Zacharias Scholasticus and the Intellectual Influence of Aeneas of Gaza and John Rufus

ARAM, 18-19 (2006-2007) 153-164. doi:E. WATTS 10.2143/ARAM.18.0.2020726 153

CREATING THE ASCETIC AND SOPHISTIC MÉLANGE: ZACHARIAS SCHOLASTICUS AND THE INTELLECTUAL INFLUENCE OF AENEAS OF GAZA AND JOHN RUFUS

Dr. EDWARD WATTS (Indiana University)

The city of Gaza in the late fifth and early sixth centuries has attracted atten- tion from scholars of both anti-Chalcedonian religious culture and late Roman intellectual history.1 At that time, Gaza and its port of Maiuma were at the center of two very different contemporary intellectual traditions. One of these traditions was connected to the anti-Chalcedonian monasteries of Maiuma. These monasteries produced renowned monks like Peter the Iberian and John Rufus who, beginning in the 450s, played an important role in the intellectual and spiritual evolution of anti-Chalcedonian culture in the region. At the same time, a different sort of intellectual development was taking place in the secular schools of the city. Gazan intellectual life seems to make little impression in literary sources for most of late antiquity, but, in the later fifth century, Gaza appears as a significant part of the intellectual networks of the Southeastern Mediterranean. This can first be seen in a wave of Gazan students attending schools and otherwise participating in the intellectual life of Alexandria.2 By the early sixth century, a distinct, Christian-themed, and Gaza-centered scholastic culture emerged under the leadership of Procopius and, eventually, Choricius of Gaza.3 This convergence of ascetic and sophistic achievement is not without ante- cedents. Indeed, in Alexandria itself, anti-Chalcedonian ascetic culture thrived while a renaissance was taking place in the city’s philosophical and rhetorical schools in the mid-fifth century.4 This development is not unconnected to the Gaza situation, but Gaza is distinct because the personal interaction between

1 On the general cultural environment in and around the city of Gaza, see K. Seitz, Die Schule von Gaza, (diss. Heidelberg, 1892); G. Downey, Gaza in the Early Sixth Century, (Norman, OK, 1963) and C.A.M. Glucker, The City of Gaza in the Roman and Byzantine Periods, BAR Interna- tional Series 325, (Oxford, 1987). 2 For the scholastic connections between Gaza and Alexandria, see E. Watts, “Student travel to intellectual centers: What was the attraction?” in L. Ellis and F. Kidner (eds.), Travel, Com- munication, and Geography in Late Antiquity, (Aldershot, 2004), 11-21 (esp. 15 n.12). Among the Gazans known to have attended Alexandrian schools in the later fifth century are Zacharias Scholasticus, Aeneas, Diodorus, and Procopius. 3 On the culture that emerges, see G. Downey, 1963 and C.A.M. Glucker, 1987, 51-7. 4 On this Alexandrian cultural environment, see E. Watts, City and School in Late Antique Athens and Alexandria (Berkeley, 2006), 204-56.

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members of these circles is well documented in surviving sources. The significance of this is not often appreciated, however, because these sophists and ascetics have usually been studied separately.5 Nevertheless, the Gazan evidence points to a degree of overlap between the two communities that was especially strong in the case of students. When seen through the perspective of these students, this environment provides a unique opportunity to glimpse the intellectual interaction between two seemingly distinct communities. This paper will examine the interplay between the ideas and anecdotes that circulated in each community and explore how surviving sources attempted to create common intellectual ground between anti-Chalcedonian ascetic and Classical sophistic traditions. A full study of Gazan cultural life in the period from c. 450-550 is, of course, not practical in this space. Instead, this discussion will focus on the early decades of this interplay and, specifically, on the person of Zacharias Scholasticus. Zacharias was an active author and was among the first generation of students whose educational experience was shaped by personal interactions with both sophists and anti-Chalcedonian ascetics.6 Furthermore, because he wrote a number of works while still a student, his writings reveal the intellectual interplay between these two traditions in the student’s mind. Before turning to Zacharias, it is important to first consider the history of the sophistic and ascetic communities of Gaza. Both the first ascetic and sophistic institutions in Gaza predate their late fifth century prominence and, in each case, there is an undeniable link to Egypt. Gazan intellectuals first attract our notice as a group of students who traveled to Alexandria for rhetorical and philosophical training in the middle decades of the fifth century.7 The earliest of these was Aeneas of Gaza, a Christian student of the Neoplatonic philosopher Hierocles. Hierocles had studied in Athens under Plutarch the scholarch before returning to Alexandria to teach a Neoplatonic philosophy tinged with pagan religious content.8 The religious difference between Aeneas and his

