Monastic rules

Carigrad kao centar romejskog kulturnog kruga bio je mesto odakle su se širili kulturni uticaji na Balkan i Mediteran. Takav je slučaj bio i sa manastirskim tipicima i organizacijom manastirskog života i svakodnevice monaha. Evergetidski tipik bio je model za tipike pisane za carigradske manastire i za manastire u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji koja je kao balkanska zemlja bila deo mediterantskog kulturnog kruga. Najveći broj tipika carigradskih ženskih manastira sačuvan je iz kasnovizantijskog perioda. Tipik manastira Bogorodice Sigurne Nade čiji su autori Teodora Sinadena i njena ćerka Eufrosina nastao je u prvoj polovini 14. veka. Teodora je osnovala sestrinstvo od 30 monahinja, čija je svakodnevica bila oblikovana pravilima tipika. One su bile podeljene u dve grupe, horske sestre na čelu sa glavnom monahinjom vršile su svakodnevne službe, dok je druga grupa odabrana za fizičke poslove u manastiru. Glavna monahinja bila je zadužena za obrazovanje iskušenica koje su pripremane za monaški postrig, ali i za obrazovanje mlađih horskih sestara. Deo svakodnevice svih monahinja bila je privatna i zajednička molitva. One su se tokom privatnih molitvi u svojim kelijama molile kako za svoje spasenje tako i za spasenje duše ktitorke. Svakodnevica monahinja ovog carigradskog manastira i njegov tipik odabrani su kao primer na osnovu kojeg se može zaključiti kako su funkcionisali manastiri u Srbiji koja je bila deo mediteranskog kulturnog kruga. Metodi studija mreža konektivnosti korišćeni su u ovom radu.

The manuscript of the Codex regulamm by Benedetto d'Aniane found in 1902, after the Pact attributed to Fruttuoso, reports an Excarpsum Regulae ex omnibus Institutionibus Cassiani collectae, breviter explanatae de institutis ac regulis monasteriorum.  This collection is presented as an anthology of passages taken from the first four books of the Institutions of Cassia-nò and which, with some minor changes compared to the original, directs in an exhortative sense what Cassian referred to the monks of Egypt and the East. This writing was almost unknown until recently, since in the seventeenth century L. Holste had not reported it in his edition of the Codex, an edition later reproduced in the xix century by JP Migne in Patrologia Latina, although it appears almost entirely in edition of the same Migne of Concardia regularum (PL 103).  After a first edition in 1906 he gave H. Plenkers, integrating the passages of Concardia with those found in the aforementioned Codex manuscript and also using a further, though fragmentary, witness, in 1984 H. Ledoyen offered the critical edition.  Only in 1985, however, there was a first attempt at dating and localisation of it, by A. de Vogùé, who, proposing to situate it in the monastic environment of Fruttuoso di Braga, towards the years 640-50, also that it would not be extended in order to govern a community, but only for the purpose of edification, in order to make easier the knowledge of the spiritual teaching that Cassian had delivered in the Instituzioni.

Early Mediaeval monastic rules did not only provide outlines for organizing communities, behavioural norms and disciplinary measures but also aimed at controlling, repressing, and fostering emotions. They developed distinct strategies of emotional discipline based on different notions of the nature of emotions and their impact on the pursuit of salvation. I compare the emotional disciplines of three monastic rules: the Rule of Benedict, which became the guiding norm of Mediaeval monastic life; Caesarius of Arles’ Rule for Nuns, the oldest monastic rule written for a female community; and the Regula cuiusdam ad virgines, which responded to Benedict’s and Caesarius’ rules. Benedict’s emotional discipline centered on instilling fear and love and focused on repressing emotions that were harmful to the community and on fostering the motivation to submit to monastic discipline. Caesarius is primarily focused on a permanent spatial separation from the outside world and expected that enclosure and submission to the Rule made negative emotions irrelevant. The author of the Regula cuiusdam ad virgines considered emotions, rather than acts, the ultimate benchmark for attaining salvation and developed a disciplinary program that combined elements of Caesarius’ and Benedict’s rules with an elaborate system of incitement, surveillance and constant disclosure.

