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The reforms of Russian Tsar Peter I (1682–1725) touched all spheres of life, including the Church. The purpose of this paper is to bring into focus his approach to the reform of monasticism. It reflects on Peter's personal remarks as reported both by his Russian and his foreign interlocutors, his legislation, including law drafts, and practical measures such as the All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod. The principal conclusion is that it was this Russian ruler who was the first to call into question the very existence of monasticism and who came close to the ultimate dissolution of monasteries. He did not abolish monasticism not because it was a too radical step but because he devised measures of reform to raise its standards and improve its public utility. His treatment of the monastic tradition should be interpretated not as secularization but rather as modernization. Peter's personal "monachophobia" is best understood as a modernizing impulse. His objective was the creation of a "modern" state whose Church and clergy represented contemporary values. Traditional, unreformed monasticism presented an obstacle in his progress towards this goal. The legacy of Peter's policy was an increasing monachophobia in Russia apparent from the 18th century onwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the unstable and politically charged atmosphere in the Holy Roman Empire during the twelfth century, there were multiple systemic changes that derived from secular and clerical institutions, which targeted the scope of authority and daily behavior of individuals who had taken monastic vows. This article questions the narrative that these systemic changes were boundaries that females were made to capitulate to overcome or subvert. By using Elisabeth and Eckbert of Schönau’s involvement in verifying the sanctity of the remains of male individuals discovered amongst St. Ursula’s entourage of 11,000 virgin martyrs in Cologne as a case study, I examine how these changes provided religious, male and female, with new opportunities to create opportunities to cultivate and voice their individual interests. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate how targeted case studies of individuals who are navigating the prescribed borders of their sociopolitical context can captivate the attention of nascent historians and inspire seasoned scholars.

This article discusses the dramatic dispersal of monastic libraries in Europe and the Christian East during the early nineteenth century through two contrasting examples. These are: (1) the 1423 St Christopher woodblock print and other early examples of fifteenth-century printing, formerly the property of the Charterhouse at Buxheim in Swabia but purchased in 1803 by Alexander Horn for George John, 2nd Earl Spencer; and (2) a series of Byzantine manuscripts, formerly the property of the monastery of Karakallou on Mount Athos but purchased in 1837 by Robert Curzon, later 14th Baron Zouche. It identifies changing perceptions surrounding the value and use of books on the parts of both monks and collectors as central to this moment and explores the different – but often surprisingly similar – ways in which books left monastic ownership in western vs. eastern contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC) in 1945 rates as one of the two most profound occurrences for Biblical archaeology and interpretation during the last hundred years, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls (1946–1956). The codices allow us to document Christian monastic culture, gnostic Christianity and gnostic offshoots in the desert climate of Late Ancient Egypt. The recovery of the related Codex Tchacos (CT) brought further excitement for contemporary readers by 2006, it being sensational that narratives of "Judas the betrayer" and "doubting Thomas" were found in the whole collection of writings. The text named the [First] Apocalypse of James, significantly, was found to be in both NHC and CT in different Coptic versions (from near the sacred sites of Chenoboskion and El Minya), but yet another more fragmentary version in Greek had turned up much earlier among the huge cache of papyri found at Oxyrhynchus (also, like the other places, on the banks of the Nile). Given the opportunity for comparison, what distinguishes the three versions? Does comparative analysis better tell us what this ancient text is about? Does the strong presence of Gnostic Christian insights in the Coptic texts still imply a historical Jamesian community is being honoured? This paper concentrates on three comparable passages in the three versions that apparently contain historical memories of James and his followers. It works on the reasonable hypothesis that the Greek version of Oxyrhynchus Papyri (P.Oxy. 5533) (hereafter = PO) is prior and read with different purposes than the two Coptic translated versions of CT (CT 2.10–30) and NHC (NHC V,3. 