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Take no care for the morrow! The rejection of landed property in eleventh- and twelfth-century Byzantine monasticism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2018
Abstract
In the eleventh and twelfth centuries Byzantium saw the rise of an influential monastic reform movement, which found its expression in rules and saints' lives. In these texts the question of worldly possessions was repeatedly broached. The authors challenged the hitherto common practice of allowing monks some private property and insisted that in their monasteries nobody should own money or other goods. Yet when it came to communal property the situation was starkly different. Most reformers accepted the traditional view that monasteries should be endowed with land in order to meet the material needs of the communities, and if anything were even more acquisitive than their forebears. There was, however, a small group of monastic founders, which challenged this consensus. They insisted that their monasteries should not accept donations of land because such behaviour went against Christ's demand not to take thought for the morrow and displayed a lack of trust in divine providence. This article presents the surviving evidence and seeks to explain how communities without landed property ensured their survival.
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1 There exists a rich secondary literature on this topic. See Harvey, A., Economic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900-1200 (Cambridge 1989)Google Scholar; Kaplan, M., Les hommes et la terre à Byzance du VI au XI siècle. Propriété et exploitation du sol (Paris 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Morris, R., Monks and Laymen in Byzantium, 843-1118 (Cambridge 1995)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and especially Smyrlis, K., La fortune des grands monastères byzantins, fin du Xe-milieu du XIVe siècle (Paris 2006)Google Scholar. There can be no doubt that during the eleventh and twelfth centuries the vast majority of monasteries sought to acquire more and more land. This article does not discuss this development since it does not seek to present a comprehensive study of monasteries during the eleventh and twelfth centuries but focuses exclusively on the monastic communities that went against the trend.
2 Patriarch Methodios, Life of Theophanes of Agros, 31, ed. Latyšev, V. V., Methodii Patriarchae Constantinopolitani Vita S. Theophanis Confessoris, Zapiski rossijkoj akademii nauk, viii. ser. po istoriko-filologičeskomu otdeleniju, 13.4 (Petrograd 1918) 20, 4-15Google Scholar: Καί ποτε λιμοῦ γενομένου ἤνοιγεν αὐτὸς τὴν χεῖρα καὶ πρὸ ταύτης τὰ σπλάγχνα, ὡς οἰκεῖον ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἐρχομένων τὴν αὐτοῦ μονὴν καταγώγιον. λέγει οὖν αὐτῷ προσελθὼν ὁ ταμίας· ‘Λογίζομαι, ὦ πάτερ, ὡς οὐδ’ εἰς μέσον τοῦ ἔτους ἡ πανεγχρόνιος ἑτοιμασία τοῦ σίτου ἀρκέσει ἡμῖν, τῷ πλήθει τῆς ἐξόδου ἐκλείπουσα.' ὁ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὸν μεγαλόψυχα· ‘'Εἰς τί μικρόθυμος, ὦ τέκνον, γεγένησαι; καὶ ἵνα τί διστάζεις πρὸς τὴν τοῦ εὐεργέτου ἀντίληψιν; ὕπαγε, μέτρησον τὸν σῖτον ὃν κέκτησαι, καὶ εὕροις τάχα τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ δωρεῶν τὸ ἀμέτρητον. οὐ γὰρ στενοῦται χάρις ἡ πάντας πλατύνουσα, οὐδ’ ἐρευνᾶται οἶκος δι' οὗ πάντες σωζόμεθα.' ἀπελθὼν οὖν καὶ ἀριθμήσας τὸ πυροβόλιον ὁ ἀδελφὸς καὶ ἐπίτροπος, εὗρεν ὡς πρὸ τοῦ τετραμήνου ἤγουν καθὼς τεθησαύριστο σῶον ὑπάρχον τὸ γέννημα, μὴ λογισθέντος τοῦ τριμεροῦς χρόνου ἐκείνου εἰς δαπάνην αὐτοῖς ὅλως, κἂν δαψιλῶς δεδαπάνηται.
