The intervention of monks in the Riot of Statues, in Antioch (387): An example of monastic mobility

Authors

  • Gilvan Ventura da Silva Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo

Keywords:

Late Antiquity, Antioch, Monasticism, Riot of Statues, John Chrysostom

Abstract

In the History of Monasticism, the references to regular visits that village or town people paid to anchorites and coenobites in order to obtain spiritual guidance or even divine aid in the form of miracle are frequent.  In contrast with it, the studies devoted to understanding the reasons for the displacement of the monks and its impact on the rural and urban everyday life are fewer, although such issue constitutes a promising approach regarding the social implications of monasticism, a movement that, even in a context of consolidation of coenobitism, that is to say, the sedentary monastic life, never gave up mobility, movement.  In this article, we intend to reflect on the role played by the monks of Mt. Silpius in the Riot of Statues, which took place at Antioch, the metropolis of Syria-Coele, in February 387.  Our main goal is to shed light on the relationship between the monks and the population around them, a peculiar characteristic of monasticism in Northern Syria, based on the homilies about the event delivered by John Chrysostom, then the main preacher of the Antiochene congregation.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

DOCUMENTAÇÃO TEXTUAL:

 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. The homilies on the statues to the people of Antioch. In: SCHAFF, P. (ed.). Nicene and post-Nicene Fathers. Translation and notes by W. R. W. Stephens. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004, p. 315-489. t. IX.

 JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. A comparison between a king and a monk. Against the opponents of the monastic life. Translated with an introduction by David. G. Hunter. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1988.

 LIBANIUS. To Caesarius, master of offices. In: _______. Selected orations. Edited and translated by A. F. Norman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977, p. 349-373. v. II.

 LIBANIUS. To Ellebichus. LIBANIUS. In: _______. Selected orations. Edited and translated by A. F. Norman. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1977, p. 375-407. v. II.

 PALLADIUS. Dialogue on the life of St. John Chrysostom. Translated and edited by Robert T. Meyer. New York: Newman Press, 1985.

 TEODORETO DE CIRO. Historia de los monjes de Siria. Introducción, traducción y notas de Ramón Teja. Madrid: Trotta, 2008.

 THEODORET. The Ecclesiastical History. In: SCHAFF, P.; WACE, H. (Ed.). Nicene and post-Nicene fathers. Text translated by Blomfield Jackson. Peabody: Hendrickson, 2004, p. 33-159. v. 3.

OBRAS DE APOIO:

 ASHKENAZI, J. (2014). Holy man versus monk: village and monastery in the Late Antique Levant: between hagiography and Archaeology. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 57, 745-765.

 BABLITZ, L. (2007). Actors and audience in the Roman courtroom. London: Routledge.

 BAKER, D. A. (1968). Syriac and the origins of monasticism. Sage Journals, v. 86, i. 285, 342-353.

 BECKER, U. (2007). Dicionário de símbolos. São Paulo: Paulus.

 BERARDINO, A. (org.) (2002). Dicionário patrístico e de antiguidades cristãs. Petrópolis: Vozes.

 BRANDS, G. (2010). Hellenistic Antioch on the Orontes: a status quo. Analolu ve Çevresinde Ortaçag, 4, 1-18, 2010.

 BROCK, S. P. (1973). Early Syrian asceticism. Numen, v. 20, fasc. 1, 1-19.

 BROWN, P. (1990). Corpo e sociedade: o homem, a mulher e a renúncia sexual no início do cristianismo. Rio de Janeiro: Jorge Zahar.

 BROWNING, R. (1952). The role of the theatrical claques in the Later Roman Empire. The Journal of Roman Studies, 42, 13-20.

 BRYEN, A. Z. (2012). Judging empire: courts and culture in Rome’s Eastern provinces. Law and History Review, 30, 771-811.

 BUGIULESCU, M. (2018). The organization and role of monasticism in the Christian Church constitution and activity. Bogoslovni vestnik, v. 78, n. 2, 523-541.

 CANER, D. F. (2012). “Not of this world”: the invention of monasticism. In: ROUSSEAU, P. (ed.). A companion to Late Antiquity. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 589-600.

 CANER, D. (2002). Wandering, begging monks: spiritual authority and the promotion of monasticism in Late Antiquity. Berkeley: University of California Press.

 DE GIORGI, A. (2016). Ancient Antioch: from the Seleucid Era to the Islamic conquest. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

 DOWNEY, G. (1961). A history of Antioch in Syria. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

 FESTUGIÈRE, A. J. (1959). Antioch païenne et chrétienne: Libanius, Chrysostome et les moines de Syrie. Paris: de Boccard.

 FRENCH, D. R. (1998). Rhetoric and the rebellion of A. D. 387 in Antioch. Historia, Bd. 47, H. 4, 468-484.

 GATIER, P. L. (2013). La christianisation de la Syrie: l’exemple d’Antiochène. Topoi, suppl. 12, 61-96.