5 So, for example, J. Steppa (John Rufus and the World Vision of Anti-Chalcedonian Culture, [Piscataway, NJ, 2002]) spends only a bit of time on the sophistic circles of the city. M. Colonna (ed., Zacaria Scolastico, Ammonio: Introduzione, testo critico, traduzione, commentario, [Na- ples, 1973]) makes similarly slight mention of ascetic circles in her work. 6 Zacharias’ own scholastic experiences are on display in his Life of Severus. 7 These are the first Gazan teachers of significance, but Palestine had been an important center for sophistic teaching since the second century. For its earlier prominence, see J. Geiger, “Notes on the Second Sophistic in Palestine,” ICS 19 (1994), 221-30. Notable in this early context is Ptolemaeus, a sophist known from a third century inscription as a “Gazan and citizen of many other cities.” On this inscription, see C.A.M. Glucker, 1987, 51 and Appendix 46. Jerome (Life of Hilarion 2) states that Hilarion, who was born outside of Gaza, also studied rhetoric in Alexandria in the fourth century. 8 One can get a brief sense of this from Damascius’ Life of Isidore fr. 45B (Athanassiadi). On the character of his teaching, see the fragments of his On Providence, preserved in Photius, Bibl., cod. 214 p 171 a 5. Notable among the larger studies of Hierocles are I. Hadot, Le Problème du Néoplatonisme Alexandrin: Hiéroclès et Simplicius, (Paris, 1978); and N. Aujoulat, Le Néo- Platonisme Alexandrin Hiéroclès d’Alexandrie, (Leiden, 1986).

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teacher was significant, and it manifested itself particularly in a difference of opinion about the eternity of the world. Despite this, Aeneas had a positive impression of Hierocles and his fellow students. In his fictional dialog, Theophrastus, Aeneas had the characters profess their great fondness for Hierocles and the intellectual environment he created.9 Furthermore, if his small number of surviving letters can be taken as exemplary, Aeneas participated in this Alexandria-centered intellectual milieu even after his return to Gaza and remained friendly with the pagan leaders of it for the rest of his life.10 While adopting the basic intellectual approaches and social behaviors ap- propriate to a member of this larger Southeastern Mediterranean cultural community, Aeneas’ writings give evidence of an approach to philosophical ques- tions that differed from that of his teacher. In the Theophrastus in particular, Aeneas sought to prove that events on earth prefigure the eventual resurrection of souls by drawing upon three miracles. These include the resurrection of a dead child by a gérwn (in all likelihood a monk), the healing of a blind man, and a marvel in which Catholic Christian men who had their tongues cut out by the Vandals recovered the ability to speak.11 All of these are Christian miracles, but, while Aeneas emphasizes that a god performed them, he does not explicitly identify them as acts of the Christian God. Indeed, while his work bears the imprint of his own religious experiences, the Theophrastus downplays the Christian significance of these marvels. As such, it reflected the standards of an intellectual world in which persuasive discourse was defined by Classical philosophical standards. Miraculous events, like those that Aeneas found to be effective illustrations of his philosophical points, could be included, but they were not introduced in a way that emphasized their specific Christian origins or significance. The generation of Gazan students that followed Aeneas remained associated with this larger Alexandrian intellectual world. It seems that the best students from Gaza continued to make their way to Alexandria to study into the early sixth century. This generation of students included Zacharias Scholasticus and Procopius of Gaza.12 In the writings of these students, however, the pattern of discourse has changed. Their expressions of Christianity have become more explicit and, in some cases, their attacks on pagan teachings have become