3 Life of Paul of Latros, 29, ed. Delehaye, H., Monumenta Latrensia Hagiographica , in Milet. Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen und Untersuchungen seit dem Jahre 1899, III.1, Der Latmos, ed. Wiegand, Th. (Berlin 1913), 122, 16-123Google Scholar, 15: Καὶ ὃς ἀνῆλθε μὲν καὶ ἐγνώρισε, καὶ ὡς ἡ τῶν τροφῶν σπάνις πλειόνων κλῆσιν καὶ τράπεζαν φαιδροτέραν ἀπαγορεύει ἐνστατικῶς εἴρηκε. χαλεπήναντα δὲ τὸν ἅγιον πρὸς ταῦτα ἰδών, καὶ μικροψυχίαν αὐτοῖς ὀνειδίσαντα καὶ ἀπιστίαν, οὐδαμῶς ἐπέσχεν, ἀλλ’ εἰς τὴν λαύραν ὀξύτατα κατελθὼν ἀπαγγέλλει τῷ Λουκᾷ ἅπαντα, ἐπειπών· ‘Σοὶ ἐπιμελὲς γενέσθω τὰ νενομισμένα πρᾶξαι τῆς ἐκκλησίας· ἕωθεν δὲ ὁ ὅσιος κατελθών, ὃ δοκεῖ αὐτῷ πάντως ποιήσει.’ οὔπω ἡμέρα σαφὴς ἦν, καὶ τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ θαυμάσια ἐτελεῖτο. Δύο γὰρ εὐθὺς ἐκ Μιλήτου ἡμίονοι κατελάμβανον, οἷς ἀγώγιμα ἦν οἶνός τε καὶ τυρὸς καὶ ᾠὰ καὶ ψωμοὶ καθαρώτατοι, δωρήματα ταῦτα φιλοθέων ἀνδρῶν ἐκ γειτόνων οἰκούντων. ὥρας παρῆλθε τὸ ἥμισυ, καὶ πάλιν ἕτεραι δωρεαὶ παρῆσαν ταῖς προλαβούσαις ὁμοίως ἔχουσαι καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς εἴδεσι δεξιούμεναι. ὁ δὲ τὰ τοιαῦτα παρεσχηκώς, ὁ τῆς Ἀμαζόνος ἐπίσκοπος ἦν· οὐκ ἐκεῖνος δὲ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ τοῦδε κληρικοὶ ἐδωροῦντο πάλιν καὶ αὐτοὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὁμοίως. πρὸς τούτοις καὶ οἱ τῶν πέριξ χωρίων οἰκήτορες προσῆγον τὰ παραπλήσια· καὶ ἅπαντα ταῦτα τῆς αὐτῆς ἡμέρας, μικροῦ δὲ καὶ ὥρας συνεφορεῖτο, καθάπερ ἐξ ἐπιτάγματος ἑνὸς καὶ συνθήματος, ἄσπαρτα καὶ ἀνήροτα τὸ ᾀδόμενον κεχορηγημένα.
4 Vita B of Athanasios the Athonite, 33, ed. Noret, J., Vitae duae antiquae sancti Athanasii Athonitae (Turnhout-Leuven 1982) 164–5, 35-46Google Scholar: Οἱ δὲ γειτνιάζοντες τῇ λαύρᾳ καὶ ὅσοι τῶν πλησιοχώρων σέβας εἶχον καὶ πίστιν πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εἰλικρινῆ, ὁμοίως καὶ οὗτοι ἔχαιρον καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν Θεὸν ἀκούσαντες τὸν πατέρα ἐπανα- κάμψαντα, καὶ τὴν χαρὰν ἐξ ἔργων ἐδείκνυον· ἤρχοντο γὰρ ἰδεῖν τοῦτον καὶ εὐλογηθῆναι παρ' αὐτοῦ οὐ κεναῖς ταῖς χερσίν, ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν σῖτον ἔφερεν, ὁ δὲ οἶνον, ἄλλος δέ τι τῶν ἀναγκαίων, ἐκεῖνα δὲ πάντως ἕκαστος ἅπερ ᾔδει ἐπιλείπειν τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς· οὐδὲ γὰρ κἂν γοῦν τεμάχιον εἶχον ἄρτου εἰ μὴ τὴν ζύμην, ἣν εἶχον τότε, ὡς ἐξηγεῖτο ὁ Λα-ρισσαῖος Παῦλος, ἀνὴρ εὐλαβής τε καὶ τίμιος καὶ ἀρχαῖος ὢν τοῦ πατρὸς μαθητὴς καὶ πάντα ἰδὼν καὶ εἰδώς.
