The Emergence of Monas Ticism from the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages
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The Emergence of Monas ticism From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages Marilyn Dunn Blackwell Publishing Tbe EmeTgence of Monasticism The Emergence of Monasticisrn From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages Marilyn Dunn Blackwell Publishing 0 2000,2003 by Marilyn Durn 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5018, USA 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 lJF, UI< 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia ICurfurstendamm 57, 10707 Berlin, Germany The right of Marilyn Dunn to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UI< Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UI< Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2000 by Blaclcwell Publishers Ltd, a Blaclcwell Publishing company First published in paperback 2003 Library of Congyess Cataloging-in-PublicationData Dunn, Marilyn. The emergence of monasticism: from the Desert Fathers to the early Middle Ages / Marilyn Dunn. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0431-13463-8 (hardcover: allc. paper)-ISBN 14051-0641-7 (paperback) 1. Monastic and religious life-History-Early church, ca. 30-600. I. Title. BRl95.M65 D86 2001 271’.009’015-dc21 00-057905 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10.5 on 12 pt Galliard by Kolam Information Services Pvt. Ltd., Pondicherry, India Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by T. J. International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall For further information on Blaclcwell Publishing, visit our website: http://www. blaclwellpublishing.com Contents heface vi-vii Last of Abbnwaataons Viii The Emergence of Christian Eremitism 1 The Development of Communal Life 25 Women in Early Monasticism 42 The Meaning of Asceticism 59 The Evolution of Monasticism in the West 82 The Rule of St Benedict and its Itahan Setting 111 Britain and Ireland 138 Irish penyini and European Monasticism 158 England in the Seventh Century 191 Notes 209 Select Bablao~~aphy 251 Index 275 Preface Early monastic hstory is a uniquely complex subject. No other area of history potentially covers so many dxiplines and areas, intellectual and geographical. It can extend itself over the study of hstory (political, religious, social and economic), theology, liturgy, archaeology, phdoso- phy, religious studes, gender studies, sociology and anthropology. The widely differing methodologies and approaches whch exist may be sampled across the great range of journals in whch it is possible to read about monastic issues from Revue Be’ne’dietineand Stadia Monastiea on one hand, through periodicals such as the Jouvnal of Eavly Chvistian Hastovy and Semeia, to Annales on the other. Yet for all the great weight of interpretation whch can be brought to bear on monastic history, there sdl exists a major &vide between those who are perceived as ‘monastic historians’ and other historians and theorists, a gulf which separates those whose approach is primarily textual and liturgical from those who work with, in and from other dxiplines. Ths book represents, as far as is possible withn the obvious constraints of a chronological framework, a first attempt to examine monasticism in the light of the great variety of relevant approaches. Its worlung title was ‘Out of the Desert’ - a title by whch I had hoped not only to pay tribute to the nuanced and compelling ideas which are emerging from the study of Egyptian monasticism but also to indcate that the book follows the broad trajectory of the most important aspects of monastic development from the fourth to the seventh centuries rather than being an exhaustive or region- by-region survey. One of the primary problems for the historian worlung in ths field is the nature of monastic literature itself. A large part of the purpose of monastic texts is to look back to earlier days of monasticism and beyond that the Bible. The constant repetition ofsections talcen from earlier works is one of the most noticeable features of monastic writing - especially monastic rules l’yeface Vii - in whch the search for perfection was always accompanied by the perception of earlier wisdom and the desire to maintain orthodox track tion. It is, perhaps, easier to see where each piece of writing stands in monastic tradition than to see where it is going in terms of monastic development. Here, I have attempted to place such writings in context. Some areas have proved or will prove controversial, but I have always maintained that history moves forward by debate and ddectic and hope that it may be conducted in an open and civilized manner. I would lke to express thanks to those who have helped and supported me in writing ths book. To Tony Goodman, for