HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 RELIGIOUS LIFE IN LATE ANTIQUITY: AT THE DAWN OF THE MIDDLE

AGES POLITICIZATION OF EGYPTIAN MONKS Although Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in February 391, not everyone converted to Christianity. By the turn of the 4th century, Christianity could claim a substantial minority of the population in the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, though only a small minority in the western provinces. Beginning with Theodosius prohibition of paganism November 392, proselytism and the abolition of paganism took on a more radical twist: through intimidation and even physical force. Worst illustrative case: the hacking to death of the pagan philosopher Hypatia (415), a prominent and erudite voice of Alexandrian pagans by a mob of Christian zealots The event happened at the indirect instigation of Cyril, bishop of Alexandria. Previous to this, he also ordered the expulsion of Jews from Alexandria. This brought about a bitter jurisdictional conflict between him and the citys prefect, Orestes. On the instigation of Cyril, around 500 lavriotes from Nitria left their cells, went to Alexandria, and nearly lynched Orestes, although he escaped alive. The attack of Nitrian lavriotes on Orestes serves as an example how Egyptian and Palestinian lavriotism has taken on a more aggressive guise in the 5th century. Monasticism could hardly continue to expand without provoking ideological clashes among its adherents. The first verifiable conflict among these ascetics arose at the dawn of the 5th century on the question of imaging the God they were drawn to contemplate. The simple, unsophisticated women and men ascetics perceived in all simplicity the Old Testament version of the face of God the Father and of Gods very concrete interventions. They were labeled by their detractors as Anthropomorphites. On the other hand, the ones trained in Graeco-Roman schools, following the tradition of philosophers, especially Origen (even if they were unable to grasp correctly what he was), attempted to lift up their minds to a completely incorporeal God, explaining Scriptures in an allegorical manner. Their detractors called them Origenists. The Origenist position was followed by bishops of the Alexandrian tradition. The obstinacy of the Anthropomorphites provoked them into conflicts with the ecclesiastical hierarchy. In 393, a certain Atarbius made a round of the convents of Palestine gathering signatures for Origens condemnation (by the way, Origen died in 254 C.E. 139 years from that moment!) In the year 400, Theophilus started a bitter persecution of Origenists in and around the province of Egypt.
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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 The consequence of this was an exodus of Origenist anchorites and lavriotes from an increasingly (and violently) anti-Origenist Egypt into Palestine and Constantinople. Notable among these exiles in Constantinople is John Cassian (+ca. 430), an ascetic of obscure origins but whose contributions to the history and spirituality of monasticism are extremely precious. SHENOUDA AND THE WHITE MONASTERY Pachomian koinnia in Thebaid fizzled at the death of its founder. Its fame would be eclipsed in the 5th century by the monastic movement centered around the charismatic Shenouda of Atripe [a.k.a., Shenoute] (ca. 350-466). When he was chosen by his fellow ascetics [monks and nuns] in the White Monastery to be their abba, there were just 30 members. By his death, the monastic compound increased to ten square kilometers in area and had 2,200 monks and 1,800 nuns living in different synaggai (villages) within the compound. Shenouda was also a popular leader who protected from abusive landowners peasants and slaves, even at the risk of his own life. The government of the many synaggai in the compound was centralized around the White Monastery to ensure that all the ascetics received equal treatment in food, garments, and judgment. Outside prayer and asksis, Shenouda utilized the time of the monks and nuns in trades more pluralistic than that those of the Pachomian koinnia: rope and basket making, weaving, tailoring, book-binding, leather work, carpentry, pottery, metallurgy. He also required them all to learn to read. Because of its size, the monastery was bound to breed inner strife (from monks and nuns stealing to nasty name-calling and perjury) to even open rebellion. Thus, the White Monastery was also known for its extremely harsh disciplines as last resorts for repeated offenders: these include beatings, downgrading the offender to the level of a novice, and ultimately expulsion. No one men, women, and possibly even children were admitted to the White Monastery without having passed a period of probation lasting from two to three months. During this period, the novice had to stay outside it, at the gate houses of the community of the Lord. After this probation, the novice is accepted into the community. However, s/he was to swear publicly a solemn covenant, the diathki (), which was to be adhered to literally. It is the earliest known extant formula of a religious vow: I vow before God in this Holy Place, the word which I have spoken with my mouth being my witness: I will not defile my body in any way; I will not steal; I will not bear false witness; I will not lie; I will not do anything secretly. If I transgress what I have vowed, I will see the Kingdom of Heaven, but will not enter it. God before whom I made this covenant will destroy my soul and my body in the fire of Gehenna because I transgressed the covenant I made.