24–44). When a critical approach, involving a socio-linguistic comparison, is applied, we will see that the three versions of the text were not directly related to each other, but that narratives about James the Just were available to desert monastics from the second century CE. The paper argues for a literal transmission of traditions from a Jewish Christian community around James into Egypt, that the textual figure of James in the Oxyrhynchus fragments points to a 'mutual familiarity' between PO and CT, while the NHC tradition of James has been further elaborated by processes of compilation and addition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides the join and re-edition of two previously edited Coptic ostraca which can now be identified as another letter to the famous 7th-century Egyptian bishop Pesynthios of Koptos, found like the rest of his correspondence at the Monastery of Epiphanius in Western Thebes. It is outstanding in its use of hagiographical language even within an archive notorious for such tendencies. In particular, the article explores the enigmatic title and theological concept "Pillar of Light." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A remarkable number of early medieval manuscripts produced in the Iberian Peninsula preserve scribal colophons recounting the circumstances of their production and naming their makers. Because of their highly unusual level of detail, these statements offer invaluable evidence to understand the individuals and communities who produced them, as well as the broader religious and cultural environment in which they originated. Focusing on the corpora of the Beatus manuscripts and Iberian Latin Bibles, this article considers patterns of colophon use amongst Christian monastic communities in the north-central and western regions of Iberia between the tenth and the mid-thirteenth century. This article argues that significant changes to colophon composition and use coincide with, and were related to, wider ecclesiastical reform and political transformations in the Peninsula in the late eleventh century, which promoted the abandonment of native ecclesiastical practices and critical shifts in monastic culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While scholars have long recognized the central importance of the cross within Syriac-speaking Christian communities in late antique Mesopotamia, the question of how physical crosses functioned as aids for prayer has only recently begun to be explored. The present article addresses this question with respect to East Syrian monastic communities in seventh-century Mesopotamia, focusing on the context of the monastic cell. Bringing together accounts of cross-directed prayer in Syriac monastic literature with archaeological evidence for crosses from the region, the article concludes that physical crosses played an important role as mediating devices of divine presence that were both always at hand and the frequent objects of monastics' sensorial attention. These conclusions are subsequently discussed through the lens of recent research from the field of new media studies toward the goal of understanding how cross-directed prayer may have served to bridge monastic spirituality and sociality in Mesopotamia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For scholars and students of Late Antiquity, the stylite's column exerts a special appeal. Scholars have examined literary representations of stylites and sought out visual parallels for the phenomenon of column-standing. This article shows that topographical contexts were central to establishing the potency of the column as a holy object and the trajectory of stylitism in history. I employ the term topography broadly to encompass the physical characteristics of an area, the ways in which humans augmented physical characteristics through the built environment, and specific architectural organizations. I examine three topographical contexts and make three interconnected arguments. By selecting the hill adjacent to Telanissos as the location for his columns, the premier stylite Symeon (d. 459) participated in a long-standing regional tradition of activating the numinous power of high places and stone through cultic activity. The monumental pilgrimage complex built after Symeon's death made the column a relic and integrated veneration of Symeon into liturgical ritual. The incorporation of stylites into northern Syria's cenobitic communities circumscribed stylitism as a distinctly monastic vocation. These three contexts illustrate that the significance of the column was located in processes of production and reception. At the same time, stylite columns were not passive objects. They faced the gods of old; they enriched ecclesiastical rituals; they molded the bodies of those who activated them; they proclaimed the ascendancy of monastic institutions. As both products of their topography and agents within it, stylite columns constructed a distinctive Christian landscape in Syria's limestone massif. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hariulf’s History of St Riquier is usually consulted for detail on liturgical, architectural and political history, but is rarely considered in its entirety. It was written in the changing and competitive world of the late eleventh century, when there were challenges for established communities, both in terms of innovative approaches to monasticism and the emergence of new political entities and potential patrons. In the past that Hariulf creates St Riquier had been the focal point of Ponthieu for generations and had stood the test of time as the conduit of royal patronage and liberality, symbolised by its great Carolingian church built by Abbot Angilbert. It remained, in Hariulf’s view, a centre of monastic excellence, whose abbots responded to and practised contemporary spirituality, and it had adopted strategies to strengthen its position, including care for its patrimony, securing new relics and memorialising its past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the contemporary evangelical church, there is often little discussion of asceticism despite an emphasis on spiritual disciplines and formation. This article argues that not only does the evangelical church need to embrace and adopt ascetic practices, but these should be based in monastic asceticism, based around the practices of poverty, chastity and obedience. The article first puts forward suggestions as to why the evangelical church does not embrace asceticism, in spite of it being part of its heritage, but then moves to a constructive argument, using an array of ecumenical sources, demonstrating that a monastic asceticism is a biblical asceticism and should be a fundamental feature in evangelical faith and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early monastic communities in Egypt were veritable laboratories for the practice of Christian virtue; perhaps surprisingly, they were also large-scale coordinated communities of labor. That manual labor should have been part of anchoritic life is not obvious; given that hermits were leaving the cities and the usual occupations of life in the world, there might be a question as to why they would seemingly return to such occupations having sought the purity of living alone in the desert. Combining Platonic thought with radical Christianity, the monks found a way to make the maximally spiritual life also a worker's life. The architects of this form of life saw manual labor as a means for achieving self-sustenance, an effective weapon against temptation, a resource for the support of the needy, and a vital component in the monks' ascetic program. The argument of this paper is that this powerful cultural consensus on the centrality of work to monastic life endured for almost a thousand years before it came to be qualified, by Thomas Aquinas among others. When Thomas Aquinas writes on the purposes of manual labor he is entirely traditional. However, Aquinas ends up diminishing the extent to which the pursuit of the traditional goods gained by the practice of manual labor is obligatory for monastics. Aquinas's discussion of manual labor as an element of monastic life is a definite departure from the tradition. In the typically polite fashion of a scholastic theologian, Aquinas shifts away from Augustine and re-interprets St. Paul in unprecedented fashion. His argument is influenced by his own commitment to a new form of monastic life, which was changing not just theologically but as a result of the evolving backdrop of the social and economic realities with which religious life necessarily interacted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christophe Lebreton was the youngest of seven Cistercian monks kidnapped and executed by Islamic terrorists in Algeria in 1996. His prayer journal (1993–1996) offers a window into the Tibhirine monks' response to the escalating violence in Algeria, and a privileged insight into Brother Christophe's commitment to the monastery as "a school of peace." He understands the relationship between the violence in human hearts and the violence in the world, the relationship between "peace within" and "peace without." Drawing on his published journal, this paper examines Christophe's understanding of peace, and the monastic commitments and practices that underpin its growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper outlines the historical background of the phenomena of starets (starchestvo) in monasticism, which has its roots in the early days of monastic life in Egypt and is primarily linked to the education of young monks under the guide of an experienced teacher. Particular attention is paid to the development of the phenomena in Russia, which, although with a time lag, initially imitated the Byzantine tradition, but nevertheless in the 18th and 19th centuries developed original traits, especially around the monastery of Optina Pustyn and the figure of the starets Macarius, who opened the monasticism ≫outwards≪ and became a spiritual guide of the laity – the intelligentsia and the common people. The monastery's connection with the world later led to specific forms of elderhood in which also diocesan priests and even lay people, men and women, were recognised as starets. Of course, this was largely connected with the historical situation in Russia, with the communist persecution of monks and the closure of monasteries. Particularly outstanding are the so-called ≫yurodiviy≪ (fools for Christ), who are an unique embodiment of God's wisdom and its redemptive power. The paper attempts to present the basic traits of the spirituality of the starets and the relationship with his spiritual sons and daughters from the perspective of Russian scholars. We can see a deeply Trinitarian and Christologically rooted spirituality, which presupposes a kenotic attitude of the starets in order that the person who is led by him reach God through him. Far from any spiritual manipulation and domination, the unique aim of the starets is to lead the spiritual son or daughter to theosis, divinisation, i.e., to freely accept the grace of salvation.

