IDIORRHYTHMIC INQUEST: SYLVESTER, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA, JEREMIAH II, PATRIARCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE, AND THE MISSION TO RESTORE COMMUNAL MONASTICISM ON MOUNT ATHOS IN THE 1570s
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24193/subbto.2023.1.03Keywords:
Mount Athos; Orthodox Church in the Ottoman Empire; Patriarchate of Alexandria; monasticism; idiorrhythmiaAbstract
Over the second half of the sixteenth century, a new form of monasticism, idiorrhythmia (“living according to one’s own devices”), seemed to be spreading across the Orthodox monasteries of the Eastern Mediterranean. The communal regime practiced for centuries in the venerable monasteries of the East was gradually collapsing: first at St. Catherine’s on Sinai around 1557, then at the monasteries of Palestine, including the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem. When the patriarchs of Alexandria (Sylvester [1569-1590]) and Constantinople (Jeremiah II [1572-1579; 1580-1584; 1587-1595]) came together to celebrate Christmas at Thessaloniki in 1573, Sylvester was tasked with travelling to Mount Athos to investigate the state of the monastic life there. His inquest revealed a shocking state of affairs: monks moving without hindrance to and from Athos and engaging in the sale of goods to the outside world, including spirits which they drank themselves. Beardless youths and laypersons lived in monasteries; livestock were allowed to pasture on the Holy Mountain. This contribution will examine Patriarch Sylvester’s inquest and the subsequent effort to restore communal life at the major monasteries on Athos.
References
Primary Sources
Acts of Esphigmenou = Ed. Louis Petit and Wilhelm Regel. Actes d’Esphigménou. Actes de l’Athos 3. St. Petersburg 1906.
Acts of Pantokrator = Ed. Louis Petit. Actes du Pantocrator. Actes de l’Athos 2. St. Petersburg 1903.
Acta Vatopedii = Ed. N.D. Papademetriou-Doukas. Acta Vatopedii (μέσα 15ου-τέλη 17ου αι.). Thrakike Vivliotheke 12. Komotene 2015.
Acts of Vatopedi = Ed. Jacques Lefort, Vassiliki Kravari, Christophe Giros, Kostis Smyrlis and Raúl Estangüi. Actes de Vatopédi 3. De 1377 à 1500. Archives de l’Athos 23. Paris 2019.
Haupturkunden = Ed. Philipp Meyer. Die Haupturkunden für die Geschichte der Athosklöster: grösstentheils zum ersten Male herausgegeben und mit Einleitungen versehen. Amsterdam 1894.
MM = Ed. Franz Miklosich and Josef Müller. Acta et diplomatica Graeca medii aevi: sacra et profana, collecta et edita. 6 vols. Vienna 1860-1890.
Patriarchal Letter of Jeremiah II and Sylvester for the Great Lavra = de Gregorio 1996: 370-376.
Secondary Literature
Alexander 1997 = John Alexander. “The Lord Giveth and the Lord Taketh Away: Athos and the Confiscation Affair of 1568–1569.” Mount Athos in the 14th–16th Centuries. Athonika Symmeikta 4. Athens: 149-199.
Amand de Mendieta 1972 = Emmanuel Amand de Mendieta. Mount Athos: The Garden of the Panaghia. Translated by Michael Bruce. Berliner Byzantinistische Arbeiten 41. Berlin.
Chitwood 2017 = Zachary Chitwood. “Founding a Monastery on Athos under Early Ottoman Rule: The typikon of Stauroniketa.” Endowment Studies 1/2: 172-197.
Çolak 2015 = Hassan Çolak. The Orthodox Church in the Early Modern Middle East: Relations between the Ottoman Central Administration and the Patriarchates of Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. Ankara.
Delouis, Mossakowska-Gaubert and Peters-Custot 2019 = Olivier Delouis, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert and Annick Peters-Custot. “Introduction.” Ed. Olivier Delouis, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert and Annick Peters-Custot. Les mobilités monastiques en Orient et en Occident de l'Antiquité tardive au Moyen Àge (IVe-XVe siècle). Collection de l'École française de Rome 558. Rome: 1-13.
Estangüi Gómez 2014 = Raúl Estangüi Gómez. Byzance face aux Ottomans : exercice
du pouvoir et contrôle du territoire sous les derniers Paléologues (milieu XIVe - milieu XVe siècle). Publications de la Sorbonne. Série Byzantina Sorbonensia 28. Paris.
Fotić 1994 = Aleksander Fotić. “The Official Explanations for the Confiscation and Sale of Monasteries (Churches) and their Estates at the Time of Selim II.” Turcica 26: 33-54.
Fotić 2005 = Aleksandar Fotić. “Non-Ottoman Documents in the Kâdis’ Courts (Môloviya, Medieval Charters): Examples from the Archive of Hilandar Monastery (15th–18th C.).” Ed. Colin Imber, Keiko Kiyotaki and Rhoads Murphey. Frontiers of Ottoman Studies: State, Province, and the West. 2 vols. London and New York: vol. 2, 63–73.
de Gregorio 1996 = Giuseppe de Gregorio. “Un intervento patriarcale del 1574 contro la idiorritmia: I documenti di Hieremias II Tranos.” Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 46: 343-378.
Hannick and Todt 2002 = Christian Hannick and Klaus-Peter Todt. “Jérémie II Tranos.” Ed. Carmelo Giuseppe Conticello. La théologie byzantine et sa tradition Tome II (XIIIe-XIXe s.). Vol. 2 (XIIIe - XIXe s.). Tournhout: 551–615.
