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The Theban Parthenon: Contextualising Female Lay Spirituality in a Twelfth-Century Byzantine Provincial City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 December 2024

GANG WU
GANG WU*
Affiliation:
Fudan University, China
*
E-mail: wug@fudan.edu.cn
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Abstract

Stemming from a canonical commentary of Theodore Balsamon (1130s–1195), this article examines an underexplored Byzantine Christian practice: the consecration of virgins. It focuses on an unusual religious establishment, a parthenon, founded in Thebes by its metropolitan John Kaloktenes (1166–c.1190), which accommodated lay virgins to pursue asceticism without demonstrating monastic commitments. It investigates the practice's origins, development and significance in Byzantine religious heritage, highlighting Kaloktenes's innovative revival of the practice. This study offers a unique case for exploring Byzantine monasticism and ecclesiastical leadership, while also demonstrating the potential for integrating Byzantium into the religious movements of the contemporary Latin West.

Type
Research Article
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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , First View , pp. 1 - 16
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2024

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Footnotes

Σύνταγμα = G. Rhalles and M. Potles, Σύνταγμα των θείων και ιερών κανόνων, Athens 1852–9; Novel = ‘Novellae’, in R. Schoell and W. Kroll (eds), Corpus Iuris Civilis, Berlin 1928

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China under Grant Number 23CSS005. I would like to express my gratitude for the anonymous reviewer's insightful comments on the manuscript of this article.

References

1 ‘Παρθένον ἀναθεῖσαν ἑαυτὴν τῷ δεσπότῃ Θεῷ, ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ μονάζοντας, μὴ ἐξεῖναι γάμῳ προσομιλεῖν. Εἰ δέ γε εὑρεθεῖεν τοῦτο ποιοῦντες, ἔστωσαν ἀκοινώνητοι. Ωρίσαμεν δὲ ἔχειν τὴν αὐθεντίαν τῆς ἐπ΄ αὐτοῖς φιλανθρωπίας τὸν κατὰ τόπον ἐπίσκοπον’ (‘A virgin who has dedicated herself to the Lord God, and likewise a monk, is not permitted to enter into marriage. If they are discovered doing this, they are to be excommunicated. We have decreed that the local bishop has authority to exercise leniency towards them’): Σύνταγμα, ii. 256; cf. PG cxxxvii.444D–445A; The acts of the Council of Chalcedon, ed. and trans. R. Price and M. Gaddis, Liverpool 2005, 99. Only canons and scholia from the version of Rhalles and Potles will hereinafter be cited.

2 ‘Τὸ παλαιὸν γυναῖκές τινες προσήρχοντο τῷ θεῷ μετὰ λαϊκοῦ σχήματος, καὶ ὡμολόγουν παρθενεύειν· διορίζονται τοίνυν οἱ Πατέρες τοὺς ὁμολογήσαντας τοῦτο, κἂν ἄνδρες εἶεν μονάζοντες, κἂν γυναῖκες, μὴ ἀφίστασθαι τῶν ὡμολογημένων, καὶ γάμοις προσομιλεῖν· τοὺς δὲ παραβάτας τούτων, ἀκοινωνήτους, ἤτοι ἀφωρισμένους εἶναι. Τὴν μέν τοι ἐξουσίαν τοῦ ἀφορισμοῦ, ἤτοι τὴν ἐπέκτασιν, ἢ τὴν μείωσιν, τῷ ἐγχωρίῳ ἐπισκόπῳ ἀνέθετο· σήμερον δὲ τέως ἐν τῇ Κωνσταντινουπόλει, οὔτε παρθένοι μετὰ λαϊκοῦ σχήματος τῷ Θεῷ ἀνατίθενται, οὔτε παρθενών ἐστι. Μόνος δὲ ὁ ἅγιος ἐκεῖνος μητροπολίτης Θηβῶν, ὁ Καλοκτένης, ἐποίησε παρθενῶνα εἰς Θήβας, καὶ ἔταξε παρθένους ἐπ’ αὐτῷ λαϊκάς· διὸ καὶ ἔστι τὸ μνημόσυνον αὐτοῦ αἰωνίζον καὶ χάριν τούτου. Εἰ δὲ θέλεις εἰπεῖν τὰς ἀσκητρίας τοιαὐτας παρθένους, οὐδὲν εὑρήσεις ἐμποδών· εἰ μήπω θέλεις ταύτας παρεικάσαι ταῖς μοναζούσαις διὰ τὴν ἀπόκαρσιν, καὶ τὰς ἐπ’ ἐκκλησίας συνθήκας αὐτῶν’: Σύνταγμα, ii. 257.

