Varieties of Monastic Experience in Byzantium, 800-1453

Alice-Mary Talbot surveys the various forms of monastic life in the Byzantine Empire between the ninth and fifteenth centuries, emphasizing the tension between cenobitic and eremitic modes of life and the individual character of each community. The most original sections analyze the challenges facing hermits in the wilderness and enclosed monks and urban monks and nuns.

Format: Hardback
Length: 310 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2019
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press

Based on the Conway Lectures she delivered at the University of Notre Dame in 2014, Alice-Mary Talbot offers a comprehensive exploration of Byzantine monasticism in this groundbreaking introduction. Spanning the ninth to fifteenth centuries, the book delves into the diverse forms of monastic life within the Byzantine Empire. It includes chapters on male monastic communities, primarily cenobitic but with some idiorrhythmic elements in late Byzantium, as well as on nuns and nunneries, hermits and holy mountains, and alternative forms of monasticism such as recluses, stylites, wandering monks, holy fools, nuns disguised as monks, and unaffiliated monks and nuns.

Rather than attempting to provide a comprehensive history of Byzantine monasticism, this monograph emphasizes the rich diversity of ways in which Byzantine men and women could dedicate their lives to serving God. It highlights the tension between the two primary modes of monastic life, cenobitic and eremitic, and emphasizes the individual character of each Byzantine monastic community in contrast to the monastic orders of the Western medieval world. However, it also reveals that there were more connections between certain groups of monasteries than previously recognized.

The most innovative aspects of the book include an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by hermits in the wilderness and a special focus on enclosed monks (recluses) and urban monks and nuns who lived independently outside of monastic complexes. Talbot also highlights some of the distinctions between the monastic lives of men and women and makes comparisons between Byzantine monasticism and its Western medieval counterpart.

This comprehensive and thought-provoking work will be of interest to scholars and students of Byzantine history, religious studies, and gender studies. It provides a valuable contribution to our understanding of Byzantine society and culture and sheds light on the complex and multifaceted nature of monastic life in the Byzantine Empire.

Weight: 604g
Dimension: 159 x 235 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780268105617