Ascetic Movement Research Articles

Did Eustathius the Philosopher Become Eustathius of Sebastea? A Contribution to Federico Fatti’s Hypothesis

In 2009, Federico Fatti published a hypothesis that Eustathius the Philosopher, described by Eunapius, converted to Christianity and became bishop of Sebastea and master to Basil the Great. In my article I present Fatti’s hypothesis and solve three important problems that he left unclear: the place of birth of two Eustathiuses, the problem of Letter 35 by Julian and the mystery of the year 358, when Eustathius of Sebastea was already bishop and Eustathius the Philosopher is believed to have been sent by the emperor to Persia despite his Hellenic faith. When those issues that could challenge Fatti’s thesis have been clarified, his claim, I think, gains plausibility close to certainty. The identification of two Eustathiuses helps explain certain mysteries in the life of Eustathius the Philosopher and some peculiar features of the ascetic movement initiated by Eustathius of Sebastea. It is also a milestone in understanding the teaching of the Cappadocian Fathers as it provides us with a direct link between them and Neoplatonism and more specifically its Syrian branch initiated by Iamblichus.

Laughing and humor in ancient Egyptian monasticism

Abstract The goal of this article is to analyze laughter and humor in the Egyptian monastic and ascetic movement in the 4th and 5th centuries with a special focus on solitary and non-humorous laughter. The article argues that laughter and humor were part of a strict emotional regime. It shows that several of the monastic stories include a laughter which is not humorous and where no one else laughed apart from the main character. This laughter was a means to show spiritual excellence and superiority. The other side of the emotional regime was that monastics were scolded for laughing and joking. There is a division between illegitimate laughter caused by humor and frequently connected to eroticism and a legitimate laughter of spiritual insight and authority. The article argues that non-humorous laughter should get more attention in contemporary research.

Zühd Döneminde Teşekkül Eden Korku ve Sevgi Ekollerinin Kurucusu İki Sûfî ve Zühd Anlayışlarının Mukayesesi

Zühd Döneminde Teşekkül Eden Korku ve Sevgi Ekollerinin Kurucusu İki Sûfî ve Zühd Anlayışlarının Mukayesesi

Brain Disease or Emotional Distress? Modern Psychology, Ancient Asceticism, and the Hermenutics of DSM-5

This article examines descriptions of emotional distress and social alienation from two interdisciplinary perspectives: modern clinical psychology and late antique hagiography. The first case study examines the current method of classification in psychiatry: the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). Offering a broad perspective on how the DSM-5 came to be, we look at the strengths but also the pitfalls of this classification system. We argue that societal context is important when identifying a disorder, but it, ironically, only plays a small part when applying the DSM-5 in everyday psychiatric practice. Furthermore, it will be argued that historical contexts may usefully inform modern clinical practice (for instance, because they show how the interpretation of ‘abnormal’ behaviour is in flux). The second section will examine descriptions of emotions and distress in hagiographic sources from Late Antiquity. It analyses a hagiographic collection, the Historia Lausiaca as a taxonomy that both describes and regulates Christian pious life. In Late Antiquity, social developments, such as the growth of and enthusiasm for the ascetic movement, led to the introduction of new concepts for how to deal with and integrate expressions of emotional distress. Ultimately, by occupying the intersection of religion and medicine, this article aims to further psychologists’ understanding of how past societies used religious ideas to shape individual behaviour and its interpretation. Additionally, it will inform historians about modern classification methods in psychiatry and how these have influenced the interpretation of behavioural traits.Banner image: Mondino Dei Luzzi, Section of Brain in Dissected Skull, Anatomia Mundini, Ad Vetustis, 1541, {{PD–US}}.

Concept Zuhd (asceticism) in Islam

This article analyzes the evolution of the phenomenon of zuhd (asceticism) in the of Islam in the field of religious phenomenology, as well as the ascetic movements observed in the I-II centuries AH, the regional and common features of the first ascetic schools.

