Monks without a Monastery or Order?

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isaachunter
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Monks without a Monastery or Order?

Post #1

Post by isaachunter »

I stumbled onto a comment by Jerome about Jovinian, a heretic who died around 405 A.D., that I've tried to find more context for but have come up short. The quote is:

(1) Jovinian. Jovinian was a Roman monk or, rather, solitary (for many took private monastic vows without entering any order or monastery) who had perceived the danger of degrading the ordinary Christian life which lurked in the profession of asceticism (Life of Jerome - NPNF (V2-06)).

Here's a google books link.

I'm interested in finding more info or literature about the "monks" referenced here "for many took private monastic vows without entering any order or monastery." Also termed as "solitaries."

Was this a common occurrence (as opposed to entering a monastery)? Did their daily life differ from the monks in monasteries? Are there other examples of individuals doing this throughout history? Was it accepted as a calling and vocation or considered unorthodox or even heretical?

Thanks or any info.

IH

tomblj
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Re: Monks without a Monastery or Order?

Post #2

Post by tomblj »

Not too sure about that one. Probably the desert fathers would be a reasonable guess as far as monastics who didn't go in for formal orders.

Have you found any more info in the mean time?

isaachunter
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Re: Monks without a Monastery or Order?

Post #3

Post by isaachunter »

tomblj wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:53 am Not too sure about that one. Probably the desert fathers would be a reasonable guess as far as monastics who didn't go in for formal orders.

Have you found any more info in the mean time?
Nothing to report. At this point I really don't know where to look next. I think I might do a detailed relational keyword search in my Logos library for key terms like "order, monk, monastery," etc. A search for Jovinian turned up next to nothing. But, then again, my library in Logos is somewhat limited.

I know there is more of a tradition for hermits in the East than there is in the West. Especially those who go out into the actual woods to live. It does not surprise me that not much was written about them if Jovinian and his flock were the ones doing this, since he was condemned as a heretic for his proto-protestant-like ways.

I know there were Idiorrhythmic monks in the east (especially at Mt Athos) who were able to keep their own finances (and wealth), lived under their own rules, and did not answer to an abbot. But these are mostly gone now and the Jovinian comment would have been centuries before this and Idiorrhythimic monasticism seems to be a more modern practice.

Jovinian died in 405 AD. St Benedict died in 547 AD. So in that time the different kinds of monks developed into Benedict's descriptions: Cenobites, Anchorites, Sarabaites, and Gyrovagues. It's interesting that, despite the Desert Fathers having founded monasticism as eremitical, it didn't take long before that was pushed to the number two spot in favor of the "fellowship community" of monks - Cenobites. Plus the Anchorites is given a prerequisite of being in community for a long period of time rather than going immediately into seclusion. It's possible that Jerome in his statement about Jovinian is referencing the Sarabaites (or what would become them) having "a law unto themselves." Though St. Benedict's definition is dripping with disapproval of this type of monastic, while I don't pick up any negativity in Jermone's comment about Jovinian and others like him.

I can see why there was a negative opinion of Gyrovagues if the description is accurate: that they wandered about from monastery to monastery, living much like the rest of the world. These would be definitely a drain on the spiritual communities. God only knows what kinds of problems or drama they brought with them. I actually know of a modern-day Gyrovagues who does similar with the protestant churches. He "gave up" his last name and any form of identification (suspicious), and wanders on foot or by bicycle (or any ride he can beg) and goes from church to church in search of, as he puts it "genuine community." Really what he appears to be seeking is to be able to live in people's homes, eat their food, and do nothing of importance. When I knew him he had taken up residence in a church. People from the congregation brought him food and he did the AV stuff during church services. The congregation eventually turned on him when he protested an issue with the youth group.

Personally I would not be surprised if there is no other reference to this kind of monastic in the Jerome reference since it was unorthodox for the day or was possibly a practice of those who disagreed with orthodox theology of the established orders.

You might be right about the reference being directed toward the desert fathers. By this point it would have been second or third generation out in the desert. St. Anthony died in 356 A.D. If Jovinian was born around 340 AD. he would have been in his prime (16 years?) when Anthony died. Though, I'm not certain how mobile Jovinian was. He was born in Corduene (Eastern Turkey) and St. Anthony was in Egypt. The life of St. Anthony was written around 360 A.D. so it certainly had time to be copied and circulate. It's possible Jovinian had it and modeled himself after the Desert Fathers.

I will definitely keep looking, though.

IH

isaachunter
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Re: Monks without a Monastery or Order?

Post #4

Post by isaachunter »

I was able to uncover a little more about this:

It appears a little bit before the reference in question concerning Jovinian's "solitary vocation" there is another passage that seemingly describes Jeromes earlier activities. It's in the same book here (I've highlighted relevant sections):

“Prolegomena to Jerome.” In St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works, edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, 6:xvi–xvii.