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 EGYPTIAN MONASTICISM IN GAUL (MODERN-DAY FRANCE) Hilary (ca. 315-67), bishop of Poitiers, had been driven into exile in Asia Minor in 356 at the ascendancy of Arianism in the court of Emperor Constantius (353-361), and during his enforced travels encountered the monastic movement. On his return (361), Hilary sponsored a group of ascetics in his episcopal city of Poitiers. Eventually, he became the patron and mentor of the first major figure in Gallic monasticism, Martin of Tours (ca. 330-97). Originally from Pannonia, Martin had a career in the Roman army before his conversion. Having decided to be an anchorite, he installed himself in a cell near Milan. Drawn by Hilarys reputation, he went to Poitiers and it was in Ligug, a vicinity of that town, that he settled in a hermitage (361 the first datable monastic foundation in the Western empire). He soon drew like-minded ascetics. Eventually, he became bishop of Tours. But his elevation in no way diminished his devotion to asksis. After the year 372, he organized his disciples as a colony of hermits at Marmoutier. From the Vita S. Martinii by Sulpicius Severus: Martin lived in a cell made of wood and a number of the brothers lived in a similar manner, but most of them had made shelters for themselves by hollowing out the rock of the mountain which overlooked the place. There were about eighty disciples who had chosen to lead the blessed masters example. No one there possessed anything of his own, everything was shared. They were not allowed to buy or sell anything. No craft was practiced there, apart from that of the scribes; the young were set to this task while the older ones spent their time in prayer. It was rare for anyone to leave his own cell except when they gathered at the place of prayer. They all received their food together after the period of fasting. No one drank any wine unless illness forced him to do so. Most of them were dressed in camel-skin garments: they considered the wearing of any softer material to be reprehensible. John Cassian, the exiled monk from Egypt, was ordained a deacon around 403 by John Chrysostom. When Chrysostom was exiled in 404, Cassian left Constantinople, finally settling in Marseilles, a port city in Gaul. In 410, he established a twin monastery of St. Victor in Marseilles. He would later establish another one in Apt. Although he was convinced that anchoritism represented a higher form of Christian living, Cassian regarded cenobitism as a necessary preparation a difference based not on degree than kind. So his three monasteries were all cenobitic. Another obscure figure was Honorat (+429). Said to have obtained his understanding from the monasteries along the Mediterranean, he returned to Gaul in 410 and implanted that model on one of the islands of Lrins, off the French Riviera.

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 There the whole range of monasticism could be found there: a cenobium under an abbot, a lavra, and solitary cells for anchorites. Lrins became a magnet for aspiring monks and monastic founders from northern Europe. It also became a flourishing center of learning in a disintegrating empire from which classical training was also disappearing. Eucherius bishop of Lyons, a former Lrins monk, wrote In Praise of the Desert, a work that may have influenced Romain (400-460) to be attracted to the solitudes of the desert and to leave his family to enter the forests of the (rugged) Jura (mountains) near his estate. He founded a monastery for men at Condat around 435 and later one for women in La Balme: So severe was the strictness observed in that monastery at this time that none of the virgins who entered it for the purpose of renouncing the world were seen again outside its doors unless they were being carried on their final journey to the cemetery. (Vita Patrorum Jurensis, 26). Cassian was a deacon and Romanus was later ordained priest. What is interesting, nonetheless, is that both expressed an aversion to clericalism: Cassian: The monk ought to flee women and bishops. Brethren, do not let yourself be drawn to the diabolical temptation of seeking clerical office out of a desire to bring spiritual help to others. (Instituta XI, 18; Collationes I, 20) Vita Pp. Jurensis: (There are monks who) through mad ambition obtain clerical rank. They are straight away inflated with pride and exalt themselves, not only over their worthier equals but even over their elders mere youths who for their juvenile vanity ought to be put in their place and whipped! (21) EARLY RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ITALY Fourth-century Rome was in dire need of moral rejuvenation, and response to the crisis came from an unlikely portion of society: wealthy patrician women. The young widow Marcella (325-410), fascinated by first-hand stories from the exiled Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria about the ascetics of Egypt, transformed her palace on the Aventine Hill into a quasi-monastery. In 354, she became the first patrician woman to pledge herself to propositum monachorum by putting on a veil invested on her by Bishop Liberius. Although ridiculed and scorned at first by the people of Rome, their attitude changed because of Marcellas own demeanor. She was not a grubby, impoverished street wanderer, like the ascetics Romans knew, but a powerful, intelligent matron from an illustrious ruling family. Other patrician women eventually joined her and her asksis of prayer and fasting, as well as almsgiving and corporal works of mercy. These include Paula, Eustochium,