Tradition and Innovation: The Samādhi of Naraharināth Yogī in Mṛgasthalī (Nepal) in Historical Context

Abstract In 2003 Naraharināth Yogī passed away at the Gorakhnāth Maṭha in Mṛgasthalī, a forested hill across from the sacred Paśupatināth temple in Kathmandu. Naraharināth was a prominent figure among the Nāth (sometimes called Kānphaṭā) Yogīs, a predominantly Śaiva ascetic movement in India and Nepal. Three years after his demise a memorial was inaugurated for him above the place where he was interred. The commemorative space, which has been expanding over the years, incorporates traditional features but is innovative in its layout. In this article I will trace the development of this single burial monument (samādhi) and compare it to the structures of other Nāth burials.

THE CONCEPT OF MARIFAT IN SUFISM

The theoretical foundations of Sufism, as well as spiritual and psychological exercises, methods of self-improvement tempering were developed at the beginning of the IX century. By the same period, the concepts of tariqah, ma’rifah, and haqiqah were formed, based on which a special system of views of tasawwuf was created. One of the main features of tasawwuf is that it is not limited to theoretical knowledge and principles applied in practical life with the help of tarikahs. This trend, called tasawwuf in theory, is called tariqah in practice. Tasawwuf originally comes from an ascetic movement that emphasized practice. Sufs believe that theoretical knowledge alone is not enough to understand Suf issues. In their opinion, through dhikr, mujahadah, and riyadah, the soul gains purity, which makes it possible to comprehend these issues. The article lists the stages and degrees of spiritual development, the paths that must be passed to comprehend the Creator. In conclusion, we can say that at the stage of asceticism the concept of ma’rifah is not used in tasawwuf. The reason for this is that even though ascetics adhered to seclusion and abstinence, they were deprived of love and divine knowledge. They did not have such qualities as philosophical thinking, striving for spiritual and moral improvement, foresight. The goal of the ascetics was to fnd forgiveness on the day of judgment and attain the bliss of paradise promised in the Qur’an through worship. According to the Sufs, worship for reaching paradise is a form of greed. A Suf should not have self-interest either in this world or on the day of judgment. The only desire of a Suf should be to see the appearance of the Creator

Clarifying the Eclipse

Abstract This essay examines a literary exchange between the Visigothic poet-king Sisebut (612-621 AD) and his scholar-bishop Isidore of Seville following an anomalous sequence of eclipses. After Sisebut commissioned a scientific treatise from Isidore on such natural phenomena, he responded to the bishop’s prose with a short poem on lunar eclipses (De eclipsi lunae). This study interprets the exchange of texts not as a literary game, but as high-stakes political correspondence. It situates the king’s verses in an ongoing process of cultural construction in Visigothic Spain, led prominently by Isidore himself, but also tied to a rising ascetic movement. It argues that Sisebut was attuned to Isidore’s designs to manage the discourses through which Christian power was proclaimed, and shows how the king attempted to versify in accord with scientific truth so as to fit within Isidore’s ascetic intellectual program.

As Matronas da Igreja de Roma na Antiguidade Tardia

No presente trabalho iremos apresentar no movimento ascético nos Cristianismos e as relações de gênero existente nessas tendências religiosas na Antiguidade tardia. Demonstrar-se-á as características e as formas de ascese cristã, a renúncia sexual e, por fim, as mulheres na Igreja de Roma em finais do século IV E.C. Essas matronas lideraram um significativo movimento monástico na cidade de Roma, protagonizados pelas mulheres ricas da aristocracia, as viúvas Marcela e Paula, na região de Aventino. Além disso, essas mulheres foram tuteladas pelo monge Jerônimo de Estridão que pode compartilhar a experiência ascética radical do deserto da Síria, o ensino das Letras Sagradas cristãs e línguas orientais.

Mesalianie – rygorystyczny ruch ascetyczny czy herezja doktrynalna?

Messalians were one of the most famous and at the same time mysterious and varied rigorous ascetic movements in the early Church. The author of the article, basing on the early Christian catalogs of heresies, written by Epiphanius of Salamina, Theodoretus of Cyrus, John Damascene and Augustine, and the contemporary literature of the subject, seeks to answer the question whether Messalians should be regarded as a kind of harmless sect or rather as a heresy proclaiming serious doctrinal errors. The conclusion is that the theological argumentation of the practice of continuous prayer in the messalian movement undermined the principal principles of orthodox pneumatology, sacramentology, ecclesiology and soteriology. It is true that in the analyzed descriptions of heresies contained in early Christian sources one must take into account the plentiful use of the invective, which often overwhelms the true image of the described movement, but in the case of the Messalians the repetition of the same allegations orders to see them not only as the ascetic movement but above all as the dangerous doctrinal heresy.

