Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders' 'Typika' and Testaments by J. s> Thomas A. C. Hero (review)

Abstract

I24 SEER, 8i, I, 2003 such tension in contemporary Ukraine. This is an excellent guide to a fascinatingsubject,and highly recommended to all. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ANDREW WILSON University College London Thomas, J. and Hero, A. C. (eds). Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. A Complete Translation oftheSurviving Founders' 'Typika' andTestaments (5 vols). Dumbarton Oaks Studies, 35. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C., 2000. xlix + 202 I pp. Abbreviations. Glossary. Appendices. Bibliography . Indexes. $I50.00; $I00.00. THIS is a monumental publication on the history of the Byzantine monastic foundations. It brings together, in a most comprehensive way, the results of scholarship spanning a period from the seventeenth century to the present, making it accessible to both Byzantinists and Western medievalists. Volume one begins with a lucid and detailed Preface by Giles Constable, who conceived the project ultimately to be realized by John Philip Thomas in co-operation with Angela Constantinides Hero. The Preface (pp. xi-xxxvii) explores the typikaand their precursors, the testaments, the monastic world they reflect and the differences between Byzantine and Western monasticism. The Preface is followed by Thomas' Introduction (pp. I-20), which sets out the purpose of the present Corpus of 6I Byzantine documents. It delineates the history of the research into the subject from the time of Leo Allatius to the present, noting the various editions and commentaries. A preliminary section entitled 'Early Monastic Rules' (pp. 2I-41) gives a succinct overview of the Basilian, Pachomian and Syriac monastic rules, and considers to what extent these influenced the development of Byzantine monasticism. The Corpus (volumes I-4) is divided into nine chapters, each containing clusters of different categories of monastic foundation documents, listed in chronological order and translated by eminent scholars. Each chapter is preceded by an introduction written by Thomas, giving details on the author and historical context, together with an extensive analysis of the documents. It explores the political and economic changes that had an impact on the status of a monastery, which in turn influenced aspects of monastic discipline. Each document is introduced by a brief 'Institutional History' followed by notes to the text, both again written by Thomas. Volume five contains an extensive glossary, three appendices, a full bibliography and indexes. It is impossible, in a short review, to do justice to the extensive and complex material with its imaginative and thorough treatment contained in these five volumes. We shall therefore focus on some of the documents in this rich collection. The study begins with documents pertaining to private religious foundations dating from the seventh to the eleventh century. They illustrate the development of the foundation document from a simple testament to a set of guiding rules for a monastic lifestyle in all its aspects: religious, moral and administrative . The first stage is illustrated by (i) the Testament of Apa Abraham, who was concerned with bequeathing his monastery, a private property, to his successor REVIEWS I 25 to the exclusion of his own relatives.There is no mention of any rules in this document, whose only purpose was to secure the integrityof the property, a constantly recurring theme in Byzantine monasticism. It is the second document, that of (2) the Pantelleria, our earliest surviving typikon, which in contrast to Apa Abraham's Testament, is solely interested in discipline. Both these concerns were shared by (3) Theodore of Stoudios, though the essence of hisideal, set out in his (4)Ruleforthe Monasteryof Stoudios,was the revival of the cenobitic life, as against the solitary. Occasional attempts to reconcile the two modes of monastic life were subsequentlyproposed by (6)John Rila in his Testament, and by Paul the Younger, the founder of (7) the Monasteyon MountLatros.The presence of monks able to pursue the solitary lifestyle, however, remained an aspect of Byzantine monasticism as it is evidenced in (I 3) Athanasios's Typikon, and the Ruleof (24) Christodoulosof Patmos in the tenth and eleventh centuries,up to the fifteenthcentury. The Rule of the Monastery of St John Stoudios (4) initiated a reform movement which, with a few exceptions, was to dominate Byzantine monasticism at least until the eleventh century. The Rulespecified liturgical, dietaryand refectoryprocedures,but it was also concerned with disciplinein general, the conduct...