PROCHE-ORIENT CHRÉTIEN 62, 2012, 6-22

HISTOIRE ET TRADITION

LORENZO PERRONE

BYZANTINE MONASTICISM IN GAZA

AND IN THE JUDAEAN DESERT :
A COMPARISON OF THEIR SPIRITUAL TRADITIONS*

Father Lino Cignelli OFM

In memoriam

Introduction:
approaching two distinct monastic landscapes
In spite of the intensive study devoted during the last two decades
to monasticism in Byzantine Palestine1, it remains difficult to aban-
don the inveterate perception of a duality, if not an outright contrast,
________
*
Paper presented at the international conference “Celebrating the First 2000
Years of Christian Heritage in the Holy Land” organised by the Swedish Christian
Study Centre of Jerusalem and the International Centre of Bethlehem (Jerusalem –
Bethlehem, 6-8 July 2011). I thank Sune Fahlgren and Kevork Hintlian for the
kind invitation and the warm hospitality.
1
The most important monographs are: Y. HIRSCHFELD, The Judean Desert Mon-
asteries in the Byzantine Period, New Haven 1992; J. BINNS, Ascetics and Am-
bassadors of Christ. The Monasteries of Palestine, 314-631, Oxford 1994; and J.
PATRICH, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism. A Comparative Study in
Eastern Monasticism, Fourth to Seventh Centuries, Washington, D.C. 1995. For a
brief survey see L. PERRONE, “Monasticism in the Holy Land: From the Begin-
nings to the Crusaders” in POC 45, 1995, 31-63; B. BITTON-ASHKELONY–A.
KOFSKY, “Monasticism in the Holy Land” in O. LIMOR–G.G. STROUMSA (eds.),
Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land. From the Origins to the Latin King-
doms, Turnhout 2006, 257-291; R.M. PARRINELLO, “Il monachesimo in Palestina
e sul Sinai” in G. FILORAMO (ed.), Monachesimo orientale. Un’introduzione,
Brescia 2010, 231-280. A preliminary assessment on methods and problems in the
study of Byzantine monasticism in the Holy Land can be found in L. PERRONE,
“Aspects of Palestinian Monasticism in Byzantine Time: Some Comments and
Proposals” in TH. HUMMEL–K. HINTLIAN–U. CARMESUND (eds.), Patterns of the
Past, Prospects for the Future. The Christian Heritage of the Holy Land, London
1999, 264-272.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 7

in its historical geography and spiritual profile according to which we

have, on the one hand, the monasticism of Gaza and, on the other,
that of the Judaean desert. One may even view as a persistent confir-
mation of this assumed duality the fact that scholarly research gener-
ally specializes in studying either the monastic history of Gaza or that
of the Judaean desert. In my contribution I would like to question this
assumption or, better to say, I shall try to investigate to what extent
we can accept it as still valid today, as far as the respective spiritual
traditions and ideals are concerned.
Obviously, I do not want to dispute the fact that we face indeed
two distinct monastic landscapes, each one of them possessing its
own characteristics, due not only to the diversity of the physical envi-
ronment but more specifically to the different historical and institu-
tional developments they went through in the period from the fourth
to the seventh century. Yet, leaving for the moment aside other re-
gions in which monks are attested at the time, our picture of early
Palestinian monasticism has to take into account also a third area,
located in or around the Holy Places (first of all, of Jerusalem and
Bethlehem), that was connected in several ways both to Gaza and to
the Judaean Desert. Monasticism in the Holy Places made possible to
develop contacts and interaction, as shown by our historical evidence,
in addition to the direct relations that occasionally appear to have ex-
isted between the monks of Gaza and those of the Judaean Desert2.
Therefore, it is legitimate to ask whether both monasticisms came to
share a common heritage in their respective spiritual traditions.
Before approaching a comparative analysis, we should be aware
of the problem of the sources at our disposal. The rich monastic lite-
rature that was brought forth in Byzantine Palestine is not of the same
nature for the two regions under examination and such difference
seems already in and of itself to corroborate the asserted distinction
and opposition. Gazan monasticism is well known for the importance
of its ascetic and spiritual literature, consisting of remarkable writings
________
2
L. PERRONE, “Christian Holy Places in an Age of Dogmatic Conflicts. Popular
Religion and Confessional Affiliation in Byzantine Palestine (Fifth to Seventh
Centuries)” in POC 48, 1998, 5-37; ID., “All’ombra dei Luoghi Santi: il monache-
simo di Palestina in epoca bizantina e l’esperienza di Gaza” in S. CHIALÀ–L.
CREMASCHI (eds.), Il deserto di Gaza: Barsanufio, Giovanni e Doroteo, Comuni-
tà di Bose 2004, 23-36.
8 Lorenzo Perrone

