Monks and the Hierarchical Church in Egypt and the Levant During Late Antiquity: With a Chapter on Persian Christians in Late Antiquity by Adam ... of Juristic Papyrology Supplements, 40) 9789042946521, 9789042946538, 9042946520

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MONKS AND THE HIERARCHICAL CHURCH IN EGYPT AND THE LEVANT DURING LATE ANTIQUITY EWA WIPSZYCKA

MONKS AND THE HIERARCHICAL CHURCH IN EGYPT AND THE LEVANT DURING LATE ANTIQUITY

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UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW FACULTY OF LAW AND ADMINISTRATION CHAIR OF ROMAN AND ANTIQUE LAW

UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW FACULTY OF ARCHAEOLOGY AR���6'L'iiG" CHAIR OF EPIGRAPHY AND PAPYROLOGY

� THE RAPHAEL TAUBENSCHLAG 1�,',O,:!�",",o

F OUNDATION

THE JOURNAL OF JURISTIC PAPYROLOGY Supplements

SERIES EDITORS

TOMASZ DERDA ADAM l.AJTAR JAKUB URBANIK

VOLUME XL

MONKS AND THE HIERARCHICAL CHURCH IN EGYPT AND THE LEVANT DURING LATE ANTIQUITY

>-

EWA WIPSZYCKA

WITH A CHAPTER ON PERSIAN CHRISTIANS

-

IN LATE ANTIQUITY BY

ADAM IZDEBSKI -

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TRANSLATED BY

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DAMIAN JASINSKI

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PEETERS LEUVEN - PARIS - BRISTOL, CT

2021

Supplements to TheJournal ofJuristic Papyrology are jointly published by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Warsaw, the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, and the Raphael Taubenschlag Foundation, Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26128, 00-927 Warszawa 64 tel.: (+4822) 55 22 815 and (+4822) 55 20 384 e-mails: [email protected]. [email protected] [email protected], [email protected] webl'ages: http://www. taubenschlagfoundation.pl https://www.peeters-leuven.be Cover design by Maryna Wisniewska Scientific editing by Tomasz Derda Indices by Przemyslaw Piwowarczyk Maps drawn by Szymon Maslak Editing and proofreading by Tomasz P16ciennik Computer design and DTP by Piotr Berezowski The present book was published thanks to a grant from the National Science Centre of the Republic of Poland (grant agreement MAESTRO 2015lr8/A/HS3/00485) Cover photo: Ex-voto as a plaque of Simeon Stylites; from the treasury of the church of Ma'aret in Noman in Syria (end of 6th c.). Louvre, Bj 2180. Public domain, Wtkimedia Commons Back cover: 6.) A mosaic map of sixth-centuryJerusalem found under the floor ofSt George's Church in .Madaba, Jordan. Public domain, Wtkimedia Commons; (2.) An ostracon found in SheikhAbd el-Gurna, © Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology

A catalogue

record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN 978-9 0-4 29-4652-1

eISBN 978-9 0-42 9-4653-8 Dh021/0602/91

© 2021, Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 15 3, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage or retrieval devices or systems, without prior written permission from the publisher, except the quotation of brief passages for review purposes.

To Benedetto

TAB LE OF CONTENTS

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LIST OF MAPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

XI XIII XVII

Chapter One PROLEGOMENA

3

Introduction - 3; Monks and the Church hierarchy: an attempt at categorisation - 4; The chronological and thematic remit of the book - 15; The monasticism-related canons of the Council of Chalcedon - 16; Justinian's legislation regulating the status of monks and monastic communities - 42; Peter Brown's 'holy men' - 50.

Chapter Two EGyPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . First introduction - 57; Antony's relationship with the Church hierarchy - 60; The Pachomian dossier: the Lives - 68; Pachomius before the bishops' tribunal in Latopolis - 79; The congregation after Pachomius' death and its relationship to the hierarchical Church - 87; Athanasius' policy towards monks in the 350S - 91; The monastic communities of the Western Delta and their relationships with the hierarchical Church - 94; Virgins and nuns from the perspective of the Alexandrian Church hierarchy - 102; First conclusions - 107; Second introduction - 108; Monks and the Patriarch Theophilus - 113; Cyril and the Egyptian monks - 130; The monks and Dioscorus - 134; Second conclusions - 139; Third introduction - 141; The election of Timothy in 457 - 145; Peter Mongus and the monks - 152; Supporters ofJulian ofHalicarnassus vs. the adherents of Severus of Antioch - 159; Papyrological evidence - 166; Conclusions - 180.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Three

PALESTINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Sinai - I8S; Monks in the Gaza area - 190 6. Introduction - 190; 2. Isaiah of Scetis {or Gaza} - 191; l Peter the Iberian - 193; 4. The Palestinian years ofSeverus, thefuture patriarch ofAntioch - 197; 5. The letters ofBarsanuphius andJohn - 199);Jerusalem - 208 (I. Introduaion: thepilgrimage movement and its implications - 208; 2. The urban ascetics ofJerusalem - 213; l Thefirst Origenist controversy - 217; 4. The Church ofJerusalem in the first half of the fifth century - 223); The Judaean Desert - 225 (I. Introduaion: the Jndaean Desert and its monastic centres - 225; 2. Chorepiskopos and the monks' archimandrite - 230; l Monks andthe credo ofChalcedon. The monks' revolt - 234; 4. Minimal Chalcedonism - 239; 5· Monks request patriarchs to assign hegoumenoi for their communities - 244; 6. Conflicts during the reign ofAnastasius {49I-sr8} - 249; 7· The triumph ofthe Chalcedonians: representatives of the monks of Palestine in Constantinople - 253; 8. The second Origenist controversy - 254); Conclusions - 258. Chapter Four

THE PATRIARCHATE OF ANTIOCH 1 GREATER SYRIA Introduction - 261; The legacy of third- and fourth-century Syrian asceticism. The Liber Graduum - 264; Sons and Daughters of the Covenant - 269; Monasticism: early days - 271; The Messalians - 277; The 'wandering monks' of Alexander the Acoemete 286; Antiochene monasticism in the late fourth century - 293; Theodoret's Philotheos historia (Historia religiosa) - 305; Simeon Stylites the Elder (end of the fourth century to 459) - 318; Simeon Stylites the Younger (,-21-592) - 329; Two bishops of Edessa and monks: Rabbula (412-43516) and Ibas (43516-457) - 338; Before Severus became the patriarch of Antioch - 356; Patriarch Severus and the monks - 361; The Chalcedonian backlash: the persecution of anti-Chalcedonian Church and monks under Justin - 373; Monks and bishops under Emperor Justinian - 379; A case study: Persecution of anti-Chalcedonian monks of Amida - 383; John of Tella: safeguarding the structures of the anti-Chalcedonian Church - 388; The second half of the sixth century: the role of monks in attempts to reach an agreement between the supporters and opponents of Chalcedon - 393; Syrian monastic canons - 400; Conclusions - 410.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Five

PERSIAN CHRISTIANS IN LATE ANTIQUITY

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415

(by Adam Izde bski)

Introduction - 415; The 'divided family' of Syriac Christianity 417; Syriac legal sources in Late Antiquity - 426 (I. Transmission of the sourcesfrom Antiquity until the modern period - 426; 2. East Syrian {Persian} Christians - 430; l West Syrian {Roman} Christians - 435; 4. General remarks - 438); Monks and the consolidation of Chris­ tianity in the Sasanian state - 439 (I. Preliminary observations - 439; 2. The first century and a half: the monks on the sidelines.' - 444; l The secondhalfofthe sixth century: a newproblem.' - 451); Conclusion - 455. INSTEAD OF A GENERAL CONCLUSION INDICES

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(by Przemyslaw Piwowarczyk)

I. Sources - 465; 2. Persons - 475; 3. Toponyms and ethnonyms - 484; 4· Modern scholars - 490; 5· Subjects - 492. MAPS 1-9

459 465

FOREWORD

HE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE HIERARCHICAL CHURCH

T

and the mo­

nastic movement interested me ever since I began my research in

the Egyptian Christianity. Several pages in my works have been devoted to this issue; their content, however, lacked the sufficient precision and detail. I was held back by the awareness that despite the richness of the Egyptian sources, a confrontation with the results of the investigation of o ther communities of the Christian East was necessary to regard the prob­ lems of the relations between the institutional Church and the monastic co mmunities from a sufficiently broad and thus reliable perspective. My situation changed in 2016, when I received a grant from the National Science Centre

(MAESTRO 201Slr8/A/HS3/0048S). The

project financed by

the Centre was focused on the late antique monasticism in the Eastern Mediterranean; it enabled me to create a research team and face the chal­ lenge which I had dreaded before. The team at my side included a special­ ist in Roman law (Marzena Wojtczak), a historian with the experience of his own research o n Syrian Christianity (Adam Izdebski, the co-author of this volume), a papyrologist ,

Teleda (Eu.sebi ,Syme