive power in Christian tradition. At least, it is quite different from the view of Tertullian, who dismissed women as the descendants of Eve and also condemned women's cosmetics and fashions. 74 The author's favor to women is consistent to the end. In the epilogue, although Thamyris had already died, Thecla offered the opportunity of reconciliation to her mother Theokleia.75 Why is the story so consistently favor towards women? Although the direct author might be a man who used the Acts for the propaganda as Cooper suggests, I ponder that the suggestions of folklorists are still available and the origin of the tales might have been from the oral performance of women's communities. It seems for me there are no fundamental methodological gaps between the feminist folklorists and the linguistic-tum scholars. Both of them are derived from the transformation of the humanities after Ferdinand de Saussure and Claude Levi-Strauss. Both adopt the anthropology to interpret the text. This case is likened to the analysis of the movie Titanic. The intention of male director dominates the surface structure of the Hollywood movie but we also find out the deep structure, the motif of a noble widow's daughter destined to marry a wealthy man struggles to escape from her lot, is associated with another film based on the "real" experience of Jane Austen, a famous female novelist in nineteenth century in England. 76 In any case, no present scholar including Cooper, denies the "fact" that women in late antiquity accepted Thecla as their excellent exemplar. Enumerating many testimonies, Cooper writes: "for women, the heroines of the Apocryphal Acts, Thecla in particular, would serve an especially important role as icons of self-understanding."77 Cooper's mistake is that she confine the women accepted Thecla as their icon into a narrow circle of the high-ranked docile matrona of senatorial class in the city Rome who were docile but

Vol. XLI 2006 77 controlled the house. However, women were diverse. They offen became wandering ascetics or pilgrims. In the next section, I will introduce the wide variety of sources of Thecla cults in late antiquity and especially try to analyze The Life and the Miracles of St. Thecla in the fifth century and The Travels by Egeria the fourth century.

The World of the Miracles of Thecla and Egeria 's Travel

Supposedly, in the beginning of the fifth century, an anonymous writer wrote a strange but vast amount book about St. Thecla in her shrine in Asia Minor. Although Thecla is famous for her Apocryphal Acts, she has another more detailed and sophisticated biography and additional records of her miracles. The Life and the Miracles ofSt. Thecla provides us with precious materials of the social history of Late Antiquity. It was revised and translated from Greek to French by the distinguished French byzantinist G. Dagron. 78 It is a peculiar hagiography. It was not written by a bishop or a disciple of the saint. It was written by an excommunicated anonymous rhetorician who lived in the sanctuary of Christian saint Thecla and tried depicting the feats of Thecla as a "history" that can be compared to Herodotus and Thucydides. He often cited Greek Myths, using them to praise Thecla. In the Acts in the second century CE, Thecla is a wondering preacher but, in the Life, the first part of this story, she becomes to cling to her sanctuary, Hagia Thecla {Ayatekla now), located near the city Seleucia (Silifke now) in the south-east Asia Minor. Thecla was declared as the guardian saint of these areas and the author said that Hagia Thecla became a public care place for healing sick people. The second part of the story, is this record of the contemporary miracles caused by Thecla around the place in the author's age and we can find many women who visited or lived there. The most striking episode was the chapter 32 of this Miracles. 79 Here, the virgins dedicated themselves to Thecla stopped the plan of a male priest Dexianos. He was dispatched from the Seleucia bishopric and served as the "Paredores" who took a charge of defending Hagia Thecla against the !saurians living in the Taurus Mountains. One day, Dexianos decided to transfer the treasure of the sanctuary to Seleucia because of the repeated assaults of the !saurians. At the night, however, Thecla furiously appeared to the virgins who devoted themselves to her and denounced him in front of them ..The frightened virgins ran to him and he canceled his plan. In this episode, we can easily find some tension between the sanctuary and the church. On the one hand, there was a man who represented the church