such as the Asceticon of Isaiah of Gaza, the Erotapokriseis (or Ques-

tions and Answers) of Barsanuphius and John, and Dorotheus’ In-
structions (to which we could add, as a further witness pertaining to
this same group, the Conversations of Zosimas). On the contrary, the
monasticism of the Judaean Desert has nothing comparable to these
works, perhaps with the only (though partial) exception of the Pan-
dects of the whole Scripture by Antiochus Sabaite in the 7th century.
At first sight we do not find acknowledged spiritual masters in the
Desert of Judaea as in Gaza, but this is only one side of the coin and
we need to enlarge our view3.
To a closer look we observe that the largest amount of sources for
both monastic landscapes goes back to hagiographical literature. In
this respect, the materials we can exploit for our reconstruction point
to a more balanced situation. Gazan monasticism indeed inaugurates
Palestinian monastic hagiography, towards the end of the 4th century,
with Jerome’s Life of Hilarion, to be succeeded in the early 6th by
John Rufus’ Life of Peter the Iberian and Zacharias’ Life of Isaiah or
the anonymous Life of Dositheus, just to mention only some of the
most important works of this kind4. They can be put alongside with
the writings of similar profile emerging within the monasticism of the
Judaean Desert, where Palestinian hagiography finds its masterpiece
in the Monastic Histories of the Jerusalem Desert written by the Sa-
baite monk Cyril of Scythopolis in the middle of the 6th century5.
Functioning as an equivalent of the famous Historia religiosa of
Theodoret of Cyrrhus, Cyril’s Lives are not only the biographical re-
cord of such leading figures as Euthymius and Sabas, but provide
________
3
Perhaps the picture would be different, if we could dispose of historically relia-
ble materials concerning, for instance, the ascetic teachings of Marcianus of Beth-
lehem (410-492). Cf. PERRONE, “Aspects of Palestinian Monasticism in Byzan-
tine Time”, 270.
4
The hagiographical corpus of Gaza moreover includes other sources such as
Mark the Deacon’s Life of Porphyry, Zacharias’ Life of Severus of Antioch and
John of Ephesus’ Lives of the Oriental Saints. We can subsume into this same
kind of literature the Plerophories of John Rufus, because of their ‘apophthegma-
tic’ nature joining together hagiography and polemics.
5
E. SCHWARTZ, Kyrillos of Scythopolis, Leipzig 1939; B. FLUSIN, Miracle et
histoire dans l’œuvre de Cyrille de Scythopolis, Paris 1983; Cyril of Scythopolis.
Lives of the Monks of the Judaean Desert, Introduction and translation by L. DI
SEGNI, Jerusalem 2005 (Hebrew).
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 9

more generally a historical survey of the monastic congregation going

back to these two leaders also by illustrating the life of some ‘minor’
protagonists as John the Hesychast, Cyriacus and others. Moreover
Cyril intervenes together with other hagiographers who in their turn
contributed to preserve the memory of monasticism in the Judaean
desert, like Theodore of Petra and Paul of Elusa, the authors respec-
tively of a Life of Theodosius and a Life of Theognius. They will find
successors, towards the end of the Byzantine period, in Anthony of
Choziba and later on, in the early Islamic period, in Leontius of Da-
mascus, who wrote the Life of St. Stephen Sabaite6.
Whereas monastic hagiography both in Gaza and (with some dis-
tinctions to be made later on) in the Judaean Desert normally focuses
on the individual protagonists and their charismatic qualities as ‘holy
men’, it also reflects to a greater or lesser extent the ascetic and his-
torical context surrounding them, often providing important clues to
retrace it. In this way it may assure a counterbalance to the lack of
directly ascetic literature. We have a good example in the anonymous
Life of Chariton, the purported founder of monasticism in the Judaean
Desert at the beginning of the 4th century7. While this hagiographical
account is not completely reliable from the historical point of view,
inasmuch as it describes the story of its hero around three centuries
after his death, it nevertheless contains an interesting ascetic dis-
course revealing the spiritual sensibilities of the author and his mo-
nastic milieu in the middle of the 6th century8. As a result, we have
________
6
Anonimo (Pseudo-Cirillo di Scitopoli), Antonio di Coziba, Nel deserto accanto
ai fratelli. Vite di Gerasimo e di Giorgio di Choziba, a cura di L. CAMPAGNANO
DI SEGNI, Bose – Magnano (VC) 1991; B. PIRONE, “Continuità della vita mona-
stica nell’ottavo secolo: S. Stefano Sabaita” in J. PATRICH (ed.), The Sabaite
Heritage in the Orthodox Church From the Fifth Century to the Present, Leuven
2001, 49-62. For an overall presentation of the literary sources at our disposal
regarding the study of Palestinian monasticism until the 10th century see my con-
tribution: “La vie quotidienne des moines en Palestine (IVe-Xe s.) : l’état des sour-
ces littéraires” (forthcoming in the Proceedings of the Athens Conference 2009 on
“La vie quotidienne des moines en Orient et Occident [IVe-Xe siècle]”, eds. O.
DELOUIS and Maria MOSSAKOWSKA-GAUBERT).
7
Cercare Dio nel deserto. Vita di Caritone, Introduzione, traduzione e note a cura
di L. CAMPAGNANO DI SEGNI, Bose – Magnano (VC) 1990.
8
Like Jerome’s Life of Paul the Hermit the prologue of the Life of Chariton con-
nects martyrological and hagiographical literature, but its anonymous author, in
contradistinction to Jerome, offers interesting glimpses of a spirituality inspired
10 Lorenzo Perrone

enough terms of comparison between our two monastic landscapes.

