The canons of our fathers : monastic rules of Shenoute / Bentley Layton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Layton, Bentley, author.

Series:

Oxford early Christian studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dayr al-Abyaḍ (Sūhāj, Egypt).

Coptic Church.

Coptic monasticism and religious orders--Egypt--History--Rules.

Coptic monasticism and religious orders.

Shenute, Saint, approximately 348-466.

Shenute.

Coptic Church--History.

Coptic Church--Rules.

Dayr al-Abyaḍ (Sūhāj, Egypt)--History--Sources.

History.

Egypt.

Genre:

Sources.

Rules.

Physical Description:

xi, 359 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Other Title:

Monastic rules of Shenoute

Place of Publication:

UK : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

This book is the first publication of a very early collection of Christian monastic rules from Roman Egypt. Designed for the so-called "White Monastery Federation," a community of monks and nuns who banded together around 360 CE, the rules are quoted by the great monastic leader Shenoute of Atripe in his writings of the fourth and fifth century. These rules provide new and intimate access to the earliest phases of Christian communal (cenobitic) monasticism. In this volume, Bentley Layton presents for the first time the Coptic text of the rules, amounting to 595 entries, accompanied by a clear and exact English translation. Four preliminary chapters discuss the character of the rules in their historical and social context, and present new evidence for the founding of the monastic federation. From passing remarks in the rules, Layton paints a brilliant picture of monastic daily life and ascetic practice, organized around six general topics: the monastery as a physical plant, the human makeup of the community, the pattern of ascetic observances, the hierarchy of authority, the daily liturgy, and the monastic economy. The Canons of Our Fathers will be a fundamental resource for readers interested in Christian life in late antiquity, ascetic practices, and the history of monasticism in all its forms. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 The Nature of the Rules

Introduction 3

A New Corpus of Monastic Rules 3

"Eremitic" and "Cenobitic" Monasticism 5

1 The Historical Context of the Rules 11

Institutional Shape of the Federation 11

Evidence for the Founding of the Federation: The Naples Fragment 14

The Naples Fragment in English 15

A Tentative Early History of the Federation 19

Appendix 1 Who Is the Main Actor in the Naples Fragment? 27

Appendix 2 Historical Evidence for Pcol 32

2 The Corpus of Monastic Rules 35

The Nature of the Rules Corpus 35

Rules and Rule Books 36

Who Wrote the Rules? 39

Form and Content of the Rules 42

Language of the Rules 45

Sanctions and the Rules 47

3 Monastic Life As Seen in the Rules 51

The Cenobium As a Physical Plant 52

The Community 54

Ascetic Observances 57

The Hierarchy 61

Liturgy 68

Economy 74

4 Monastic Experience and Monastic Rules 77

The Experience of Conversion to Monastic Life 78

Rules and the Acquisition of Monastic Identity 81

Maintenance of Monastic Identity 84

Part 2 Corpus of Monastic Rules

Abbreviations for Libraries and Museums Holding the Coptic Manuscripts 89

Editorial Signs 90

The Rules, Edited and Translated 92

Concordance of Manuscript References and Rule Numbers 343.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780199582631

0199582637

OCLC:

874730878