78 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY institution trying to intervene the finance of the sanctuary. On the other hand, the virgins who dedicated themselves to Thecla represented the un-institutionalized shamans. It was the latter, the virgins, who would tum out the victorious side in the subsequent struggle. It is noteworthy that only the virgins met Thecla, and that the anything Dexianos did was to listen to them. In this sanctuary, thus, we can assume the superiority of the female oracles to the institutionalized male priests. It might be the grass-roots of the Thecla cults. Thecla in the Miracles seems free from even the frame of the Acts. She punished the bishop of Tarsus, a city under Paul's protection, without any hesitation. 80 Marianos, the bishop of Tarsus, blocked the pilgrimage to Hagia Thecla, for he was jealous of its popularity. A Lycaonian man called Kastor saw Thecla in his dream at the night of the feast. Outraged Thecla ferociously walked around, clapped her hands, and "uttered Marianos' rudeness must be punished." Soon after the dream, he died. In general, Christian saints often punish their enemies but they do it through the intervention of God. However, Thecla directly gave him death and we cannot distinguish whether the punishment was from God via her or from herself. This episode may reflect the competition among the pilgrim centers. From two examples, we can suppose diverse traditions in the Christian world and women could have some footstep in them. We can add further examples. The Miracles 18 (I use the abbreviation M) reports the story about two female pilgrims, Thigriane and Aba. The former was a Christian and the latter was a pagan but both of them were saved in a same way. 81 M20 and 42 tell how Thecla helped the women whose husbands had betrayed them and had had affairs with maidens. In M20, the author exposes his male prejudice; "then, a woman is always egoist, excessive jealous, all the time watch the acts of her husband who would seduce girls of Hetera (stranger) or Hetaira (slave woman)."82 The name of the husband was Vitianos but the name of the wife was not mentioned. The author hesitates to refer to the remarriage of the woman after the death of Vitianos. What should we do? Is it better to abandon such distorted source? Rather, it would be better for us to look for the traces of women that the author almost wipes out. M40 reports the terrible case. The maiden damaged the face of the wife named Kalliste by the acid. Crying Thecla was sympathetic to Kalliste and she advised her to wash her face with the soap that was sold in front of the shrine, then the face would miraculously be restored. 83 Even if we doubt the miraculous care, it is plausible that soap was sold for women's beauty in front of the shrine. In any case, compared to Augustine's letter to Ecdicia, these two stories provide

Vol. XLI 2006 79 different view points on the husband's affair. Besides that, there are many others. In M43, a poor woman named Bassiane, who had had some troubles with her family sought asylum in the sanctuary. She earned her livelihood by selling rings and necklaces. One day, she noticed that her earned money had been stolen. She angrily asked Thecla that she trusted the sanctuary but was betrayed. Then, Thecla found that a young servant girl had stolen it and she punished the girl. This story also shows the plausible social function of Hagia Thecla where some women found an asylum for them. In M21, Thecla found the stolen belt of a bride and punished the thief. 84 These examples shows that the Thecla cults also had supporters among the ordinary women who married and gave birth to children. Related to this point, we can recall the testimony of Gregory ofNyssa. He related an episode about his elder sister, Macrina. 85 When the mother Emmelia gave birth to her first child, Thecla appeared beside her bed and celebrated her childbirth. Therefore, the secret name of Macrina was Thecla. Furthermore, S. Davis enumerates much evidence of the namesakes of Thecla in Egypt. In his The Cult ofSaint Thecla: A Tradition of Women s Piety in Late Antiquity (Davis 2001 ), he gathered evidence from papyrological and epigraphic sources. For example, a Grave stele of an Egyptian woman named Thecla eloquently shows how deeply Thecla was accepted by late ancient women. 86 She is not merely an ascetic heroine created by Christian male authors but has deep, diverse roots. On the account of the social function of women, I think M 19 is the most eloquent and precious testimony left for us. It is the story about the female hostage from the !saurians to the Romans based on a treaty between them. Her name was Bassiane (different from the poor Bassiane mentioned above) and came from an !saurian area called Ketis. Although the !saurians often assaulted the cities around Seleucia, Bassiane already believed in Christianity. In spite of her adaptation of religion, she couldn't adapt her body to the hot climate of the lowland. She couldn't sleep and try to dive into a cistern in the sanctuary. At the moment, Thecla appeared to stop her and called a young servent girl to bring a bowl filled with water. When Thecla moistened her fingers and applied the water to her forehead and shoulders, Bassiane immediately was healed and felt being in the forest of Daphne. Soon after that, she gave birth to a son named Modestos. He became an entirely good person who built a gate named "Eirene (peace)". 87 We can see the process of !saurian participation in the Roman civilization. Later, in the latter part of the fifth century, Tarasiccodissa Zenon, the chief of the