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 and Marcellina daughter of the prefect of Gaul and sister of Bishop Ambrose of Milan. She was an expert in Scriptures. Jerome, who treated her as an intellectual equal, spoke of her: She never met without asking some questions about Scripture, nor would she rest content at once, but would bring forward points on the other side.After my departure from Rome, if any argument arose concerning the testimony of Scriptures, it was to her verdict that appeal was made. As Marcellas prominence grew, other patrician women followed: Lea, Fabiola, Asella, etc. Lea, a convert from the highest position in Roman society, shocked everyone when she set up a community in her home: She showed herself a true mother to the virgins in it, wore coarse sackcloth instead of soft raiment, passed sleepless nights in prayer, and instructed her companions even more by example than by precept. In all that she did, she avoided ostentation that she might not have her reward in this world. Fabiola, whose spectacular public penance for her sin as an adulterer and subsequent embrace of the virginal life, captured Romes imagination. Meanwhile, Eusebius (283-371), bishop of Vercelli (northern Italy) unintentionally brought about a major innovation in the development of religious life some time around 350. According to Ambrose, How much care is needed in the church of Vercelli where two things seem to be equally demanded of the bishop, the restraint of the monastery and the discipline of the Church? Eusebius of holy memory was the first in the lands of the West to bring together these matters so different, so that living in the city he observed the rules of the monks, and ruled the Church in the temperance of fasting. It can be ascertained that Eusebius, upon his consecration as bishop (345) offered himself to the clergy of Vercelli as a model of Christian living and brought several of them to live him with him in common. We are not aware of any rules or public pact made by these clerics. But we are aware that they led a life of asksis, modeled however not according to Egyptian ascetics but, as alluded by Ambrose, to ascetic Old Testament figures, especially Elias. It is known that such a way of life was lived by Chromatius, bishop of Aquilea, with his clerics. Jerome and Rufinus of Aquilea were known members of this community.

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 The chaos in Rome during the first half of the 5th century prompted members of the Circles of ascetic Roman women to leave the city and establish monasteries in Palestine (Paula, Eustochium, Melania). At this same period, the monastic movement was still widely regarded as a fringe phenomenon and still has not won acceptance from secular and ecclesiastical authorities, many of whom view ascetics with disgust. Below is a poem by the pagan Rutilius Namatianus, prefect of Rome in 414, about the monks of an island (most probably Lrins) which he passed in one of his voyages. Next as we journey onward, Caprarias isles we see, With men who shun the daylight a vile locality. In solitary squalor, called by a Grecian name, They wish to live unwitnessed and shun the gifts of fame. They shun the gifts of Fortune, but Fortunes ills they fear: To each while pain avoiding, a life of pain is dear. O what perverted madness! O minds of foolish mood! That in your dread of evil you cannot bear the good.
AUGUSTINIAN MONASTICISM

Augustine (354-430), the great voice of the North African Church, was leading a life of asksis with his friends in Tagaste (present-day Souk Ahras in Algeria) after his conversion. On being chosen bishop of Hippo (present-day Annaba in Algeria), the see second to Carthage in importance, he continued this lifestyle. He transformed his episcopal household into a monastery, requiring his clergy to renounce private property and to live a common life. To them, however, he never gave a Rule, but expounded on monastic living in two sermons (later called De vita et moribus clericorum suorum) and a treatise (De opera monachorum).

