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Christian Asceticism and the Early School of Alexandria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

J. A. McGuckin
J. A. McGuckin*
Affiliation:
La Sainte Union College, Southampton
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Extract

This paper offers three considerations: a) the Jewish ascetical tradition in the life of Jesus and the primitive Gospel tradition; b) the Alexandrian system offered by Clement and Origen, which through developing monasticism did so much to set the tone of ascetical doctrine throughout the ancient Christian world; and c) what relation, if any, survived between Jesus and his great Alexandrian disciples in this matter, after the lapse of a century and a half. It is thus a study in continuity and discontinuity.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 22: Monks, Hermits and the Ascetic Tradition , 1985 , pp. 25 - 39
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1985

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References

1 cf. Apoc. Eliae 22 seq ‘It forgives sins, heals diseases, drives out spirits, and has power even to the throne of God.’

2 Lev. 16. 29f; 23, 27 seq; Num. 29. 7.

3 Zech. 7. 3, 5; 8. 19.

4 Esther 9. 3.

5 9th Ab.

6 Didache 8. 1; Lk. 18. 12.

7 Tacitus Hist. 5. 4. ‘Longam olim famem crebris adhuc jejuniis fatentur.’ Suetonius, Aug. Caes: 76. 3. ‘ne Judaeus quidem tam diligenter sabbatis jejunium servat quam ego hodie servavi.’

8 cf. 1 Kings 21. 7; Joel 2. 13; 1s. 58. 5; Est. 4. 3; Neh. 9. 1; Jonah 3. 5; Dan. 9. 3; 1 Sam. 31. 13; 2 Sam. 1. 12.

9 Jud. 20. 26; Jer. 36. 6, 9; 2 Chr. 20, 3 seq.

10 2 Sam. 12. 16; 1 Kings 21. 27; Ps. 35. 12; Ps. 69. 10.

11 Eg. dirt, sackcloth and ashes, and unkempt hair. Mt. 6. 16.

12 1 Mace. 3. 47; 2 Macc. 13. 12; Bar. 1. 5; Judith 4. of; Tb. 12. 8; Josephus, Ant. 19. 349; Lk. 2. 37; Test. Jos. 4. 8; 10. 1; Test. Ben. 1. 4; One also fasted to confirm a vow cf. 1 Sam. 14. 24; Num. 30. 14; Mk. 14. 25; Acts 23. 12.

13 Ibid 6a. cf. TDNT, ed Kittel. 4. 930–31.

14 Mk. 1. 6; Mt. 11. 8, 18.

15 Lk. 11. 1; Mt. 3. 2.

16 cf. Ex. 34. 28; Dt. 9. 9; Dan. 9. 3; 10. 24f; 10. 12. The idea survives in later apocalypticism: 4 Ezra 5. 13, 19; 6. 31, 5 etc; Apoc. Bar. (Syr) 9. 2; 12. 5; 20. 5 etc; Apoc. Abr. 9. 7; Asc. Is. 2. 7–11. The notion of cultic fasting (Baptismal and Eucharistie) survives into contemporary Christianity in Catholic and Orthodox practice.

17 Jer. 14. 12; Is. 58. 1; Zech. 7. 5; 8. 16–19; Joel 2. 13.

18 cf. Sirach. 7. 10, 14–15.

19 Tb. 12. 8–10; 14. 4, 11.

20 Acts 10. 4.

21 Mt. 6. 1–4; Mk. 12. 43–44.

22 cf. Ps. 35. 13; Ps. 69. 10.

23 As in the parable at Lk. 18. 12.

24 Lk. 11. 41: ‘But give for alms those things within and lo, all things are clean for you.’ Lk. 12. 33: ‘Sell your possessions and give alms, and get purses that do not wear out.’

25 Mt. 23. 25 seq.

26 As at Mk. 10. 21, or Lk. 14. 33.

27 Matthew’s Church of Antioch is a likely contender here.

28 Mt. 5–7.

29 cf. Mt. 5. 17–19; 7. 13–23.

30 Mk. 2. 18–20.

31 Mk. 7. 5–9.

32 ‘John came neither eating nor drinking … the Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say ‘lo! a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners’.

33 cf. Mt. 22. 1 seq; 25. 1 seq.

34 Mk. 2. 15–17.

35 Mk. 9. 29. Mt. 4. 2–4 is similarly not a statement about fasting but a literary evocation of the theme of Israel in the wilderness.