80 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY !saurian army, became the emperor in the East. He devoted to Thecla very much because Thecla had encouraged him in a hardship of exile. He dedicated to Thecla the most splendid shrine which we can still see on the ground of the site. The example of Bassiane apparently shows that this process had begun several decades before Zenon. Moreover, it shows that woman was the hinge person in the process. Through her, a "Romanized" !saurian boy managed to be an important person in the area. We should remember that this is the work of fifth century, that is, about 200 years after Tertullian's condemnation against Thecla Acts. In spite of his condemnation, Thecla cults circulated throughout the Mediterranean World. A fourth century author, Methodius, awarded Thecla the first prize among ten virgins in his Symposium. 88 Gregory of Nasianzus withdrew from his city to Hagia Thecla and stayed studying for a while. 89 His description testifies that the Thecla shrine was already established in the fourth century. We had already seen the case ofMacrina, the sister of Gregory ofNyssa.90 There were extra versions of Thecla Acts in Rome, Egypt and other places. From terms of reproach by John Crysostom91 and the preach of Athanasius to his female congregation,92 it can be confirmed that Thecla was surely accepted as a model of women. Except for the literary texts, we can see many material remains; textile into which the portrait 9 94 95 of Thecla is woven 3, combs , amphora of pilgrims , the temple dedicated to Thecla in Egypt. 96 The Manicheans were very fond of Thecla, because she was a heroine of severe renunciation. 97 All of these materials imply the social "reality" of her cults. Among those, the community of Hagia Thecla left us the most abundant historical materials. The Life and the Miracles was the masterpiece of this community. The women in the Miracles are diverse: from young to old, from citizen to so-called barbarian, from wanderer to settler. Probably the author was a man, but we shouldn't dismiss the value of the testimony of the source. I think we should rather broaden our view, because the author possibly omitted some women by his gender bias. In M44, the author puts the list of male and female leaders. Men are listed first and in detail, but women are listed later and in brief and short. Moreover, he stated that he made omissions after the fashion of Hesiod. He says: "Among the women, Marthana,Xenarchis, Dionysia, Sosanna, Thedoule, but I don't have enough time to mention the others. After the fashion of Hesiod, I would like to enumerate only the best women."98 Therefore, we can infer that there were many other female leaders and many more women hearing and learning from them. In the sanctuary, as we have seen above, many virgins consecrated

Vol. XLI 2006 81 themselves to Thecla. Some of them seemed to be really young but some of them were old. M45 tells the story of a married woman named Xenarchis. She miraculously acquired the ability to read the Bible and the women around her were surprised. It implies the existence of mutual education among women. It seems not only the virgins in the sanctuary but also the women living around it came to learn the letters and the spirituality there. There are many female pilgrims like Thigriane and Aba in M20. Fortunately, we can read the direct testimony of a "real" woman. She was Egeria, a pilgrim from the West end of Europe. Egeria's Travels, the record of her pilgrimage, is famous for being the most detailed record of the holy lands of the Middle East, from Egypt through Palestine to Syria and Asia Minor. 99 It has been requisite for biblical scholars. 100 However, I think it is precious because it was written by a "real" woman. She wrote the record for the "sisters" waiting at home. Then, it is the book from a woman to other women. When Dr. Gamurrini found the manuscript, it lacked the beginning and the ending, where her name was most likely to have been written down. There have been arguments about who wrote it and where she came from. However, most recent scholars tend to call the author Egeria, who came from southern Gaul or northern Hispania. 101 She stayed in Jerusalem and made a journey to Egypt, Sinai, Palestine, and finally Syria to Asia Minor. She visited Hagia Thecla in the end of her last, longest journey to Syria. In Hagia Thecla, she met her friend Marthana again. Marthana is considered to be the same person who was listed in M44. They had first met in Jerusalem. Marthana was a supervisor of female "aputactitae" (probably ascetics, but not entirely clear) of Hagia Thecla. As Professor Dagron says, it might be the most precious testimony of the friendship between women in ancient times. 102 Provoked by his work, I read Egeria 's diary and was surprised. With the exception of only Marthana in Hagia Thecla, she never mentioned the names of the others whom she met. In addition to it, I also surprised because the grammatical subjects of the sentences are mainly "nos" (we) in the other sanctuaries but she consistently uses "ego" (I) in Hagia Thecla! The followings are the citations from the translation by John Wilkinson and from the text edited by Pierre Maraval. Starting at the beginning of chapter 2. The valley lies under the flank of the Mount of God, and it really is huge. From taking at it we guessed - and they told us - that it was maybe sixteen miles long and, they said, four miles wide, and we had to pass through this valley before we reached the mountains. 103

82 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY Valiis autem ipsa ingens est ualde, iacens subter latus mantis Dei, quae habet foresitan, quantum potuimus uidentes estimare aut ipsi dicebant, in Iongo milia passos forsitan sedecim, in lata autem quattuor milia esse appellabant. Ipsam ergo uallem nos trauersare habebamus, ut possimus montem ingredi. 104