Toward a history of devotional Vaishnavism in the West Himalayas: Kullu and the Ramanandis, c. 1500–1800

The unlikely emergence of the remote Himalayan valley of Kullu as a centre of devotional ( bhakti) Vaishnavism c. 1650 has customarily been explained as the residual outcome of regional integration into the Mughal Empire. However, recent research on the role of ascetic movements in the history of early modern India suggests the bairagi sadhus behind this shift in religious orientation played a far greater role in the mountain kingdom’s development than the mere ‘conversion’ of its raja that is reported in local tradition. This article traces the development of bairagi involvement in Kullu to revise the customary account of state formation in the region. It shows that Vaishnava ascetics directly contributed to Kullu’s development at various historical junctures and links these processes with parallel phases of the Ramanandi sampraday’s evolution in north India. In investigating a pan-Indian phenomenon in a limited area, this article highlights the importance of integrating regional histories within the broader framework of the history of the subcontinent.

Der Asketen- als Wissenskörper: Zum verkörperlichten Wissen des Simeon Stylites in ausgewählten texten der Spätantike

AbstractThe strict distinction and separation of mind and body is a particularly modern Western point of view that is routinely also applied to other cultures. Arguing against this dichotomy, the following contribution builds upon research on "implicit knowledge" (Michael Polanyi) and "knowing how" that allow us to view body and mind in their interaction. The focus is on Simeon Stylites the Elder, the most prominent representative of the Syrian ascetic movement, who, in a spectacular way and after incessant exercise, was able to act from a sphere of internalized body-knowledge. Selected texts on him dating from Late Antiquity will illustrate how the ascetic body was represented as a body of knowledge with which the idea of Christian perfection was to be fulfilled.

A Short Survey of Yemeni Sufism from Its Inception up to the Thirteenth Century

This paper analyzes the historical conditions of Yemen’s Sufi movement from the beginning of Islam up to the rise of the Rasulid dynasty in the thirteenth century. This is a very difficult task, given the lack of adequate sources and sufficient academic attention in both the East and theWest. Certainly, a few sentences about the subject can be found scattered in Sufi literature at large, but a respectable study of the period’s mysticism can hardly be found.1 Thus, I will focus on the major authorities who first contributed to the ascetic movement’s development, discuss why a major decline of intellectual activities occurred in many metropolises, and if the existing ascetic conditions were transformed into mystical tendencies during the ninth century due to the alleged impact ofDhu’n-Nun al-Misri (d. 860). This is followed by a brief discussion ofwhat contributed to the revival of the country’s intellectual and economic activities. After that, I will attempt to portray the status of the major ascetics and prominent mystics credited with spreading and diffusing the so-called Islamic saintly miracles (karamat). The trademark of both ascetics and mystics across the centuries, this feature became more prevalent fromthe beginning of the twelfth century onward. I will conclude with a brief note on the most three celebrated figures of Yemen’s religious and cultural history: Abu al-Ghayth ibn Jamil (d. 1253) and his rival Ahmad ibn `Alwan (d. 1266) from the mountainous area, andMuhammad ibn `Ali al-`Alawi, known as al-Faqih al-Muqaddam (d. 1256), from Hadramawt.

A Short Survey of Yemeni Sufism from Its Inception up to the Thirteenth Century

This paper analyzes the historical conditions of Yemen’s Sufi movement from the beginning of Islam up to the rise of the Rasulid dynasty in the thirteenth century. This is a very difficult task, given the lack of adequate sources and sufficient academic attention in both the East and theWest. Certainly, a few sentences about the subject can be found scattered in Sufi literature at large, but a respectable study of the period’s mysticism can hardly be found.1 Thus, I will focus on the major authorities who first contributed to the ascetic movement’s development, discuss why a major decline of intellectual activities occurred in many metropolises, and if the existing ascetic conditions were transformed into mystical tendencies during the ninth century due to the alleged impact ofDhu’n-Nun al-Misri (d. 860). This is followed by a brief discussion ofwhat contributed to the revival of the country’s intellectual and economic activities. After that, I will attempt to portray the status of the major ascetics and prominent mystics credited with spreading and diffusing the so-called Islamic saintly miracles (karamat). The trademark of both ascetics and mystics across the centuries, this feature became more prevalent fromthe beginning of the twelfth century onward. I will conclude with a brief note on the most three celebrated figures of Yemen’s religious and cultural history: Abu al-Ghayth ibn Jamil (d. 1253) and his rival Ahmad ibn `Alwan (d. 1266) from the mountainous area, andMuhammad ibn `Ali al-`Alawi, known as al-Faqih al-Muqaddam (d. 1256), from Hadramawt.

