Sometime between 444 and 451, Dioscorus, the patriarch of Alexandria (d. 454), wrote to Shenoute (c. 348–465), the leader of a large monastic community near Atripe, on the west side of the Nile, opposite Panopolis. Dioscorus asked Shenoute to help him enforce a memorandum that he had sent to three local bishops (appended to the letter) in which the patriarch banned a “heretic” named Elijah from the monasteries near Panopolis. Elijah, a priest and almost certainly a monk, promoted the teachings of the Alexandrian Origen (c. 185–253/4), the patriarch explained. He expressed satisfaction that a priest named Psenthaesios and “the monks with him” had rejected and expelled Elijah, but he lamented that a monastery called “The Encampment” was known to possess books by Origen and “other heretics.”

Centrality of the Church for salvation

If, then, because of the opportunity for charity that lame person gained healing when he was placed before the gate of the temple, then how much healing and blessing and grace and all good things will we gain both bodily and spiritually, pertaining both to the healing of our visible illnesses and the healing of our sins, while we strive to run to the Lord, to the church, so that we might pray, and to partake of his body and his blood.

And if one has committed these deeds and repented for them, and if he does not return to doing them, God will forgive him for the things that have transpired. But whoever does them after he has heard these words will give an account to God for his transgression.

For each one's house is not the baptistery, nor is it the place for receiving the mystery. Because of the manner that the Lord spoke to his disciples, “Go into the city to a certain man, and a man carrying a gallon of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, and say to the master of the house, ‘It is the teacher who says to you, “Where is my dwelling place, where I will eat the Passover meal with my disciples?”’” the place into which the Lord will go with his disciples is, rather, the church. And the disciples themselves did not break bread anywhere except the temple and the house in which they gathered.

On the contrary, how distant is the church from the house of the man? All the ecclesiastical places have become full; all the monastic places have become full, they (monks) gather in them and carry out the holy mystery by the hands of the priests appointed for them, complying with the canons of the Church in everything, with this one faith, this one spirit, this one baptism, this one God, and this one Lord, the father of everyone, he who is over everyone. And […]

Introduction

Shenoute normally lived in seclusion, as mentioned previously, and did not journey to the community and church to preach every week. It is plausible that Shenoute's presence and preaching was a special attraction for Christians from local villages and for visitors from farther afield. In reading Shenoute's sermons collected in the Discourses as well as those targeted exclusively to his community in the Canons, it is clear how compelling a preacher Shenoute could be. How many people attended the church on typical Sundays and how many attended when the archimandrite preached is impossible to know. But Shenoute's works indicate that visitors were a common feature of his forays into the community. The number of named dignitaries that visited Shenoute, sometimes repeatedly, is also telling. Clearly Shenoute drew many interested in accessing the spiritual power of this Apa. Many of these dealt with him in his position as preacher and pastor, roles that the Discourses represent. In the former role, he responds to, elaborates on, and digresses from liturgical elements, including the biblical passages read during the service. He also responds to the behavior he perceives among his audience, monastic and lay: their anxious fidgeting as they wait to be dismissed from mass, their apparent consternation at orthodox teaching, their alleged lack of charity, or their lack of seriousness at approaching the Eucharistic mystery. Other Discourses depict Shenoute in a pastoral role on a smaller scale, as he responds to specific questions about morals, church order, and ascetic behavior posed by visiting dignitaries, clergy, and the monks themselves.

The study of early Christian homiletics as a whole is still a developing field, and the past generation of revisionist scholarship has laid bare a “minefield” of methodological problems. But as a source for the history of rhetoric and discourse as well as for more traditional interests such as theology and social history, late ancient homilies are rich and voluminous.

Shenoute's place within (and after) what some have described as a “golden age” of fourth- and early fifth-century homiletics is a ripe area for analysis. Much about his work as a preacher is unknown, not surprising given the highly fragmentary state of his literary remains.