Then, I will cite a part of the chapter 23 Holy Thecla is on a small hill about a mile and a half from the city, so, as I had to stay somewhere, it was best to go straight on and spend the night there. Round the holy church, there is a tremendous number of cells for men and women. And that was where I found one of my dearest friends, a holy deaconess called Marthana. I had come to know her in Jerusalem when she was up there on pilgrimage. She was the superior of some cells of apotactites or virgins, and I simply cannot tell you how pleased we were to see each other again. But I must go back to the point. 105

Et quoniam inde ad sanctam Teclam, qui locus est ultra ciuitatem in colle sed plano, habebat de ciuitate forsitan mille quingentos passus, malui ergo perexire illus, ut statius, quam factura eram, ibi facerem.Ibiautem ad sanctam ecclesiam nihil aliud est nisi monasteria sine numero uirorium ac mulierum. Nam inueni ibi aliquam amicissimam michi, et cui omnes in oriente testimonium ferebant utiae ipsius, sancta diaconissa nomine Marthana, quam ego aput Ierusolinam noueram, ubi ilia gratia orationis ascenderat ; haec autem monasteria aputactitum seu uirginum regebat. Quae me cum uidisset, quod gaudium illius uel meum esse potuerit, nunquid uel scriberepossum ? Sed ut redeam ad rem ... 106 These short citations might not be enough. However, if you read the text by yourself, nobody deny that Egeria consistently used "ego" from chapter 22 to 23. Then, you may find some "ego" in the other chapters but it is not a conflicting matter. Basically, she used "nos" as the subject of the sentences, for describing the correct scenery as a member of the pilgrimage band containing local monks and priests. However, when she was really touched, she used "ego" as the subject of the sentence. For example, on the top of the Mount Sinai, she took down; "and really I do not think I have ever seen a landscape." 107 Thus, she adopted "ego" when she described her inner emotion. Again, she used first­ person singular verbs when she described deciding where to go. Thus, you will

Vol. XLI 2006 83 find comparatively many first-person singular verbs in Chapter 17, where she decided her final journey. The visit to Hagia Thecla is, therefore, a special trip for her. It was an excursion deviating from the ordinary return course. She decided to go there and she expected to see a most touching thing there. Egeria visited various holy places from her basement in Jerusalem church. She visited Mount Sinai the sites of Moses, the Cave where Job's sarcophagus was found, and the city of Edessa where the true Jesus' letter was kept. In every place, kind monks or bishops led her to the sites, but they are left anonymous, probably because all these holy places are sanctuaries which were presided over by male authorized priests. She must have respected the habit and the rules made by them. However, in Hagia Thecla, she managed to express her own emotion without any hesitation because it was a sanctuary for women! She was no longer a member of the pilgrim band but a simple female traveler who wanted to meet her friend there. The words "Sed ut redeam ad rem" (get back to the point) clearly shows this was the deviation from the original purpose of the pilgrimage. It was a trip for herself. "Quae me cum uidisset, quod gaudium illius uel meum esse potuerit, nunquid uel scriberepossum ?" I believe it must be a "real" voice of an ancient woman.

Conclusion

After "getting back to the point," Egeria witnessed the scene that many people read the whole Acts of Holy Thecla and she gave thanks to God. 108 It reveals how strongly the Thecla cults were maintained among women in late antiquity. In spite of the condemnation of Tertullian, the long neglect by the church historians, and the skeptical new tide of the interpretation of texts, it should be concluded that Thecla attracted and encouraged women, and that women fostered the image ofThecla continuously. Then, we can say that women in late antiquity had their own specific traditions in history.

Notes 1 Mother says Tamiko's "Ta" is after Takashi, my father, and "Mi" after her name Miyoko. But the combination of the sounds "Tami" means "the people" in Japanese. It shows their hopes for the new-born Japan, which would be a democratized country. 2 On the account of my previous articles, see the list. This article also based on the previous reading papers. "Thecla and Egeria: The Self-Awareness of Women in Late Antiquity," xxe Congres International des Etudes Byzantines, Communication Libres, Paris, 2001; "Asceticism and Women's Freedom in Late Antiquity," XIXth World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, 12N (Chair: Miyako Demura), Religious Struggle and