3 For example, the bnay/bnāt qyāmā in Syriac Christianity might have represented one such tradition: S. P. Brock and others (eds), Gorgias encyclopedic dictionary of the Syriac heritage, Piscataway 2011, s.v. ‘Bnay Qyāmā, Bnāt Qyāmā’. For a seminal study on the practice of consecrated virgins in late antiquity see Elm, S., Virgins of God: the making of asceticism in late antiquity, Oxford 1994CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 See below.

5 For example, regarding canon 19 of the Council of Ancyra, Balsamon quotes canon 18 of Basil the Great and canon 46 of the Council of Trullo. For canon 19 of Basil the Great, he quotes Basil's canon 18 as well as canons 6, 44 and 126 from the Council of Carthage when he speaks about consecrated virgins. For those in his scholium of Basil's canon 40, he quotes again Basil's canon 18 along with the same canon 19 of the Council in Ancyra. See Σύνταγμα, iii. 61; iv. 146, 218. As in the subsequent note, only the clause numbers used by Balsamon are quoted.

6 For example, regarding canon 16 of the Council of Chalcedon, Balsamon quotes Basilika 28.6.1. For canon 45 of the Council of Carthage, he quotes Novel cxxxiii. For canon 51 of the same council, he quotes Novel cxxiii: Σύνταγμα, ii. 258; iii. 403, 410.

7 Σύνταγμα, iv. 140–2.

8 Ibid. ii. 398. The original text of the canon is ambiguous in this regard since becoming a monastic and a consecrated virgin are mentioned in parallel.

9 Ibid. iii. 106.

10 Ibid. iii. 590.

11 Ibid. iii. 590–3. Aristenos even explicitly clarifies that ‘the habit’ in this context refers to the priestly garment (ἱερατικῷ ἀμφιάσματι). For Balsamon's comments on relevant canons see below.

12 Ibid. ii. 254, 256.

13 Ibid. ii. 254.

14 Ibid. iii. 309. The term κορῶν can be considered synonymous with παρθένων, as the consecration of κορῶν is notably distinct from the services of chrism application and confession (χρίσμα ἢ καταλλαγὴν μετανοούντων). In this case, it is unlikely that they were merely ordinary girls. Furthermore, as will be discussed below, in canon 51 of the same council, presbyters were indeed involved in the management of virgins alongside bishops, necessitating a clarification of their respective duties. This interpretation is supported by Zonaras and Balsamon in their scholia on this canon, with Zonaras explicitly stating that virgins were traditionally referred to as κόρας: ibid. iii. 410.

15 Ibid. ii. 256.

16 Ibid. iii. 60. Considering that the virgins were living together with one another, the term τισὶν here probably refers exclusively to men. This interpretation is also supported by Zonaras and Aristenos in their respective scholia on this canon. Thus, Zonaras: ‘Κωλύει δὲ ὁ κανὼν τὰς παρθενίαν ἐπαγγελλομένας συνέρχεσθαι ἀνδράσιν, ἀντὶ τοῦ συζῇν, συνοικεῖν, καὶ ἀδελφὰς ἑαυτὰς ὀνομαζούσας τῶν οἷς συνδιάγουσιν, ἶνα μηδὲ ὑποψία τις ᾖ κατ΄ αὐτῶν ἀπρεπής’ (‘The canon prohibits those who have vowed virginity from cohabiting with men, living together, or calling themselves sisters of those with whom they live, so that there may be no improper suspicion against them’); and Aristenos: ‘Κωλύει δὲ ὁ κανὼν οὗτος καὶ τὰς παρθένους μετὰ ἀνδρῶν ὃλως συναναστρέφεσθαι καθ΄ οἱανδήτινα πρόφασιν’ (‘This canon also prohibits virgins from living together with men under any pretext’): ibid. iii. 60–1.

17 Ibid. iii. 410.

18 Balsamon uses παρθενών for nominative and παρθενῶνα for accusative: ibid. ii. 257.

19 Ibid. iii. 402.

20 Ibid. ii. 315. It should be noted that the vocabulary used here does not preclude a consecrated widow from being the subject of this canon; see Balsamon's comment on this canon: ibid. ii. 316. For the canon of Basil the Great, which attested to the existence of a comparable order for widows see ibid. iv. 154–5. However, since canon 45 from the Council of Carthage stipulates visits to both virgins, as previously discussed, and widows, it is likely that the establishments for consecrated virgins and widows shared the same arrangement.

