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 FRIENDS OF DR. WILLIAMS'S LIBRARY

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 ASCETICS AND HUMANISTS IN
ELEVENTH-CENTURY BYZANTIUM

In a brilliant study published just over sixty years ago on

the state of the Byzantine Empire before the crusades,
Carl Neumann described what seemed to him to be the
pith and marrow of life in the East Roman Empire during
the tenth century and, more especially, the eleventh century
down to 1081. 1 He was writing before the detailed re-
search of recent years on the economic, political and
administrative history of Byzantium, but much that his
penetrating eye discerned still stands unchallenged. He
gives an impassioned account of the internal and external
problems of Empire in a vivid polished rhetorical style,
reminiscent of one of our own distinguished Byzantinists,
Professor Norman Baynes, whose work in an earlier field
is characterized by just such a quality, and to whom it is
particularly appropriate that I should on this occasion
gratefully pay tribute, by reason of his long association with
Dr. Williams's Library. Like Baynes, Neumann stresses
the broad issues, without losing sight of the varied detail
which brings a past age to life. He shows the Empire
reaching its apogee in the tenth and early eleventh centuries; _ -
he traces its relations with the peoples of the outside world
-in Italy, in Russia, in Egypt, Palestine, Syria and the other
countries fringing the eastern frontier, and he analyses the
relation between the Emperor and his subjects, particularly
the powerful magnates of the provinces. The climax is
reached in his last two chapters when in the central years
of the eleventh century a fifty-years struggle took place
between rival political parties, the civil aristocracy and
1 C. Neumann Die Weltstellung des byzantinischen Reiches vor den Kreuzzilgen
(Leipzig 1894). A French translation appeared in the Revue de /'orient latin,
X (1903-04), pp. 56-171. Both have long been unobtainable, but the
original German has now been reprinte1 by the Verlag t,.dolf M. _Hakkert,
Amsterdam, 1959. An English translation of Neum~nn s essay will appear
as an appendix to my forthcoming book on the Amonans and Macedoruans.

1
court party who patronized learning and art but could not
maintain strong government, and the landowners in the
provinces who pressed for a firm military stand against
external invaders-the Turks in the East, the Normans in
South Italy and the uncivilized_Turkic nomads swarming
south from beyond the Danube frontier. As Neumann
realized, and as historians today admit,1 it was this internal
struggle which was largely responsible for Byzantium's
territorial losses and weakened resources on the eve of the
First Crusade of 1096.
Into this story of the continual neglect of the army with
its tragic consequences, such as the desecration of St.
Basil's Cathedral of Caesarea during the course of Turkish
raids into the heart of Cappadocia, Neumann interpolates
an arresting description of a single man, Michael Psellus.
Psellus did of course play an important role as a politician
who supported the court party, but Neumann is primarily
concerned here with scholarship. He writes, "Amongst
the many and boring figures of Byzantine literature he stands
out alone, a real living being. Here was a man who could
once again bring out the full magic of that magnificent
instrument, the Greek language. Here was a writer who
once again roused interest by the content of his work as
much as by his style, an artist who had something more to
offer than hackneyed passages and ideas." 2 Neumann is
exceedingly penetrating in much that he writes about
Psellus, particularly when he analyses his character and
describes his sensitivity to environment and his quickness
to assess the varying reactions of different individuals.
There is a superb passage on Psellus' own awareness of the
natural beauty of the mountain-side and his personal dislike
of monastic life when he tried his vocation in a house on
Mt. Olympus in Asia Minor. 3 But it remains true withal
that Neumann had curiously blind spots.
1
See G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byz.antine Empire (Oxford, 1956),
pp. 283 ff.
2
C. Neumann, Weltstellung, p. 84.
8 Ibid., pp. 86 ff.