84 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY Dialogue in Ancient Christianity, 2005, Tokyo. 3 See the list. Adachi 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999,2001,2003. 4 There have been so many references that I can not enumerate all of them. We can pick out an example of the most recent reference from; Dale Martin, "Introduction" (Martin/Millar 2005), 1-2, 4-5, 8. As the memory of251h anniversary of the article "The Rise and Function," his disciples dedicated him a book. Howard-Johnston/Hayward 1999. 5 Please see the list. Adachi 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991. 6 Apopthegmata patrum, Sisoes 3 (PG65); Ward 1984, 213. 7 Tertullian, "On the Apparel ofWomen" in Deferrari, Tertullian 1959, 118. Salisbury 1991, 23. 8 Augustine, "The Good of Marriage," in Wilcox 1955, 22; Salsbury, "Augustine's Sexual Revolution," Salisbury 1991, 39-54. 9 Augustine, City of God, XIV, II, 570; Salisbury 1991, 49. 10 Brown 1988. Cf. M. Foucault, Histoire de Ia sexualite, vol. I, La vo/onte de savoire, 1976, vol. 2, L 'usage des plaisir, 1984 , vol. 3, Le souc:i de soi, 1984, Paris. II Fiorenza 1983. 12 Clark 1981, 240-257. I quote from Clark 1986, 175-208. 13 Ibid., 175. 14 Ibid., 175-6. Jerome, Epistulae 130, 6, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiastic:orum latinorum 56, 181-182. It was written in 414, just after the Roman sack in 410. l5 Clark, ibid., 182, 184-7, 192. Clark translated Melania's life; Clark 1988. 16 Patragean 1977, 129-131. 17 Clark 1981, 186. 18 Clark 1981, 187. 19 Holum 1982,91-111, 130-176, 179-216,221-228. 20 Holum 1982, 103; Theophanes, 5920, 86-87. 21 Holum 1982, 137; Sozomen, 9.2. 22 ACO, I, 1, 5, 62-118 (Cyril to Pu1cheria), Holum 1982, 159; ACO, II, 4, 23-25, 23 (Leo to Pulcheria), Holum 1982, 204; Pu1cheria's letter still exists. ACO, II, 3, I, 18-19. Holum 1982, 211-212. 23 ACO, II, I, 2, 155, 11 . Holum 1982,215-216. 24 Clark 1981, 193. 25 Cooper 1996. 26 Ibid., 5-11. 27 See Clark 1998a, J998b, and 2004. 28 Salsbury 1991, 1-2. 29 Ep.262, CSEL52, 623. 30 Except for Brown's Works, there are so vast amount of works that I pick out just a few related to wandering monks; Chitty 1966, Frank 2000, and Diets 2005. 31 Salisbury 1991, 74-82. She cites from Escorial Manuscripts but I just cite from Salisbury. 32 Ibid., 75-76. 33 For example, Anson 1974. However, his thought is keen. He thought transvestite motif was the product of male imagination. 34 Mansi II, 1095-1122; Sozomenus, Historia Ecc1esiastica, PG 67, III, 14, Histoire Ecclesiastique, Ill, 14, 31-36. 35 Bennaser 1984, 99-177. 36 Tertullian, On Baptism. I, 669. 37 Ibid., 617. 38 I Corinth, 14, 34-36. 39 Hennecke, Wilson 1965, 354. Following description of Thecla Acts is also from this book; "Acts of Paul and Thecla" ibid., 353-364. 40 Dagron 1978, 41; Niketas Paphlagon, PGIOS, 16,325.

Vol. XLI 2006 85 41 Reitzenstein 1906, Rademacher 1916, Soder 1932 etc. 42 Rohde 1876, von Dobschutz 1902 etc. 43 Davies 1980, 50. 44 Ibid., 51 . 45 Ibid., 52. 46 Ibid., 103. 47 Ibid., 110-129. 48 See the list. 49 MacDonald 1983, 'The Pastral Epistles Against "Old Wives Tales,"' 54-77. so Olrik, A., 1965; "Epic Laws of Folk Narative," in Dundes, A., The Study o.f'Folklore, 131- 141. 51 See the list. 52 Burrus 1987, 33-34. 53 Ibid., 68, 72-77. 54 Ibid., 90. 55 Ibid., 93-108. 56 See the list. 57 Cooper 1996, I. 58 Ibid., 5-11. 59 Reardon 1989, 2. 60 Ibid., 31. 61 Ibid., 51-57,66 62 Ibid., 64.-65. 63 Ibid., 62-63. 64 Ibid., 64. 65 Ibid., chapter 4 to the end, 68-147. 66 Davis 2001, 18-19; Cooper's new approach "has helpfully redirected our attention to the ways in which text were used to negotiate power between social groups. At the same time, however, this approach may be a bit too pessimistic about the historian's ability to read ancient narratives for insight into the social roles of early Christian women." And also see; Bremmer 1996. It admits the women's point of view and social reflection in Asia Minor. 67 Ibid., 63. 68 Idem. 69 Hennecke 1965, 360 70 Ibid., 362. 71 Ibid., 363. 72 Ibid., 360. 73 Ibid., 364. 74 Ibid., 362. 75 Ibid., 364. 76 Kate Winslet acted almost same motif in the previous movie Sense and Sensibility, 77 Cooper 1996, 65. 78 Dagron 1978. See the list. 79 Ibid., 374-377. 80 Ibid., 356-359. 81 Ibid., 33 8-341. 82 Ibid., 344-345. 83 Ibid., 396-399. 84 Ibid., 346-347. 85 Gregory of Nyssa, V. Macr. Maraval 1971, 2, 33-34. 86 Davis 2001,237, figure 31. Coptic Museum, no.8693. 87 Dagron 1978, 340-343.