Before proceeding to a synthetic appreciation, it will be helpful to
briefly summarize their respective dominant features.
The monasticism of Gaza:
its prominent spiritual traits
Even if archaeological research, for understandable reasons, has
not been able so far to provide us with a detailed picture of the con-
ditions of monastic life in this area, we are lucky enough to possess a
considerable wealth of literary sources concerning Gazan monas-
ticism during the Byzantine time9. Their chronological span extends
from the beginnings of Palestinian monasticism in the early fourth
century almost to the end of the Byzantine period, John Moschus
being our last witness in the 7th century with his Spiritual Meadow.
As a matter of fact, already in the middle of the 6th century, that is af-
ter Dorotheus, we lose sight of Gazan monasticism, while its heyday
is represented by the period going from the middle of the 5th century
to the reign of Justinian (527-565). These temporal limits, at least
compared to the situation of the Judaean Desert with its longstanding
institutions, raise a historical problem of primary importance that in
my opinion did not yet receive satisfying answers. The attempt to
connect the disappearance of Gazan monasticism with the Chalcedo-
nian turn impressed on the Church of Palestine by the religious policy
of emperors Justin and Justinian fails to take into account the exis-
tence of intensive contacts of Seridus’ monastery, in the person of its
spiritual leaders Barsanuphius and John, with the ecclesiastical and
political society of Byzantine Palestine in the first half of the 6th cen-
tury. If the hypothesis of a ‘crypto-miaphysitism’, succeeding in the
Justinianean epoch the strong involvement of Gazan monasticism for

________
by the Scriptures. On Jerome’s view of the beginnings of Palestinian monasticism,
see now A. MONACI CASTAGNO, “‛Primus in primis’: Gerolamo, storico del mo-
nachesimo”, Adamantius 17, 2011, 10-22.
9
For a preliminary overview on the geography and archaeology of Gazan
monasticism see Y. HIRSCHFELD, “The Monasteries of Gaza: An Archaeological
Review” in B. BITTON-ASHKELONY–A. KOFSKY (eds.), Christian Gaza in Late
Antiquity, Leiden – Boston 2004, 61-81, and C. SALIOU (ed.), Gaza dans l’Anti-
quité tardive. Archéologie, rhétorique et histoire. Actes du colloque international
de Poitiers (6-7 mai 2004), Salerno 2005.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 11

Cyrillian christology and the resistance to the dogma of Chalcedon,

does not prove convincing, it nevertheless points to a distinctive fea-
ture of its doctrinal and spiritual tradition10.
The anti-Chalcedonian stance taken among the many by such im-
portant personalities as Isaiah of Gaza, Peter the Iberian, John Rufus
and Severus, the future miaphysite patriarch of Antioch, certainly
indicates a major point of difference with monasticism in the Judaean
desert. While the leadership first of Euthymius, and then of Theodo-
sius and Sabas led there the monks to support the dogma of Chal-
cedon, Gaza and its surroundings remained until the beginning of the
6th century a stronghold of the opposition to the fourth Council. The
doctrinal peculiarity of Gaza within Palestinian monasticism of the 5th
and 6th centuries has several grounds; the most important of them is
the traditional Egyptian connection which strongly influenced its
spiritual profile already starting with Hilarion11. Though immediately
after the year 451 the rejection of Chalcedon was largely shared by
the other monks of Palestine, in the following decades the anti-Chal-
cedonian position of Gazan monasticism became more and more iso-
lated. At all events, it is an object of dispute to what extent its dog-
matic affiliation has left an imprint on the ascetic and spiritual dis-
course. Even with regard to Isaiah of Gaza, portrayed by Zacharias
Rhetor as an adversary of Chalcedon, his Asceticon does not betray
explicit traces of a specific ‘miaphysite’ spirituality12. The lack of a

________
10
A. KOFSKY, “What Happened to the Monophysite Monasticism of Gaza?” in
BITTON-ASHKELONY–KOFSKY (eds.), Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity, 183-194,
especially p. 189: “I would suggest that the outwardly tolerant and quietist attitude
of Barsanuphius and John – who avoided theological controversy, in contrast to
the zealous involvement of many monks and monastic leaders in the Christolo-
gical polemics and ecclesiastical power struggles of the day – may... stem from
their peculiar position as crypto-Monophysites”. Cf. also B. BITTON-ASHKELO-
NY–A. KOFSKY, The Monastic School of Gaza, Leiden – Boston 2006, 213-222.
11
S. RUBENSON, “The Egyptian Relations of Early Palestinian Monasticism” in
A. O’MAHONY–G. GUNNER–K. HINTLIAN (eds.), The Christian Heritage in the
Holy Land, London 1995, 35-46; L. PERRONE, “Monasticism of Gaza. A Chapter
in the History of Byzantine Palestine” in Zwischen Polis, Provinz und Peripherie.
Beiträge zur byzantinischen Geschichte und Kultur, herausgegeben von L.M.
HOFFMANN unter Mitarbeit von A. MONCHIZADEH, Wiesbaden 2005, 59-74.
12
On the relation between christology and monastic spirituality in Isaiah of Gaza
see L. PERRONE, La chiesa di Palestina e le controversie cristologiche. Dal con-
12 Lorenzo Perrone