Trad. rom. de Ierom. Agapie Corbu, Ed. Sf. Nectarie, Arad, 2015. 

  Catehezele Părintelui Emilianos din prezentul volum ating cele mai variate aspecte ale vieții practice, de zi cu zi, a monahului – în mănăstire, dar și în afara ei –, înfățișează natura relațiilor dintre monahii din obște, dintre ei și Stareț, precum și atitudinea corectă duhovnicește față de diferitele slujiri din mănăstire. Nu sunt uitate nici lămurirea problemelor puse de legăturile monahilor cu părinții lor trupești, cu vizitatorii și, în general, cu mirenii, și nici precizările privitoare la purtarea monahilor în călătorie, la spital, la cumpărături sau în vizită la persoane din afara mănăstirii, cu o minuțioasă și edificatoare discuție asupra eventualelor „conflicte de conștiință“ care pot apărea cu aceste prilejuri.
    Deși canoanele din acest volum au o vechime de mai bine de 1500 de ani, ele își dovedesc actualitatea prin tâlcuirea Părintelui Emilianos, care explică în mod amănunțit organizarea vieții de obște a unei mănăstiri din zilele noastre, respectând principiile Părinților de odinioară, pentru a trăi în același duh cu ei. Prin aceasta, tâlcuirile care urmează răspund
numeroaselor întrebări de natură practică resimţite în monahismul contemporan, mai ales acolo unde rănile primite în timpul epocii de ateism militant încă sângerează.

Lectures CM407 - Christian Monasticism
Lecturer: Rev. Prof. Ugo-Maria Er. Dio
Blackfriars

The history of monasticism is one of the strangest problems in the history of the world.  For monasticism ranks among the most powerful influences which have shaped the destinies of Christendom and of civilisation; and the attempt to analyse it is more than usually difficult, because the good and the evil in it, are blended together almost inextricably.  To those who contemplate it from a distance, wrapped in a romantic haze of glory, it may appear a sublime and heroic effort after superhuman excellence.  To others, approaching it more closely and examining it more dispassionately, it seems essentially faulty in principle, though accidentally productive of good results at certain times and under certain conditions.  They regard the blemishes, which from the first marred the beauty of its heavenward aspirations, as well as the more glaring vices of its later phases, as inseparable from its very being.  To them it is not so much a thing excellent in itself, though sometimes perverted, as a radical mistake from the first, though provoked into existence by circumstances; not an aiming too high, but an aiming in the wrong direction.  By declaring “war against nature,” to use the phrase of one of its panegyrists, it is, in their eyes, virtually “fighting against God.”  In their judgment it degrades man into a machine.  In their estimation the monk shunning the conflict with the world is not simply deserting his post, but courting temptations of another kind quite as perilous to his well-being.  In brief, far from being an integral and essential part of Christianity, it is in their estimation a morbid excrescence. What proportion of truth is in each of these conflicting theories, a careful study of the facts, so far as they can be ascertained from history, may help to determine.

Obeying the commands and advice of our beloved and most revered father Hugh, bishop of Grenoble, whose will we have no right to resist, we proceeded to write, and to deliver to memory — something that your love has required more than once to be done — the customs of our House. We have neglected this work for a long time, for motives that seem reasonable to us...

http://www.earlymedievalmonasticism.org/bibliographymonasticism.htm

This bibliography of academic literature on late antique and early medieval monasticism will be updated about twice a year. Please contact me (adiem@maxwell.syr.edu) if you would like to add titles (including your own work) or make corrections.