36 cf. parallels in Plutarch, Isis + Osiris 26; Apuleius, Met. 2. 24; Clement, Protreptikos 2. 21. 2. In the magical papyri, fasting strengthens one’s power of magic to cast out spirits: Preisendanz, p. 235; also Cat. Cod. Astrologorum Graec. 3. 53. 13. Texts given in TDNT 4, p. 927.

37 Mk. 9. 29 is arguably a reminiscence from a group of early Christian exorcists who assembled such stories based on Jesus (loosely). The apocalyptic idiom of exorcism is significantly different from the common practice of magical exorcism in both Judaism and Hellenism of the mid First century.

38 Mk. 14. 25.

39 ‘Everything contrary to right reason is sin.’ Paed. 1. 13. 1. A[nte] N[icne] C[hristian] L[ibrary] 4 (1868) P. 184.

40 Paed. 1. 12. 98. 3. ANCL 4 p. 182.

41 Paed. 3. 8. ANCL 4 p. 304.

42 Paed. 3. 7. ANCL 4 p. 302.

43 Stromateis 4. 26. ANCL 12 (1869) p. 216.

44 Quis Dives Salvetur.

45 Str. 7. 10. ANCL 12 p. 446.

46 Paed. 2. 9. ANCL 4 pp. 240–1.

47 Str. 4. 13. ANCL 12 p. 182.

48 cf. Str. 6. 12. ANCL 12 pp. 361–2.

49 Str. 7. 12. ANCL 12 p. 457.

50 Following the prophetic tradition outlined in Is. 58. 4. cf. Tertullian, De jejunio 2; Barnabas 3. 1; Justin Dial. 15. 1 seq; Diognetus 4. 1.

51 Str. 6. 12. ANCL 12 p. 363. Also Paed. 3. 12. ANCL 4 p. 335.

52 Str. 7. 12. ANCL 12 p. 461. Cf. Str. 4. 21. ANCL 12 p. 199.

53 Str. 3. 7. 59: ‘To emasculate oneself from all passions.’ Ibid 3. 15. 99: ‘Those who emasculate themselves from all sin.’

54 Philo. Spec. Leg. 2. 30.

55 I Cor. 13. 7.

56 cf. i jn. 4. 18–19; Str. 7. 12 ANCL 12 p. 457.

57 Str. 7. 12. ANCL 12 p. 457.

58 Str. 6. 9. ANCL 12 pp. 344 seq.

59 Str. 4. 18 (after 1 Cor. 13) ANCL 12 pp. 190 seq.

60 Paed. 1. 12. ANCL 4 pp. 181–3.

61 cf. Str. 4. 22. ANCL 12 pp. 202–7; Str. 6. 9. ANCL 12 pp. 344–9.

62 Str. 2. 19. ANCL 12 p. 57.

63 Str. 4. 22. ANCL 12 p. 203.

64 Str. 4. 6. ANCL 12 p. 157.

65 Str. 7. 10. ANCL 12 p. 447.

66 c.185-253.

67 cf. Blanc, C. ‘L’attitude d’Origène à l’égard du corps et de la chair.’ Stud. Pat. 17 (1982) p. 843 Google Scholar.

68 cf. Con. Cels. 5. 49. ANCL 23 (1872) p. 320. Also in Lev. 10. 2. For a general analysis see E.T. Bettencourt, Doctrina Ascetica Origenis (Rome 1945).

69 From pre-existent fall to ultimate Apokatastasis.

70 In Romanos. 6. 14; PG 14. 1102B.

71 Ibid. 6. 1.

72 Ibid. 6. 9.

73 De Princ. 33. 3. See also Prologue to Canticles, in Ancient Christian Writers, 26 (1957) P. 44.

74 On the arrow of love cf. Lxx Is. 49. 2. Field, F., ‘Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt.’ 2 (Oxford 1875) p. 414, n 15 Google Scholar.

75 cf. Exhortation to Martyrdom 1. 3.

76 In Romanos 9. 1.

77 In Numeros 24. 2.

78 Askousi.

79 In Jer. 20. 4.

80 His exegesis on: ‘You have deceived the Lord.’

81 cf. Crouzel, H. Virginité et Mariage selon Origene (Paris 1963) pp. 152–60 Google Scholar.

82 In Jer. 2. 13. (SCR, 238 pp. 48–9).

83 In Matthaeum 15. 4.