Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520928504
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520928504
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 343

Get Book

Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Asceticism
Languages : en
Pages : 518

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Wandering, Begging Monks

Wandering, Begging Monks PDF Author: Daniel Folger Caner
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520344561
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
An apostolic lifestyle characterized by total material renunciation, homelessness, and begging was practiced by monks throughout the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuries. Such monks often served as spiritual advisors to urban aristocrats whose patronage gave them considerable authority and independence from episcopal control. This book is the first comprehensive study of this type of Christian poverty and the challenge it posed for episcopal authority and the promotion of monasticism in late antiquity. Focusing on devotional practices, Daniel Caner draws together diverse testimony from Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, and elsewhere—including the Pseudo-Clementine Letters to Virgins, Augustine's On the Work of Monks, John Chrysostom's homilies, legal codes—to reveal gospel-inspired patterns of ascetic dependency and teaching from the third to the fifth centuries. Throughout, his point of departure is social and cultural history, especially the urban social history of the late Roman empire. He also introduces many charismatic individuals whose struggle to persist against church suppression of their chosen way of imitating Christ was fought with defiant conviction, and the book includes the first annotated English translation of the biography of Alexander Akoimetos (Alexander the Sleepless). Wandering, Begging Monks allows us to understand these fascinating figures of early Christianity in the full context of late Roman society.

Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims

Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims PDF Author: Maribel Dietz
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271047782
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Dietz finds that this period of Christianity witnessed an explosion of travel, as men and women took to the roads, seeking spiritual meaning in a life of itinerancy. This book is essential reading for those who study the history of monasticism, for it was a monastic context that religious travel first claimed an essential place within Christianity.

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE

Wandering, Begging Monks, Social Order and the Promotion of Monasticism in the Roman East, 360-451 CE PDF Author: Daniel Folger Caner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description


The Rich and the Pure

The Rich and the Pure PDF Author: Daniel Caner
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520381599
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
A portrait of history’s first complex Christian society as seen through the lens of Christian philanthropy and gift giving As the Roman Empire broke down in western Europe, its prosperity moved decisively eastward, to what is now known as the Byzantine Empire. Here was born history’s first truly affluent, multifaceted Christian society. One of the ideals used to unite the diverse millions of people living in this vast realm was the Christianized ideal of philanthrōpia. In this sweeping cultural and social history, Daniel Caner shows how philanthropy required living up to Jesus’s injunction to “Give to all who ask of you,” by offering mercy and/or material aid to every human being, regardless of their origin or status. Caner shows how Christian philanthropy became articulated through distinct religious ideals of giving that helped define proper social relations among the rich, the poor, and “the pure” (Christian holy people), resulting in new and enduring social expectations. In tracking the evolution of Christian giving over three centuries, he brings to the fore the concerns of the peoples of Early Byzantium, from the countryside to the lower levels of urban society to the imperial elites, as well as the hierarchical relationships that arose among them. The Rich and the Pure offers nothing less than a portrait of the whole of early Byzantine society.

The Library of Paradise

The Library of Paradise PDF Author: David A. Michelson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198836244
Category : Contemplation
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Book Description
Contemplative reading is a spiritual practice developed by Christian monks in sixth- and seventh-century Mesopotamia. Mystics belonging to the Church of the East pursued a form of contemplation which moved from reading, to meditation, to prayer, to the ecstasy of divine vision. The Library of Paradise tells the story of this Syriac tradition in three phases: its establishment as an ascetic practice, the articulation of its theology, and its maturation and spread. The sixth-century monastic reform of Abraham of Kashkar codified the essential place of reading in East Syrian ascetic life. Once established, the practice of contemplative reading received extensive theological commentary. Abraham's successor Babai the Great drew upon the ascetic system of Evagrius of Pontus to explain the relationship of reading to the monk's pursuit of God. Syriac monastic handbooks of the seventh century built on this Evagrian framework. 'Enanisho' of Adiabene composed an anthology called Paradise that would stand for centuries as essential reading matter for Syriac monks. Dadisho' of Qatar wrote a widely copied commentary on the Paradise. Together, these works circulated as a one-volume library which offered readers a door to "Paradise" through contemplation. The Library of Paradise is the first book-length study of East Syrian contemplative reading. It adapts methodological insights from prior scholarship on reading, including studies on Latin lectio divina. By tracing the origins of East Syrian contemplative reading, this study opens the possibility for future investigation into its legacies, including the tradition's long reception history in Sogdian, Arabic, and Ethiopic monastic libraries.

The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qenneshrin

The Sermons on Joseph of Balai of Qenneshrin PDF Author: Robert R. Phenix
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161496769
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Robert Phenix investigates the collection of twelve Syriac poetic sermons recounting the story of Joseph in Genesis 37 and 39-50. The authorship of these poems has been disputed, but this is the first study to attempt to argue from all aspects of the evidence that Balai of Qenneshrin is the author. The study then examines all of the data that can be associated with Balai: the religious environment of Qenneshrin and nearby Aleppo, Balai's connections with the monk-bishops of central Syria in the late fourth and early fifth centuries, particularly Acacius of Beroea/Aleppo and Rabbula of Edessa, the status of chorbishops, and the presence of Syriac speakers. Since it is argued in this study that Balai's source for the Sermons on Joseph was a Jewish text, this section also carefully examines the evidence for the Jewish community in Qenneshrin. As part of the background of the author, links between characters and the physical setting of the Sermons on Joseph and Qenneshrin are investigated. The relationship of the Sermons on Joseph to other Syriac Joseph sources and Joseph material in the Pseudepigrapha and at Qumran is discussed, followed by the question of the origin of the story, which is located in a lost Greek Jewish composition. The last section of the work examines the author's use of Hellenistic rhetoric and literary themes. The many speeches in the Sermons on Joseph reveal rhetorical arrangements that are strikingly close to the models of arrangement found in Late Antique handbooks, such as the Hermogenic Corpus . Several of these arguments are examined, as are the elaborate prefaces that introduce some of the individual Sermons on Joseph . The literary themes and motifs of the Sermons on Joseph are explored. It can be shown that some motifs known only in Syriac religious literature are employed in the Sermons on Joseph in non-religious literary contexts.

The Monastic School of Gaza

The Monastic School of Gaza PDF Author: Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9047408446
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
The book deals with the history of the monastic community in the region of Gaza in Late antiquity. It examines the monastic career and teachings of central figures such as Abba Isaiah, Peter the Iberian, Barsanuphius and John, and Dorotheus. The social, religious and material aspects of this community are discussed in comparison with other contemporary monastic centers.

Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims

Wandering Monks, Virgins, and Pilgrims PDF Author: Maribel Dietz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780271052892
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description