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Formulas for Salvation: A Comparison of Two Byzantine Monasteries and their Founders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Ann Wharton Epstein
Ann Wharton Epstein
Affiliation:
Ms. Epstein is assistant professor of history of art in Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
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Extract

In the Christian world during the late fourth through the sixth centuries various strains of monastic life developed, from extreme eremitic isolation to the communal discipline of the cenobia. These different types of monastic life continued to evolve through the Middle Ages. Though most specialists are aware of the multiplicity of patterns of monastic life which are found within both the Latin and the Byzantine spheres, they have been less concerned with what informs these traditional patterns.1This paper attempts to isolate some differences in modes of monastic life in the eastern empire during the Komnenian period and then to explain those differences in terms of the founders' distinct conceptions of salvation.2 The analysis compares two founders—John II Komnenos and Neophytos—and the monastic life led in their respective institutions—the Pantocrator monastery in Constantinople and the Enkleistra in the provincial milieu of Byzantine Cyprus. These two monasteries have been selected not only because they represent extreme examples of their types, but also because rich artistic and literary documentation survives from both.

Type
Research Article
Information
Church History , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , December 1981 , pp. 385 - 400
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1981

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References

1. In searching for the origins of capitalism, Max Weber explored the religious differences between the East and the West. He concluded that occidental spirituality might be characterized as ascetic activism, while that of the Orient could be defined as contemplative mysticism. Furthermore, within the western tradition, ascetic activism took distinct forms—notably, claustral asceticism in the Middle Ages which rejected the world and puritan asceticism in the Reformation which sought to remodel the world. But while these two forms of ascetic spirituality may represent the dominant and effective modes of religiosity within their respective historical spheres, the same duality is also helpful in analyzing the variety of religious experiences within a single culture. Weber, Max, “Vorbmerkung,” Gesammelte Aufsatze zur religionssoziologie, 3 vols. (Tübingen, 1920–1921), 1: 1–16;Google Scholar and idem, Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 2d ed., 2 vols. (Tübingen, 1925), 1: 310–317. Bendix, Reinhard, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait (Berkeley, 1977), pp 200–281Google Scholar

2. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Prof. Charles T. Holman, D.D. It was developed in a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar on monasticism directed by Giles Constable. I want to thank Aleksander P. Každan, Robin S.Cormack, and Lawrence Butler for their critical comments on various drafts of this piece.

3. The most important primary source for the life of Neophytos is his own typikon. Tsiknopoullos, loannos P., ed., Kypriaka Typika, Pēgai kai meletai tēs Kypriakēs istorias (Nicosia, 1969), pp. 69–104.Google Scholar (Hereafter, citations to Tsiknopoullos's edition of Neophytos's typikon will include only the page and line where the passage begins.) Konstantinos Manaphes, A., “Paratērēseis eis ta ‘kypriaka typika’,” Epistēmonikē epetēris lēs Philosophikēs Schholēs tou panepistēmiou Anthenōn 1969–1970 (Athens, 1970), pp. 155–168.Google Scholar For an excellent English resume with references to further primary sources, see Mango, Cyril and Hawkins, E. J. W., “The Hermitage of St. Neophytos and Its Wall Paintings,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 20 (1966): 122–129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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5. On this social shift, see Každan, Aleksander P., Social'nyj sostav gospodstuvjuščego klassa Vizantii XI-XII vv., (Moscow,1974).Google ScholarKaždan's book is summarized in French by I. Sorlin in “Publications soviéteiques sur le XIe siècle: ‘La Structure de la classe dominante àByzance aux XIe et XIIe siècles’,” Memoires et Travaux 6 (1977): 367–398.Google Scholar

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8. For a general study of typika with a catalog of published foundation documents and bibliography, see Manaphes, Konstantinos A., Monasteriaka Typika—Diathekai (Athens, 1970).Google Scholar Other earlier general studies include Placide de Meester, “Les typiques de fondation (Typika Ktētorika),” Atti del V Congresso Internazionale di Studi Bizantini, 3 vols. (Rome, 1940), 2: 489–508,Google Scholar and Janin, Raymond, “Le monachisme byzantin au Moyen Age, Commende et typica (X-XIV siecle),” Revue des études byzantines 22 (1964): 5–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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11. Ibid., p. 98. 13.

12. Ibid., p. 80. 2.

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14. Ibid., 1. 1446.

