"Excavating the Excavations" of Early Monastic Education (original) (raw)
Life and Death in Lower and Upper Egypt: A Brief Survey of Recent Monastic Archaeology at Yale
Journal of the Canadian Society for Coptic Studies 3-4 (2012): 9-26
The Yale Monastic Archaeology Project (YMAP) sponsors surveys and excavations at two Coptic monastic sites in Egypt: the Monastery of St. John the Little in Wādī al-Nātrūn and the White Monastery at Sohag. Excavation work at the Monastery of St. John the Little has yielded evidence related to everyday life in a monastic dwelling, including wall paintings, dipinti (painted inscriptions), and the remains of foodstuffs from several kitchens. Archaeological analysis at the White Monastery has focused on a recently discovered tomb and funerary chapel associated with the early monastic leader Shenoute of Atripe. This article introduces readers to these recent findings and discusses their implications for our understanding of life and death in late ancient and early medieval Egyptian monasteries.
This book situates discussions of Christian monasticism in Egypt and Palestine within the socioeconomic world of the long Late Antiquity, from the golden age of monasticism into and well beyond the Arab conquest (fifth to tenth century). Its thirteen chapters present new research into the rich corpus of textual sources and archaeological remains and move beyond traditional studies that have treated monastic communities as religious entities in physical seclusion from society. The volume brings together scholars working across traditional boundaries of subject and geography and explores a diverse range of topics from the production of food and wine to networks of scribes, patronage, and monastic visitation. As such, it paints a vivid picture of busy monastic lives dependent on and led in tandem with the non-monastic world.
'In Defiance of his Cloth' : Monastic (Im)piety in Late Antique Egypt
Studies in Church History Vol. 60, 2024
Hagiographical writing promotes a vision of Egyptian monasticism in which pious ascetic figures are isolated from the world. Peter Brown highlighted the role of the holy man as patron, but nonetheless reinforced a traditional view of Egyptian monasticism based on his readings of works such as the sixth-century Apophthegmata Patrum. Surviving monastic correspondence, in contrast, demonstrates that there was a highly individualized approach to the monastic vocation. In this article, I turn to documentary material to consider the complexities of the early development of the movement. As a case study, I use the Greek and Coptic correspondence of a fourth-century monk called Apa John. My conclusion is that activities and behaviours described in the texts do not always accord with any known typology or ideal, but they are invaluable for exploring aspects of the early monastic impulse and the role played by the movement in wider society.
Children and Family in Late Antique Egyptian Monasticism (ToC)
Children and Family in Late Antique Egyptian Monasticism, 2021
This is the first book-length study of children in one of the birthplaces of early Christian monasticism, Egypt. Although comprised of men and women who had renounced sex and family, the monasteries of late antiquity raised children, educated them, and expected them to carry on their monastic lineage and legacies into the future. Children within monasteries existed in a liminal space, simultaneously vulnerable to the whims and abuses of adults and cherished as potential future monastic prodigies. Caroline T. Schroeder examines diverse sources – letters, rules, saints’ lives, art, and documentary evidence – to probe these paradoxes. In doing so, she demonstrates how early Egyptian monasteries provided an intergenerational continuity of social, cultural, and economic capital while also contesting the traditional family’s claims to these forms of social continuity.
Elders and Disciples in Egypt’s Early Monastic Literature
Embracing Life and Gathering Wisdom , 2020
This chapter examines the written records of the fourth- and fifth-century monastic wisdom produced in and about the ascetic milieus of Egypt. I focus on two aspects related to ageing in that literature. First, the perception of Christian discipleship as ongoing growth, which culminates in the wisdom of the ‘beautiful elder’. Motivated by this understanding, novices learn from the advanced by observing their behaviour, by listening to their wisdom, and by obeying their advice. Second, the understanding of Christian discipleship in terms of novices attending to the needs of the elders. Thus, the elders represent both role models and objects of care. In this light, discipleship, in desert literature, means learning wisdom from and taking care of the elders.
2018
The Monastic Landscape of Late Antique Egypt An Archaeological Reconstruction By Darlene L. Brook Hedstrom Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom offers a new history of the field of Egyptian monastic archaeology. She analyzes late-antique documentary evidence, early monastic literature, and ecclesiastical history before turning to the extensive archaeological evidence of Chris t ian monastic settlements. In doing so, she illustrates the stark differences between idealized monastic landscape and the actual monastic landscape that was urbanized through monastic constructions. 488p, b/w illus (Cambridge UP 2018) 9781107161818 Hb £105.00