21 Ibid. iii. 60. As mentioned by Basil the Great: n. 22 below.

22 Ibid. iv. 140–1, 217–18.

23 Ibid. iv. 146–7.

24 Codex Justinianus, ed. P. Krueger, Berlin 1877, 1.2.13.

25 Ibid. 9.13.1.

26 ‘Εἴ τις οἱανοῦν ἔχοι δίκην πρός τινας τῶν εὐλαβεστάτων ἀσκητῶν ἢ τῶν ἱερωμένων παρθένων ἢ γυναικῶν ἐν μοναστηρίοις ὃλως οὐσῶν, τῷ θεοφιλεστάτῳ πόλεως ἑκάστης ἐπισκόπῳ προσιέναι / si quis quamcumque habuerit causam cum aliquibus venerabilibus sanctimonialibus aut sacratis virginibus aut mulieribus omnino in monasteriis consistentibus, deo amabilem civitatis illius episcopum interpellet’: Novel lxxix.1.

27 ‘Παρθένους μέντοι ὀφείλεις εἰπεῖν ἐνταῦθα, ἄνδρας δηλονότι καὶ γυναῖκας, μὴ τοὺς ἀποταξαμένους τῷ κόσμῳ, καὶ ἐπιλεξαμένους τὸν μονήρη βίον, ἀλλ΄ ἑτέρους τινὰς μετὰ λαϊκοῦ σχήματος προσερχομένους τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ παρθενεύειν ἐπαγγελλομένους’: Σύνταγμα, iii. 61.

28 This point is reiterated ibid. iv. 146.

29 ‘Διαφόρως εἴπομεν, ὅτι παρθένοι γυναῖκες καὶ χῆραι μετὰ λαϊκοῦ σχήματος ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις προσερχόμεναι, αἱ μὲν παρθενίαν ὡμολόγουν, αἱ δὲ σωφροσύνην· καὶ ὡς ἀνατεθειμέναι τῷ Θεῷ, ἠξιοῦντο παρὰ τῶν ἐπισκόπων πάσης σωματικῆς ἐπιμελείας’: ibid. iv. 143.

30 Ibid. iv. 108–9. The term κανονικαί was already in use by church Fathers in the fourth century, but Elm argues that they were probably more prominent than ordinary virgins, a distinction not suggested by Balsamon in his scholia: Elm, Virgins of God, 145–8.

31 ‘Ταῦτα τοῦ κανόνος διοριζομένου, μὴ εἴπῃς ἐξακούεσθαι τοῦτον καὶ εἰς μοναζούσας, ἢ ἀσκητρίας· κἂν γὰρ ἐν ἥττονι πάντη ἡλικίᾳ τὴν κοσμικὴν ἀπόθωνται τρίχα, βεβαία ἔσται, ὡς ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑξῆς ἡ ὁμολογία αὐτῶν’: Σύνταγμα, iv. 144.

32 Ibid. iv. 146.

33 Ibid. ii. 160; iii. 591.

34 Ibid. iii. 410.

35 ‘Ἐν ἅπασι δὲ τοῖς μοναστηρίοις, ἅπερ κοινόβια καλοῦνται, κελεύομεν, κατὰ τοὺς μοναχικοὺς κανόνας, ἐν ἑνὶ οἴκῳ πάντας οἰκεῖν, καὶ κοινῶς τρέφεσθαι κατὰ τὸν ὅμοιον τρόπον, ἐν ἑνὶ οἴκῳ πάντας κεχωρισμένως καθεύδειν.’ Balsamon tends to use the term οἴκος in his scholia to denote a much smaller space, such as a room or chamber, rather than an entire house for example: ibid. ii. 53, 357, 479, 482, 625; iii. 127, 484. The use of ‘separately’ (κεχωρισμένως) by Balsamon suggests that the οἴκος he refers to likely lacked distinct physical divisions for each resident's space.

36 Ibid. iii. 411. The use of ἀσκήτριαι alongside μοναχοὶ (monks) suggests that, in this context, it denotes nuns.

37 Ibid. iii. 257.

38 Ibid. iii. 411.

39 ‘Παρθένοι ποτὲ προσήρχοντο τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ’: ibid.

40 ‘Παρθένοι τὸ παλαιὸν προσήρχοντο τῷ Θεῷ ἁγνεύειν ὁμολογοῦσαι’: ibid. ii. 159.

41 Ibid. ii. 315, 398.

42 Theophanes, Chronographia, ed. C. de Boor, Leipzig 1883, 443 (A.M. 6259). For an English translation see The chronicle of Theophanes Confessor: Byzantine and Near Eastern history, A.D. 284–813, trans. Mango, C. and Scott, R., Oxford 1997, 611Google Scholar.