discernible orientation of dogmatic nature helps to understand the

success that Isaiah of Gaza enjoyed in the subsequent monastic gen-
erations of Gaza, as attested by Barsanuphius and John as well as by
Dorotheus.
By recalling the name of Abba Isaiah we are led to evoke the rich
spiritual world which also through him was bequeathed to the monks
of Gaza. This heritage essentially consisted of the spiritual ideals and
practice of the Fathers of Egyptian monasticism, first of all in its ana-
choretic or semi-anachoretic form of Scetiote origins13. More than
elsewhere in Palestine we observe in Gaza the continuity of this tra-
dition, from Hilarion to Barsanuphius and John, although in the
course of time it became more and more tempered and mixed with
expressions of coenobitic life14. Not incidentally, Isaiah lives as a rec-
luse as will do later on also Barsanuphius and John, though in both
cases we see that the recluses are surrounded by a coenobium. The
impact of Egyptian anachoretism on Gaza monasticism is also shown
by the diffusion of the Apophthegmata Patrum (whose collecting and
spreading apparently took place in this region), even if they combine
Palestinian with Egyptian materials and circulate also among the
monks of the Judaean desert.
With regard to the sources of spirituality, it is interesting to ob-
serve that whereas Basil’s Asceticon displays a very limited presence
in Isaiah, its weight is more perceptible in his friend Peter the Iberian
and towards the end of Gazan monasticism in Dorotheus’ Instruc-
tions15. On the other hand, we do not detect influences of the Pacho-
mian rules. We have namely to do with a monasticism generally
centred on the individual and his path to perfection, although the
person involved is always dependent upon the advice of a spiritual
director and normally conducts his existence within a communal
________
cilio di Efeso (431) al secondo concilio di Costantinopoli (553), Brescia 1980,
286-295.
13
RUBENSON, The Egyptian Relations of Early Palestinian Monasticism. On the
spiritual teachings of Abba Isaiah see especially BITTON-ASHKELONY–KOFSKY,
The Monastic School of Gaza.
14
B. BITTON-ASHKELONY–A. KOFSKY, “Gazan Monasticism in the Fourth-Sixth
Centuries: From Anchoritic to Cenobitic”, POC 50, 2000, 14-62.
15
R.M. PARRINELLO, Comunità monastiche a Gaza. Da Isaia a Doroteo (secoli
IV-VI), Roma 2010.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 13

framework. An atmosphere of this sort, facilitating the individual ex-

pressions of asceticism, may account also for some singularities of
ascetic behaviour like the practice of the ideal of ‘estrangement’ (xe-
niteia). Peter the Iberian, despite the establishment of his own mon-
astery, is the best known example of a wandering monk, conforming
with a model mainly rooted in Syrian monasticism which offered him
also a way to support resistance to Chalcedon and to raise at the same
time new monastic vocations on behalf of his own party16.
Yet the most important contribution of the ‘monastic school of
Gaza’ – as it deserves to be called precisely in light of the continuity
characterizing its spiritual traditions, at least from Isaiah to Dorotheus
– is the doctrine and practice of spiritual direction. As we can observe
it especially in the correspondence of Barsanuphius and John, spiri-
tual direction corresponds to a ‘school of Christianity’ which engages
both monks and laymen under the guidance of a recognized master17.
Due to the favourable location of the monasteries, which as a rule
were situated not far from the inhabited centres, towns and villages,
the intense interaction of the monastic fathers with laymen emerges as
a distinctive feature of Gazan monasticism. Once again, the fact of
sharing the spiritual ideals for monks and laymen reminds us of the
Basilian model. But the system of spiritual direction concretely func-
tions with the two recluses of Gaza in an unprecedented way by em-
phasizing the role of the director and his advice in all the circum-
stances of life. In this sense, the letters of the two recluses of Gaza
should be regarded as a unique document of an ascetically oriented
Christianity permeating every realm of existence in conformity with
the precept of the ‘cutting of the will’18. The Life of Dositheus illus-
________
16
C.B. HORN, Asceticism and Christological Controversy in Fifth-Century Pales-
tine: the Career of Peter the Iberian, Oxford 2006; BITTON-ASHKELONY–KOFS-
KY, The Monastic School of Gaza, 62-81; L. PERRONE, “Pierre l’Ibère ou l’exil
comme pèlerinage et combat pour la foi” in L. DI SEGNI–Y. HIRSHFELD–J. PA-
TRICH–R. TALGAM (eds.), Man near a Roman Arch. Studies presented to Prof.
Yoram Tsafrir, Jerusalem 2009, 190*-204*.
17
L. PERRONE, “The Necessity of Advice: Spiritual Direction as a School of
Christianity in the Correspondence of Barsanuphius and John of Gaza” in BIT-
TON-ASHKELONY–KOFSKY (eds.), Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity, 131-149.
18
J.L. HEVELONE-HARPER, Disciples of the Desert. Monks, Laity, and Spiritual
Authority in Sixth Century Gaza, Baltimore – London 2005; BITTON-ASHKELO-
NY–KOFSKY, The Monastic School of Gaza, 82-126; L. PERRONE, “Aus Gehor-
14 Lorenzo Perrone