The purpose of the article is to cast light upon the problem of researching published sources on the history of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, as well as to supplement the achievements of previous researchers and to propose a detailed analysis of the situation and activities of the Kyiv diocese and its monasteries, presented in the published reports of the ober-procurators of the Holy Ruling Synod between 1884 and 1914. The scientific novelty of the material presented in this article lies in the fact that, for the first time in the national historiography, “All-Public Reports of the Ober-Procurators of the Holy Synod” between 1884–1914, which were published and open to the general scientific community, were subjected to a detailed analysis. The authors also clarify the level and significance of information about the situation in the Kyiv Eparchy, its clergy, its numbers, its composition, as well as the cultural, educational and charitable activities of its monasteries. The article argues that the essence of the reports by the ober-procurators of the Holy Ruling Synod on the situation in the Kyiv Eparchy and its monasteries is practically undeveloped in the scientific literature. Such reports were addressed to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church – the Russian Emperor. They are an important and extremely informative source for modern researchers, familiarity with which will permit them to assess the general condition of the main confession in the empire. More specifically, these reports reveal the state of the Kyiv Eparchy for each calendar year. Every report had a relatively standard structure and was published as a separate book. An analysis of these sources makes it possible to establish the role and place of the hierarchs of the Kyiv Eparchy in the overall structure of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as their personnel and activities. Furthermore, additional information, provided in the reports on the number of Orthodox monasteries in the Kyiv Eparchy and the number of monks, is of particular interest, which allows the authors to trace the dynamics in changes in these numbers over thirty years. The study of the reports reveals new information on the life in the Orthodox monasteries in the Kyiv region, in relation to their charitable, cultural and educational activities.

The reforms of Russian Tsar Peter I (1682–1725) touched all spheres of life, including the Church. The purpose of this paper is to bring into focus his approach to the reform of monasticism. It reflects on Peter’s personal remarks as reported both by his Russian and his foreign interlocutors, his legislation, including law drafts, and practical measures such as the All-Joking, All-Drunken Synod. The principal conclusion is that it was this Russian ruler who was the first to call into question the very existence of monasticism and who came close to the ultimate dissolution of monasteries. He did not abolish monasticism not because it was a too radical step but because he devised measures of reform to raise its standards and improve its public utility. His treatment of the monastic tradition should be interpretated not as secularization but rather as modernization. Peter’s personal “monachophobia” is best understood as a modernizing impulse. His objective was the creation of a “modern” state whose Church and clergy represented contemporary values. Traditional, unreformed monasticism presented an obstacle in his progress towards this goal. The legacy of Peter’s policy was an increasing monachophobia in Russia apparent from the 18th century onwards.

This article examines the wills of bishops in late medieval Britain and Ireland who were members of religious orders, and attempts to answer two questions: to what extent can these wills be distinguished from those made by their secular counterparts; and did these monks, canons and friars refer or allude to their status as regular clergy in the wills? The wills of 47 regular bishops have been identified, dating between 1350 and 1535, from England, Wales and Ireland, and are compared with those of 111 secular prelates for the same period. While only a handful of the monastic and mendicant bishops explicitly mention their status as regulars, the vast majority – and friars in particular – do appear to have made decisions when drawing up their wills that were a result of their religious vocations. Only seven wills make no allusion to their testators' regular status at all. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I present a rereading of Benedictine spirituality of work in the Rule of St. Benedict, delineating four major points. First, I show that the Benedictine work ethic is grounded primarily in the vow of obedience, with supplemental utilitarian considerations. Second, I explore the various work functions within the monastery, which is akin to a home, as reflected in the monastic spaces. Third, with respect to the concept of time, monastic work is both scheduled and done according to needs, providing flexibility while imposing temporal order. Lastly, monastic work is also a communal endeavour and must be done by monks to the best of their abilities. Even while the monks are apart from each other while travelling, they still consider themselves as working together. I argue that these Benedictine perspectives on work offer valuable insights for individuals working from home (WFH) during and beyond the coronavirus pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Espacio, Tiempo y Forma: Serie II, Historia Antigua is the property of Editorial UNED and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