2
 This is particularly noticable in his attitude to learning,
or art, or religion. He pays tribute to the part played by
the Macedonian dynasty before the eleventh century "in
rediscovering and using the treasures of Antiquity," and he
rightly observes that during this period knowledge in every
field was used to strengthen the foundations of the state. 1
Further than this he does not go. His next jumping-off
ground is Michael Psellus whom he regarded to some
extent as the forerunner of things to come, and almost
portrayed as the solitary humanist of the period. Art and
architecture he may be forgiven for omitting. He wrote
before the pioneer work of the last fifty years in this field.
But in 1894 when his study was published some of the
finest writings of Byzantine scholars and churchmen were
already in print: the Acta Sanctorum, the Bonn Corpus
based on the seventeenth-century Paris Corpus, the
Patrologia Graeca, as well as a number of separately edited
texts. Neumann does indeed seize on the Strategikon of
Cecaumenus, much of which had been made available by
Wassiliewsky in St. Petersburg in 1881, 2 but then Neumann's
imagination had been caught by the exploits of the marcher
lords and their bitter struggle to keep out the enemy. But,
apart from histories and legal works, he made little, if any,
use of the writings of ecclesiastics, or monks, or scholars,
such as Symeon the New Theologian, or his pupil the
Studite monk Nicetas, who came up against Cardinal
Humbert in 1054, or John Mauropous. These and other
rich sources had already been noted in Krumbacher's
magnificent volume on the history of Byzantine literature. 3
Although Neumann hailed this book as "a masterpiece of
scholarship," it was clear from the outset that he himself
had for the most part dismissed Byzantine literature as such,
whether written by laymen or churchmen. "The Byzan-
tium of the monks and the schoolmasters is a deceptive
1 Ibid., pp. 11 ff. .
2 B. Wassiliewsky, Zhurnal Minis/. Narodnago Prosveshchenrya, Vol. 215
(1881), pp. 242 ff.; Vol. 216 (1881), pp. 102 ff. and pp. 316 ff. .
3 K. Krumbacher, Geschichte der byzantinischen Litteratur, 1st ed., Munich,

1890.
3
facade which must be torn down before the really great
and worthwhile · problems of Byzantine history can be
perceived.' ' 1
Admittedly the personalities who particularly appeal to
Neumann determined much . of the course of external
history-George Maniaces the self-made general of the
eastern marches and of the Sicilian campaigns, the royal
mercenary Harold Hardrada who fought with him and who
was so valued by the Byzantine Emperor that he had to
escape by stealth in order to get out of Byzantium to claim
his Norwegian throne, the shrewd Asian magnate and
general Cecaumenus with his wide practical experience and
his downright pithy comments on imperial mismanagement
during the years 1025-81. But side by side with these I
should like to set "the monks and schoolmasters," as
Neumann calls them, to look briefly at the nature of their
achievement, and at the relationship between them. It
may indeed be asked to what extent there was any clash in
the eleventh century between secular learning and the
monastic world, and how far either or both repudiated the
heritage from Antiquity.
The Byzantine tradition in literature, in art, in theology
and spirituality, and indeed in music, has deep roots, and
research in all these branches strengthens the claims both
for continuity and creativeness. One need only read
Kitzinger's studies on pre-iconoclastic art to realize this for
the earlier period. 2 It is equally true of the period from
843 when the traditional use of icons was re-established
(though traces of the controversy lingered on) to the end
of the eleventh century, when many of the western crusaders
en route for Jerusalem had their first experience of the
Byzantine capital and the Byzantine mentality. These years
cover the victorious expansion of the frontiers under the
rule of two dynasties, the Amorians and the Macedonians,
1 C. Neumann, WeltJtellung, pp. vi-vii.
2
E. Kitzinger, "The cult of Images in the Age before Iconoclasm,"
Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. VIII (1954); Byzantine Art in the Period
between juitinian and Iconoclaim-Bericht zum XI Internal. Byz. Kongreu IV
i (Munich, 1958). ' '

4
though the latter part of the Macedonian regime petered
out in the years 1025-56 in the disastrous political struggle
which only ended in 1081 with the accession of the able
-diplomat and soldier Alexius Comnenus. The glories of
the second half of the ninth century and the first half of the
tenth century have now been fully recognized. 1 This
movement is in fact what is commonly known as "the
Macedonian renaissance." It is often particularly associated
with the activities and patronage of the mid-tenth-century
Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, though it began
before his day and continued after his death in 959.
Apart from the brief reign of his son, Romanus II,
Constantine's successors for just over sixty years were
:Soldier-emperors, in particular his grandson Basil II, who,
unlike most Byzantines, appears resolutely to have set his
face against letters and art, concentrating on military cam-
paigns against the Bulgars and the Arabs and on gaining
-control over those of his subjects who were dangerously
powerful. It has sometimes been assumed that interest in
letters tailed off in the late tenth and early eleventh centuries,
-and was only revived in the mid-eleventh century by the
-enthusiastic group of scholars who re-organized the Uni-
versity of Constantinople under imperial auspices. No one
would now go as far as the princess Anna Comnena, who
minimizes achievement before 1081 when her father came
to the throne, save for a brief tribute to Michael Psellus.
But in an admirable pioneer study on the philosopher John
!talus published in 1939 one can still read of "la decadence
-des lettres sous Basile et les macedoniens." 2 I assume that
1 Studies are too numerous to be cited here, but mention may be made of
K. Weitzmann's magnificent volume, Greek Mythology in Byzantine Art
{Princeton, 1951); and ofR. J. H. Jenkins' illuminating study "The Classical
Background of the Scriptores Post Theophanem," Dumbarton Oaks Papers,
No. VIII (1954) where he points out the influence of earlier work, particularly
of Isocrates, Plutarch and Polybius, on the tenth century writers, ~eluding
the Emperor Constantine VII himself who was largely responsible for
:a life of his grandfather Basil I. Jenkins shows how this vita is "the perfect
.copy of a purely classical original by a learr~ed and sensitive _classical scholar."
2 P. E. Stephanou, S.J., Jean ltalos: phtlosophe et humanzste (Rome, 1949;

Orientalia Christiana Analecta 134), p. 24.