9 Aeneas, Theophrastus, ln. 8-12. 10 For his letters, see L. Positano (ed. and trans.), Enea di Gaza: Epistole (Naples, 1961). 11 The gérwn is described in Th. 64.27-65.19. The story of the blind man is told in Th. 65.23- 66.6. Finally, Aeneas explains the miraculous speech of the victims of mutilation in Th. 66.15- 67.13. This last event seems to have involved victims of Hunneric’s persecution in 484. On this, see N. Aujoulat, “Le Theophraste d’Énée de Gaza. Problèmes de Chronologie,” Koinonia 10 (1986), 67-80. 12 On Zacharias’ student experiences in Alexandria, see Zacharias, Life of Severus, 12-46. Procopius’ pride at winning a rhetorical crown in Alexandria suggests his attachment to the intellectual culture of the city (Procopius, Ep. 48, 96). This victory is also described by Choricius, Or. Fun. in Proc. 15.

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more aggressive.13 Efforts were also made to showcase Christian applications of Classical standards. Nevertheless, it was not until the next generation of students, those trained by Procopius in Gaza, that this Alexandrian influence diminished to the point that Gaza seems to have stopped sending students to Al- exandria.14 In the ascetic communities surrounding Gaza a similar Egyptian influence is initially in evidence in the fourth and fifth century. The ascetic Hilarion, for example, was said by Jerome to have settled in Maiuma following his time in Alexandria. Though Jerome’s statement is confirmed in part by Sozomen, the long term impact of Hilarion’s presence seems to have been limited.15 To trace the origins of the prominent late-fifth century Gazan ascetic communities, one must turn instead to the oral traditions passed down within the monasteries of Maiuma and recorded in writing by John Rufus. According to them, in the late fourth century, a group of monks migrated to the area from Scetis under the leadership of Silvanius, a man described by John Rufus as the “Father of the Monks.”16 This community continued under his disciples. The most prominent of these in the anti-Chalcedonian historical traditions was a monk named Zeno, described by John Rufus as a spiritual father to Peter the Iberian, the ascetic leader and future bishop of Maiuma.17 It is with Peter the Iberian and Isaiah, his equally esteemed associate, that the surviving historical traditions really begin to focus upon the activities of Gazan ascetic communities. Peter, who was born a royal prince in Iberia and spent a good part of his childhood as a hostage in Constantinople, came to Maiuma via Jerusalem in an attempt to avoid ordination.18 Once in Maiuma, he came to head a significant ascetic community. Isaiah, by contrast, had begun his ascetic practice in Egypt but had fled first to Jerusalem and then to Gaza to gain peace from petitioners and independence from the bishop of Al- exandria.19 He established himself in Gaza, lived as a semi-solitary, and served the spiritual needs of the surrounding anti-Chalcedonian communities.

13 Note, for example, Zacharias’ Ammonius and Procopius’ anti-eternalist text the Refutatio Procli. 14 Procopius’ decision to begin teaching in Gaza, despite lucrative offers from Antioch and elsewhere, seems to have been recognized as an event of some significance. On this, note Choricius, Or. Fun. in Proc. 12-3 and C.A.M. Glucker, 1987, 52-3. 15 On Hilarion’s purported move, see Jerome, Life of Hilarion, 3. Though a problematic text, Jerome’s description is not at odds with Sozomen’s description of Hilarion’s activities in the region (HE 5.15). 16 For John Rufus’ description, see Plerophories 48. On this migration, see J. Steppa, 2002, 16. 17 Vit. Pet. Ib. 50. 18 On Peter’s biography, note J. Steppa, 2002, 7-11 and D.M. Lang, “Peter the Iberian and his Biographers,” Journal of Ecclesiastical History 2.2 (1951), 158-68. Peter’s journey to Maiuma is described in Vit. Pet. Ib. 15-37. 19 Zacharias Scholasticus, Vit. Is. 3-4. Note as well the discussion of A. Guillaumont, “Une Notice Syriaque Inédite sur la Vie de l’abbé Isaie,” Analecta Bollandiana 67 (1949), 350-60.