ZOZUĽAK, Ján - DELIKARI, Angeliki. Antónios-Emílios N. Tachiáos and His Contribution to the Research of Byzantine-Slavic Relations. Contemporary Slavic studies and Byzantology records many important researchers dealing with Byzantine-Slavic relations, who brought new knowledge in the given area and significantly advanced the research of the Slavic cultural environment in relation to the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire and the perception of the depth of the heritage of the Thessaloniki brothers Constantine-Cyril and Methodius for the whole Slavic world. One of the most important personalities that deserve attention is Antónios-Emílios N. Tachiáos, professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, whose contribution to the research of Byzantine-Slavic relations and the related Cyrillic-Methodist issue is significant and unquestionable in scientific circles. In this study, we will analyse the life and work of this important personality, who can be classified as a Slavist or a Byzantologist. Some of his works have been translated into several languages, but the texts he published in his native Greek remain inaccessible to the international scientific community. On the basis of his most important studies, which resonated the most in Greek and international scientific circles in recent decades, we will approach four main areas of research that Professor Tachiáos has devoted himself to in depth during his academic career: the influence of Byzantine hesychasm on the spiritual life of the Slavs, the Athos state and monasticism, Byzantine-Slavic relations and the Christianization of the Slavs through the missionary work of Constantine-Cyril and Methodius. He perceived the values of the cultural heritage of the Thessaloniki brothers and their sustainability in a broader context, which enabled him to bring a new dimension to the understanding of the relations between Byzantium and Great Moravia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biblica & Patristica Thoruniensia is the property of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Revista de História da UEG is the property of Revista de Historia da UEG, Editora UEG, Universidade Estadual de Goias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Saint Patrick is considered the great forerunner of Christianity in Ireland. However, the pioneering of this saint, as a bishop in 5th-century Ireland, is disputed with a lesser-known missionary, Palladius, of whom there are only brief references in the sources, and several hypotheses about his possible identity. One of the documents even mentions that Palladio was also called Patricius, creating interpretations about the existence of two Patricians, or the overlapping of tradition, deeds of different people, in just one historical figure. After briefly presenting Patrick, this work aims to address some sources and hypotheses about Palladius, the roots of the controversy of the possible existence of two Patricians in Ireland, some elements that are known or can be attributed to Palladius, as well as some characteristics of Christianity of Ireland from the cult of saints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mount Wutai, China's earliest Buddhist center, dating to the Han Dynasty's first century (206 BCE–220 CE), boasts over a hundred monasteries, numerous monuments, and ruins, drawing global pilgrims and travelers. Over its long history, as the geographical focus of imperial support shifted, the ideological underpinnings for structuring the monastic habitation on Mount Wutai also underwent a transformation, consequently altering the pilgrimage paths, monasteries, and mountain gates. However, there remains a paucity of understanding regarding these changes. This paper aims to map out the representative dynamic pilgrimage routines influenced by geo-capital shifts and to reveal the changeable Buddhist ideology of monasticism on Mount Wutai. Through archival studies on ancient transcripts and maps, the interpretation selects the three most significant periods in the development of Buddhism in Mount Wutai: the Northern Wei (386–534 CE), the Sui Tang (581–907 CE), and the Qing Dynasty (1630–1912 CE). The article indicates that Mount Wutai's monastic strategies have transformed significantly, progressing from free monasticism to the Mañjuśrī maṇḍala mode and ultimately adopting a predominant Tibetan Buddhist character. These changes were driven by shifting Buddhist ideologies and heritage, with pilgrimages and monastic construction responding to these shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although most accounts of Christian encounters with Muslims in the period between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries pay particular attention to conflict and violence, a body of hagiographical texts emanating from monastic circles points to a different kind of approach. In this article I foreground three examples of Italo-Greek saints' lives from the tenth and early eleventh centuries in which the saints in question treat Muslims whom they encounter as potential converts, and explain to them the tenets of Christian theology. These texts are examined as precursors of the Cluniac 'dossier' compiled about Abbot Maiolus's encounter with Muslims in the 990s. Two of the three saints' lives were translated from Greek into Latin, one in the late eleventh, the other in the late twelfth century. The motives for and circumstances of these translations are discussed in