5 Athanasios of Panagios, Vita A of Athanasios the Athonite, 101, ed. Noret, 48. 24-28: ‘Ἦν οὖν ὁρᾶν ὡς ἐκ συνθήματος’, ἐκεῖνος ἔλεγε, ‘τὰ πλοῖα πάντοθεν ὡς ἐκ πηγῶν ἐπέρρει τὰ ἀγαθά· οἱ μὲν γὰρ σῖτον, οἱ δὲ οἶνον, οἱ δὲ ἄλλό τι τῶν ἐδωδίμων καὶ ἄλλος ἄλλό τι τῶν ἐπιτηδείων εἰσέφερον, πάντες αὐτόκλητοι, αὐτεπάγγελτοι πάντες.’
6 Vita B of Athanasios the Athonite, 36, ed. Noret, 168-9.
7 See Smyrlis, Fortune des grands monastères, esp. 245: ‘Les monastères ont sans cesse cherché à accroître leurs biens fonciers.’ Smyrlis acknowledges the fact that some monasteries did not acquire landed property but emphasises that they were few in number. This does, however, not mean that they are not worth studying. While their impact on the Byzantine economy may have been minimal they are of great importance for understanding the Byzantine discourse about how monastic life should be conducted.
8 Anthony of Nowgorod, Book of the Pilgrim, ed. Loparev, Chr. M., ‘Kniga Palomnik. Skazanie mest svjatyh vo Caregrade Antonija arhiepiskopa Novgorodskago v 1200 godu’, Pravoslavnyj Palestinskij Sbornik 17.3 (1899), 27 Google Scholar: И есть же манастыирь, къ Лахѣрнѣі идучи, святаго Іоана Крестителя; і ту выпущаютъ людий на праздникъ и на великъ день З-жъ годъ до года і кормятъ всѣхъ; а черницъ не испущаютъ изъ монастыра никогда же; черницъ же есть двѣстѣ; а селъ не держатъ, но божею благодатию и пощаниемъ і молитвами Іоана питаеми суть. The text is problematic. It should read ‘let in’ rather than ‘let out’, and ‘monks’ instead of ‘nuns’. See de Khitrowo, B., Itinéraires russes en Orient (Geneva 1889) 104 Google Scholar.
9 Strictly speaking, the Petra monastery was not a new foundation but a re-foundation, see Janin, R., La géographie ecclésiastique de l' empire byzantin, I, Le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat oecuménique, 3, Les églises et les monastères, 2nd edition (Paris 1969) 435–43Google Scholar. However, the specific type of monasticism that is the subject of this article was only introduced under abbot John the Faster in the late eleventh century.
10 John the Faster, Testament for Petra, ed. G. Turco, ‘La diatheke del fondatore del monastero di S. Giovanni Prodromo in Petra e l'Ambr. E 9 Sup.’, Aevum 75/2 (2001) 327-80, esp. 354-5, 168-172. The terminus post quem for the text in its present form is the death of Nicholas Grammatikos in 1111 since he is referred to as being deceased, cf. Turco, ‘La diatheke’, 342.
11 John the Faster, Testament for Petra, ed. Turco, 354-355, 168-172.
12 See for example, Evergetis Typikon, 22, ed. Gautier, P., ‘Le typikon de la Théotokos Évergétis’, Revue des études byzantines 40 (1982) 1–101, esp. 65, 899-901CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Petritiotissa Typikon, 4, ed. Gautier, P., ‘Le typikon du sébaste Grégoire Pakourianos’, Revue des études byzantines 42 (1984) 5–145, esp. 49, 492-98CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The Petritziotissa Typikon reproduces in this instance the text of its model, the Panagios Typikon. See Krausmüller, D., ‘On contents and structure of the Panagiou Typikon: a contribution to the early history of ‘extended’ monastic rules’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 106 (2013) 39–64 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
13 John the Faster, Testament for Petra, ed. Turco, 355, 179-183: Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὴν μονὴν ἕτερόν τι ἐπικτήσασθαι βούλομαι, παρ' ὃ νῦν αὐτὸς ἀφίημι· μὴ ὑποζύγια, μὴ βόας, μὴ πρόβατα, μὴ ἄλλο τι ζῷον ἐκτὸς ἀλόγων διὰ τὴν τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀναγκαιοτάτην καὶ ἀπαραίτητον χρείαν τοῦ μυλῶνος, μὴ ἀγρόν, μὴ γεώργιον, μὴ κτῆμα τὸ οἱονοῦν. See the comments in Turco, ‘La diatheke’, 343-344. This aspect of John's monastic vision was known even before Turco's edition from a summary of the saint's life by the fourteenth-century patriarch Kallistos, see Gelzer, H., ‘Kallistos’ Enkomion auf Johannes Nesteutes', Zeitschrift für wissenschaftliche Theologie, 29 (1886) 59–89 Google Scholar.