trates such paradigm of virtuous life with the exemplary story of the
ascetic training of a young monk under the supervision of Dorotheus,
who at the time was still in the monastery of Seridus. The proofs of
heroical obedience delivered by Dositheus are unparalleled even in
the rich hagiographical corpus of Byzantine monasticism in Pales-
tine19.
The monasticism of the Judaean Desert:
a profile of its spiritual visage
Moving now from Gaza to the Judaean Desert, we have first of all
to consider the importance that the Holy Places came to play for its
monasticism. Though some of the protagonists of Gazan monasticism
went themselves through Jerusalem and the Holy Places before set-
tling in the region of Gaza (the best known case is Peter the Iberian),
this connection is by far much closer and stronger for the monks of
the Judaean Desert. Indeed, it is an essential component of their
physical as well as institutional landscape. As such, it is also a factor
that explains to a large extent the ‘parting of the ways’ between Gaza
and the Judaean Desert during the christological controversies of the
5th and 6th centuries. More generally, the links with the Holy City
made of monasticism in the Judaean Desert an ally and support, at
times even an instance control, for the church of Jerusalem. Without
detailing the different aspects implied by the nearby horizon of the
Holy Places of Jerusalem and Bethlehem for these monks, one can
call to mind, on the one hand, the motivation for the location of mo-
nastic sites, as it happened for example with the coenobium of Theo-
dosius, erected on the cave that (according to an oral tradition) gave
the Magi a lodging on their way back from Bethlehem20. On the other
________
sam zum Vater: Mönche und Laien in den Briefen von Barsanuphius und Johan-
nes von Gaza” in A. CAMPLANI–G. FILORAMO (eds.), Foundations of Power and
Conflicts of Authority in Late-Antique Monasticism, Leuven 2007, 217-243.
19
See B. FLUSIN, “Paternità spirituale e comunità monastica nell’agiografia
palestinese del VI secolo” in G. FILORAMO (ed.), Storia della direzione spirituale,
Brescia 2006, 397-422, who dates the Life of Dositheus toward 600 (p. 399).
20
H. USENER, Der heilige Theodosios. Schriften des Theodoros und Kyrillos,
Leipzig 1890 (repr. 1975), 15 (ll. 1ff.): lovgoõ
oõ dev tiõ
tiõ a[grafoõ
rafoõ ejk tw'n a[nwqen
crovnwn th/' diadoch/' tw'n ejpiginomevnwn katelhluqw;õ kai; e{wõ hJmw'n fqavsaõ
aõ...
Interestingly, the biographer of Theodosius, Theodore of Petra, justifies here the
call to an “unwritten tradition” by quoting Basil’s Commentary on Isaiah v. 5, 1b
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 15

hand, if Sabas has contributed more than anyone else to develop mo-
nastic settlement in the Judaean Desert, in one of his temporary re-
treats because of the turmoil provoked by some of his opponents he
payed a visit to the circuit of the Holy Places around the Sea of Gen-
nesaret and before dying he took a farewell from the Holy City and
his patriarch21.
It goes without saying that the constitutive connection with Jeru-
salem and the Holy Places is not only a matter of spirituality, since it
concurred in realizing the institutional profile of monasticism in the
Judaean Desert that shaped as such the religious and political history
of the Holy Land in the Byzantine period and later on22. The fruitful
interaction between Desert monasticism and the ecclesiastical institu-
tions implies a fundamental distinction compared with Gazan monas-
ticism, in spite of the charismatic status assumed for a while by Bar-
sanuphius and John in the eyes of the religious and political society
of Byzantine Palestine. Yet there is a more intimate horizon embrac-
ing the spiritual life of the monks in the Desert of Judaea, which – as
stated by the Life of Chariton – they regard as “the place of Elijah and
John the Baptist”23: it is the horizon traced by their relation with the
Bible and the practice of prayer closely connected with it. Once more
one is led to observe at first a difference, especially when considering
the richness of biblical reading and culture in the experience of Gazan
monasticism. There, a philosopher like Aeneas of Gaza is reported by
Zacharias Rhetor to have submitted to Abba Isaiah subtle issues of
biblical interpretation, while the letters of Barsanuphius and John
abound in quotations taken from the Holy Scriptures which reveal
their truly exceptional acquaintance with them. One wonders whether
the birth of the exegetical catenae, the compilations of excerpts from
the biblical commentaries of the Church Fathers whose inventor was
Procopius of Gaza, a contemporary of the two recluses, may have
directly profited from this deeply scriptural spirituality24.
________
(PG 30, 348), who also appeals to a a[grafovn tina ejk patevrwn paravdosin (16,
2-3) regarding the Calvary as the burial place of Adam.
21
See respectively CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, Life of Sabas, 24 and 76.
22
Cf. especially PATRICH, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism; ID. (ed.),
The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church.
23
Life of Chariton, 8.
24
L. PERRONE, “Palestinian Monasticism, the Bible, and Theology in the Wake
16 Lorenzo Perrone