Introduction

Ancient Christians understood their ethical life as a struggle not only against their own evil will and inclinations, but also against Satan and his demons. The author of Ephesians concluded his exhortations to righteous living in the Christian household by urging his readers to clothe themselves with God's armor and stand firm against the evil spirits: “For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” In the monastic literature from late ancient Egypt, demons frequently tempt monks with the pleasures of sin or try to shake their confidence in the providence of God. Evil spirits regularly appear in visual forms – for example, as wild animals, as seductive women, as black persons, or (deceitfully) as Christ or angels. But even more frequently they manifest as “thoughts” (logismoi) – insinuations of malice or doubt in the monk's mind that threaten to lead him into sin and away from fidelity to God. All Christians, whether they were monks or not, engaged in battle with the devil and evil spirits, but monks stood at the front line of that combat.

Shenoute likewise refers frequently to Satan and his demons throughout his writings. They deceive pagans into worshiping them, inspire heretics to oppose Christian truth, sow discord within the monastic community, tempt monks and lay people to sin, bring disease and other misfortunes upon everybody, and cause all manner of evil and suffering in the world. Such demonic activity occurs in all monastic literature. In contrast to his contemporaries, however, Shenoute tends to focus on Satan as the Christian's primary opponent. Shenoute certainly believes that Satan leads a multitude of demons, which afflict Christians in a variety of ways, but he most often speaks of the single great demon, Satan, who takes on a variety of forms in his relentless attacks on the Christian who tries to follow God and Christ.

The four works in this section take Satan and the Christian's struggle against him as their primary theme.

A short catechesis early on the Lord's day after the Psalter and the Gospel were read on a feast day, while the crowd wanted to return home in a hurry.

See how clearly revealed is the foolishness of pitiless people and the foolishness of those who worship the works of human hands by what we have heard just now from the scriptures in the Gospel: “There is a rich man whose land was flourishing, and he thought, ‘What will I do, for I have nowhere to gather my crops?’ He said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my storehouses and rebuild them bigger, and I will gather into them all of my grain and my goods, and I will say to my soul, “My soul, you have many goods, laid aside over many years. Rest yourself. Eat, drink, be happy.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool, your soul will be taken from you tonight. These preparations you've made, whose will they be?’” And also in the Psalms, “These idols of the nations are silver and gold; they are the works of human hands.”

As I was speaking from the word of God – while some people were content with a joy of his children who are proper slaves to him, and others were ashamed with a reproach of those who worship empty things, because they themselves are empty – I wished that I had found these gods of silver and gold and copper and bronze, especially the golden image that is sixty cubits high and six wide, and that I had cut it up and chopped them further and given them away and distributed them to my poor brethren, the widows and the orphans, not because God is not able to nourish them, he to whom they are slaves, or because any of them are cut off from Christian charities, but for mockery and laughter at those who think that they are gods.

Blessed are they whose works reveal that they are children of the light, God and his Christ Jesus. Woe to those whose works reveal that they are dark.

Truly, when I think about the fathers of old, I become like one who has not known God. And is it any wonder? For our father Abraham, our father Isaac, our father Jacob, they live with their wives, they begat their children, they take wives for their sons, they give their daughters to husbands, they hold their marriage feasts, and when their children are weaned, they host great receptions. As it is written, “Abraham gave a great feast on the day that his son Isaac was weaned.” They celebrate, they eat, they drink in the righteous amount. They have many animals of all kinds. Gold is abundant. Silver is abundant. All their possessions of every kind of wealth abound. And the Lord God speaks with them, instructing them about everything. And he nourishes them. Their “houses are full of every good.” And also his angels guard them, as Jacob said, “God who nourishes me from my youth, the angel who guards me from every evil.” And not only (have I become like one who has not known God) because many have received blessing from them upon the earth, and their seed left as heirs multitudes of people, like the sand, but also (because of) those who go to God, as the scripture says about all those who die among us, we Christians, from king to priest, as far as even the martyrs who have poured out their blood, “You shall give rest to them in the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.”

