Alice-MaryTalbot The Adolescent Monastic in Middle and Late Byzantium The individualized natureofByzantine monasteries is revealed in manifold ways, among them attitudes towardthe inclusion of children and teenagers in monastic communities.AsRichard Greenfield brilliantlydemonstrated in acomprehensive studyfor the Dumbarton Oaks symposium of 2006 on “Children and childhood in Byzantium”,monastic founders werestronglydivided in opinionastowhether chil- dren and beardless youths should be permittedwithin the cloister walls.¹ Perusalofonlyaselect number of monastic foundation documents, saints’ lives and Athonite acts might give the initial impression that in fact therecould not be any adolescent monastics in Byzantium. The prohibitions are clear for anumber of major monasteries and holymountains: at Athos,² Menoikeion³ and the lavra of Stylos on Latros,⁴ no beardless youth under the ageof20was granted access; at Kosmosoteira in Thracenoone younger than 26 could be considered acandidatefor admission (and this was amodification of the original limit of 30!);⁵ at the monastery of St. John on Patmos, at Phoberou in Bithynia, and Mar Saba in Palestinenobeardless youths at all wereadmitted.⁶ At Eleousa in Macedonia admission of youths under 18 was strictlyprohibited, but they wereapparentlyallowed to become novices at R. Greenfield, Children in Byzantine Monasteries:Innocent Hearts or Vessels in the Harbor of the Devil?, in: Becoming Byzantine:Children and Childhood in Byzantium, eds.A.Papaconstantinou – A.-M. Talbot.Washington, D.C.2009,253 – 282. The prohibition on beardless youths on Athos first appears in the typikon of John Tzimiskes (971– 2),ch. 16 (J.P.Thomas – A. C. Hero,Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. Washington, D.C.2000,1:238, hereafter cited as BMFD; for Greek text see D. Papachryssanthou,Actes du Prôta- ton. Paris 1975,209–215), and was reiterated by Constantine IX Monomachos in his typikon of 1045 ([15] ConstantineIX, ch. 1, BMFD 1:285; Papachryssanthou,ActesduPrôtaton, 224–232). See also act no. 1of1089 of the Xenophontos monastery,statingthat no beardless youth under the ageof20 will be admitted to the HolyMountain (D.Papachryssanthou,ActesdeXénophon. Paris 1986,68, 70.36, 71.70, 74.174). The rule for the monastery of Prodromos on Mt.Menoikeion ([58] Menoikeion, ch. 14,BMFD4: 1601), prohibits boysand youths under 20 even to visit the monastery. Laudatio of Paul the Younger of Latros, ch. 48, ed. H. Delehaye,in: T. Wiegand,Der Latmos.Berlin 1913,153;(7) Latros Typikon, ch. 9, BMFD 1: 141: “Iorder that never anysmooth-lookingbeardless fel- low under twenty years of age(ἀγένειον ἐντῇλείᾳ ὄψει τῆςεἰκοσαετίας ἐντός)beadmitted intothe community of Lavra.” (29) Kosmosoteira, ch. 49–50,BMFD2:787,822. Patmos: (24) Christodoulos,ch. A10,BMFD2:583: “no[r] youngmen in their boyish prime, before their beardappears”; Phoberou: (30) Phoberos,ch. 58, BMFD 3: 939; MarSaba: (42) Sabas, ch. 1, BMFD 4: 1314. Theodore of Edessa became amonk at Mar Saba preciselyatage 20;see his vita, ch. VIII (ed. I. Pomjalovskij, Žitie iževosvjatych otca našegoFeodora archiepiskopa Edesskogo. St.Petersburg1892, 7). OpenAccess. ©2018 Alice-MaryTalbot, published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110576498-004 84 Alice-MaryTalbot a metochion,and then be tonsured at Eleousa once they reachedthe ageof18.⁷ In Constantinople the 14-year old Symeon (the future New Theologian) wasdenied per- mission to become anovice at Stoudios until he was 20 on the grounds of his imma- turity.⁸ The repeated reissue of rules prohibiting beardless youths on Athos shows that their exclusion was not always rigorouslyobserved, but the evidence of hagiography suggests that on the whole young teenagers werediscouraged from comingtothe HolyMountain. Thus in the 14th c. when the future Athanasios of Meteora first visited Athos as ayouth, he was turned away as “beardless” (ἀγένειος). He then went to Cretewherehis beard begantogrow,and returned to Athos wherehewas tonsured at age30.⁹ Likewise, in the samecentury,Germanos Maroules,while still abeardless student in Thessalonike,met John of Athos, his first spiritual mentor,and beggedto join him on the HolyMountain as his disciple. John, however,advised him to contin- ue his studies, since his chin was still bare, and to come to Athos once fuzz appeared on his cheeks.¹⁰ Opposition to monastic adolescents Because Greenfield has researched the subject in depth, Iwill onlybrieflysummarize his findingsonsome of the reasons for opposition to the presenceofyoungpeople, especiallyinmale monasteries.Assovividlyexpressed in the typikon for the Phober- ou monastery,akey factor was the fear of homosexual relations between older and younger monks, the latter described as “seething with fleshlypassion”.