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The ascetic practices of these men were admirable and the subject of a great deal of discussion among their followers, but what really distinguished them was a particular combination of time and circumstance. They were the leading ascetic figures in and around Gaza at the time of Juvenal of Jerusalem’s theological retreat at the Council of Chalcedon in 451.20 This is significant because, when Juvenal returned to Palestine, he faced an ascetic-led ecclesiastical rebellion of such ferocity that he was forced to leave the province.21 He could only return with an armed escort of imperial troops. In Juvenal’s ab- sence, a monk named Theodosius was made patriarch and, in Maiuma, a bishop who supported Juvenal was replaced by Peter the Iberian.22 Though Peter was himself deposed and forced into exile in Egypt in 453, he remained among the most recognizable anti-Chalcedonian figures in Palestine and his monastery served as a center of regional anti-Chalcedonian thought and activ- ity.23 John Rufus’ Plerophories preserves a wide variety of the ideas expressed in these Palestinian anti-Chalcedonian ascetic circles. This work transmits Egyp- tian and Palestinian oral traditions that are extremely critical of Chalcedon and the leading figures involved in the council. Though probably written in the 510s, much of this material derives from the testimony of Peter the Iberian and was likely communicated to John following his arrival in Maiuma in the early 480s.24 A number of diverse theological and ideological tendencies impact the anecdotes contained in the Plerophories, but the oral traditions preserved in this work reveal one trend of particular significance to this discussion. These oral traditions contained a substantial number of Apocalyptic statements. One notable testimony comes from John himself and describes an old ascetic who appears to indicate his agreement to John’s statement that “the end of the world is approaching and you have been sent in witness for us, to announce this to the world in this place.”25 But this testimony is only one among many references in the Plerophories to the arrival of the Antichrist and a disintegrating temporal order. Significantly, much of this material can be traced to oral traditions emanating from Peter the Iberian and other Gazan monks in the 480s.26 These are, then, not ideas circulating on the fringes of the 20 For Juvenal’s behavior at the Council of Chalcedon and its reception in Palestine, see Zacharias Scholasticus, HE 3.3 and Evagrius Scholasticus, HE 2.5. 21 Zacharias, HE 3.3, 3.5 and Evagrius, HE 2.7. 22 Zacharias, HE 3.4. 23 On his exile, see Zacharias, HE 3.7 and John Rufus, Plerophories 49. 24 J. Steppa, 2002, 57. For the 510s as a date of composition for the Plerophories, see J. Steppa, 2002, 60-61. Judging from the identity of John’s sources, much of the original oral material preserved in the text dates from the 470s and 480s. 25 Plerophories 88; cf. Susan A. Harvey, “Remembering Pain: Syriac Historiography and the Separation of the Churches,” Byzantion 58 (1988), 301-2. 26 Among the examples of this type of testimony are Plerophories 17 (Peter the Iberian’s story about a monk barring his cell to Juvenal); Plero. 20 (the vision of a priest named Paul equating Juvenal with a servant of the Antichrist); and Plero. 89 (a composite tradition describing the connection between the fall of the city of Rome and the Tome of Leo).

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Gazan ascetic environment; they are very much among the themes that ani- mated ascetic practice in the region in the 480s. Gaza in the 480s and 490s was home to two flourishing but very different cultural communities – one ascetic, the other sophistic. Though each group had significant ties to larger and more developed Egyptian communities, there are also specifically Palestinian elements to their discourse. Furthermore, there seems to have been very little space for cultural overlap between these ascetic and sophistic circles. It is, for example, difficult to think how one could square John Rufus’ view that visions of holy men were the ultimate form of divine communication with Aeneas of Gaza’s peculiar use of Christian miracles in the Theophrastus. It is equally difficult to understand how one could fuse the inclusive, polite values of Aeneas’ paideia with the relative social and religious inflexibility of John’s ascetic colleagues. Nevertheless, it seems that the generation of Gazan students who were brought up in the 480s attempted to create some sort of a mélange of these diverse values. Indeed, some interaction occurred even before this time. The writings of John Rufus contain many references to sophists, scholastici, and students who traveled to the Palestinian and Egyptian monasteries that housed opponents of Chalcedon in the 450s, 460s, and 470s.27 One group of law students stands out as particularly intriguing because of their Gazan ties. This was a group of students that, under the apparent influence of Zacharias Scholas- ticus, converted to anti-Chalcedonian beliefs.28 In fact, one such conversion was described by them not just as a conversion away from Chalcedon but as one towards the faith of “the holy fathers of Egypt and Palestine, of which the champions were the great athletes of the religion” – namely Peter the Iberian, John of Sebennytos, Theodore of Antinoe, and Isaiah.29 But the personal ties of these young Christians were closest to the ascetics of Maiuma. Peter the Iberian had visited these students during a trip to Phoenicia in the 480s, and a number of them, including the future patriarch Severus, eventually joined Pe- ter’s ascetic community in Maiuma.30 Though these students were clearly a part of a larger Southeastern Mediterranean ascetic network, their closest asso- ciation, both personally and intellectually, was with Gazan ascetic institutions.