43 It is necessary to determine the connotation of the term parthenon in such contexts, as during the era of the Cappadocian Fathers, which witnessed the earliest uses of this term, the distinction between a parthenon and a monastery was not as defined as perceived in Balsamon's twelfth-century scholium. The meaning of the term parthenon might have undergone a subtle development in between. Theophanes's use of this term implies that, by his time, the difference between a parthenon and a monastery was already recognised. For references to parthenon in the works of the Cappadocian Fathers see Maraval, P., Grégoire de Nysse: vie de sainte Macrine: introduction, texte critique, traduction, notes et index, Paris 1971, 37, 8–13Google Scholar; Gregory of Nazianzus: autobiographical poems, ed. and trans. C. White, Cambridge 1996, 50, lines 547–9; and Gregory of Nazianzus, PG xxxvi.577A; cf. Elm, Virgins of God, 98, 186–7, 207–11.

44 The chronicle of Theophanes Confessor, 612 n. 12.

45 Talbot, A.-M., ‘A comparison of the monastic experience of Byzantine men and women’, in Talbot, A.-M., Women and religious life in Byzantium, Aldershot 2001, ch. xiiGoogle Scholar; cf. Janin, R., La Géographie ecclésiastique de l'Empire byzantine: première partie: le siège de Constantinople et le patriarcat œcuménique, III: Les églises et les monastères, Paris 1969Google Scholar, and Les Églises et les monastères des grands centres byzantins, Paris 1975.

46 Kaloktenes is first recorded as the metropolitan of Thebes in 1166; Vasileios Delvenakiotes has dated the death of Kaloktenes to sometime between 1186 and 1193: Ο μητροπολίτης Ιωάννης ο Καλοκτένης και αι Θήβαι (ΙΒ΄ μ.Χ. αιών), Athens 1970, 65–8, 76.

47 He describes how Patriarch Michael iii of Constantinople inquired about the matter and the responses it elicited. Although the synod determined that Kaloktenes's appointment of bishops was uncanonical, the records do not specify the penalty he received: see Σύνταγμα, iii. 247.

48 V. Grumel, Les Regestes des actes du Patriarcat de Constantinople, I: Les actes des patriarches, fasc. ii et iii: Les regestes de 715 à 1206, Paris 1989, no. 1065 and no. 1112.

49 A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, ‘Συνοδικά γράμματα Ἰωάννου του Ἀποκαύκου, μητροπολίτου Ναυπάκτου’, Βυζαντίς i (1909), 3–30 at pp. 19–20. The record is dated 1224/5. For the dating and a translated version of this text see A.-M. Talbot, ‘Affirmative action in the 13th c.: an act of John Apokaukos concerning the Blachernitissa monastery in Arta’, in Talbot, Women and religious life, ch. xvi. It should be noted here that Apokaukos's record is ambiguous regarding Kaloktenes's actual role; he may have been the founder of the original male monastery or the one who oversaw its conversion. For the former interpretation see Talbot, A.-M., ‘The conversion of Byzantine monasteries from male to female and vice-versa’, in Scholz, C. and Makris, G. (eds), Polypleuros nous: Miscellanea für Peter Schreiner zu seinem 60. Geburtstag, Munich 2000, 361Google Scholar, and ‘Affirmative action’, 408. For the latter see Delvenakiotes, Ο μητροπολίτης Ιωάννης, 71, and ‘Η Θήβα κατά τον ΙΒ μ.Χ. αιώνα και ο μητροπολίτης Ιωάννης ο Καλοκτένης’, Επετηρίς της Εταιρείας Βοιωτικών Μελετών i/1 (1988), 689–705 at p. 701; C. Koilakou, ‘Η συμβολή των ανασκαφών στην έφευνα των βυζαντινών ναών της Θήβας’, in V. Aravantinos and E. Kountoure (eds), 100 χρόνια αρχαιολογικού έργου στη Θήβα: οι πρωτεργάτες των ερευνών και οι συνεχιστές τους, Athens 2014, 435. The preference for the latter interpretation is based on the fact that the convent of Dekane is cited alongside three other similarly converted monasteries, with only the converters mentioned. Additionally, Kaloktenes's concern for devout women, as exhibited from his foundation of the Theban parthenon, aligns with someone who would initiate the conversion of a male monastery into a convent.

