BMCR 2009.05.20: Gibbons on Horn, John Rufus: The Lives of Peter the Iberian, Theodosius of Jerusalem, and the Monk Romanus. Writings from the Greco-Roman World 24

Cornelia B. Horn, Robert R. Phenix, Jr., John Rufus: The Lives of Peter
the Iberian, Theodosius of Jerusalem, and the Monk Romanus. Writings
from the Greco-Roman World 24.  Atlanta:  Society of Biblical
Literature, 2008.  Pp. xcii, 370.  ISBN 9781589832008.  $51.95 (pb).

Reviewed by Kathleen Gibbons, University of Toronto Centre for the
Study of Religion ([email protected])
Word count:  1271 words
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In their recent edition and translation of two important writings of
the fifth-century hagiographer John Rufus, Cornelia Horn and Robert
Phenix Jr. have added to the growing collection of scholarly literature
relating to Palestinian monasticism. By providing the first published
English translations of Vita Petri Iberi, and De obitu Theodosii, as
well as an edition of the Syriac texts, Horn and Phenix present us with
a major contribution to studies of Christian asceticism in
fifth-century Gaza.

While studies of early Christian monasticism, and hagiography in
particular, have tended to focus primarily on Egyptian and Syrian
movements, since the early nineties there has been a growing interest
in monasticism as it developed in the Judean desert and the Gaza
region. This volume follows Horn's own Asceticism and Christological
Controversy in Fifth-Century Palestine, the product of her doctoral
dissertation.[[1]] In addition to making first-hand knowledge of Peter
the Iberian, Theodosius, and their connections to the Egyptian monastic
world more readily accessible to those with an interest in late antique
social history, this collection also highlights John Rufus's
significance both as a hagiographer and as a representative of
anti-Chalcedonian Christianity. As Horn and Phenix point out, De obitu
Theodosii in particular seems to distance itself not only from
Chalcedonian Christology but from the more strictly Monophysite beliefs
of Eutyches, indicating that those who rejected the developments of
Chalcedon in Palestine were not limited to the Monophysite camp and so
suggesting that there may be a richer story concerning the role of
doctrine in shaping monastic communal identity during this period than
is frequently told. Scholars working on the fifth-century
Christological disputes, and their relation to the development of
monastic communities, should therefore especially welcome this volume.

The introduction provides a broad overview of the intellectual,
ecclesiological, and cultural milieu of Peter and John Rufus. Horn and
Phenix begin with a brief summary of the relationship between Iberia
and the Persian empire and the impact of the Roman empire's
relationship with Christians on Persia's treatment of its own Christian
population. They then lay out the major debates and players surrounding
the Christological controversies that led up to Chalcedon. Despite the
introduction's usefulness, there could have been more discussion about
the relevance of either Rufus or Peter for contextualizing the writings
of Cyril of Scythopolis, the Chalcedonian author whose various
hagiographies have hitherto provided most of the material for studies
of Palestinian asceticism during the Monophysite and Origenist
controversies. Given that the book's back summary speaks of it as a
"valuable counterbalance from a minority perspective to the biographic
and historical writings" of Cyril, a few pages sketching out what
exactly that counterbalance consists of would have welcome.

The introduction and timeline are followed by the critical edition and
translation of Vita Petri Iberi, a lengthy hagiography detailing
Peter's relations with other church and imperial figures, his
pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and his missionary work among the
monastic communities of Gaza, and the much shorter De obitu Theodosii.
The book concludes with an extensive bibliography of studies related to
Palestinian asceticism and monasticism more generally. The translators
also provide extremely detailed footnotes, including remarks on the
philology of the Syriac versions of the texts--which were originally
written in Greek, but which survive now only in Syriac--as well as
historical commentary and abundant references to related secondary
literature. Occasionally, these remarks about the texts portray a
perhaps too-ready inclination to take Rufus's reports at face value.
One wonders whether, for instance, Rufus' depiction of the village-wide
grief at Peter's death should be taken as historical fact, as the
translators do. On the whole, however, the notes provide a helpful
context for those approaching these works for the first time.