27 Note Plerophories 13 (a scholasticus named Epainetes who visited with monks at Enaton while a student); Plero. 14 and 57 (describing visions of Paul, a former sophist who had become a monk); Plero. 38 (describing a vision that convinced Ammianus, a law student, to seek baptism from Peter the Iberian); Plero. 77 (recounting the activities of the scholasticus Serapion); and Plero. 78 (discussing several Alexandrian scholastici who sought out a Stylite while students in Beirut). 28 The conversion of Evagrius, one such student, is described by both John Rufus (Plero. 70) and Zacharias Scholasticus (Vit. Sev. 78). 29 Vit. Sev. 78. 30 On Peter’s visit, see Vit. Pet. Ib. 114. For Severus’ decision to join the monastery in Maiuma, note Zacharias, Vit. Sev. 93-103. For discussion of Severus’ monastic career, see R. Darling, “The Patriarchate of Severus of Antioch, 512-8,” Diss. University of Chicago, 1982, 25-30.

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The most interesting member of this network of students is Zacharias Scholasticus.31 Zacharias was a Gazan youth who progressed through the best schools of rhetoric, philosophy, and law in the Southeastern Mediterranean region before becoming a scholasticus in Constantinople in or around 492. He may have begun his rhetorical training under Aeneas of Gaza, but he finished this study in Alexandria and, while there, he also took some basic lessons in philosophy from the renowned Neoplatonist Ammonius Hermeiou.32 From Al- exandria, he progressed to Berytus for legal study, probably making the move in 489. Throughout this time, Zacharias also remained close to ascetic circles in Gaza and Egypt. As a young man in Gaza, Zacharias became well enough acquainted with Peter the Iberian and the monk Isaiah that he was able to com- pose biographies of each not long after their death.33 Then, while studying in Alexandria, Zacharias joined a group of student philoponoi who were affili- ated with the anti-Chalcedonian community at Enaton (later the abode of Severus of Antioch when he was exiled to Alexandria).34 His studies of rhetoric and philosophy then occurred at the same time as his apparently extensive interaction with anti-Chalcedonian ascetic communities. Zacharias’ student experiences are particularly interesting because, alone among his compatriots, he wrote a number of works while still a student that reflect some of the tensions between his literary studies and his ascetically-influenced anti-Chalcedonianism. The works that clearly fit into this category are his collection of biographical materials about Peter the Iberian and Isaiah and his philosophical dialog the Ammonius. The first to consider are the biographical collections. The lives of Peter the Iberian and Isaiah were evidently first published during Zacharias’ time in Berytus.35 At a later point, they were revised and republished as part of a larger collection of anti-Chalcedonian hagiography, but this republication seems to have resulted in few changes being made to the originals.36 As they currently exist, the lives of Peter the Iberian and Isaiah are not in a great state. Peter’s Vita is known only from one Syriac fragment and that of Isaiah is preserved separately in a Syriac translation.37 The Isaiah text, however, is suffi-