light of growing hostility towards the Islamic world during the period of the crusades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teología y Vida is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Facultad de Teologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article explores how the visual culture of Eastern Europe has been studied and often excluded from the grander narratives of art history and more specialized conversations due to political and cultural limitations, as well as bias in the field. The history and visual culture of Eastern Europe have been shaped by contacts with Byzantium, transforming, in local contexts, aspects of the rich legacy of the empire before and after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. This study expands and theorizes the eclectic visual cultures of Eastern Europe during the late medieval period by focusing on two ecclesiastical buildings of the 14th century built under princely and noble patronage in regions of North Macedonia and Wallachia, respectively: the Church of St George at Staro Nagoričane, near Skopje, modern-day North Macedonia (1315–17) and Cozia Monastery in Călimănești, Wallachia, modern-day Romania (founded 1388). The 14th century was a transformative period for the regions to the north and south of the Danube River, establishing the contacts that were to develop further during the 15th century and especially after 1453. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study deals with a theme of spirituality frequently found in the writings of St. Isaac the Syrian, namely the idea of “way of life” (Syr. ܕܘܒܪܐ – dubara). Essential to understand the whole of his theology, this theme is treated in a manner little used until recently, but which is now becoming established in current academic research on Isaac, namely by appeal to his Syriac texts. This is achieved practically by pointing out the meanings of the Syriac term dubaraand its Greek translation by politeia. The paper makes important clarifications of Isaac's terminology, and the novelty is that it highlights the connection between the text and the ascetical practices to which it refers. To this end, the study also presents the ideational synonyms of the Syriac term in question, as well as the various theological expressions in which it appears.

The discovery of the Nag Hammadi Codices (NHC) in 1945 rates as one of the two most profound occurrences for Biblical archaeology and interpretation during the last hundred years, along with the Dead Sea Scrolls (1946–1956). The codices allow us to document Christian monastic culture, gnostic Christianity and gnostic offshoots in the desert climate of Late Ancient Egypt. The recovery of the related Codex Tchacos (CT) brought further excitement for contemporary readers by 2006, it being sensational that narratives of “Judas the betrayer” and “doubting Thomas” were found in the whole collection of writings. The text named the [First] Apocalypse of James, significantly, was found to be in both NHC and CT in different Coptic versions (from near the sacred sites of Chenoboskion and El Minya), but yet another more fragmentary version in Greek had turned up much earlier among the huge cache of papyri found at Oxyrhynchus (also, like the other places, on the banks of the Nile). Given the opportunity for comparison, what distinguishes the three versions? Does comparative analysis better tell us what this ancient text is about? Does the strong presence of Gnostic Christian insights in the Coptic texts still imply a historical Jamesian community is being honoured? This paper concentrates on three comparable passages in the three versions that apparently contain historical memories of James and his followers. It works on the reasonable hypothesis that the Greek version of Oxyrhynchus Papyri (P.Oxy. 5533) (hereafter = PO) is prior and read with different purposes than the two Coptic translated versions of CT (CT 2.10–30) and NHC (NHC V,3. 24–44). When a critical approach, involving a socio-linguistic comparison, is applied, we will see that the three versions of the text were not directly related to each other, but that narratives about James the Just were available to desert monastics from the second century CE. The paper argues for a literal transmission of traditions from a Jewish Christian community around James into Egypt, that the textual figure of James in the Oxyrhynchus fragments points to a ‘mutual familiarity’ between PO and CT, while the NHC tradition of James has been further elaborated by processes of compilation and addition.

While scholars have long recognized the central importance of the cross within Syriac-speaking Christian communities in late antique Mesopotamia, the question of how physical crosses functioned as aids for prayer has only recently begun to be explored. The present article addresses this question with respect to East Syrian monastic communities in seventh-century Mesopotamia, focusing on the context of the monastic cell. Bringing together accounts of cross-directed prayer in Syriac monastic literature with archaeological evidence for crosses from the region, the article concludes that physical crosses played an important role as mediating devices of divine presence that were both always at hand and the frequent objects of monastics’ sensorial attention. These conclusions are subsequently discussed through the lens of recent research from the field of new media studies toward the goal of understanding how cross-directed prayer may have served to bridge monastic spirituality and sociality in Mesopotamia.