suggesting I write it in the first place and to John Davey for commissioning it. To a number of colleagues and friends in a variety of dxiplines, particularly Donald Bullough, Thomas Clancy, Gary Dickson, Judth George, kchard Rose and Alex Woolf, for advice, discussion, encouragement and criticism. None of them should be blamed for any view expressed here. To Craig Fraser and Penny Galloway for practical help as well as moral support. To many students for aslung dfficult questions and generally keeping me on my toes. To the staff of a number of libraries, particularly those of Glasgow and Edinburgh University Libraries, New College Library, Edinburgh and the Bodleian Library, Oxford. My greatest debt is to Michael Baron, who has sustained me over the years in writing ths, providmg constant encouragement and assistance, and to whom the book is dedcated. MD Abbreviations AB Analecta Bollandaana Annales ESC Annales. Economaes. Socae‘te’s. Cavalasataons. cc Covpus Chvastianovum CSEL Covpus Scvaptovum Ecclesiae Latanae EHR Ecclesaastacal Hastovy Review JECS Jouvnal of Eavly Chvastaan Studies JEH Jouvnal of Ecclesaastacal Hastovy JMH Jouvnal of Medieval Hastovy JRH Jouvnal of Relkaous Hastovy JRS Jouvnal of Roman Studies JTS Jouvnal of T%eologicalSmdies PG Migne, Patvologaa Gvaeca PL Migne, Patvologaa Latana RAM Revue d’ilsce’tique et de Mystaque RB Revue Be’n4dactane REAug Revue des Etudes Augustinaennes RHR Revue de L’Haktoave des Relkaons RM Revue Maballon sc Souvces Chve’taennes SM Stadia Monastaca TADMO McLaughlin T.P., Les Tv2s Ancaen Dvoat Monastaque de 1’ Occident Archives de la France Monastique, vol. XXXVIII (Ligugi - Paris, 1935). TRHS Tvansactaons of the Royal Hastovacal Society vc Vigalaae Chvastaanae ZICG Zeatschvz$t fiiv ICavchengeschachte 1 The Emergence of Christian Eremitism In 324 an Egyptian vdlager named Aurelius Isidorus of Karanis was attacked by two enraged neighbours, Pamounis and Harpalos, when he turned their cow, whch was eating hs crops, off hs land. In a written complaint to the local government official, dated June 6, he describes how he was set about so violently that if I had not obtained help from Antony, a deacon, and Isaac, a monk (monachos), they would probably have finished me off altogether.’ The casual nature of Aurelius’ reference to ‘Isaac, a monk’ - a man whose testimony would weigh equally with that of a deacon - in a formal document, suggests that by 324 the monaehos or monk was a recognized fixture on the scene in the khom, the inhabited countryside of Roman Egypt. Tradition has long fixed the emergence of Egyptian monasticism around this period. On the other hand, the papyrus’ brief reference raises even more questions than it answers. How, when and why did Christian monasticism originate and why had it become an institution well known, by the 320s, in rural Egypt? The appearance in the Christian church of individuals or communities strictly separated from the world and devoted to a life of religious con- templation or service is a phenomenon whch hstorians have long sought to explain. Older rationahzations of the rise of monasticism have included the suggestion that it was a response to the imperial adoption of Chris- tianity in the fourth century: a call to return to the values of Christian martyrdom3 or a result of a widespread and deep-seated an~iety.~It has been suggested that Christian monasticism might simply be a continua- tion of the Jewish ascetic tradition represented by groups such as the Essenes and nempeutae and of the communal traditions of early 2 The Emewenee of Chyastaan Eyematam Christian groups imitating the way of life of the apostle^.^ Others have argued that the origins of Christian monasticism might in part have been located in an economic crisis in thrd- and fourth-century Egypt: the same Greek word anaehoyesas was used to designate both fight from tax obligations and the increasingly common phenomenon of retreat to a solitary religious life. Papyri containing questions to be put to oracles at this period frequently asked ‘Shall I become a fugitive?’ and this had led to the conjecture that many farmers, impelled originally by the harsh reahty of tax obligations, fled society and took up a life of religion based on the ‘hard saymgs’ of Christ.6 However, the nature and extent of the crisis is now debated: it is impossible, for example, to quantify the number of farmers and villagers who ‘fled’ and the papyri suggest that their destination was neither the desert nor the religious life but another village, where they were followed by demands either from imperial offi- cials or from their fellow vdlagers for their return. The Life of Antony Recent analyses of the origins of monasticism have focused on the career and letters of the first monk about whom we know in any detail, an Egyptian named Antony, who &ed about 356 CE.