Bernard distinguished the abbots as vicars of Christ and the apostles. So he addressed them with titles such as: His Holiness, His Greatness, Reverend, Powerful, etc. However such titles were a bête noire to him which he feared and rejected, feeling uncomfortable when addressed to him in such a manner. Since being called “father” (abbot) or “lord” (abbot) is not in any way an honorific, but a burden that entails precarious responsibilities. In his own words: “there is only one father, the Heavenly Father, for that reason and taking into account our common origin and human condition, we are all brothers and companions in servitude”

Starting from the analysis of Bernard’s of Clairvaux work De praecepto et dispensatione, the article focuses on the ancient and medieval regulae vivendi in order to demonstrate that they represent a specific form of normativity, absolutely different from the classical roman jus and the medieval canon law. I analyze the peculiar way in which Bernard tried to describe the particular normative logic of the Rule of Benedict from the point of view of a western legal history of longue durée. In comparison with the civil law and the ecclesiastical legislation, a “rule of life” (regula vitae) is a special form of law which extends to the complete life of the individual, not a single moment. The juridical institution of the vow has an important place in this special normative logic.

Simonetta Cerrini, « L'économie idéale des Pauvres chevaliers du Christ et du Temple de Salomon d'après leur règle et leurs statuts », dans Arnaud Baudin, Ghislain Brunel et Nicolas Dohrmann (dir.), L’économie templière en Occident. Patrimoines, commerce, finances. Actes du colloque international (Troyes-Abbaye de Clairvaux, 24-26 octobre 2012), Langres, 2013, pp. 31-56.

La raccolta di sermoni del vescovo gallico del VI secolo Cesario di Arles (469/70-542) è un valido strumento per mostrare come la relazione fra parola e diritto sia uno degli argomenti più importanti da prendere in esame se veramente si vuole conoscere come qualsiasi società cristiana (o semplicemente religiosa) possa essere costruita. In queste pagine, è descritto come la forma di vita monastica non sia “naturalmente/ontologicamente” legata al (e determinata dal) diritto della società cristiana perché la regola – che talvolta chiamiamo la legge monastica – è piuttosto una consuetudine, uno stile di vita secondo il vangelo. Cesario, come qualsiasi altro vescovo, deve trovare il posto alla forma di vita monastica nella società cristiana che si appresta a definire, perché solo così i suoi principi di visione e divisione del mondo possono funzionare, ossia la sua teodicea può diventare una sociodicea.
The collection of sermons by the sixth-century Gallic bishop Caesarius of Arles (469/70-542) is a valid instrument for showing the relationship between word and law as one of the most important tools for truly understanding how any Christian (or simply, religious) society may be built. These pages will describe how the monastic form of life is not “naturally/ontologically” linked to (or determined by) the law of Christian society because the rules – which we sometimes call monastic law – are closer to a custom, a way of life according to the gospel. Caesarius, as any other bishop, must find a place for the monastic form of life in the Christian society he wishes to define, because only in that way can his principles of vision and division of the world function; that is his theodicy can become a sociodicy.

In the light of a new reading of archaeological data of this site we propose a new hypothesis. It is possible we are facing a monastery specialized in the production of parchment. We examine El Bolavar linking the site with its nearest geographical area, but also inserting it into the documented context of the parchment production in the former territories of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and High Middle Ages.

Rivista di Archeologia Cristiana, 90 ( 2014)

Los monasterios constituyen uno de los espacios paradigmáticos de la tardoantigüedad y el altomedioevo. Tanto hombres como mujeres se volcaron a lo largo de este periodo a la vida cenobítica que moldeaba en ellos los hábitos de la oración y la lectura, el ayuno y la continencia. En este contexto encontramos que el cristianismo posibilitó nuevas maneras de pensar y gestar la autoridad. Las prácticas recurrentes del ayuno, la penitencia y la continencia características de la vida del monje dan a luz una autoridad y un carisma que generan un status reconocido por la sociedad.
En este trabajo quisiéramos reflexionar en torno a los modos de construcción de la autoridad en el ámbito monástico visigodo utilizando un conjunto de obras de San Leandro, San Isidoro y San Fructuoso así como la Regula communis.