Early monastic communities in Egypt were veritable laboratories for the practice of Christian virtue; perhaps surprisingly, they were also large-scale coordinated communities of labor. That manual labor should have been part of anchoritic life is not obvious; given that hermits were leaving the cities and the usual occupations of life in the world, there might be a question as to why they would seemingly return to such occupations having sought the purity of living alone in the desert. Combining Platonic thought with radical Christianity, the monks found a way to make the maximally spiritual life also a worker’s life. The architects of this form of life saw manual labor as a means for achieving self-sustenance, an effective weapon against temptation, a resource for the support of the needy, and a vital component in the monks’ ascetic program. The argument of this paper is that this powerful cultural consensus on the centrality of work to monastic life endured for almost a thousand years before it came to be qualified, by Thomas Aquinas among others. When Thomas Aquinas writes on the purposes of manual labor he is entirely traditional. However, Aquinas ends up diminishing the extent to which the pursuit of the traditional goods gained by the practice of manual labor is obligatory for monastics. Aquinas’s discussion of manual labor as an element of monastic life is a definite departure from the tradition. In the typically polite fashion of a scholastic theologian, Aquinas shifts away from Augustine and re-interprets St. Paul in unprecedented fashion. His argument is influenced by his own commitment to a new form of monastic life, which was changing not just theologically but as a result of the evolving backdrop of the social and economic realities with which religious life necessarily interacted.

Bird remains recovered from two trial pits and a rubbish dump dated from the 14th to 19th centuries AD at the Monastery of Santa Maria de Pedralbes in Barcelona (northeast Spain) are studied. The variety of avian taxa is low, with domestic fowl (Gallus gallus domesticus) clearly dominating the assemblage. The age at death and the sex profile data suggest that both chickens and hens were preferably consumed. The analysis of body parts indicates a preponderance of the meaty parts of legs, breast, and wings. Chops and cuts also suggest an interest in these anatomical parts. In addition, eggshell remains were recovered, indicating that eggs also played a role in the kitchen of this monastic community. Finally, our data are contrasted with available documentary evidence on historical monastic dietary practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attributed to Francesco Colonna, the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (hp)-The Strife of Love in a Dream-wrote in the Renaissance’s threshold:1499. From our perspective, in spite of the date of its publication, it is a novel deeply rooted in the medieval tradition which, in turn, was nourished of Patristic Literature sources. In consequence, will be demonstrated that Colonna adopted, in a one hand, the Christian dream vision perspective (the medieval dream-book and incubation), to access the knowledge of the [him]self. In another hand, monastic composing strategies-about prayer and spiritual healing-were adopted, by the author, as a cognitive tool intended for reflection the imaginary creation process. The present research aims to demonstrate that hp is a monastic and literary exercise with redeeming goals. For this reason, will apply the medieval taxonomy of dream-visions. We will expose like pieces of evidence certain passages from the hp and determined iconographic materials. The selected contents express medieval dream-vision concerns, metacognitive reflections of the author about literary practice, and his epistemological approaching about the meaning of the dreambooks like cultural devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After being dominant in the first two-thirds of the nineteenth century, the expectation of fellow Orthodox Russian saviours was then muted by the fears of Russian expansion but was never completely erased from the public discourse and popular memory. If ethnonationalism gradually sidelined religious identification among the educated, geopolitical changes brought it back to the fore. Subject to such contingencies, this kind of reversal does not support the accepted notion of the unstoppable disintegration of pre-modern religious communities into national ones. After the Crimean War, the obsession with the Panslav threat increasingly prevailed in educated society and influenced Greek policymakers who often sought to ally their kingdom with England and even the Ottoman Empire. The Russians and their Bulgarian agents came to be seen as implacable barbarian aggressors. But just before and during the First World War, the Ottoman Turks became the main national enemy again, as in the early 1800s. The Russian revolutions of 1917 also helped Greek elites discover another common foe – radical socialism. As a result, Greek-Russian ethnic tensions diminished – while World War I certainly created new ethnic hatreds it also healed some old ones. From 1918 at least until the abolition of Greek monarchy in 1924 significant numbers of Russian émigrés did not suffer from Russophobia. As such, this