How are these honors and these glories of this quality theirs? Is it not because of their faith and their love for the Lord God, and their sinlessness? As the Lord said to them, “Be pleasing before me and be without sin, and I will establish my covenant with you.” And furthermore (because of) their hospitality. Or do we not read about their whole way of life?

But we, such wretches, we make ourselves poor, we are hungry, we are thirsty, we endure many hardships, while saying that we do them for God, even as far as inferior clothes and sustenance, so that we often do not drink water to satiety, nor (do we partake of) wine or meat or many other things. Our heart is dry. Our bellies are dry.

Dangers of apocryphal books

[“ …] I created it through the command of the Father.” And, “As for everything that exists in heaven and on earth, it is I who created them all through the command of the Father.” And, “And as for man himself, together we fashioned him.” And, “The body and soul belong to me; the breath and the spirit are my Father's.” And, “We took up a part of heaven and we stirred it and mixed it with a part of the earth, and we created man.” Listen so that you may understand that those who write apocryphal books are blind, and blind are they who learn them by heart and who believe them, cast down together into pits.

He has furthermore said, “The Son said, ‘It so happened that when the Father had finished creating the twelve worlds, which none of the angels knows, he created another seven worlds.’ And, ‘It is within the twelve that the unspeakable goods dwell.’ And, ‘Outside the seven, he created another five worlds.’ And, ‘In them the spirits of power dwell.’ And, ‘Outside these five he created three other worlds, being’ – so they say – ‘the abodes of the angels. And, ‘The twenty-seven worlds are all outside this heaven and this earth.’”

The deceitful words are many, through which many are those who have become deceived and deceived others. Or do you not see that they do not know what they are talking about? Because if other worlds exist, which no angel knows about because he did not tell them about them, then how is it that they know about them? And how would he teach them about them? For it is written, “The Lord will not do anything without having revealed it to his servants, the prophets.” How much more so his angels! Where did they learn these things? So it is also written, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” It did not say “earths,” as many witnesses declare. The Lord spoke in this way, saying to his Father, “My Father, glorify me with the glory that I had in your presence before the world [existed].”

And after a few days, Count Caesarius received Taurinus the governor, and he came up as was his custom, both together with one another, and their lawyers, their dignitaries, and their kinsmen. When they had begun to speak about conditions in Alexandria due to the minor disturbance in the Church, they went forth through many words between them, inquiring, as if expecting us to give a defense for them.

When they saw that there was no profit in what they were thinking, and that they were leading us to say words ill-timed concerning the matters that we had previously spoken about – they were asking whether it was proper to be in communion with all people – I said to them, “If I speak with you about that myself, your wisdom is sufficient to understand what you are asking about. So listen. If I am good, be in communion with me. If I am not good, then don't be in communion. If I am upright, the visit you have paid to us is good and entirely useful. If I am not upright, do not parch yourselves in vain.”

I also said to them:

As for what you are discussing on the ships and in the taverns and the watering holes and in the cities and in other places as well, set them aside and consider words that belong to heaven. And when you go home, you will find them again, if they are useful to you. But they are not useful to you. Therefore, your wisdoms, I appeal that you not speak of them, but give voice to the holy words that will be of use to you.

For all these (disturbances) will pass, if God wills it. See the sun, that often the clouds that are a veil for it are abundant; not only do they not impede it in its course, but it also returns and shines. It is also the very same in its light. This is the way of the Church of Christ; it is very much the same.

And it happened one day, when we were speaking about the divinity of our Savior, and that he had become human and dwelled among humans while being God and Son of God, some in the crowd responded – gently, not wickedly – because they were amazed at what they were hearing. They said, “Did he therefore exist before he had been born from Mary the holy virgin?” I answered them straightforwardly, “This is a snide question of the Jews themselves when they heard the Savior saying, ‘Abraham our father rejoiced that he would see my day.’ Those ignorant people did not put up with this, but responded shamelessly, and they said, ‘You are not yet fifty years old!’ And he replied to them, ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’”