14 John the Faster, Testament for Petra, ed. Turco, 353-54, 126-136: Ὃ δὲ πρὸ πάντων δέον εἶναι καὶ μετὰ πάντων, καὶ περὶ οὗ μάλιστα τὴν ἐν Χριστῷ ἀγάπην ὑμῶν ἐξασφαλίσασθαι χρή, λέγωμεν δὴ τῶν δεσποτικῶν ἀρχῆθεν ἐπιμνησθέντες ῥημάτων· ‘Μὴ κτήσησθε, φησί, χρυσὸν ἢ ἄργυρον, καὶ μὴ μεριμνήσητε τί φάγητε ἢ τί πίητε, ἢ τί περιβάλησθε, ἀλλὰ ζητεῖτε πρῶτον τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ’· ὅτι δὲ ἃ μὲν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις εἴρηκε, πᾶσιν εἴρηκε, φανερὸν καὶ ἀναμφίλεκτόν ἐστι· κἀκεῖνον τὸν νεανίσκον τὸν πάσας σχεδὸν τὰς ἐντολὰς ἐργασάμενον πωλῆσαι τὰ ὑπάρχοντα καὶ δοῦναι πτωχοῖς κελεύει, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τελειότητα ἐλθεῖν τε καὶ ἑαυτὸν πτωχὸν καταστῆσαι, ἑλεημοσύνης δὲ μᾶλλον δεόμενον, ἢ παρέχειν.
15 See Smyrlis, Fortune des grands monastères, esp. 245, who acknowledges that John of Petra did not wish to acquire landed property but does not see this decision as part of a broader trend. Instead he explains it with John's ‘admiration des principes monastiques traditionels’.
16 John the Faster, Testament for Petra, ed. Turco, 355, 179-183: Ἀλλ' εἴ τις τῶν φιλοχρίστων παρέξει, τοῦτο διαπιπράσαντας ὑμᾶς ποιῆσαι τὴν τῶν ἀδελφῶν χρείαν ἀνελλιπῆ, καὶ τὰ τέως καταλειφθέντα τοῖς ἐν Θεῷ ἀδελφοῖς ἡμῶν διανεῖμαι τοῖς πένησι.
17 Vasilievskij, V., Nikola episkopa Mefonskogo i Feodora Prodroma pisatelej XII stoletija Meletija Novogo, Pravoslavnij Palestinskij Sbornik 6 (1886)Google Scholar. On the authors see Angold, M., Church and Society in Byzantium under the Comneni (1081-1261) (Cambridge 1995) 373 CrossRefGoogle Scholar. See also the comments in Turco, ‘La diatheke’, 343-44.
18 Theodore Prodromos, Life of Meletios, ed. Vasilievskij, 49, 4-16: Καὶ τό γε θαυμασιώτερον οὔπω ὑμῖν ἐγνωρίσαμεν· τοσούτου γὰρ οἰκονομίαν λαοῦ πιστευθείς, ᾧ μόγις μὲν ἂν τόσα καὶ τόσα πυροφόρα πεδία, μόγις δὲ τόσαι καὶ τόσαι κλίματος ἀλωαί, τὴν ἀποτροφὴν αὐτάρκη διεχορήγησαν· οὔτε ζεῦγος βοῶν, οὔτε ἀγρὸν ἠνέσχετο πρίασθαι· ἐφόβει γὰρ αὐτὸν ἡ παραβολή· μήπου καὶ αὐτὸς διὰ ταῦτα τοῦ θείου γάμου ἔκπτωτος γένηται. ἀλλὰ καὶ πολλῶν ὁσημέραι Θεῷ καὶ Μελετίῳ καθιερούντων τὰ ἑαυτῶν, ὁ δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας τῆς μὲν προθέσεως ἀπεδέχετο, τὰς δ' ἔτι δόσεις οὐ παρεδέχετο· ἀγαθὸν γὰρ πεποιθέναι ἐπὶ Κύριον ἢ ἐπ' ἄνθρωπον ἔλεγε, καὶ τὴν ἀσπαρτον τῶν πτηνῶν καὶ ἀνήροτον τροφὴν προτιθείς· πολλῷ στρουθίων, ἐπῆγεν, ἡμεῖς διαφέρομεν.