article contributes to the study of national indifference and of the effects of the Great War in Eastern Europe. The article is based on Greek and Russian archival sources as well as on the unique pamphlet collection of the Gennadios Library in Athens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the architectural theory and practice of the twentieth-century Dutch Benedictine monk and architect Dom Hans van der Laan as a lens through which to view architecture and urbanism's underlying spiritual purpose. Van der Laan's theologically grounded vision of architecture as a sacramental mediator between the human, the natural, and the divine and empirically based rubric by which to achieve that end—through human-centric proportion, polyrhythm, and humble materiality—provide a robust framework for crafting cities and homes that reveal the sacredness inherent in the world. Through an analysis of Van der Laan's theory and an examination of his exemplary Roosenberg Abbey, the paper illuminates the spatial, sensory, and dimensional qualities currently lacking in many contemporary urban and architectural spaces and presents a set of strategies for adapting them to better support human flourishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper aims to research and to present the meanings of the Syriac technical term ܐܬܘܝܦܫ (šapyuta) in the writings of Isaac of Nineveh. Based on the Syriac texts of him, the study deepens the occurrences of šapyuta in diverse ascetical contexts, underlining its semantic and theological content. Isaac's use of šapyuta is also related to the usage made by other Syriac writers like Ephrem, John of Apamea and Joseph Hazzaya. The exposition of the difficulties to render šapyuta in the Greek translation from Mar Saba completes the approach to this key term for the Syriac spirituality, in which several plans of Syriac spiritual theology come together and connect with one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Church in the World / Crkva u Svijetu is the property of University of Split, Catholic Faculty of Theology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The first section of this article provides context for Brian O'Nolan's At Swim-Two-Birds (1939), situating original, early textual tensions within the history of ascetic revival in Ireland in the late eighth and early ninth centuries. The second section offers a comparative look at O'Nolan's translation alongside J. G. O'Keeffe's 1913 touchstone text and Seamus Heaney's 1982 rendition of it. The final section examines two contemporary reconceptual film settings of the Sweeney tale to consider how the tale is reimagined in post-state, gendered, and secular contexts. Fragmented elements of ascetism endure via this endlessly changing tale for Celtic Christianity's contested center. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article attempts to shed light on the function of the bizarre martyrdom episode at the beginning of Jerome’s Life of Paul the First Hermit, which, due to its indecency, causes embarrassment among scholars. It, at first glance, seems to be a superfluous and somewhat awkward attempt to make the narrative about the founder of the Egyptian eremitic movement more entertaining. Considering how much space the author devotes to this anecdote in this fairly short text and in what detail he describes the unusual sexual torture, it is apparent that this is not just a titillating interlude to amuse the reader. The “torture” by the woman therefore plays a much more important role in the structure of the text. In this scene, Jerome reverses the standard martyrological pattern of the female martyr being subjected to sexual torture by male persecutors, in an attempt to show the ethos of the new Eastern ascetic movements of which he became an enthusiastic advocate. The entire scene can thus be seen as an allegorical parable about the inner spiritual struggle of an adept at the ascetic life with sexual temptation. This can only be overcome at the cost of physical suffering, which the ascetic inflicts on himself by the strict suppression of his own bodily desires, and which can match the torture that the martyrs have to undergo. He thus makes a connection between martyrdom and the ascetic life, placing both forms of extraordinary faith on the same level. The fact that this struggle with carnal temptation is not thematized in the following narrative of the first hermit is the result of a specific narrative strategy based on the use of the isolated fragments of the story between which there are large narrative gaps. The link, however, between the seemingly unrelated opening martyrdom episode and the main narrative of Paul’s eremitic career may not only be the symbolic meaning of the scene as a parable about the struggle with carnal temptation, but also the word meretrix (harlot) itself, which also appears in the main body of the text in the phrase civitas meretrix (harlot city), which Saint Anthony uses to refer to Alexandria. The martyr’s radical break with his female tormentor may prefigure the hermit’s equally uncompromising break with depraved urban civilization and all its worldly temptations. The strange martyrdom episode can thus also be interpreted as a hidden message about the nature of radical eremitic asceticism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]