Monastic exegesis of the Bible in the Patristic period was characterized by ascetic pragmatism, reminiscence and meditation of the canonical text and at the same time its extra-verbal literal and spiritual interpretation. The consequence of such a manner of reading the text of the Bible was to acknowledge the monastic way of life as the royal path (via regia) and the monk as the one possessing certain spiritual knowledge and living faith.
The article aims to reconstruct on the basis of the writings of St. Paulinus of Nola both the way the famous master of Nola saw Rome and the significance of his pilgrimages there. Ancient, pre-Christian Rome is called by him the daughter of Babylon because of the pagan character of Rome and the numerous sins committed by its citizens as well. However, thanks to the presence of true believers such as Melanie or the relics of holy Apostles and martyrs like Peter and Paul, Pagan Rome becomes more the daughter of Zion and new Jerusalem. Paulinus of Nola and Terasia, his wife, once a year traveled to their monastery in Campania, from the grave of the martyr St. Felix to Rome, on the festival of the Apostles Peter and Paul, where they usually spent 10 days. Later, as bishop of Nola, he set off to Rome earlier, just after Easter. His pilgrimage usually lasted four weeks. Besides the religious aspect of traveling to Rome, the meetings with numerous Christian celebrities Corning to the festival of the Apostles in Rome were the goal of his pilgrimage. Since the very beginning Paulinus treated his journeys as a way to establish contacts with important priests of Christian Rome. For Paulinus these meetings gave him the opportunity to propagate the monastic style of life, which he himself adopted while still in Spain.
I considered the different views regarding the issues of possession, wealth and poverty in the fourth and fifth century. I focused on the concepts of the fifth-century theologian (St. Ambrose, the Bishop of Milan, St. Augustine the Bishop of Hippo), pioneers of the western monastic theology and also the earliest monastic theologians and the heterodox pelagianist writers. They regarded soteriological perspective of Christianity. In that early period the socio-economic view did not constitute a doctrine. We can distinguish two essential approaches to the issue of possession in the teaching of the Church Fathers in the fourth and fifth century: a realistic and a pessimistic attitude. (The optimistic version regarded the possession of wealth as the result of Divine Protection and as a reward for pious Christian life. Both those models presumed that all the earthly goods were created by God and that people are only the temporary stewards of the goods given them for use. The realistic approach emphasized that everything which God has made was good and there was nothing wrong with owning possessions but it denounced the unjust means by which it is sometimes achieved or used. The pessimistic approach of Anchorites (monasticism, orthodox and heterodox ascetics) accepted the possession of goods which were made with one’s own hands. Everything which was not necessary should be given as alms. Coenobitic monks didn’t have anything of their own because everything belonged to the monastery. Their superior decided how everything could be used. The heterodox followers of Pelagius condemned shared of private property at all, and shared the view that voluntarily poverty was the only possible way for Christian.
The Christian Church in the 1st and 2nd century was already conscious of being a commu- nity of believers. The criteria of membership developed gradually and frequently only inciden- tally. Consequently it is still too early to say of a developed problem orthodoxy/orthopraxis or heterodoxy/heteropraxis. The basic 2nd century criteria of being a member of Christian Church in and out were as follows: belief in Jesus Christ corroborated by baptism, a sincere will of belonging to the Church of true believers in Christ, and a duty to live in agreement with the high moral standards. If a Christian man or woman broke the principles observed by the commu- nity, he/she was successively removed from the Church society of the faithful, and had to re- main out of the Church until he/she again converted to the true faith. The similarities between the Christian excommunication and Jewish herem are clearly visible. A heterodoxy was re- garded as sinful (a lack of unity with the church) and consequently must have been a painful experience of isolation from one another on both sides, orthodox and heterodox.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.