Ambivalence about the Angelic Life: The Promise and Perils of an Early Christian Discourse of Asceticism

The equation of the ascetic life with “the angelic life” permeates ancient writing about the renunciatory efforts of Christians; indeed, contemporary scholars often use this same discourse as shorthand for the ascetic movement in Christianity. While the analogy between renunciation and angels began as an inventive exegetical extension of a gospel story, it found traction among the fourth-century bishops who were pressed to make sense of new ascetic movements in their territories. Those in late ancient renunciatory communities knew that lay Christians referred to them as “living the angelic life,” and community members put this trope to use among themselves: by envisioning angels as a constant audience for their practices, ascetics created and sustained the boundaries between their communities and the world. Imagining ascetic communities to be places where angels could appear at any moment also created constructive solutions for the sometimes difficult navigation between the strict ideal of perfection in virtue and the flexibility demanded by life in community. At the same time, angelic appearances generated their own difficulties on occasion—both conflicts of authority and crises of identity. Far from an entirely positive identification, being thought of as living “the angelic life” was a prospect received in ascetic literature with ambivalence, and at times disdain.

Evidence of Recluses in Eleventh-Century England

AbstractThe village recluse, avowed to remain in his or her cell, was a feature of the later medieval landscape, but in what circumstances did recluses and the notion of a distinct reclusive vocation emerge? Examining the earliest recluses identifiable, this article contends that reclusion as such, though not without precedent, gained popularity in England in the third quarter of the eleventh century and acquired a terminology (already current on the Continent) in its last third as an expression of the ascetic movement within the emerging parish.

Three Movements of Life: Jan Patočka's Philosophy of Personal Being

This article offers a critical presentation of Jan Patočka's philosophy by focusing mainly on his lecture series published as Body, Community, Language, World, where he outlined his phenomenological project of re-instating the body in philosophy. Taking the body and its invariable situatedness as a starting point and identifying useful precursors in European philosophy, Patočka delineates three movements of human life: an affective movement consisting of creating roots, identified as primarily aesthetic and interested in the past; an ascetic movement consisting of work and self-expansion, identified with the world of production and related to the present; and, a transcendent, philosophical movement peculiar to the realization of human existence and linked to the future. I examine certain ellipses and complications in Patočka's description of these movements, and suggest elaborations that are consistent with his overall project. Finally, turning to Patočka's Plato and Europe, I argue that the third movement is accomplished via both philosophical reflection and artistic practice.

Yoga between Indo‐Aryan Nationalism and Multisited FieldworkYoga in Modern India: The Body between Science and Philosophy. By Joseph S. Alter. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004.Positioning Yoga: Balancing Acts across Cultures. By Sarah Strauss. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005.

Yoga between Indo‐Aryan Nationalism and Multisited Fieldwork<i>Yoga in Modern India: The Body between Science and Philosophy</i>. By Joseph S. Alter. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2004.<i>Positioning Yoga: Balancing Acts across Cultures</i>. By Sarah Strauss. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2005.

In Quest of Basil's Retreat: An Expedition to Ancient Pontus

Basil of Caesarea (AD 329–378), his brother, Gregory of Nyssa (335–394), and their friend, Gregory Nazianzen (328–389), are a group of three great Christian thinkers of the late 4th century AD known as the ‘Cappadocian Fathers’. All were steeped in the culture of traditional Hellenism, and at the same time were great theologians and leaders who steered the Christian church of the eastern Roman empire in the turbulent years of the late 4th century. Theologically they are best known for bringing to a close the Arian controversy that had wracked the Christian church for most of the 4th century. Basil, called ‘the Great’ in the Christian tradition for his leading role in steering the Arian controversy to a conclusion, is also known for his reforms of the unruly ascetic movement in Asia Minor, documented in such works as hisAsketikon. As a result of his labours he effectively established Greek cenobitic (common-life) monasticism. But his influence as a preceptor of Christian monasticism was destined to spread far, both east in Syria and in the Latin West. A Latin translation was an important source of theRule of St Benedict, which set the tone of western monasticism for many centuries to come.