31 For the basic details of Zacharias’ life, see P. Allen, “Zachariah Scholasticus and the Historia Ecclesiastica of Evagrius Scholasticus,” Journal of Theological Studies 31 (1980), 471- 88 (esp. 471-2); and E. Honigmann, Patristic Studies, (Studi e Testi 173), (Città del Vaticano 1953), 194-204. 32 This is suggested by the opening statements of his Ammonius (e.g. Amm. ln. 1-32). 33 Zacharias’ relationship with these circles is described by John Rufus, Plero. 73. 34 For Zacharias’ connection with Enaton, see Vit. Sev. 24. For Severus’ later connection, see Leontius of Byzantium, De Sectis V c. 3; PG 86 col. 1230. 35 On the text of Peter the Iberian’s life, see D.M. Lang, 1951, 158-68. 36 On the apparent republication of the texts, see M.A. Kugener, “Observations sur la Vie de l’ascète Isaïe et sur les Vies de Pierre l’Ibérien et de Théodore d’Antinoé par Zacharie le Scholastique,” BZ 9 (1909), 464-70. 37 The texts of these lives, such as they are, were edited and translated by E.W. Brooks, Vita Isaiae monachi in Vitae virorum apud monophysitas celeberrimorum, CSCO 7-8, (text) 7:1-16, (trans.) 8:1-10.

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ciently intact to reflect upon Zacharias’ particular interests at the time of its composition. Zacharias evidently intended for this work to establish Isaiah as an ascetic exemplar to the anti-Chalcedonian community. In pursuing this goal, he in- cludes a set of miracles, prophecies, and visions of the future that both confirm Isaiah’s spiritual achievements and, to a lesser degree, define his anti-Chal- cedonian allegiance. At the same time, there are two elements of Zacharias’ portrait that are rather peculiar inclusions. The first of these concerns the revolt of the Isuarian general Illus in 484,38 a revolt notable for the efforts made by its organizers to reach out to both pagan intellectuals and disenchanted Chalcedonians.39 To appeal to the former group, the pagan poet Pamprepius spent much of 482 and 483 in Alexandria organizing the city’s pagan intellectuals in support of Illus.40 This endeavor was well-known to Christian students like Zacharias and evidently concerned them a good deal.41 At the same time, Calandion of Antioch, John Talaias, and other Chalcedonian leaders also supported the rebellion of Illus as a way to uphold the Council of Chalcedon more strongly.42 Because of Calandion of Antioch and John Talaias in Alexandria, the revolt of Illus had an undeniable place in the history of the anti-Chalcedonian move- ment. So it is not unreasonable to find mention of it in a life of Isaiah. Never- theless, it is notable how Zacharias describes the revolt. Though he would later emphasize the ties to Illus established by Calandion and John in his Ecclesias- tical History, Zacharias does not use the Life of Isaiah to present Illus’ revolt as a threat because of the Chalcedonian ties of its leadership. Instead, in the Life of Isaiah, Zacharias evokes notions of religious struggle and describes Isaiah calming Christian anxieties about a situation in which “Illus had become deranged, for it is said that he was deceived by the magus Pamprepius and led into paganism.”43 In the 480s and 490s, Zacharias and other Christians

38 Illus and his figurehead Leontius were quickly defeated in 484, but only finally and fully subdued in 488. On their last stand, see J. Gottwald, “Die Kirche und das Schloss Paperon in Kililisch-Armenien,” BZ 36 (1936), 86-100. 39 This idea is clear from Damascius, Vit. Is. Ath. 115A; Z. Ep. 290. On pagan involvement in Illus’ revolt, see H. Elton, “Illus and the Imperial Aristocracy under Zeno,” Byzantion 70 (2000), 403-4. 40 Pamprepius was a good choice because of his close connection to pagan intellectuals like the Athenian notable Theagenes. Malchus, (fr. 23, Blockley) describes the aftermath of their fall- ing out, an event which may have prompted Pamprepius to begin working as chief propagandist for Illus. 41 Zacharias’ concern about the rebellion is apparent in both the Life of Isaiah and his Life of Severus (Vit. Sev. 40). 42 Evagrius Scholasticus, HE 3.16 and Zacharias, HE 5.9 describe Calandion’s support for Illus and Leontius. John Talaias is mentioned by Zacharias, HE 5.6-7 and Liberatus, Breviarium 16. For a discussion of Chalcedonian support of this revolt, see H. Elton, 2000, 402. 43 Vita Isaiae 10. This story is not original; it parallels a similar story told by Rufinus about Athanasius and the emperor Julian (Rufinus, HE 1.34).