50 Papadopoulos-Kerameus, ‘Συνοδικά γράμματα Ἰωάννου του Ἀποκαύκου’, 17, 20.

51 ‘Καὶ εἰ μὲν τὸν τριετῆ βίον ἃπαντα διαμένοιεν … τούτους τῆς μοναχικῆς ἀξιοῦν στολῆς τε καὶ κουρᾶς,/ Et dum triennio tota vita permanserint … hos monachicam promereri vestem atque tonsuram’: Novel v.2; cf. Kazhdan, A. and others (eds), The Oxford dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford 1991Google Scholar, s.v. ‘Tonsure’.

52 Σύνταγμα, ii. 381, 412–13, 419–21; iii. 89–90.

53 Limone, O., Santi monaci e santi eremiti: alla ricerca di un modello di perfezione nella letteratura agiografica dell'Apulia normanna, Galatina 1988, 142Google Scholar, lines 234–8.

54 For a recent seminal work on Byzantine monasticism see A.-M. Talbot, Varieties of monastic experience in Byzantium, 800–1453, Notre Dame, In 2019.

55 Roskelly, J., De Très Savants Pasteurs: conceptions et pratiques de l'autorité des évêques dans la société byzantines des XIe–XIIe siècles, Paris 2022, 275–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 For example, Chenu, M.-D., ‘The evangelical awakening’, in Chenu, M.-D., Nature, man, and society in the twelfth century, Chicago 1968, 239–69Google Scholar, and Grundmann, H., Religious movements in the Middle Ages, Notre Dame, In 1995, 7–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

57 A few scholars have noted the comparable religious developments in contemporary Byzantium and the Latin West and have attempted to explain them, for example, from the perspective of transmission and mutual influence. See, for instance, Morris, R., ‘Northern Europe invades the Mediterranean, 900–1200’, in Holmes, G. (ed.), The Oxford history of medieval Europe, Oxford 1988, 181–9Google Scholar, and Jotischky, A., ‘Monastic reform and the geography of Christendom: experience, observation and influence’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society xxii (2012), 57–74Google Scholar.

58 G. Wu, ‘The Venetian community in Byzantine Thebes (1072–1204): a prosopographical study’, Вестник Волгоградского государственного университета. Серия 4. История. Регионоведение. Международные отношения [Science Journal of Volgograd State University, 4th ser.: History, Area Studies, International Relations] xxviii (2023), 201–11. Although Venetians were most likely drawn to Thebes by silk, it has been suggested that the agricultural and pastoral products around the city were attractive to them as well: A. Dunn, ‘Historical and archaeological indicators of economic change in middle Byzantine Boeotia and their problems’, Επετηρίς της Εταιρείας Βοιωτικών Μελετών ii/2 (1995), 755–74 at p. 770; Angold, M., ‘The shaping of the medieval Byzantine “city”’, Byzantinische Forschungen x (1985), 1–38Google Scholar at p. 25.

59 Connor, C. L. and Connor, W. R., The life and miracles of Saint Luke of Steiris, Brookline, Ma 1994, 16, 34, 48, 110Google Scholar; Liutprand of Cremona, ‘Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana’, in Chiesa, P. (ed.), Liudprandi Cremonensis opera omnia, Turnhout 1998, 213–18Google Scholar; Géographie d'Edrisi, ii, trans. P. Jaubert, Paris 1840, 120–3; Choniates, Niketas, Historia, ed. van Dieten, I.-A., Berlin 1975, 72–4Google Scholar; Adler, M., The itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela, New York 1907, 10Google Scholar; Saewulf (1102, 1103 A. D.), ed. and trans. W. Brownlow, London 1892, 32.

60 Cf. Kislinger, E., ‘Reisen und Verkehrswege zwischen Byzanz und dem Abendland vom neunten bis in die Mitte des elften Jahrhunderts’, in Konstantinou, E. (ed.), Byzanz und das Abendland im 10. und 11. Jahrhundert, Vienna 1997, 231–57Google Scholar; Jacoby, D., ‘Byzantine maritime trade, 1025–1118’, Travaux et mémoires xxi (2017), 627–48Google Scholar, and ‘Italian traders in Byzantium, c. 800–1204’, in N. Drocourt and S. Kolditz (eds), A companion to Byzantium and the West, 900–1204, Leiden 2022, 471–95.

61 Grundmann, Religious movements, 81.

62 For the industry, Jacoby, David's investigation remains seminal: ‘Silk in western Byzantium before the Fourth Crusade’, Byzantinische Zeitschrift lxxxiv/lxxxv (1991/1992), 452–500Google Scholar. See also Wu, G., ‘The metropolitan and the Theban silk industry: a hypothetical reconstruction’, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies xlvi (2022), 64–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

63 Wu, ‘The metropolitan and the Theban silk industry’, 64–80.