Abstract (ITA):
Il simbolismo medievale si lega indissolubilmente alla fenomenologia della salvezza. Il carisma monastico benedettino, in special modo, caratterizza il proprio messaggio pedagogico ed escatologico proprio attraverso l’uso di simboli: si pensi, ad esempio, allo sviluppo del ricchissimo filone dell’agiografia medievale, con il frequente impiego del topos letterario dei miracula e della narrazione delle virtutes eroiche di uomini giusti e saggi, di santi, di monaci, di milites Christi. L’agiografia medievale certamente non inventa, non fonda l’uso del simbolo in ambito monastico, ma ne reinterpreta e ne accentua le caratteristiche; la metodologia applicata è piuttosto semplice, ma al tempo stesso molto efficace: l’uomo di Dio viene “spiegato” con frequenti riferimenti biblici. La Sacra Scrittura, infatti, è sempre la chiave di lettura dell’esistenza cristiana e il valore di questo principio interpretativo si accresce nella misura in cui l’uomo di Dio presenta un modello concreto di applicazione dell’insegnamento biblico. È il tema della imitatio, della tipologia ripetuta che consente di individuare in un determinato episodio vari livelli interpretativi, esegetici e significativi. L’edificazione attraverso l’exemplum, questa è la chiave: la narrazione agiografica riferisce episodi, discorsi, motti e sentenze proprio con l’intento prevalente di offrire un esempio chiaro di virtus; inoltre non interessa la concatenazione degli episodi narrati, bensì l’evidenziazione del raggiungimento del “bene” in specifici momenti operativi. Questo è l’affascinante contesto all’interno del quale si propone di accostarsi alle opere di san Benedetto di Aniane, il Codex Regularum e la Concordia Regularum, quali fonti privilegiate per ricerca re quanto accennato in premessa nella Regula sancti Benedicti, nella Regula sancti Columbani e in particolare in un sermone al maschile in essa contenuto, De accedendo ad Deum prompto corde orandum, che tratta dell’applicazione alla preghiera, del servizio della lode divina e dell’orientamento escatologico.

Abstract: La storiografia degli ultimi quarant’anni ritiene che siano due i punti di incrocio più evidenti fra la storia del monachesimo e la storia dell’infanzia nell’alto medioevo europeo: l’oblazione e la scuola. I bambini e le bambine entrano in monastero perché donati dai genitori e acquistano rilevanza nella documentazione quando si parla della loro educazione.
Struttura: Introduzione; 1. Il disprezzo dei bambini e l'onnipresenza del padre; 2. Formazione e oblazione; 3. La rivolta degli oblati; 4. Conclusioni.

The Christian ascetic way of life clustered mainly around the Mediterranean and roughly covered the period between 350 and 800. It is determined by norm and exercise. But what are norm and exercise with regard to Christian asceticism? Whatever renunciations may be required in order to practice a given ascetic regimen, no goal can be achieved without a specific technique (or a set of exercises) and without following a principle of order (or a norm). This implies an intense dialectic which sometimes seems to resolve into a perfect identity: regula et vita, "rule and life", or, in a more neutral language, "norm and exercise". This set of papers addresses this crucial point and thereby challenges the usual chronological as well as geographical divisions in the history of early Christianity. As a result, the categories of norm and exercise are presented as a new solution to put the available sources in order.

This article provides an extensive analysis of the Regula Donati, a rule for nuns written around 650. It compares the Rule with the Regula Benedicti in order to gain insights into monastic life and practice in 7th-century Francia and and into the spirituality and monastic theology within the 'Hiberno-Frankish' monastic movement. It discusses monastic concepts of space, the body, confession, discipline and hierarchy.