As I have said, this volume will no doubt prove invaluable for those
working in the history of the Christological controversies and of
asceticism in late antique Gaza. Aside from these topics, however, the
material made available in this edition also can contribute to a number
of long-standing discussions in the secondary literature on early
Christian monasticism. The Vita Petri Iberi in particular offers
material that engages several current studies on early monastic
spirituality and psychology. As Horn and Phenix themselves note,
Rufus's depiction of spiritual pilgrimage, both internal and external,
as a kind of xenitia resonates with Daniel Caner's recent work on the
theme of exile in monastic writings.[[2]] Rufus's frequent portrayal of
representatives of Chalcedonian Christology as associated with demonic
agents may likewise offer scholars further opportunity to expand upon
David Brakke's recent work on the significance of demonology for
ascetic identity. Brakke has argued that the presence of demons in
ascetic literature is indicative of an anxiety with a "divided
self."[[3]] While Brakke's study treats mostly sources that explore the
internal psychology of the individual ascetic, the treatments of
demonology in Rufus's writings suggest the social dimension of this
monastic trope. Here, Horn and Phenix have provided students of this
period with an occasion to consider how the preoccupation with the
demonic powers evident in so many ascetic writings from this period
reflects not only a concern with personal moral progress, but with the
relationship between doctrinal and moral purity among the larger
religious community.

In this vein, Vita Petri Iberi also offers a window into Peter's
various interactions with institutional authority figures, both
ecclesiastical and imperial. Popular figures from monastic literature
such as Melania the Younger and her companions Pinianus and Gerontius
make an appearance, as does the Chalcedonian bishop Juvenal of
Jerusalem. Peter's ambiguous relationship with the Roman empire is also
reflected in his interactions with Theodosius II and Empress Eudocia.
The complicated relationship between imperial power, ecclesiastical
authority, and asceticism, and the bearing of that relationship on
doctrinal disputes, has been explored in connection with Origenism[[4]]
and Arianism.[[5]] Here, Rufus provides ample material for further
reflection on how the relationship between the young Christian empire
and its various monastic movements and communities shaped, and was
shaped by, the Christological debates of the fifth and sixth centuries.


Horn and Phenix, following for the most part the German edition of
Richard Raabe in their Syriac text, have marked his pagination in both
the English and the Syriac renditions and refer to the reader to his
critical apparatus. The translation itself is clearly designed to serve
as a pedagogical tool for those new to Syriac. Horn and Phenix have
rendered their English version as transparently as one could ask,
marking in brackets places where coherent translation requires the
supplementation of a word or phrase. While their literal approach does
occasionally lead to some awkward English prose--Melania the Younger is
in one place referred to as the "later Melania," for instance--the
translators' choice to err on the side of transparency rather than
lyricism makes this a valuable learning tool for those still developing
a foundation in the Syriac language. Particularly given the pedagogical
focus of the edition, however, there are a few surprising omissions
from the bibliography. John Binns' monograph Asceticism and Ambassadors
of Christ, one of the more significant recent studies of Cyril of
Scythopolis, has been left out.[[6]] Derwas Chitty's The Desert a City,
now an older study but nevertheless still frequently referenced in
current literature on Palestinian monasticism, is also rather
peculiarly absent.[[7]]

Quibbling aside, this edition is an important contribution to the
growing body of scholarship on fifth- and sixth-century Palestinian
monasticism in general, and anti-Chalcedonian asceticism in particular.
Horn and Phenix here have made a rich and understudied corpus more
readily accessible to scholars in a manner that should foster further
work. We may eagerly look forward to their forthcoming translations of
the Life of Rabbula of Edessa and Rufus's Plerophoriae.

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Notes:


1.   Horn, Cornelia B. Asceticism and Christological Controversy in
Fifth-Century Palestine: The Career of Peter the Iberian. Oxford
University Press: 2006.

2.   Caner, Daniel. Wandering, Begging Monks: Spiritual Authority and
the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity. Princeton University
Press: 2002.

3.   Brakke, David. Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat
in Early Christianity. Harvard University Press: 2006.

4.   Clark, Elizabeth. The Origenist Controversy: The Cultural
Construction of an Early Christian Debate. Princeton University Press:
1992.

5.   Brakke, David. Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism. Oxford
University Press: 1996.

6.   Binns, John. Asceticism and Ambassadors of Christ: The Monasteries
of Palestine 314-631. Oxford University Press: 1996.

7.   Chitty, Derwas. The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of
Egyptian and Palestian Monasticism Under the Christian Empire. Oxford
University Press: 1966.