 GRIFFITH, S. H. (1998). Asceticism in the church of Syria: the hermeneutics of early Syrian monasticism. In: WIMBUSH, V. L.; VALANTASIS, R. (ed.). Asceticism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 220-245.

 GRIFFITH, S. H. (1994). Julian Saba, “Father of the monks” of Syria. Journal of Early Christian Studies, v. 2, n. 2, 185-216.

 HARMLESS, J. W. (2008). Monasticism. In: HARVEY, S. A.; HUNTER, D. G. (ed.). The Oxford handbook of Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 493-517.

 HULL, D. (2016). A spatial and morphological analysis of monastic sites in the Northern Limestome Massif, Syria. Levant, n. 40, i. 1, 89-113.

 HULL, D. (2006). The Archaeology of monasticism: landscape, politics and social organisation in Late Antique Syria. Tese (Doutorado em Arqueologia) – Departamento de Arqueologia da Universidade de York, York.

 HUNTER, D. G. (1988). Introduction. In: JOHN CHRYSOSTOM. A comparison between a king and a monk. Against the opponents of the monastic life. Lewiston: The Edwin Melle Press, 1-68.

 JONES, A. H. M. (1964). The Later Roman Empire (284-602). Oxford: Basil Blackwell, v. II.

 KELLY, J. N. D. (1995). Golden Mouth: the story of John Chrysostom, ascetic, preacher, bishop. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

 KRAWIEC, R. (2008). Asceticism. In: HARVEY, S. A.; HUNTER, D. G. (ed.). The Oxford handbook of Early Christian studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 764-785.

 LEROUX, J. M. (1975). Saint Jean Chrysostome el le monachisme. In: KANNENGIESSER, Ch. (éd.). Jean Chysostome et Augustin. Paris: de Boccard, 125-144.

 LIEBESCHUETZ, J. H. W. G. (2011). Ambrose & John Chrysostom: clerics between desert and Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

 LIEBESCHUETZ, J. H. W. G. (1972). Antioch: city and imperial administration in the Later Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

 MARKUS, R. A. (1997). O fim do cristianismo antigo. São Paulo: Paulus.

 MONTERO, S. (1997). Diccionario de adivinos, magos y astrólogos de la Antigüedad. Madrid: Trotta.

 O’GRADY, J. (1994). Heresia: o jogo de poder das seitas cristãs nos primeiros séculos depois de Cristo. São Paulo: Mercuryo.

 PATRICH, J. (1995). Sabas, leader of Palestinian monasticism. Washington: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library.

 PETIT, P. (1955). Libanius et la vie municipale a Antioche. Paris: Paul Geuthner.

 PRICE, R. (1985). M. Introduction. In: THEODORET OF CYRRHUS. A history of the monks of Syria. Collegeville: Cistercian Publications, ix-xxxvii.

 QUIROGA PUERTAS, A. J. (2016). De statuis: las fuentes cristianas sobre la “Revuelta de las Estatuas”. Hispania Sacra, 68, 467-475.

 RADKE, D. (1988). John Chrysostom, on the statues: a study in crisis rhetoric. Dissertação (Mestrado em Artes e Comunicação) – Programa de Pós-Graduação em Artes e Comunicação da Portland State University, Portland.

 RUBENSON, S. (2008). Asceticism and monasticism. In: NOBLE, T.; SMITH, J. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Christianity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 673-668.

 SANTALUCIA, B. (1998). Diritto e processo penale nell’Antica Roma. Milano: Giuffrè.

 SILVA, G. V. (2017). Os mártires como protetores espirituais da "pólis": João Crisóstomo e a cristianização de Antioquia (séc. IV d.C.). In: CARVALHO; M. M.; FUNARI, P. P. A.; CARLAN, C. P.; PAPA, H. A. (org.). Religiões e religiosidades na Antiguidade Tardia. Curitiba: Prismas, 91-114.

 SILVA, E. C. M. (2015). Os espaços de justiça em Antioquia: o dicastério e o bouletério. Romanitas, 6, 125-138.

 SILVA, G. V.; SILVA, E. C. M. (2018). A participação feminina no Levante das Estátuas, em Antioquia (387 d.C.). Hélade, v. 4, n. 1, 88-103.

 SILVA, G. V. (2013). Un imperatore in cerca della città perfetta: Giuliano e l’immagine di Antiochia nel Misopogon. Chaos et Kosmos, 14, 1-20.

 VAN DE PAVERD, F. (1991). St. John Chrysostom: the homilies on the statues. Roma: Orientalia Christiana Analecta.

 VÖÖBUS, A. (1958). History of asceticism in the Syrian Orient. Louvain: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, v. 1.

 WIEMER, H. U. (2014). Emperors and empire in Libanius. In: VAN HOOF, L. (ed.). Libanius: a critical introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 187-219.

Published

06/08/2021

How to Cite

Ventura da Silva, G. (2021). The intervention of monks in the Riot of Statues, in Antioch (387): An example of monastic mobility. De Rebus Antiquis, (9), 78–110. Retrieved from https://erevistas.uca.edu.ar/index.php/DRA/article/view/3489

Issue

Section

Artículos