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studying under Pamprepius’ associates in Alexandria saw the revolt’s failure as a Christian victory over devious and deceitful pagans. This incident in the Life of Isaiah then must be understood as a part of an anti-pagan discourse with particular meaning in late fifth century Egyptian and Palestinian intellectual environments. In these contexts, Illus’ revolt signified the failings of intellectual pagan leaders and positioned Isaiah not as an anti-Chalcedonian leader, but as a figure who could provide leadership to Christian students concerned about pagan influences in the intellectual environment. Another segment of the Life of Isaiah works to establish a new sort of relationship between Christian wisdom and pagan learning. This is based upon the testimony of Aeneas of Gaza. Aeneas, who is described as “a most learned and Christian man (who is) known all over for his wisdom,” is quoted as saying: “Often, when I was in doubt about a passage from the writings of Plato, Aristotle, or Plotinus, and could not find a solution in their commentar- ies or interpret them by myself, I asked (Isaiah) and he enlightened me…In this way, he also refuted their falsehoods and strengthened the truth of Chris- tian doctrine.”44 Isaiah is here presented as a philosopher monk, an ascetic who is better versed in philosophical argumentation than even the best trained intellectuals. This inverts the standard literary image of a Christian ascetic who shuns classical philosophy for the practical wisdom of Christian asceticism.45 But this inversion is deliberate and shapes Isaiah into an exemplary figure who personifies the ascetic and sophistic cultural fusion idealized by students like Zacharias. Based upon these pieces of evidence, the Life of Isaiah seems best appreciated as a product of the interaction between the particular ideals that Zacharias encountered in the intellectual and ascetic circles with which he associated. In Zacharias’ portrait, Isaiah is both an uncompromising anti-Chalcedonian ascetic and a leader who can respond to the intellectual and religious concerns of Christians involved in the schools. This is a peculiar mixture of attributes, but it is also one that mirrors the set of values a student like Zacharias would have seen as ideal. Zacharias’ anti-eternalist philosophical dialog Ammonius is a very different sort of work, but one that ought equally to be seen as a product of the interaction of his ascetic and sophistic environments. The Ammonius begins with a short exchange between law students in Berytus who had once studied in Al- exandria under the influential Neoplatonist Ammonius. One of the students then offers to recount a series of short exchanges he had with Ammonius that

44 Vita Isaiae 8. 45 Note, for example, Life of Antony 78. Relevant as well is the discussion of S. Rubenson, “Philosophy and Simplicity: The Problem of Classical Education in Early Christian Biography,” in T. Hägg and P. Rousseau (eds.), Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity, (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 2000), 118.

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reflect upon the unreliability of his teachings about the eternity of the world.46 The arguments in the work itself are not terribly original – many of them are copied directly from Aeneas of Gaza’s Theophrastus.47 On the whole, they use philosophical argumentation to defend the idea that the world is not co-eternal with God and to illustrate that God will not be diminished by its destruction. This was, of course, the same basic aim as Aeneas’ text. Nevertheless, there is an important distinction in tone between the argument framed by Aeneas and that put forth by Zacharias. While Aeneas is under- stated about his Christianity and chooses to emphasize the philosophical impli- cations of his arguments, Zacharias makes it clear how his arguments support Christian doctrine. So, for example, after Zacharias refutes Ammonius’ argument that the dissolution of the cosmos would diminish God, he states: “many of those present in the class at that time…were placed among us and leaned towards our arguments, or more correctly, they leaned towards Christianity out of faith and love of truth.”48 Following another discussion with Ammonius, Zacharias states that Ammonius asked his students to leave the auditorium “so that they would not be persuaded by the argument and persuaded to live as Christians again.”49 The Ammonius is a clear derivative of Aeneas’ Theophrastus and the explicit emphasis that it puts upon the Christian significance of its argument is one of the text’s most important distinguishing features. When this is com- bined with the fact that the dramatic setting of the dialog is a conversation between two law students in Berytus, it is apparent that Zacharias has adapted Aeneas’ text to make its arguments more appealing to his peers in Alexandrian philosophical circles and Phoenician law schools. Still, it is reasonable to won- der why Zacharias thought such an adaptation was necessary, especially since the Theophrastus had appeared in the late 480s and, according to the Life of Severus, Aeneas was well-known to Zacharias’ peers.50 It seems that the an- swer to this question lies in the particular intellectual needs of a group of students who, like Zacharias, had experience of both the philosophical schools of Alexandria and the anti-Chalcedonian monasteries of Palestine. As noted above, the oral traditions circulating in the 480s in these anti-Chalcedonian monasteries were filled with visions, portents, and other divine communica- tions either suggesting that the council of Chalcedon was a sign of the end of the world or equating pro-Chalcedonian leaders like Juvenal of Jerusalem with