5
Basil II and the other Macedonian rulers of the first half of
the eleventh century are meant. Fr. Stephanou, who makes
this judgment, is primarily concerned with philosophy, but
here, as in other fields, it may be misleading to suggest that
during this period interest in learning and letters petered
out only to be revived after the mid-eleventh century. It
is at any rate difficult to reconcile such a conclusion with
the increased production of manuscripts, particularly of the
neoplatonists and the poets, from the last quarter of the
tenth century onwards. 1
The two outstanding philosophers of the eleventh century
were Michael Psellus (born 1018), and his younger contem
porary and pupil, John !talus. In his Chronographia
Psellus claimed, perhaps with exaggeration, that he .stirred
up a fresh interest in ancient philosophers and in those of a
later period, such as Proclus: "Philosophy, when I first
studied it, was moribund as far as its professors were con-
cerned, and I alone revived it, untutored by any masters
worthy of mention. " 2 Psellus and !talus used to be looked
upon as men who were little more than compilers and
commentators, mere imitators, who spoke of the earlier
philosophers Plato or Aristotle, but were even more
strongly influenced by the later neoplatonists, as Jamblichus
or Proclus with their interests in theurgy and occult studies.
Further they were regarded as having laid themselves open
to the charge of heresy. But recent investigations are
painting a somewhat different picture. Certain of Psellus'
works on the Chaldean teaching and oracles, and on
philosophical topics are in print. 3 Some are still in manu-
script, notably his commentary on Gregory of Nazianzus
1
See A. Dain, "La transmission des textes litteraires classiques de Photius
a Constantin Porphyrogenete," Dumbarton Oaks Papers, No. VIII (1954),
pp. 44 ff.
2
Michael Psellus, Chronographia, Constantine IX (ed. E. Renauld, Paris,
1926, Vol: I,_ p. 186; translated E. R. A. Sewter, London, 1953, pp. 127 ff.)
3
For bibliography on Psellus, see J. M. Hussey, Church and Learning in
the Byzantine Empire (Oxford, 1937), and P. Joannou, Christliche Metaphysik
in Byzanz. I. Die Illuminationslehre des Michael Psellos und Joannes lta!os
(Ettal, 1956), p. 22, note 7.

6
in Cod. Paris. gr. 1182, though this has been extensively
used by Dr. J oannou in his analysis of Psellus' metaphysics. 1
He has already provided us with an admirable editio princeps
of !talus' 93 Quaestiones. 2 It is probable that in fifty years'
time Byzantine philosophers may have come into their
own; meanwhile Dr. Joannou's two books mark a real
advance. Psellus' and Italus' own writings reveal them
building up a system of Christian metaphysics, intent on
showing how God, the cosmos, the soul and the body,
eternity and time, were related to the way in which human
beings might through illumination come to know their
Creator. Their teaching is essentially Christian, though
based on pagan as well as Christian thought, often received
through the medium of the Church Fathers. It is teaching
whose roots are to be found in the Alexandrian school.
It also has an obvious interest for later fourteenth-century
hesychasm. And it illustrates the continuity of the medieval
thought of Eastern Christendom.
In .other respects too the accepted views on Psellus and
!talus may have to be modified. Contemporary sources,
particularly historical writings and synods, suggest that they
were, in varying degrees, tainted with heresy. Such
documents provide a lively account of the controversy
occasioned by the discussions and lectures of the two
philosophers and the different charges brought against
them. Psellus, the suave and polished man of the world,
the successful courtier and professor, and, one might add,
the genuine enquirer de rerum natura, was attacked by his
own friends for going too far in his enthusiasm for Plato.
He was never brought to trial for heresy, though he had to
make a confession of faith in Constantine IX's reign. He
was also compelled to spend some time in the monastery of
Narsos in Constantinople after the abdication of Isaac
1 See P. Joannou, Metaphysik, passim. I und~rstand t?at Dr. J<?annou
hopes to publish Cod. Paris, gr. 1182. There 1s a Latin translation by
J. Leunclavius (Basel, 1591); see also J. Sajdak, Hist. Crit . ... Greg. Naz
(Cracow, 1914, Meletemata patristica I).
2 P. Joannou, Quaestiones Quodlibetales (Ettal, 1956).