19 Nıcholas of Methone, Life of Meletios, ed. Vasilievskij, 20.18-21.8.
20 Nicholas of Methone, Life of Meletios, ed. Vasilievskij, 21, 15-28: Ἰδοὺ γὰρ τριάκοντα πρὸς τοῖς ἓξ καὶ πρὸς παρέδραμον ἔτη μετὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς κοίμησιν, καὶ ἄνδρες ἐγγύς που τῶν τριακοσίων, γῆς οὐδὲ τοῦ βραχυτάτου κύριοι μέρους, πλὴν ὅσην αὐτοῖς ἡ κατοκία καὶ τὸ λαχανοκήπιον περιείληφεν, ἀπράγμονες πάντες, ἀκτήμονες, ἀφρόντιδες τῶν ὅσα πρὸς σώματος θεραπείαν καὶ ἐπιμέλειαν, πρὸς οὐδὲν τῶν παρόντων καὶ παριόντων ἐπεστραμμένοι, ὅλον πρὸς μόνα τὰ μέλλοντα καὶ εἰς ἀεὶ διαμένοντα τὸν νοῦν μεταθέμενοι, τὸ δύσβατον καὶ τραχινὸν ὄρος ἐκεῖνο καὶ μόνον καὶ πόλιν καὶ κώμην καὶ πατρίδα γινώσκοντες, ἑτέρῳ δὲ τόπῳ παντὶ χαίρειν εἰπόντες, καὶ ἁπλῶς τῷ παντὶ κόσμῳ καθάπαξ ἀποταξάμενοι, ζῶσιν ἀνενδεῆ καὶ αὐτάρκη ζωήν, ἔχοντες, ἀποστολικῶς φάναι, διατροφὰς καὶ σκεπάσματα, τὰ τὴν σωματικὴν χρείαν ἀρκούντως ἀποπληροῦντα.
21 Indeed, if we are to believe patriarch Kallistos, the Petra monastery managed without landed property even in the Palaiologan period. See Kallistos, Encomium of John the Faster, ed. Gelzer, 87, 32-88, 14. One wonders how this system could have survived the Latin occupation of Constantinople.
22 Theodore Prodromos, Life of Meletios, ed. Vasilievskij, 4, 16-23: Παρὰ δὲ τοῦ τὰ κοσμικὰ τηνικαῦτα σκῆπτρα διέποντος, Ἀλέξιος δὲ ἦν ὁ θεοσεβέστατος, ἀγασαμένου τοῦτον τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ πολλὰ μὲν διδόντος, μυρία δὲ προσδιδόντος, πολλῷ δὲ πλείω τούτων ὑπισχομένου, τετρακοσίους πρὸς τοῖς εἴκοσι καὶ δύο μόνους χρυσίνους ὁ δίκαιος παρὰ τῶν τῆς Ἀττικῆς δασμολόγων ἐτησίως λαμβάνειν ἠνέσχετο· τὰ δ' ἄλλα, μὴ πλειόνων χρείαν ἔχειν εἰπών, ἀπεπέμψατο.
23 Choniates, Nıcetas, Manuel , 7, ed. Dieten, J.-L. van, Nicetae Choniatae historia (Berlin 1975) 207 Google Scholar. 3-7: Εἰδὼς γὰρ τὸ κτηματικοὺς εἶναι καὶ τυρβάζεσθαι πάλιν περὶ πολλὰ τοὺς τὸν ἐρημικὸν βίον ἀνελομένους τῆς ἡσυχίας αὐτοὺς μεθιστᾶν καὶ τοῦ κατὰ θεὸν ζῆν ἀπάγον, τοῦτο δὴ τὸ οἰκεῖον αὐτοῖς ἐπάγγελμα, οὐδὲν κτησείδιον ἀπετάμετο, οὔτε μὴν ἀγροὺς καὶ ἀμπελῶνας τῷ φροντιστηρίῳ ἐπέταξε, πᾶσαν δὲ τοῖς μονασταῖς δίαιταν ἐκ τῶν βασιλικῶν χρυσώνων ἐπιμετρήσας ἐκεῖθεν αὐτὴν ἐβράβευεν.