46 Like the Life of Isaiah, this text seems to have been revised and republished at a later date. At that point, a long exchange between the same Christian student and the iatrosophist Gessius was added. Note as well the suggestion of M.M. Colonna, 1973, 44-5, that the Ammonius discus- sions may have been written in pieces. 47 For an assessment of their similarities, see M.M. Colonna, 1973, 53-5. 48 Amm. 357-60 49 Amm. 1001-4. 50 Vit. Sev. 90.

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the Antichrist. Much of this material came from the monastery of Peter the Iberian, a monastery to which Zacharias had close ties. Furthermore, it was preserved by John Rufus, one of Zacharias’ friends at about the same time that he composed the Ammonius.51 No doubt some of this Apocalyptic thinking was influenced by the knowledge that the year 500 was approaching, but we should not disregard the importance that these stories had in demonstrating God’s extreme distaste for Chalcedonian leadership.52 Apocalyptic oral traditions had come to play an important part in defining the necessity of anti- Chalcedonian activities in Maiuma. If we understand Zacharias’ defense of the destructibility of the world in this intellectual context, its significance becomes clearer. This was a philosophical defense of a point that mattered particularly to students with an inter- est in philosophy and anti-Chalcedonian ascetic culture. Notions of the world that were consistent with the doctrines of great thinkers were important to students of philosophy who, after all, were spending a great deal of time consid- ering such notions. At the same time, as associates of ascetics like Peter the Iberian, these students also had a conviction that the doctrines of the council of Chalcedon were wrong. On the question of the world’s eternity, however, these two approaches clashed in a significant way. If their philosophical teacher was correct and it was impossible for the world to be destroyed, then the Apocalyptic visions that underpinned this student belief that Chalcedon was the height of apostasy would be suspect. Aeneas had previously addressed these objections from a philosophical standpoint, but the Christian significance of his argument was left largely unspoken. By reworking the philosophical arguments of Aeneas’ Theophrastus into the explicitly Christian exchanges of the Ammonius, Zacharias refashioned them in a way that had particular reso- nance for students who participated in both ascetic and sophistic cultural circles. Both the Ammonius and the Life of Isaiah are documents that highlight the particular impact that Zacharias’ ascetic and sophistic interactions had on his intellectual conceptions of the world. Though different types of texts that deal with seemingly disconnected themes, it is essential that we appreciate them as the products of one mind. The Ammonius, while foremost a philosophical dialog, also must be appreciated as a document that supports beliefs that were important to anti-Chalcedonian students. At the same time, the Life of Isaiah was a hagiography that also contained references important to Christian stu-

51 On their communication, see Vit. Sev. 86. 52 For the significance of the approach of 500, see P. Magdalino, “The History of the Future and Its Uses: Prophecy, Policy, and Propaganda,” in R. Beaton and C. Roueché (eds.), The Mak- ing of Byzantine History, (Aldershot, 1993), 3-34 and M. Meier, Das andere Zeitalter Justinians. Kontingenzerfahrung und Kontingenze bewältigung im 6. Jht. N. Chr., Hypomnemata 147, (Göttingen, 2003), 16-21.

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dents of pagan intellectuals. Zacharias’ compositions then provide us with an opportunity to see how students created a unique discourse from the diverse cultural ideas circulating in the Palestinian and Egyptian intellectual world of the later fifth century. This was their own discourse, neither fully sophistic nor fully ascetic, but completely comprehensible to those whose minds were shaped in these seemingly incompatible intellectual environments.

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