86 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY 88 Method ius, Symposion, 11.1; Musuritlo 1963, 308, 57. 89 Gregory ofNazianzus, De vita sua, PG37, co.I067, v.545-551. 90 See note no.85. 91 John Chrysostom, Homily 25 on the Acts of the Apostles4. 92 Atanasius, peri parthenias, 211-20, Casey 1935, I 034. I cited from Davis 200 I, 93. 93 Nauerth 1981, fug.22. 94 Ibid., fug.21. 95 Ibid., fug.l 0. 96 On the account of the wall paintings of the Chapel of the Exodus and the Chapel of Peace, see Davis 2001, 149-170. In addition to it, he suppose an unexcavated shrine might exist near the Menas shrine in the area ofthe precinct of the lake Mareotis (ibid., 126-133) 97 A Coptic psalm book explicitly mentions Thecla; Allbcry 1938, ii, 192, 23, cited from Davis 2001, I 00. 98 Dagron 1978, 406. 99 See the map ofWilkinson. Wilkinson 1999,36. IOO Maraval gives a simple bibliography; Maraval 1982, 9-10. However, there are many others. One of the most recent works refer to Egeria is Dietz 2005. She emphasizes the women's role in the pilgrimages and travels in late antiquity and thinks Egeria 's travel was the most prominent example. See 44-54, 120-141. 101 Many recent scholars tend to think she was from Northern Hispania but Sivan supposes she was from Southern Gaul; Sivan 1988. I02 Dagron 1978, 58. 103 Wilkinson 1999, 107. 104 Maraval 1982, 122-123. lOS Wilkinson 1999, 141. 106 Maraval 1982, 226-228. 107 Maraval 1982, 164; Wilkinson 1999, 118. 108 Maraval 1982, 230; Wilkinson 1999, 141.

Bibliography Abbreviation ACO=Acta Conciliontm Oecumenicorum CSEL= Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorrmr Latinorum PG = Patrologia Graeca SC = Source Chretiennes Mansi=Manci, G.D. Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova ct Amplissima Collectio.

Sources and Translation Apopthegmata patnmr, 1857-: P G 65, 71-440. Augustinus, Epistulae CSEL 52. Augustine 1955: "The Good of Marriage," in C.T. Wilcox, Saint Augustine, Treatises on Marriage and Other Subjects, NY. Casey, R. P. 1935: "Der dem Athanasius zugeschriebene Traktat Peri Parthenias," Sitzungsbericlrte der Preussische Akademie der Wisssenscha.ften 33, Berlin, I 026-45. Clark, Elizabeth A. 1984: Tire L(le ~l Malania the Younger: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary, Studies in Women and Religion 14, Lewiston, NY. Dagron, G. 1978: Vie et miracles de sainte Thecle, texte grec, traduction et commentaire, Subsidia Hagiographica 62, Bruxelles.