The Preexistence of Christ

Let us pay attention to his words, and understand what we seek. For he is speaking about his Father, as a human. According to divine economy he reveals his perfect divinity to us, that it exists before the entirety. He said, “My father, glorify me with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed.” And also, “The world came into being through him.” And also, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This one in the beginning was with God, and through him the entirety came into being, and without him nothing came into being.” And also it is he who existed in the beginning that was revealed to us and whom we saw. And this one was with the Father, and also, “he came from God, and was going to God.” And also, “I came from the Father and had come into the world.” And also, “By him the ages were created,” and, “He is before all things.” And also, “If you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before […].” And also, “The rock was following them, the rock was Christ,” truly in the time when Israel was in the wilderness up to the time of holy Mary.

Introduction

Shenoute is most famous among students of late ancient history for his activities as a colorful example of the late antique “holy man” and his vociferous and sometimes violent opposition to the local “pagans.” This latter, and undeniably important, aspect of his career is covered in Part iv of this collection. But Shenoute's anti-pagan rhetoric and activities take place against the background of his broader interest in defending the Church as he understood it against a range of threats – threats that included not only the abuse, “violence,” and “corruption” that so exercises his moral thought, but also errors in doctrine. Such threats for Shenoute – doctrinal and moral – were not necessarily distinct. Nor were threats from heresies, pagans, and others. Part i includes several important works that give a representation of Shenoute's theological apologetics.

Shenoute's engagement with theology and apologetics has been all too easy to overlook or minimize, especially for those approaching the Egyptian monk with the standards of fourth- and fifth-century Greek theologians. He was not, after all, a major player in the theological debates of the fifth century throughout the wider Mediterranean world. He had no readership outside of Egypt and is never mentioned by Greek or Latin sources. Even his visit to the Council of Ephesus in 431 does not bear mention outside Egypt, notwithstanding its importance in Shenoute's Life and in his own writings. He was such a local figure that it has been tempting to separate him off as “Coptic” or “Egyptian,” a category that reflects outmoded conceptions that divide intellectual Greek monks from their purer and more simple-minded (haplōs) Egyptian brethren immortalized in the imaginative world of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers. But Shenoute was deeply engaged in theology, in particular a polemical theology that pointedly defends Alexandrian orthodoxy, from the lineage of Athanasius (ca. 298–373) through Dioscorus (d. 454), against the various enemies inside and outside the Church: Origen and his followers, subordinationist followers of Arius, Nestorius and his allies, Manichaeans, Melitians, Jews, and “pagans” (hellēnes).

Shenoute's staunch defense of Alexandrian orthodoxy and his lengthy polemics against its various enemies inside and outside of the Church are of the sort more typically expected of late ancient bishops, of which Shenoute was not.

In the night when we had punished those foolish persons in the house of God, in the early morning of the ninth of the month of Tybi, while they were confined and bound because we had decided to make those unclean ones strangers to the abodes of Christ, I saw the following while I was asking the Most High, the Lord of All, whether it was right to leave them in these congregations or to pluck out their root from them.

Behold, a man who took the form of an official who had been sent by someone greater than himself entered through the doors of these abodes without knocking, while another one followed him as if he were subordinate to that man. He grabbed hold of me as I was going along in the streets of these abodes in distress over those pestilent persons. He began to raise his hand against me so as to do battle with me, acting as if he were someone who worried about those persons. I too fought against him, so that I might choke him with the thing that was around his neck and on his shoulders, and I was saying these words: “I'm not at all afraid, nor am I disturbed.” I asked him, “What are you? Why are you hiding and have not made yourself known? If you are a spirit or an angel that has come from God, I too am his servant, and even if you persist (in fighting), I will not persist. So will you tell me, if you have been sent, whether it's they who have sinned against God or it's we who have sinned against him? For we're considering whether to leave them among us. Otherwise, I won't let you go; rather, I'll fight against you even more.”

While I was saying these and other things, he wrestled with me, wanting to escape, and I wrestled with him and prevailed against him and over him.