We do not dispose of similar witnesses for the Judaean desert, but

it would be wrong to suppose that the Bible was less present here,
also as a consequence of the predominant lauritic character of this
monasticism. On the contrary, its principal historian Cyril of Scytho-
polis offers us many clues in order to ascertain the impact of the
Scriptures, starting with the rich treasure of biblical quotations con-
tained in his Lives25. As Cyril himself tells us, when narrating his mo-
nastic vocation under the sponsorship of Sabas, to train somebody for
a monastic existence normally implied a knowledge of the Bible, first
of all by learning by heart the Psalms to be used both for personal
prayer and meditation in the cell and for the divine office26. This was
not only the rule that Sabas generally followed, but he himself had the
Psalms as a constant companion when he was wandering through the
Desert of Judaea. So, according to Cyril of Scythopolis, the discovery
qeovktistoõ
of the “church built by God” (qeov tistoõ ejkklhsiva) on the spot that
would subsequently become the monastery of Mar Saba is preceded
by the recitation of the Psalms in the Kidron Valley and is accompa-
nied by a pillar of fire which Sabas associates to Jacob’s heavenly
ladder27. If Cyril would have expanded the information on the so-
called “second Origenist controversy” – of which he is altogether our
most precious testimony – by presenting the doctrines of his theologi-
cal adversaries more openly and less polemically than he does, we
would better perceive the width of biblical and theological studies in
________
of the Second Origenist Controversy”, in PATRICH (ed.), The Sabaite Heritage in
the Orthodox Church, 245-259; D. HOMBERGEN, “Le fonti scritturistiche e patri-
stiche dei Padri di Gaza”, in CHIALÀ–CREMASCHI (eds.), Il deserto di Gaza: Bar-
sanufio, Giovanni e Doroteo, 81-98; L. PERRONE, “Scripture for a Life of Per-
fection. The Bible in Late Antique Monasticism: The Case of Palestine”, in L. DI-
TOMMASO–L. TURCESCU (eds.), The Reception and Interpretation of the Bible in
Late Antiquity. Proceedings of the Montréal Colloquium in Honour of Charles
Kannengiesser, 11-13 October 2006, Leiden – Boston 2008, 393-417.
25
See P. VAN DER HORST, “The Role of Scripture in Cyril of Scythopolis’ Lives
of the Monks of Palestine”, in PATRICH (ed.), The Sabaite Heritage in the Ortho-
dox Church, 127-145; not surprisingly, “the biblical book that is most often quot-
ed or alluded to is the OT book of Psalms” (p. 128). On Cyril’s intellectual profile
see especially FLUSIN, Miracle et histoire dans l’œuvre de Cyrille de Scythopolis.
26
melevth tw'n lo-
For Theognius the “meditation of the oracles of the Spirit” (melev lo-
givwn tou' pneuvmatoõ
atoõ) completes his ascetic practice (PAUL OF ELUSA, Life of
Theognius, 8).
27
CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, The Life of Sabas, 18.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 17

Sabas’ congregation and the other monastic foundations of the Ju-

daean Desert. As is well known, this conflict lasted almost two dec-
ades after Sabas’ death (532) and finally led in 553 to the condem-
nation by the second ecumenical council of Constantinople of three
major authors – Origen, Evagrius and Didymus the Blind – who were
all intimately acquainted with the Holy Scriptures and elaborated
their thought mainly, if not exclusively, by means of biblical interpre-
tation28. What is here more important for us, is the fact that Gazan
monasticism shared likewise at that time a lively interest into these
same authors, especially Origen and Evagrius, as we see in the corre-
spondence of Barsanuphius and John29.
In addition to the Bible, we should consider liturgy and prayer as
a main component in the spiritual life of monks in the Judaean Desert.
Their pervasiveness is attested both in anachoretic and coenobitic
monasticism, albeit the latter certainly appears to encourage more di-
rectly the practice of the divine office in addition to the celebration of
the eucharist. It is noteworthy that both Theodore of Petra and Cyril
of Scythopolis praise as one of Theodosius’ major achievements the
constant engagement for a well-ordered performance of the liturgy of
the hours in his monastery. Presumably, it was a heritage he derived
from the pattern of Cappadocian monasticism via the prayer customs
on the Holy Places, as he could observe and practice them during his
stay in Jerusalem. Yet the system of the seven hours of prayer spread
in the Judaean Desert from the coenobia to the laurae. These comply
with it not only in their communal meetings taking place at the end of
the week, but also in the daily life of the individual monk, as do oth-
erwise the anchorites still living in the Desert30. Moreover Sabas
________
28
D. HOMBERGEN, The Second Origenist Controversy. A New Perspective on
Cyril of Scythopolis’ Monastic Biographies as Historical Sources for Sixth-Cen-
tury Origenism, Roma 2001.
29
PERRONE, “Palestinian Monasticism, the Bible, and Theology in the Wake of
the Second Origenist Controversy”, 245-259; D. HOMBERGEN, “Barsanuphius
and John of Gaza and the Origenist Controversy” in BITTON-ASHKELONY–
KOFSKY (eds.), Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity, 173-181.
30
Cf. THEODOSIUS OF PETRA, Life of Theodosius, 18; Life of Chariton, 16;
PATRICH, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism, 229-239; L. PERRONE, “Il
deserto e l’orizzonte della città. Le Storie monastiche di Cirillo di Scitopoli” in
CIRILLO DI SCITOPOLI, Storie monastiche del deserto di Gerusalemme, Abbazia
di Praglia 20122, 56-61.
18 Lorenzo Perrone