Herman 1955 = Emil Herman. “La ‘stabilitas loci’ nel monachesimo bizantino.” Orientalia christiana periodica 21: 115-142.
Kermeli 2000 = Eugenia Kermeli. “The Confiscation and Repossession of Monastic Properties in Mount Athos and Patmos Monasteries, 1568–1570.” Bulgarian Historical Review 28.3/4: 39-53.
Kermeli 2012 = Evgenia Kermeli. “Το νομικό καθεστώς της αγιορείτικης μοναστηριακής περιουσίας το 15ο και το 16ο αιώνα (The Legal Status of Hagiorite Monastic Property in the 15th and 16th Century).” Το Άγιον Όρος στον 15ο και 16ο αιώνα. Πρακτικά 6ου Διεθνούς Συνεδρίου, Θεσσαλονίκη 25-27 Νοεμβρίου 2011. Thessalonike: 87-105.
Laurès 1901 = Benjamin Laurès. “Les monastères idiorrhythmes de l'Athos.” Échos d'Orient 4/5: 288–295.
Mazarakes 1932 = Gerasmios Mazarakes. Συμβολή εις την ιστορίαν της εν Αιγύπτω Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας [Study on the History of the Orthodox Church in Egypt]. Alexandria.
de Meester 1942 = Placide de Meester. De monachico statu iuxta disciplinam byzantinam : statuta selectis fontibus ex commentariis instructa. Rome.
Oikonomidès 1976 = Nicholas Oikonomidès. “Monastères et moines lors de la conquête ottomane.” Südost-Forschungen 35: 1–10.
Panchenko 2016 = Constantin A. Panchenko. Arab Orthodox Christians under the Ottomans, 1516-1831. Translated by Brittany Pheiffer Noble and Samuel Noble. Jordanville, New York.
Papachrysanthou 1999 = Dionysia Papachrysanthou. Η διοίκηση του Αγίου Όρους (1600-1927) [The Administration of the Holy Mountain, 1600-1927]. Athonika Symmeikta 6. Athens.
Papademetriou 2015 = Tom Papademetriou. Render unto the Sultan: Power, Authority, and the Greek Orthodox Church in the Early Ottoman Centuries. Oxford.
Papadopoulos 1935 = Chrysostomos Papadopoulos. Ιστορία της εκκλησίας της Αλεξάνδρειας (62-1934). Alexandria.
Psilakes 20023-20032 = Nikos Psilakes. Μοναστήρια και Ερημητήρια της Κρήτης. 2 vols. Heraklion.
Ritter 2019 = Max Ritter. “Inspired by the Same Desire? Divergent Objectives, Routes and Destinations of Byzantine Monks and Latin Pilgrims from the 8th to the 11th Centuries.” Ed. Olivier Delouis, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert and Annick Peters-Custot. Les mobilités monastiques en Orient et en Occident de l'Antiquité tardive au Moyen Àge (IVe-XVe siècle). Collection de l'École française de Rome 558. Rome: 275-309.
Runciman 1968 = Steven Runciman. The Great Church in Captivity. A Study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the Eve of the Turkish Conquest to the Greek War of Independence. Cambridge.
Sena 2008 = Lorenza Sena. “La ‘stabilitas loci’ nella Regola di san Benedetto.” Inter Fratres 58: 157-164.
Sevcenko 2006 = Nancy Sevcenko. “The Monastery of Mount Sinai and the Cult of Saint Catherine.” Ed. Sarah T. Brooks. Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557). Perspectives on Late Byzantine Art and Culture. New York: 118-137.
Smyrlis 2008 = Kostis Smyrlis. “The First Ottoman Occupation of Macedonia (c. 1383-c. 1403). Some Remarks on Land Ownership, Property Transactions and Justice.” Ed. Alexander D. Beihammer, Maria G. Parani and Christopher D. Schnabel. Diplomatics in the Eastern Mediterranean 1000-1500: Aspects of Intercultural Communication. Leiden: 327-348.
Smyrlis 2009 = Kostis Smyrlis. “The State, the Land and Private Property. Confiscating Monastic and Church Properties in the Palaiologan Period.” Ed. Dimiter Angelov. Church and Society in Late Byzantium. Kalamazoo: 58-87.
Stroumpakes 2005 = Michael Io.-Mak. Stroumpakes. Ιερεμίας Α' Πατριάρχης Κωνσταντινουπόλεως 1522-1546. Ο βίος και το έργο του [Jeremiah I, Patriarch of Constantinople, 1522-1546. His Life and Work]. Athens.
Talbot 1991 = Alice-Mary Talbot. “Idiorrhythmic Monasticism.” Ed. Alexander P. Kazhdan. The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. 3 vols. New York and Oxford: vol. 2, 981-982.
Talbot 2019 = Alice-Mary Talbot. Varieties of Monastic Experience in Byzantium, 800-1453. Notre Dame, Ind.
Zachariadou 1996 = Elizabeth Zachariadou. “‘A Safe and Holy Mountain’: Early Ottoman Athos.” Ed. Anthony Briar and Mary Cunningham. Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism. Papers from the Twenty-Eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March, 1994. Publications of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies 4: 127-132.
Zachariadou 2006 = Elizabeth Zachariadou. “Mount Athos and the Ottomans c. 1350-1550.” Ed. Michael Angold. The Cambridge History of Christianity. Vol. 5: Eastern Christianity. Cambridge:154-168.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
ISSN (print): 1224-0869, ISSN (online): 2065-9474, ISSN-L: 2065-9474