370–73, 373 Aquileia. Returning probably by Vercellæ (1) to Italy he [Jerome] was for three years at Aquileia, where he entered definitively upon the twin pursuits of his life, Scriptural study and the fostering of asceticism. A society of congenial minds gathered round him, comprising Rufinus, Bonosus, Heliodorus (afterwards Bishop of Altinum), Chromatius (afterwards Bishop of Aquileia), and his brother Eusebius, and the Archdeacon Jovinus, the monk Chrysogonus, the sub-deacon Niceas, Innocentius, and Hylas, the freedman of the wealthy but ascetic Roman lady, Melania, together with Evagrius (afterwards Bishop of Antioch), who had come to Italy with Eusebius, Bishop of Vercellæ, on his return from exile. For the mention of these in various parts of Jerome’s works, the Index must be consulted. These ascetics did not form a monastery. There were as yet no Orders or Rules. The vow was merely a “purpose” (propositum) which each privately took on himself and the terms of which each man freely prescribed. The Greek word Monachus (Monk) was used, but only implied living a single or separate life. Some were hermits (5, 9, 247), some lived in cities (121, 250). Jovinian was a monk, though antiascetic (378); Heliodorus (91) and John of Jerusalem (174) were monks, though Bishops. Some members of the ascetic society at Aquileia may have resided in the same house; but there was no cenobitic discipline. Jerome visited Stridon and the neighbouring town of Æmona (12), and perhaps resided at his native place for a time, but he complains of the worldliness of the people of his native town and of the opposition of their Bishop, Lupicinus (8 n. 10). The friends at Aquileia were united in the closest friendship. Rufinus’ baptism (7, Ruf. Ap. i. 4, Vol. iii. 436) and the writing of Jerome’s first letter on “the woman seven times struck with the axe” are the only incidents which have come down to us of this period. We only know that the society was broken up by some event which Jerome speaks of as “a sudden storm,” and “a monstrous rending asunder” (5).
374 Jerome determined on going to the East with Evagrius and Heliodorus; Innocentius, Niceas, and Hylas accompanied him (1, 5, 6, 10). Chromatius, Eusebius, and Jovinus remained in Italy. Bonosus retired to an island in the Adriatic, where he lived the life of a hermit (5, 9). Rufinus went to Egypt and subsequently to Palestine in the company of Melania (6, 7). Jerome and his companions travelled through Thrace, Pontus, Bithynia, Galatia, at the capital of which (Ancyra) he appears to have stayed (497), Cappadocia, and Cilicia, to Antioch, their haven of rest (5). But they did not long remain together. Heliodorus made a journey to Jerusalem, where he was the guest of Florentius (6). Jerome was in ill health, and at length, in the middle of Lent (36), fell into a fever of which he nearly died. To this illness belongs his anti-Ciceronian dream (36, Apol. ii. 6, Vol. iii. 462), which finally determined him to abandon secular learning and devote himself to sacred studies. The successive deaths of Innocentius and Hylas left Jerome alone with Evagrius, at whose country house he fell in with the ancient hermit Malchus (315), and was encouraged by him in the ascetic tendency. He hoped to see Rufinus, and wrote to him through Florentius (4, 6), but he did not come; and he determined to embrace the life of solitude. Heliodorus had some thought of accompanying him, but, to Jerome’s great chagrin, felt the call to pastoral work to be the stronger, and returned to Italy (8, 13, 123).


374–79 The Desert. Jerome spent the next five years in the Desert of Chalcis, to the east of Antioch (7). It was peopled by hermits who, though living apart for most purposes, were under some kind of authority (4, 21). Jerome wrote to their head, Theodosius, begging to be admitted into their company (4). His life while in the desert was one of rigorous penance, of tears and groans alternating with spiritual ecstasy, and of temptations from the haunting memories of Roman life (24, 25); he lived in a cell or cavern; he earned his daily bread, and was clad in sackcloth (21, 24), but he was not wholly cut off from converse with men. He saw Evagrius frequently (7, 8); he wrote and received letters and books (7, 11); he learned Hebrew from a converted Jew (Ep. xviii. 10), and copied and translated the Gospel according to the Hebrews (Ill. Men, 2, 3, Vol. iii. 362), and his brother solitaries he found only too accessible (Ep. xvii. 3). Towards the close of his sojourn he became involved in the controversies then agitating the Church at Antioch, where the Arian Vitalis, the orthodox but Arian-ordained Meletius, and the Western Paulinus disputed the possession of the bishopric (20). Jerome found himself beset with demands for a confession of faith in terms strange to his Western education (19, 20). He appealed to Pope Damasus for advice (19, 20); but he and his friends found his position intolerable. They would rather, he says, live among wild beasts than among Christians such as those about them. In the autumn of 378 he wrote to Marcus, then head of the eremite community, to say that he only begged for the “hospitality of the desert” for a few months: in the spring he would be gone (21).

...............

So, unless I'm mistaken, Jerome was at one time part of these so call "monks without a monastery" movement. It also appears as if, during his 3 year stay in Aquileia, Jerome was in the same "monastic group" as Jovinian the Non-ascetic. If this occurred 370-373 AD then Jovinian would have been 30-33 years old. It would not be until 393 AD that Jerome would write against him in his 2 part book "Against Jovinian." Certainly this group (or groups like this) is what Jerome was referring to when he states, "many took private monastic vows without entering any order or monastery" because Jerome had done so in the company of several included Jovinian 20 years before. Unless, of course, this Jovinian is a different person than the one Jerome later denounced. But how many Jovinians were there during this time who were anti-ascetic?

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