Vol. XLI 2006 87 Gorce, D. 1962: Vie et Sainte Melanie, SC 90. Hennecke, E. (original author), Wilson R. M. (eng.transl.) 1965: New Testameilt Apocrypha, vol.IJ, Writings Relating to the Apostles, Apocalypses, and Related Subjects, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (this book is originally written by Edgar Hennecke in 1904 and in 1924. Later, W. Schneemelcher edited the new version; Neutestament/ische Apocryphen, Tubingen, 1964. This is the English translation from Schneemelcher version.) Lipsius, R.A. et M. Bonnet (eds.) 1891: Acta Apostolor·um Apocrypha, Leipzig. Maraval, P. (ed.) 1982: Egerie:journal de voyage, SC 296, Paris. Maraval, P. (ed.) 1971: Vie de Sainte Macrine, SC 178, Paris. Musulliro, H. (ed.) 1963: Methode d'Oiympe: Le banquet, SC 95, Paris. Ward, Benedicta 1984: The Sayings of the Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection, rev. ed., Kalamazoo, Micchigan, Cistercian Publication. Wilkinson, J. 1999: Egeria s Travels, Warminster. Sozomenus, Historia Ecclesiastica, PG 67: Histoire Ecclesiastique SC 306, 418. Tertullian, "On the Apparel of Women" in R. J. Deferrari, 1959; Tertullian: Disciplinary, Moral, and Ascetical Works, NY, Tertullian, "De Baptismo," 1890: Reiferscheid, A and G.Wissowa (eds.), Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latilrorum 20, Vienna. 201-18. Tertullian, "On Baptism," in Alexander, R. and J.Donaldson (eds) 1989 (reprinted.): The Ante­ Nicene Fathers, vol.lll, Latin Christianity Its Founder, Tertullian, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Theophanes, Chronographia, de Boor, C. (ed.), two vols. 1883-85: Leipzig

Modern Works Adachi, H., 1986: "Formation of Early Byzantine Society," Bunkashigaku (Stttdies on Cttltural History), Doshisha University, 42, 87-105; Adachi, H., 1988: "The Rise of the Holy Man and the Social Transformation in Late Antiquity," Seiyou Shigaku (The Studies in Western History) 149,46-60. Adachi, H., 1989: "Desert Ascetics in the Hagiographies," Shirin (Journal of History) LXXII, no.5, 123-165. Adachi, H., 1991: "The Monophisite Movement in Late Antiquity," Kodai Bunka (Cultura Antiqua) 43-7, 1-17. Adachi, H., 1992: "The Early Byzantine Woman Saints: A New Interpretation ofthe Transvestism Motif," Bunkagaku Nenpo (Annual Report of Cultural Studies, Doshishya University) 41, 28- 56. Adachi, H., 1994: "The Origin and Transformation of the Legend of Saint Thecla: The Fate of a Feminine Tradition in Christianity," Seiyoshigaku (The Studies in Western History) 173, 17- 33. Adachi, H. 1996: "Women's Roles in the Miracles of Saint Thecla," Seiyo Kotengaku Kenkyu (Journal o.fCiassica/ Studies) 44, 130-139. Adachi, H. J997: "Pulcheria the Sister of Emperor: An Ascetic Woman who controlled the Empire and the Church," Rekishigaku Kenkyu (Journal ofHistorical Studies) 704, 24-36. Adachi, H. 1999: "The Christian Pilgrimage and Women in Late Antiquity: The Case of Egeria," in REKISHIGAKU KENKYUUKAI (ed.), History of the Mediterranean World, vo1.4, Pilgrimage and Popular Faith, Tokyo, 63-93. Adachi, H. 2001: "Apocryphal Acts and Saint Thecla: Feminism, History and Text," in Tadashi ASAKA (ed.), The Romans and the Development o.fthe Mediterranean World, Kyoto, 134- 153.