introduced an all-night vigil between Saturday and Sunday, in prepa-

ration of the Sunday eucharist, innovating the usage of earlier Pales-
tinian monasticism31. He also allowed separate services in the eucha-
ristic assembly for different linguistic groups, the Greek-speaking and
the Armenians, as did also Theodosius on a larger scale in his coeno-
bium, provided all the monks would reunite for the consecration. This
liturgical imprint of monastic spirituality in the Judaean Desert repre-
sents another significant point of differentiation, especially with
regard to Egyptian monasticism, that on the contrary was – as we
have seen – very influential in the situation of Gaza. Here emphasis is
apparently accorded more to individual praying by means of the
Psalms than to a developed monastic office, although Dorotheus
occasionally stresses the importance of the night vigils and the par-
kanwvn) of prayer32.
ticipation in the communal psalmody or ‘rule’ (kanwv
In a sense, we could extend the mark of liturgy on monasticism in
the Judaean desert to include also a custom typical of Euthymius,
Sabas and other monks who followed their footsteps, as Stephen Sa-
baite still did in the eighth century33. It is the retreat in the remotest
solitude of the Desert of Judaea during the time of Lent, inaugurated
by Euthymius and continued after him by Sabas. While intensifying
the practice of asceticism in the period especially devoted to it in the
yearly cycle of the Church, this custom helped to renew the original
spirit of monasticism in the Judaean Desert, by enacting again the call
for hesychia. If the historical trend, also because of the dangers and
risks inherent in the life in the desert, tended to consolidate the insti-
tutionalized forms of lauritic monasticism discouraging anachoretism,
the quest for a more integral hesychia surfaced now and again as a
mighty ideal of monastic asceticism. Yet, in the long run the solutions
________
31
PATRICH, Sabas, Leader of Palestinian Monasticism, 237-239.
32
Regarding Barsanuphius and John, see BARSANUFIO E GIOVANNI DI GAZA.
Epistolario, trad., intr. e note a cura di M.F.T. LOVATO e M. MORTARI, Roma
1991, 34-35. As for Dorotheus, see Instr. 11, 117-120 (Dorotheus von Gaza. Doc-
trinae diversae, Die geistlichen Lehren, übs. und eing. von J. PAULI, Freiburg i.
Br. 2000, 336-343). On the other hand, Theognius is so accustomed to pray the
Psalms that he continues to do it while asleep...: meta; pollh;n kai; suvntonon
uJmnologivan eijõ u{pnon katenecqevnta, kai; koimwmevnou aujtou' ta; ceivlh donouv-
mena tou;õ yalmou;õ hjreuvgeto (PAUL OF ELUSA, Life of Theognius, 20).
33
See, for instance, CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, Life of Abraamios, 7; PIRONE,
“Continuità della vita monastica nell’ottavo secolo: S. Stefano Sabaita”.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 19

adopted in the Judaean Desert came closer to the system of Gaza by

establishing a coenobitic framework for the hesychastic way of life,
as shown for instance by the regime of reclusion finally adopted by
John the Hesychast inside the Great Laura34.
The figure of John the Hesychast will finally help us to deal with
a further aspect usually reckoned among the major points of differen-
tiation between the Judaean Desert and Gaza, that is the practice of
spiritual direction. According to a frequent opinion, the monks of the
Judaean Desert were less accustomed than their Gazan colleagues to
the relation between a master and his disciple and therefore came
more and more under the influence of the monastic institutions, as far
as their spiritual progress was concerned35. So, whereas Euthymius as
a ‘doctor of the soul’ still practiced charismatic discernment with the
novices and exerted a spiritual guidance on them, first of all his life-
long disciple Domitianus, Sabas apparently relied on the rules of the
monastic community as such for the formation of the individual
monk. Contrasting this somehow reductive picture, one should recall
on the one hand the literary genre and the aim of our most important
source, inasmuch as Cyril of Scythopolis is led by an interest for the
story of Sabas’ congregation. On the other hand, we do not lack inter-
esting clues to discover the importance attributed to spiritual direc-
tion.
The hagiographer himself provides us with a remarkable witness,
according to which before entering the Sabaite community Cyril’s
mother enjoined him not to do anything “with regard to his soul”
without the advice and the permission of John the Hesychast, an elo-
quent hint to the universally recognized system of spiritual direction.
Besides that, among Euthymius’ instructions addressed to his succes-
sor Elias on the vigil of his death, Cyril includes a recommendation to
the new hegoumenos for the brethren who were oppressed by the
‘thoughts’36. Sabas too is said to have initially practiced a ‘guidance’
________
34
CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, Life of Euthymius, 49; Life of John the Hesychast, 14;
PERRONE, “Il deserto e l’orizzonte della città”, 63-69.
35
Cf. F. VECOLI, “Verso la ‘psuchón prostasía’ nel deserto di Giuda” in M. CAT-
TO–I. GAGLIARDI–R.M. PARRINELLO (eds.), Direzione spirituale e agiografia.
Dalla biografia classica alle vite dei santi dell’età moderna, Alessandria 2008,
97-108.
36
CYRIL OF SCYTHOPOLIS, Life of Euthymius, 39.
20 Lorenzo Perrone