Argues that the monastic rule for nuns known as the Regula cuiusdam ad virgines previously ascribed to the third abbot of Luxeuil, Waldebert, but now ascribed as the work of Jonas of Bobbio, was written for the double monastery of Marchiennes-Hamage in northern France where Jonas was abbot from c.640 on. Published in the collected volume, Colomban et son influence: Moines et monastères du haut Moyen Âge en Europe (Rennes: Presses Universities de Rennes, 2018), pp. 287-93.

in: Isabelle Heullant-Donat, Julie Claustre, Élisabeth Lusset, and Falk Bretschneider (eds.), Enfermements II: Règles et dérèglements en milieu clos (VIe-XIXe siècle), Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne 2015, pp. 215-238.

This article analyzes how different early medieval monastic rules (the Rules of Caesarius, Aurelian, Benedict, Columbanus and the Regula cuiusdam ad virgines) deal with the challenge of organizing collective sanctity and producing effective intercessory prayer despite the Augustinan postulate that every human is inevitably sinful and fully dependent on divine grace. Every rule develops different concepts of monastic discipline as tool for approaching perfection. Some rules (especially those of Caesarius and Aurelian) put a strong emphasis on enclosure and separation of the monastic space from the sinful and polluting outside world; other rules (those of Benedict and Columban) use obedience, humility and the permanent confession of sins as main instruments for attaining salvation. The seventh-century Regula cuiusdam ad virgines provides the most elaborate disciplinary system, which combines the concept of enclosure with that of submission and permanent confession.

Cet article étudie comment les différentes règles du haut Moyen Âge (les règles de Césaire, d’Aurélien, de Benoît, de Colomban et la Regula cuiusdam ad virgines) relevant le défi d’ «organiser» la sainteté collective et de produire des prières d’intercession efficaces, en dépit du postulat d’Augustin, selon lequel tout être humain est inévitablement voué au péché et totalement dépendant de la grâce divine. Chaque règle conçoit de façon différente la discipline monastique comme un outil pour atteindre le salut. Certaines règles (en particulier celles de Césaire et d’Aurélien) insistent sur la clôture et la nécessaire séparation de l’espace monastique par rapport au monde environnant où sévit le péché ; d’autres règles (celles de Benoît et de Colomban) font de l’obéissance, de l'humilité et de la confession régulière des péchés les instruments principaux du salut. La Regula cuiusdam ad virgines du VIIe siècle établit le système disciplinaire le plus élaboré, combinant la clôture, la soumission et la confession régulière.

This article as been translated from English by Jérôme Nicolas, Isabelle Heullant-Donat and Élisabeth Lusset.

We intend to draw attention to the silenced relationship ─both in written sources as in archaeological ones─ between monasteries and parchment-making during Late Antiquity, particularly in Visigothic Hispania, where in fact there are few archaeological data about primitive monastic communities. Once contextualized, the few and indirect evidences on the production of parchment may provide valuable arguments for the identification of these Christian monastic buildings in certain archaeological sites that have been classified according to other typologies (villages, castra, etc.). All this within a particular historical context of major changes, where the parchment codex has already replaced the papyrus roll.

in: Philippe Depreux, François Bougard, and Régine Le Jan (eds.), Compétition et sacré au haut Moyen Âge : entre médiation et exclusion, Turnhout: Brepols 2015, pp. 165-191.

PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THIS ARTICLE: adiem@ias.edu

Summary:

This chapter discusses strategies of constructing or suppressing monastic identities, particularly by shaping or denying a collective past. The first part discusses how the vastly diverse forms of monastic life in late antiquity and the early middle ages used their claims of standing in the tradition of the sancti patres as tool to compete with each other. Almost every monastic source makes in one way or another the assertion to complete a long and venerable tradition. Those dealing with monastic life from outside develop opposite strategies. Bishops and secular powers initially show little interest in unifying or regularizing monastic life and in giving it a past that might support monastic claims to being a party of its own within the networks of secular and ecclesiastical power.
The second part of this chapter focusses on Gregory of Tours, the very one who, as I argue, was the last bishop to deploy the techniques of divide et impera on monastic life. His Historiae places monasteries in the margin and consistently downplays their political importance and denies all connections between monasteries and secular rulers. In his hagiographic works, particularly in his Liber Vitae Patrum, Gregory develops a different strategy. Holy bishops share an aristocratic background and a limited repertoire of attributes of sainthood, but all other holy men whose stories are told in this work represent different layers of society, practice different forms of asceticism and found different kinds of monastic communities. Moreover, the prologues of each chapter of the Liber Vitae Patrum provides different rationales for sainthood. All of them are ‘self-made saints’ without a history, a tradition, or ties to each other. The only thing they share, is their submission to their local bishops. Thus, Gregory systematically excludes monastic movements from the ecclesiastical and political establishment.
Gregory’s attempt to diversify monastic life in Gaul and to deny monasteries to achieve collectively any political power failed with the rise of a monastic network inspired by Columbanus in the first half of the seventh century.

The Teutonic Knights represent a very special case of members of a religious order, living in a “semi-closed” space. The paper proposes some considerations on the relationship between the normative acts and the daily reality of the Knights, willing to understand, to what extent a rule or statutes may preserve the integrity a religious community heavily influenced by the secular world. The first part presents the statutes of the Teutonic Order, consisting in rule, “laws”, customs and some additional standards. Subsequently, the question is to perceive how the Teutonic law was adapted to the necessities of everyday life of the Knights, examining first of all the chapter Des freres qui vont en chemin of their rule. The central part of the communication studies the transgressions and punishments provided by the Teutonic statutes, inspired by the constitutions of the Dominican Order. Finally, the last section looks at the application of these standards, starting from the example of the possessions of the Teutonic Order in the Italian peninsula. The statutes of the Teutonic Knights are a very sophisticated example of medieval statutory legislation, that seeks to adapt itself to the multiplicity of actions of the Knights and unites the concept of obedience and discipline with the principles of collegiality and solidarity. However, as indicated by the comparative sources, this was not enough to face the changes and difficulties of the Order and its internal divisions.

Poceski, Mario. “The Creation of Monastic Codes and the Gradual Transformation of Medieval Chinese Buddhist Monasticism.” Susan Andrews, Jinhua Chen, and Cuilan Liu, eds. Rules of Engagement: Medieval Traditions of Buddhist Monastic Regulations. Hamburg: University of Hamburg Center for Buddhist Studies, 2017: 163–96.

O monaquismo cristão emergiu nos desertos orientais, tendo se dispersado ao longo do Mediterrâneo e nas ilhas britânicas e irlandesas. As regras monásticas foram documentos escritos pela elite clerical para estabelecer os valores e normas a serem observadas pelas comunidades. Esse artigo tem como objetivo apresentar uma caracterização desse tipo de documento.