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 What was later to be called the Augustinian Rule was in fact a letter of counsel for a community of ascetic women (once led by his then deceased sister) at Hippo in 423. He wrote this for the purpose of restoring harmony in the community. Being a letter, it did not contain minute prescriptions. Nonetheless, he ordered that the letter be read weekly so that these women may guard against any infringement of it. For him, poverty is the foundation of religious life, but he attaches no less importance to fraternal charity, which consists in living in peace and harmony. Augustine was the first major figure in the Western part of the Roman Empire to bring about sacerdotal monasticism, in which ordained clerics form a vital part of the brotherhood. On 28 August 430, Augustine died. Shortly, thereafter, the Vandals invaded Africa, and Augustinian monasticism receded into the background. RELIGIOUS LIFE IN THE ROMAN WEST AFTER THE RISE OF THE GOTHS The period after the collapse of the Roman Empire with the rise of the Gothic kingdoms saw the rise of the Roman papas assertion of his authority beyond the borders of his diocese. The power vacuum in the Western Roman Empires secular society caused by the Gothic invasions propped by Roman papacys assertiveness, especially during the term of Leo I (r. 440-461). Leo forcefully articulated his claim to be Peters heir (the first to do so), insisting that the stability which the Rock himself received from that rock which is Christ, he also conveys to his heirs. Whereas before the three other major church centers (Carthage, Alexandria, Antioch) were ready to challenge and confront Romes claim, the situation in their territories during the early 5th century made it impossible for them to do so. The North African Church had been devastated by the Vandals. Dioceses aligned with Alexandria were torn in both doctrinal and pastoral matters. Dioceses aligned with Antioch were thoroughly compromised by its opposition to both the doctrines coming from the councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). The active role of monks and ascetics in 5th century Christological controversies explains why the Council of Chalcedon reserved for them severe anathemas: Forasmuch as certain persons using the pretext of monasticism bring confusion both upon the churches and into political affairs by going about promiscuously in the cities, and at the same time seeking to establish monasteries for themselves, it is decreed that no one anywhere may build or found a monastery or oratory contrary to the will of the bishop of that city. The monks in every city and district shall be sub-

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 ject to the bishop, and embrace a quiet course of life. and give themselves only to fasting and prayer, remaining permanently in the places in which they were set apart. They shall meddle neither in ecclesiastical nor in secular affairs, nor leave their own monasteries to take part in such, unless, indeed, they should at any time through urgent necessity be appointed thereto by the bishop of the city. If anyone shall transgress this our judgment, we have decreed that they shall be excommunicated, so that the name of God be not blasphemed. (canon IV) If any cleric or monk should be detected in conspiring or banding together or hatching plots against their bishops or fellow clerics, they shall by all means be deposed from their own rank. (canon XVIII) BENEDICT AND HIS MOVEMENT Two things about Benedict and his Rule thatt should be emphasized: one, we know very little that is factual about Benedict (the case is far worse for his sister Scholastica); two, his rule may be innovative, but it was derivative and not original. According to Gregory the Greats Dialogues, Benedict was from the central province of Italy called Norcia (also spelled Nursia). He was born around 480. He was studying liberal letters in Rome but abandoned his studies on seeing the debauched life of his peers. He withdrew to the solitude of Subiaco for three years and learned asksis from a monk living close by. Gradually, disciples settled round him, and he organized them into groups of twelve, appointing an abbot over each group. Finally, he migrated to the hilltop of Monte Cassino (situated between Rome and Naples), and there he constructed a fully cenobitic community, which he directed until his death (bet. 540-550). The Rule in its present form was not composed all at once, but amended and expanded over a period of time. Likewise, Benedict heavily borrowed from the verbose Regula Magistri (Rule of the Master), written probably in the first quarter of the 6th century for a monastery in a region near Rome. Both rules were written in their times lingua vulgaris the native Latin spoken and written in southern Europe in the 6th century, as opposed to the literary Latin of Classical Antiquity. But Benedicts work has greater intrinsic merits: Benedicts language is more terse, his thought more refined, his arguments less cluttered, his phraseology more finely chiseled, and his government more genial and tolerant to differences than the rambling, poorly coordinated, and autocratic Regula Magistri. Benedicts ideal monastic life is completely coenobitic a hospitable family of monks/nuns living under one roof under a parent-like abbot/abbess thus, a villa-