prostasiva) of spiritual nature on the first monks of the Great Laura

(prostasiv
though combined with his institutional ‘paternity’; later on, it appears
that this monastery should be seen as an ensemble of little monastic
communities turning around one of the ‘fathers’37. At all events, some
decades after Sabas’ death, not only Cyril of Scythopolis frequently
meets there John the Hesychast and asks him for spiritual advice, but
other monks and also laymen do the same38. Furthermore, in order to
confirm the presence of the ‘spiritual father’ and his charismatic
power one could also point to the intercessory role played, for in-
stance, by Euthymius, Sabas or John the Hesychast. Their mighty
prayer to God on behalf of several persons and their respective needs
emphasizes the status of those monks as ‘holy men’ in a way compa-
rable to the charismatic authority enjoyed by Barsanuphius and John
of Gaza39.
Conclusion:
a convergence of spiritual horizons
In conclusion, our analysis has brought to light several cases of
overlapping between the two spiritual horizons of Gazan monasticism
and that in the Judaean desert, so that there is no further need of a
comparative examination. As we have seen, the distinctions between
the two monastic landscapes have doctrinal, institutional and, so to
say, environmental roots. In my opinion, it was precisely the frame-
work of the Holy Places that assured to monasticism in the Judaean
Desert a historical continuity which Gazan monasticism was never
able to realize. Besides that, if the opposing dogmatic choices un-
doubtedly contributed for a long period after 451 to the estrangement
between the monks of Gaza and those of the Judaean Desert, their
spiritual traditions were closer than one would suppose at first sight.
Among other things, we have noticed a significant sharing of the bib-
lical, patristic and monastic heritage as well as similar trends in ar-
ranging the conditions for a solitary life. Even with regard to spiritual

________
37
FLUSIN, “Paternità spirituale e comunità monastica”, 407-408.
38
See respectively Life of John the Hesychast, 20-21 and 23-24; FLUSIN, “Pater-
nità spirituale e comunità monastica”, 411-412.
39
PERRONE, “Il deserto e l’orizzonte della città. Le Storie monastiche di Cirillo di
Scitopoli”, 73-75. See also PAUL OF ELUSA, Life of Theognius, 20 and 25.
 Byzantine Monasticism in Gaza and in the Judaean Desert 21

direction, in spite of its predominantly institutionalized form in the

Judaean Desert, we have found also there noteworthy traces of an
experience which came closer to that of Gazan monasticism.
Perhaps it is not simply a matter of eccentricity, if we find also a
figure like Theognius (425-522) – whose Life was narrated by Cyril
of Scythopolis and Paul of Elusa – symbolizing in his monastic and
ecclesiastical career so to say the mingling of our two landscapes:
first a monk in the coenobium of Theodosius, then anchorite in its
neighbourhood until a coenobium was built around his cell, and fi-
nally bishop of Bitulion, a small town on the border between Pales-
tine and Egypt. While performing there a miracle of the stilling of the
sea (which reminds us the similar one narrated in Jerome’s Life of
Hilarion), he entertains the nostalgia of the Desert, leaving from time
to time his episcopal seat for his previous monastery and coming to
die there40. Cyril of Scythopolis praised Theognius as “the ornament
of the whole Palestine”, perhaps to indicate how he succeeded in
merging, at least in his person, the perspectives of two monastic land-
scapes that we should not consider anymore as divergent.
Lorenzo PERRONE
“Alma Mater Studiorum” – Università di Bologna
Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Italianistica
Via Zamboni 32 – 40126 Bologna, Italy
<lorenzo.perrone@unibo.it>

SOMMAIRE: Lorenzo PERRONE, Le monachisme byzantin à Gaza et dans le

désert de Juda : comparaison de leurs traditions spirituelles. — L’histoire du
monachisme byzantin en Palestine doit habituellement affronter une sorte de di-
chotomie entre le désert de Juda et le désert de Gaza, comme s’il n’y avait pas
seulement deux paysages distincts mais aussi deux formes différentes de mona-
chisme. Cet article examine les traditions spirituelles respectives afin de faire
ressortir les affinités qui, outre la ville sainte de Jérusalem, existent entre ces
deux principales régions du monachisme palestinien. Bien que des raisons doctri-
________
40
He also engages in missionary activities with regard to the paganism still ex-
isting in some aristocratic circles, assuming himself the apostolic role traditionally
ascribed to Gazan monasticism, first of all to its founder Hilarion (PAUL OF
ELUSA, Life of Theognius, 18).
22 Lorenzo Perrone

nales, institutionnelles et environnementales permettent une distinction, il y avait

aussi des convergences et des contacts, à commencer par le partage d’un héritage
biblique, patristique et monastique commun. Les deux régions nourrissaient une
estime particulière pour la vie hésychaste et lui offraient des conditions en grande
partie semblables. Nombre de différences, souvent présumées, dépendent surtout
des différents corpus de sources disponibles. En fait, le monachisme du désert de
Juda n’ignorait pas non plus les formes de direction spirituelle si caractéristiques
du monachisme de Gaza.