15. Ibid., 1. 685.

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28. Tsiknopoullos, , p. 94.Google Scholar 15.

29. Ibid., p. 82. 31.

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32. Ibid., 1. 41.

33. Tsiknopoullos, p. 73. 9; quoted from Romans 3: 18.

34. Ibid., p. 73. 7.

35. Ibid., p. 73. 18.

36. Ibid., p.81. 12.

37. Falkenhausen, Vera von, “Greek Monasteries in South Italy: Constitution and Economy” (Paper delivered at the Seventh Annual Byzantine Symposium, Birmingham, England, 03 1973), p. 5.Google Scholar

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43. Gautier, , “Le Typikon,” I. 554.Google Scholar There may have been some objection to this in Constantinople. Jeanselme, E. and Oeconomos, L., “La satire contre les higoumenes,” Byzantion I (1924): 325–326.Google Scholar Saint Neophytos stipulates in contrast that a monk should not normally wash. Tsiknopoullos, p. 96. 5.

44. As Robin Cormack pointed out to me, the section on work follows this passage directly, suggesting that while homosexuality may be a problem, hard work may well provide a remedy (“We know that physical labor is very beneficial; for this little I know myself from experience…” Tsiknopoullos, p. 95. 15).

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50. This material has been considered by Lawrence Butler in “The Pantocrator Monastery: An Imperial Foundation” (M.A. thesis, Oberlin College, 1979).Google Scholar

51. Megaw, , “Notes on Recent Work,” pp. 349–364.Google Scholar For a contrary view, see Lafond, J., “Découverte de vitraux historiés du moyen-âge a Constantinople,” Cahiers archéologiques 18 (1968: 231–238.Google Scholar For a discussion of the templon screen of the Pantocrator and the debate concerning the Pala d'Oro enamels, see Epstein, Ann W., “The Middle Byzantine Sanctuary Barrier: Templon or Iconostasis?,” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 134 (1981):CrossRefGoogle Scholar forthcoming.

52. Megaw, , “Notes on Recent Work,” pp. 335–340.Google Scholarschweinfurth, Phillip, “Der Mosaikfussboden der komnenischen Pantokratorkirche in Istanbul,” Jahrbuch des deutschen archäologischen Instituts 69 (1954): 253–260.Google Scholar

53. Winfield, David, “Reports on Work at Monagri, Lagoudera, and Hagios Neophytos, Cyprus, 1960–1970,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 25 (1971): 264,Google Scholar augments the discussion of painting phases found in Mango and Hawkins, “The Hermitage of St. Neophytos,” pp. 135–206. This latter publication remains the most comprehensive and useful work on the Enkleistra. Other discussions include Andreas Stylianou and Stylianou, Judith A., The Painted Churches of Cyprus, (Stourbridge, Worcs., 1964), pp. 123–136;Google Scholaridem, “Some Problems Concerning the Enkleistra of St. Neophytos and its Wall-Paintings” Kypriakai Spoudai 26 (1962): 129–139; Indianos, A. C. and Thomson, G. H., “The Wall Paintings of St. Noephytos Monastery,” Kypriakai Spoudai 3 (1940): 155–224.Google Scholar

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60. Acta Sanctorum, 1 March, p. 98.

61. Tsiknopoullos, pp. 83. 10, 90. 30.

62. Vincent, H. and Abel, F. M., Jerusalem nouvelle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1914), 1: 261,Google Scholar reconstruct the program of the Holy Sepulchre from pilgrims’ accounts. I am indebted to Annemarie Carr for this reference.

63. Mango, and Hawkins, , “The Hermitage of St. Neophytos,” pp. 154–157, 170–172.Google Scholar

64. Ibid., pp. 140–153.

65. The Crucifixion appears in the cell above the tomb and above the door into the bema. Ibid., pp. 177–178, 183–184. The second Anastasis is depicted to the right of the tomb, and the second Ascension is found in the bema vault, over the altar. Ibid., pp. 184–185, 164–165.

66. Walter, Christopher, “Two Notes on the Deesis,” Revue des études byzantines 26 (1968): 311–336;CrossRefGoogle Scholaridem, “Further Notes on the Deesis,” Revue des études byzantines 28 (1970): 161–187.

67. Mango, and Hawkins, , “The Hermitage of St. Neophytos,” pp. 159, 165–166, 180–182,Google Scholar and plates 19, 48, 66, 95.

68. Gautier, , “Le Typikon,” II, 22, 39.Google Scholar