24 This text has already been repeatedly discussed. See Magdalino, P., The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180 (Cambridge 1993) 119 CrossRefGoogle Scholar: ‘He (sc. Manuel I.) also founded, at Kataskepe . . . a monastery supported by state subsidies rather than endowments. Whether or not there was more to this policy than its ostensible aim of setting a good example of monastic reform, it is clear that he was concerned to prevent the proliferation of endowed urban monasteries, and in this deliberately went against his predecessors and most of his relatives.’ However, Magdalino does not discuss the earlier evidence for this particular type of monastic institution. See also Angold, Church and Society, 355, who speaks of ‘Manuel Comnenus's effort to raise the standard of monasticism through the foundation of the monastery of St Michael Kataskepenos’ and thus gives the impression that the emperor himself created a new trend. The same point is made in Angold, Church and Society, 288: ‘The life of the saint (sc. Meletios) was made to conform to Manuel Comnenus's ideas about monasticism.’ This suggests that the passages about the monastery's lack of possessions were a fiction created in order to support the emperor's monastic vision. The evidence from the Petra monastery shows that such an interpretation is untenable. Smyrlis only mentions Kataskepe in a footnote, see Smyrlis, Fortune des grands monastères, 161, note 430.
25 See Angold, Church and Society, 353.
26 Athanasios the Athonite, Typikon for Lavra, ed. Meyer, Ph., Die Haupturkunden für die Geschichte der Athosklöster (Leipzig 1894) 102.19-25Google Scholar: Τούτῳ οὖν τῷ θείῳ ζήλῳ κινούμενος ἀσκητήρια συνεχῆ κατὰ τὸ τοῦ Κυμινᾶ ὄρος δειμάμενος μοναχοὺς ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγκατῴκισε, καὶ τὴν τῶν ἀναγκαίων χρείαν ἀφθόνως ἐπεχορήγησε, πῇ μὲν οἴκοθεν, διὰ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ περιουσίας, πῇ δὲ διὰ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς κατὰ καιροὺς βασιλεύοντας μεσιτείας αὐτοῦ συνεπίσχυσέ τε καὶ συνεκρότησε, ῥόγας ἐπετείους παρεχόμενος αὐτοῖς, σολεμνίων ὀρθώσεσί τε καὶ δόσεσιν αὐτοὺς προθυμότατα δεξιούμενος.
27 Athanasios the Athonite, Typikon for Lavra, ed. Meyer, 114, 33-115, 4; Athanasios of Panagios, Vita A of Athanasios, 116-117, ed. Noret, 56.
28 The evidence is discussed in Morris, R., ‘Monastic exemptions in tenth- and eleventh-century Byzantium’, in Davies, W. and Fouracre, P. (eds), Property and Power in the Early Middle Ages (Cambridge 1995) 200–16, espCrossRefGoogle Scholar. 214. See also See Smyrlis, Fortune des grands monastères, 160-61.
29 On Nikon see Doens, I., ‘Nicon de la Montagne Noire’, Byzantion 24 (1954) 131–140 Google Scholar.
30 Ch. Hannick, P. Plank, C. Lutzka and T. I. Afanas'eva (eds), Das Taktikon des Nikon vom Schwarzen Berge. Griechischer Text und kirchenslavische Übersetzung des 14. Jahrhunderts, I-II (Freiburg i. Br. 2014) I, 118.12-19: Τοῦ γὰρ ἀββᾶ Γελασίου τὸ εἰς τὸ Πατερικὸν καὶ τὰ ὅμοια τούτου μερικὰ ὄντα καὶ οἰκονομικά, ἐὰν καὶ ὅλως ἁρμόζουν, οὐχ ἡμῖν, ἀλλὰ ἄλλοις ἁρμόζουν, τοὺς ὁμοίους αὐτῷ τέως καὶ οἷς τρόποις ἁρμόζει, καθὼς μόνος ὁ Θεὸς οἶδε καὶ εὐαρεστεῖται αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀγαθότης. καὶ ὅμως σκοπήσωμεν καὶ τοῦτο τέως τοῦ ἀββᾶ Γελασίου, εἰς ποίαν ἦτον εἰς τὰ τοιαῦτα ἀπροσπάθειαν ἐν τῷ εἰπεῖν ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἀρχαῖον αὐτοῦ συνασκητήν, ὅτι ‘Δέδεται μᾶλλον ὁ λογισμός σου εἰς τὴν ῥαφίδα, ἢ ὁ λογισμὸς Γελασίου εἰς τὰ χωρία.’. See also Allison, R., ‘Black Mountain: Regulations of Nikon of the Black Mountain’, 20, in Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents. A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders’ Typika and Testaments, ed. Thomas, J., Constantinides-Hero, A. and Constable, G. (Washington, D.C. 2000) III, 377–424 Google Scholar.
31 Gelasios, 5, Apophthegmata Patrum, Migne, Patrologia graeca LXV, 152AB.