88 ORIENT ASCETICISM AND WOMEN'S FREEDOM IN CHRISTIAN LATE ANTIQUITY Adachi, H. 2003: "Thecla Cults and Women: A Consideration on the Fonnation of Christian Society and Women's Involvement," in Koji Toyota (ed.) Another View of Christian Monasticism: Its Periphery and Human Aspects, Tokyo, 41-69. Anson, J. 1974: "The Female Transvestite in Early Monasticsm: The Origin and Development of a Motif," Viator 5, 1-32. Bennasser, Khalifa, A. 1984: Gender and Sanctity in Early Monasticism: A Study of the Phenomenon of Female Ascetics in Male Monstic Habit with a Translation of the L!fe of St. Matrona, University Microfilms International, Ann Arbor. Bremmer, J. 1996: "Magic, Martyrdom and Women's Liberation in the Acts of Paul and Thecla," in Bremmer, J. (ed.), The Apoc1yphal Acts ofPaul and Thecla, Kampen, Netherland, 36-59. Brown, P. 1971a: "The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity," Journal of Roman Studies LXI, 1971,80-101. Brown, P. 1971 b: The World ofLate Allliquity, London. Brown, P. 1978: The Making ofLate Antiquity, London. Brown, P. 1981 a: Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (Anthology of his previous articles containing "The Rise and Function". Brown, P. 198lb: The Cult qfthe Saints: the Rise and Function in Latin Christianity, Chicago,. Brown, P. 1988: The Body and Society: Men, Women, and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, N.Y. Burrus, V. 1987: Chastity As Autonomy: Women in the Stories of Apocryphal Acts, Studies in Women and Religion vol.23, Lewiston/Queenston. Chitty, D. 1966: The Desret a City: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the Christian Empire, Oxford. Clark, Elizabeth, A. 1981: "Ascetic Renunciation and Feminine Advancement: A Paradox of Late Ancient Christianity," Journal of Theological Review 63 240-257. Clark, Elizabeth A. 1986: Ascetic Piety and Women s Faith, Lewiston, NY. Clark, Elizabeth A. 2004: History, Theory, Text: Historians and the Linguistic Tum, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Clark, Elizabeth A. I 998a: "Holy Words: Early Christian Women, Social History, and the Linguitic Tum," Journal ofEarly Christian Studies 6, 413-30. Clark, Elizabeth A. 1998b: "The Lady Vanishes: Dilemmas of a Feminist Historian After the 'Linguistic Tum"', Church History 67, 1-31. Clark, G. 1993: Women in Late Antiquity: Pagan and Christian Life-Styles, Oxford. Cloke, G. 1995: 'This Female Man of God': Women and Spiritual Power in the Patristic Age, AD 350-450, London/NY. Cooper, K. 1996: The Virgin and the Bride: Idealized Womanhood in Late Antiquity, London. Davies, S. 1980: The Revolt ofthe Widows: the Social World of the Apocryphal Acts, Carbondale. Davis, S. 200 I: The Cult ofSaint Thecla: a Tradition of Women s Piety in Late Antiquity, Oxford. Dietz, M. 2005: Wondering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims: Ascetic Travel in Mediterranean World, AD.300-800, Pennsylvania Univ. Press, University Park, Pennsylvania. Dobschiitz, von E. 1902: «Der Roman in der -altchristlichen Literatur, » Deutche Rundsdzau 111. Elm, S. 1994: 'Virgins of God': The Making of Asceticism in Late Antiquity, Oxford. Fiorenza, Elizabeth S. 1983: In Memory of Her: A Feminist Reconstruction qfChristian Origins, NY. Frank, G. 2000: The Mem01y qf the Eyes: Pilgrims in Living Saints in Christian Late Antiquity, Univ. of California Press, Berkeley.

Vol. XLI 2006 89 Holum, K. 1982: Theodosian Empresses: Women and Imperial Dominion in Late Antiquity, Berkeley. Howard-Johnston, J. and P. A. Hayward ed., 1999: Tire Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Oxford. James, L. "Goddess, Whore, Wife or Slave: Will the Real Byzantium Empress Please Stand Up?", in: Duggan, Anne ed., 1997; Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe, Woodbridge, UK, 123-139. Kraemer, Ross S. 1992: Her Share of the Blessings: Women s Religions among Pagans, Jews and Christians in the Greco-Roman World, NY. MacDonald, D. R. 1983: The Legend and the Apostle: the Battle for Paul in Story and Canon, Philadelphia. Martin D. and Patricia Cox Millar (eds.) 2005: The Cultural Turn in Late Ancient Studies: Gender Asceticism, and Historiography, Durham/London. Nauerth, Claudia und R. Warns, 1981: Thekla: lhre Bilder in der .friihchlist/ichen Kunst, Wiesbaden. Patragean, E. 1977: Pauvrete economique et pauvrete socia/e a Byzance 4e.7e siecles, Paris. Rademacher, L. 1916: "Hippolytos und Thekla: Studien zur Geschichte von Legende und Kultus,'' Situngsberichte, Kaiserlic:he Akademie der Wissenschafl in Wien, Philosophische-historische Klasse, 182.3. Reardon, B.P. (ed.) 1989: Collected Ancient Greek Novels, University of California Press, Berkeley. Reitzenstein, R. 1906: Hellenistische Wundererzahlungen, Leipzig. Rohde, E. 1876: Der Grieclrisclre Roman und seine Vola'l{{er, (1900)2°d ed. Leipzig Salisbury, Joyce E. 1991: Church Fathers, Independent Virgins London/NY. Sivan, H. 1988: "Who was Egeria? Piety and Pilgrimage in the Age of Gratian," Harvard Thelogical Review 81, no. I, 59-72. Soder, R. 1932: Die apocryphen Apostelgesclrichten und die romanhafle Literatur der Antike, Stuttgart.

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