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 monastery. He cautiously allows for the vocation of a hermit, considering it a rare one, fraught with particular dangers. In his preface, Benedict spoke of his ideal community as a scola for the Lords service, i.,e. a corps dlite (a special regiment). His monastery was not to be a place of quiet retreat or leisure, nor a school (in the academic sense), but a kind of combat unit where members are trained for spiritual warfare against sensuality and self-will under an experienced commander the abbot. For this purpose, his rule prescribed a regimen of work and study that fitted around the Opus Dei (work of God) that is, the singing of the divine office. This was to provide the basic framework of the monks/nuns day. Those who were to be received into a monastery were to promise (promittat) [take note: not vow] stability, conversatio morum suorum, and obedience. These three promises, in Benedicts mind, were distinct obligations within his envisioned monastic life. It would be anachronistic to see them as vows a High Middle Age category although they implicitly suggested what would later be called the evangelical counsels. Obedience is the clearest of the promises. But it should be seen in line with a monks/nuns complete renunciation of personal property: from that day, they will have not even have proprietorship of their own body. Stability was not an innovation of Benedict. He insisted on it, however, in the light of his condemnation of the gyrovagues the wandering ascetics constantly on the move and the sarabaites (the apotactics) who do not obey an abbot/abbess or a rule. It was not simply a question of remaining physically in the monastery throughout ones life (stabilitas loci) but more of persevering in the monastic life there and in living a life of obedience (stabilitas cordis). Conversatio morum suorum (lit. way of life of ones behavior) has been a matter of misunderstanding for years. It was a confusing phraseology that later copyists of the rule changed it to conversio morum suorum (conversion of ones behavior). This misrepresentation was corrected by the Benedictines in 1912. It is now better understood as a general promise to live the life that the rule and the abbot/abbess specify in that particular monastery. The latest official English translation of the rule (1980) phrases it as fidelity to monastic life. The Benedictine movement predated the development of religious orders. Each monastery is fiercely independent and expected to be financially self-sufficient.
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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 However, most but not all of them are loosely linked to one another through confederations. There are twenty Benedictine confederations in existence today but there are monasteries following the Rule of Benedict that are not part of any confederation. Each of these confederations has its own constitutions, abbot/abbess president, and approach to living the Benedictine rule. There are three aspects of the rule (one being alluded to, one directly mentioned, one being ambiguous) that had been a cause of contention among Benedictines since the Middle Ages. First, rule #48 (on daily manual labor) assumes that a monastery possesses lands where labor were performed by tenants or servants: They (the monks/nuns) must not become distressed if local conditions or their poverty should force them to do the harvesting themselves. It is unlikely, however, that Benedict envisioned monasteries (or abbeys as some of them would be later called) that were endowed with great wealth and vast landholdings. He clearly advocated moderation. Second, rule #59 (on the offering of children by nobles or by the poor: the oblati) echoed a contemporary practice in which monk/nun also referred to those made as such by their fathers piety. (Council of Toledo, 633) It was gradually abused by parents who feared partitioning their estate to their surplus children. Third, rule #48 provided for prayerful reading (lectio divina). But did these include literary or intellectual readings? This was an enigma that divided later Benedictines, with the learned Benedictine Maurists of the 17th century leading the defense of monastic scholarship and the Trappists on the other end. The rule makes so much mention of the divine office but not of the eucharist. This was because in Benedicts time, the celebration of mass was reserved to Sundays and holy feasts. Monasteries for men should have no more than two priests. Rule #62 provides that the choice is made by the abbot himself and that he to limit his selection to just one worthy to exercise the priesthood. The rule warns monk-priests about arrogance: they are not to do anything except on the abbots instructions and must remain in the rank already assigned them in the community (which is determined by date of entry, the virtue of their lives, and the decision of an abbot). The most insubordinate ones were to be dismissed.

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HISTORY OF CONSECRATED LIFE BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 5 Pope Gregory the Great (r. 590-604), the biographer of Benedict, elaborated on this: No man can both serve under ecclesiastical obedience and also continue under monastic rule, observing the strict regime of a monastery when he is obliged to remain in the daily service of the church. The invasion of the Lombards caused the sacking of all three foundations of Benedict around 577. This is just some twenty to thirty years since Benedicts death. Monte Cassino would remain in ruins and deserted until 140 years later.

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