Meeting in the Temple When the infant Jesus was presented in the Temple and raised in the arms of old Simeon, who moved stammered his Nunc dimittis, the nature and the role of youth and mature age in God's plan were revealed in the fullness of light. Hypapante (Ὑπαπάντη), that is to say, " Encounter " which the Eastern's call the salvific encounter contained in and reproduced by the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, popularly known as Candelaria. In fact, not only does the he encounter takes place between the Old and the New Covenant, between the expectation and the fulfilment, between the divinity offered and the humanity received, but also-by antonomasia-between the young and the old, between the vigor and wisdom. In the early light of that Candelaria that mutual exchange took place, that sacred trade between the generations that will be and is the secret of the vitality of families and Christian communities throughout the centuries: the silent delivery of the child answered the jubilant hymn and prophecy of the elderly; the poor and youthful offering of the Virgin echoed the praise of the widow. Jesus and Simeon, Mary and Anna the daughter of Phanuel, represent in advance, between admiration and joy, all driven by the Spirit which makes the encounter between men possible, that sacred reciprocity secular wisdom of the monks, condensed in the Rule of St. Benedict (RB), summed up in the sentence: " venerate the elders, love the younger. " 1 The two passages of the RB in which these recommendation appears are those of Benedict, in contrast to the Rule of the Master (RM), his model, which does not contain them, as noted by Adalbert de Vogüé O.S.B., (1924-2011 †). It gives the impression that this issue is particularly dear to the editor of the RB, and also the passages which emphasise the importance of the opinion of the young before the elderly, are characteristic and peculiar 2 to them. If you innovate with respect toward young people, Benedict follows the oldest tradition in the description of the role of the elders: these are the model that young people should imitate (7:55); to them they must submit in obedience (71:4); they must be treated with deference (63: 10-17); they are the comforters par excellence (27:2-3) and the guardians of the chastity of the young (22:7), and as gatekeepers (66:1) and master of novices (58:6) their mission being the welcoming of guests and postulants. In respecting and cultivating these values monasticism finds its human balance and at the same time builds a guarantee for its continuity throughout time. This generational harmony RB 4, 70-71 y 63:10. Please refer to the explanation of the abbreviations and the editions that we 1 have used in the bibliography. RB 3:3; 63:5-6; 64:2.

This is a summary of an article published in the anthology "Making and Breaking the Rules – Discussion, Implementation and Consequences of Dominican Legislation", ed. Cornelia Linde (Oxford & London: Oxford University Press & The German Historical Institute London, 2018), 369-384. ISBN: 9780198800972.

La cristianización de la Europa posromana dio a luz una variedad de formas y modos de vivir la experiencia religiosa y de realizar la conversión al cristianismo: el ascetismo, la renuncia sexual y el ayuno son rasgos largamente reconocidos por la historiografía que estudia el mundo monástico. Sin embargo, este periodo presenta también otras formas de vivir la conversión a la fe cristiana, tal es el caso de los eremitas que por fuera de los cenobios realizan una forma peculiar de ascetismo.
En este trabajo intentaremos rastrear algunas de las características del fenómeno eremítico en la sociedad visigoda de los siglos VI y VII a la luz de las vidas de San Millán y de Valerio del Bierzo. En síntesis, en la época en que construyen su autoridad los obispos proponemos leer el fenómeno eremítico en relación con las reglas monásticas y los concilios de la iglesia visigoda como modo de caracterizar las formas y las tensiones que permean las prácticas cristianas en la península ibérica a lo largo del periodo.

Diem, Albrecht, ‘Merovingian Monasticism: Voices of Dissent’, in: Bonnie Effros and Isabel Moreira (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Merovingian World, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2020, pp. 320-343.
Please contact me if you are interested in this chapter: adiem@maxwell.syr.edu.

This chapter critically discusses the emergence of Western monasticism by identifying a number of silent turning points and instances of conflict that do not as yet play much of a role in a monastic narrative that is largely centered on individuals, institutions, and the impact of specific texts. I provide six case studies: the foundation of Saint-Maurice d’Agaune and the Jura monasteries; the transfer of the Rule of Caesarius to Queen Radegund’s foundation in Poitiers; the destruction of the column of the Frankish stylite Vulfilaic; the dramatic conflict between Brunhild and Columbanus; and Eligius of Noyon’s refusal to be buried in a monastery following his death. All of these case studies shed light on the silent, crucial, and often contested transformations that shaped medieval monasticism. They demonstrate how barbarian rulers and aristocrats appropriated options for living an ideal Christian life that were deeply rooted in Roman culture. They describe, too, the impact of monastic ideals on lay ethics, the process by which ascetic struggle was transformed into regularized monastic life and how monasteries became sacred spaces. None of these developments happened organically and without conflicts. These conflicts provide unique access to the “Transformation of the Roman World,” far beyond the scope of monastic studies.

https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190234188.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190234188-e-8?rskey=clDZkN&result=1