Byzantine Monasticism

Monasticism was practiced widely across the Byzantine Empire and took multiple forms. The major models were: coenobitic, based on communal living; lavriotic, where monks lived separately but came together for religious celebrations; and eremitic, focused on ascetic isolation. Irregular paradigms included wandering monks and stylites who lived atop pillars. Variety, therefore, is a key characteristic of Byzantine monasticism. While both Byzantine and Western monasticism draw from the authority of the desert fathers and share certain general characteristics (such as monastic rules, use of habits to distinguish the monk from the layperson, ascetic practices, and female monasteries having smaller financial endowments than male ones), Byzantine monks were very different from their Western peers. The authority and rule of Basil of Caesarea held considerably more weight within the Byzantine tradition. Byzantine monasteries traditionally did not raise oblates from childhood, instead accepting adult novices only. Monastic orders did not exist in Byzantium, although certain influential monasteries (e.g., Stoudios) did share ideas and practices with other monasteries. The monastic evidence base is less well preserved than in the West, with many monasteries destroyed or disbanded during early Islamic conquests, crusades, the Ottoman conquest, and subsequent rule by non-Orthodox powers. Between this and the variety factor, the field of Byzantine monastic studies has lacked the broad, comprehensive historical overviews so prevalent within Western monastic studies. The general historical arc of Byzantine monasticism falls into three phases. The first, from the fourth to the eighth centuries, usually highlights the development of monasticism across Egypt, Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine, with heterogeneous heroes and practices. While Western medieval scholarship pulls most heavily on the Egyptian traditions as roots for Western monasticism, Byzantine monasticism owes debts to all those regions. The second phase usually dates from the end of iconoclasm (843) to the fall of Constantinople in 1204 (in short, after recovery from the 7th-century crises and before the crisis of the Fourth Crusade) and emphasizes explosive growth in the number of monasteries and influence of monks. Challenges for monastic values and outside authorities accompanied the monastic expansion, leading to both reform efforts and new monastic traditions. After the restoration of the Byzantine Empire in 1261, many monasteries had to be refounded, and monks struggled with both the question of Church Union with the West and whether to seek direct communion with God via hesychasm. In all time periods, monasticism acts as a microcosm for broader Byzantine society, debates, and values.