¹¹ Unease with the presenceofyouth is well illustrated by astory from the 9th-c.vitaofAnthony the Younger.Iakobos,who became Anthony’sdisciple, was first introduced to his mentor as abeardless boy (ἀγένειος παῖς). Anthonyinstructed him never to kiss anymonk who came to visit,whether an acquaintance or stranger.Infact he was admonished not even to engageinthe exchangeofthe kissofpeace duringthe lit- urgy until his beard had grown to the length of apalm, that is, four fingers’ breadth (10) Eleousa, ch. 17,BMFD1:186. R. Greenfield,The Life of Saint Symeon the New Theologian. Cambridge,Massachusetts 2013, 9–11,ch. 4. Vita of Athanasios of Meteora (ed. N.A. Bees, Συμβολὴ εἰςτὴνἱστορίαν τῶνμονῶντῶνΜετεώρων. Βυζαντίς 1[1909] 241–242). Vita of GermanosMaroules, ch. 7–8(ed. P. Joannou. AnBoll 70 [1952] 60 –64). Note, however,that Sabas the Youngerwent to Athos at age18; cf. his vita (ed. D. Tsames, Φιλοθέου Κωνσταντινου- πόλεως τοῦ Κοκκίνου. Ἁγιολογικὰἔργα,I.Thessalonike 1985), ch. 6, and amonk whoisa“beardless youth” is mentioned in ch. 16 of the vita of Niphon of Athos (ed. F. Halkin,Lavie de Saint Niphon, ermiteauMont Athos (XIVes.). AnBoll 58 [1940] 23.24). (30) Phoberos, ch. 58, BMFD 3: 940.This passageisborrowed from amuch earlier abbot,Paul Helladikos, at the Elusa monastery in Idumaea (Palestine). The Adolescent Monastic in Middle and Late Byzantium 85 or severalinches.¹² It is curious, however,that youths weredeemed less of asexual temptation once they had grown abeard, since at least one hagiographer admitted that the growth of facial hair also signified the onset of sexual awareness and desire; thus in the vita of Blasios of Amorion, the hagiographer refers to the moment when “down was about to cover his cheeks” as atime “when the swarm of passions insin- uates itself into youth”.¹³ Some founders alsofelt that teenagers would disrupt the tranquility of monastic life because of theirtendencytonoisy,boisterous behavior.Thusthe rule for the monastery of Charsianeites did not permitany youths under the ageof16, “precisely on account of their tenderyears and their tendencytoloose behavior and the scandal produced therefrom by the devil”.¹⁴ The same document noted that the unstable and flighty temperament of teenagers was unsuited to the monastic regimen, and they should wait to become novices until they weremore mature.¹⁵ Yetanother reason for forbiddingthe admission of adolescent youths or eunuchs (both beardless, with smooth faces) was the fear that awoman might gain entry in disguise; this is the rationale of emperor ManuelIIinhis typikon for Athos of 1406.¹⁶ Variations in age of monastic tonsure Thus manymonasteries prohibited adolescent novices,but this was by no means the rule everywhere, and in reality the situation was much more complicated.Although clearlythereweremisgivingsabout the admission of youthful postulants, following “the tradition of the fathers,”¹⁷ each monastery had its own rules on the subject which varied widely. In the 13th c. Nikephoros Blemmydes was an outspoken advo- cate of the desirability of training future monks from ayoung age, when they were still malleable, calling them “innocent hearts”;hepermitted novices as young as 12 at his monastery of Emathia nearEphesus.¹⁸ The nunneryofNeilos Damilason Creteaccepted postulantsatage 13,¹⁹ and Charsianeitesand Lips²⁰ in Constantinople F. Halkin,Saint Antoine le Jeune et Pétronas le vainqueur des Arabes en 863. AnBoll 62 (1944) 222.13–18. Vita of Blasios of Amorion, ch. 7.72–74 (Acta Sanctorum, Nov.4.Brussels 1925,660). (60) Charsianeites, ch. C2,BMFD4:1652. (60) Charsianeites, ch. A3,BMFD 4: 1634. (59)Manuel II, ch. 13,BMFD4:1621. See, for example, Papachryssanthou,ActesdeXénophon, 71,70. See Greenfield,Children in Byzantine Monasteries 254–256, and (36) Blemmydes,ch. 9, BMFD 3: 1202– 3. He also prescribed aseven-year novitiateand tonsure at age20. (54) Damilas,ch. 5, BMFD 4: 1470. Girls raised in the convent could be tonsuredat16, while those whocame to the convent as teen- agers could be tonsuredatage 20,after anovitiateofthree years; see (39) Lips,ch. 17– 18, BMFD 3: 1270 – 71. 86 Alice-MaryTalbot took in novices at ages 16 and 17 respectively.²¹ Biographical accounts of the careers of monks and nuns also attest to teenagers taking monastic vows: AntonyKauleas at 12 (before down began to grow on his cheeks),²² Luke of Steiris at 14,²³ the future pat- riarch Matthaios Iat15,²⁴ Eirene Choumnaina at 16,²⁵ and Sabas the Youngerand Bakchos the Younger at 18.²⁶ The chart Ihavedrawn up suggeststhat 18 was the most common agefor admission as anovice (Appendix I). Before moving on to the experiencesofteenagers within the cloister,Ishould like to