Plagues, Priests, and Demons: Sacred Narratives and the Rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New by Daniel T. Reff (review)

REVIEWS 292 ops straddled the line between their social class and position, represented by pragmatic authority, and their pastoral activities, represented by ascetic authority . Yet at times, the narrative becomes disjointed, especially when moving from subject to subject in the laundry list of episcopal responsibilities, and some questions which are raised, namely about the intersection of these two versions of authority, never seem to be fully explained. This may be a symptom of the expansiveness of the topic and the sheer volume which makes simple definitions impossible. This is a very small critique of a work which was both expertly perceived and well executed. In many ways, Holy Bishops is most important as it successfully overturns a number of generally accepted fallacies, namely, that the ascetic movement and episcopal administration were at odds with one another, when it is clear from the evidence that not only did holy men take up episcopal positions, but bishops were themselves expected to be, and could derive authority from, the holiness of their own lives, while they themselves were responsible for a growing number of tasks, both spiritual and administrative. While the exact position of bishops with respect to ascetic practice or pragmatic power can not be universally determined, we are left with an understanding that in late antiquity bishops were not compartmentalized in their political, ecclesiastical, or spiritual spheres, but relied on all three to navigate in a world wrought with change and transformation. Holy Bishops not only provides a detailed study of bishops and their role in their society, but also redefines how one should understand leadership and power in this world, and how it may have been perceived by those who inhabited it. EDWARD MCCORMICK SCHOOLMAN, History, UCLA Daniel T. Reff, Plagues, Priests, and Demons: Sacred Narratives and the Rise of Christianity in the Old World and the New (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2005) xiii + 290 pp., 17 figs. This book offers a fresh interpretation of the rise of Christianity in both late antique Europe and colonial Mexico. While drawing on much of the same information presented in his Disease, Depopulation, and Culture Change in Northwestern New Spain, 1518–1764, which charts the demographic and cultural consequences of Spanish-introduced infectious diseases in northwest Mexico beginning in the sixteenth century, this “comparative, interdisciplinary study” examines the rise of Christianity in both the late Roman Empire and colonial Mexico. By drawing these parallels, Reff argues that epidemics, which devastated both areas, contributed to pagan and native interest in Christianity, since early Christian and Jesuit missionaries provided charity, prayer, a new worldview, and healing rituals that appealed to people in these times of chaos. Written in a clear, engaging prose style, Reff draws on sources and ideas from anthropology, literary theory, history, religious studies, and medicine. His evidence includes a large body of primary sources (early Christian and seventeenth -century Jesuit texts), ranging from hagiography to first-hand observations by the missionaries. The book is organized into four chapters and a conclusion. Reff divides each chapter into multiple sub-headings and sub-sections, which convey to readers the main point(s) presented in each chapter; at times, however, this structure REVIEWS 293 interrupts the flow of the chapter. The conclusions at the end of each chapter provide a brief and helpful recapitulation of the main themes and ideas discussed . In addition, extensive footnotes supplement his text, and display the vast amount of information Reff has synthesized. His introduction presents a detailed overview of his methodology, goals, and arguments to be implemented and discussed in later chapters. And he addresses the theories he draws on, those of Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, Clifford Geertz, and James Clifford. Using anthropologist Edward M. Bruner’s “constructivist” approach, Reff “sees all culture as continually invented and reinvented.”11 Another motif that is constantly evoked is Barthes’s notion of punctum,12 “unplanned narrative details that reflect an irreducible reality obscured by an author ’s understanding of what is important” (239), which Reff searches for in early Christian and Jesuit texts. In other words, disease and epidemics are puncta, as early Christian and Jesuit authors were not directly concerned with outlining the effects of these biological disasters...