7
 Comnenus in 1059. 1 But this was not really because of
his philosophical st~dies: it was largely for political reasons,
since he had been closely associated with the Emperor
Isaac Comnenus' attack on the Patriarch Cerularius, a
popular figure and still more so _after his death in exile in
1058. This brief eclipse in Psellus' career may also have
been partly due to his bitter personal feud with certain
monks whom he had mercilessly pilloried; the alleged reason
for his punishment was his desertion of the monastery on
Mt. Olympus, whence he had retired, though only for a
brief space, as he had no vocation and was lured back to
the political arena.
John Italus, the violent robust Italian who never mastered
the subtleties of the Greek language (though this did not
check his passion for non-stop dialectic), whom even Psellus
himself often found obstinate and pig-headed and irritable,
whom Anna Comnena said that well-educated people
thought intolerable, attracted students by the shoal. The
synod of 1076-77 anathematized nine points of heretical
belief and had Italus in mind, though at this time his name
was not mentioned. 2 These points are reminiscent of
Psellus' earlier charges against Cerularius, who was accused
amongst other things of hellenismos (DJ,YJviaµo~ ), i.e. of
paying too much attention to non-Christian writings (in
the case of Cerularius, this boiled down to dabbling in
astrology and magic and spiritualism, for he was no
philosopher). If the synod hoped to catch out !talus on
this occasion it failed. In any case he was well protected
against ecclesiastical jealously by his friendship with the
imperial family, the Ducas. But when the Ducas were
displaced by the Comneni in 1081 the situation changed,
and Italus was actually tried for heresy early in 1082. 3
The charges brought against him, set out in the Synodicon
1
~- Joannou, "Psellus et la monastere -rov Napaov," BJ,zantinische Zeit-
schrift, 44 (1951), pp. 286-88.
2
See V. Grumel, Les regestes des actes du patriarchal de Constantinople, fasc.
III (1947), No. 907.
3
Ibid., No. 923 and No. 927.

8
and mentioned in the Alexiad of Anna Comnena1 have often
been taken at their face value, and the trial is usually
regarded as evidence of Byzantine zeal for Eilm=./3Eta, right
belief. That may be. But there is a strong presumption
that again, as in Psellus' case, political issues were involved, 2
as was also probably the case in similar Byzantine trials
for heresy in the twelfth century. 3 The Patriarch was half-
hearted and it was the Emperor who took the lead in Italus'
trial, and this at a critical time when the Empire was being
attacked by the Normans. On this occasion the reason was
probably not simply imperial piety, but fear of the rival
claims of the dispossessed ex-Empress Mary (said to be a
pupil of Italus) and her son Constantine Ducas. The stab
at Italus was an indirect attack on his friends. It has also
been suggested that I talus himself was personally suspect on
other political grounds since he was a fellow countryman
of the invading Normans, but this, as far as I know, is only
conjecture. At any rate, in the end Italus publicly
anathematized the charges 4 brought against him, and de-
clared that his views were orthodox.
It was, and is, notoriously easy for a theologian or a
philosopher to be misinterpreted, particularly by his
enemies. In many Byzantine circles it was also generally
understood that a vigilant eye was necessary to ensure that
non-Christian material was dealt with discriminatingly.
Psellus and Italus, like many good Byzantines, did use such
material, but in the case of both these men, there is, as I
see it, evidence to suggest that they were accused largely
on personal or political grounds; their extant philosophical
writings do not support the charge of heresy, but are
1 Anna Comnena, V, 9; for bibliography on the trial see P. E. Stephanou
and V. Grumel, op. cit.
2 This is the view put forward by P. Joannou, Metaphysik, pp. 26-29.
3 See P. Lamma, Comneni e Staufer, 2 vols. (Rome, 1955-57), passim.
4 Ten, not eleven. The eleventh charge found only in some manuscripts
condemned the teaching of !talus and his followers. The first nine_ were the
original accusations of 1076-77, and the tenth concerned the pre-existence of
souls, apocatastasis and hell; see P. E. Stephanou, Jean !talus, p. 75, and P.
Joannou, Metaphysik, p. 29, note 10.
9
contributions to ~hristian metaphysics which should be
considered in their own right. 1
The activities of the eleventh century did of course
cover much else besides metaphysics. In the literary field
there were the secular works-the histories, letters,
occasional pieces, short poems in ·classical metre. There
were also theological and religious writings in every form:
polemic against the infidel or heretic, commentaries on the
Bible, doctrinal exposition, sermons and spiritual advice,
ascetical handbooks, the saints' lives, as well as liturgical
poetry with the closely related development of church music.
In the field of art there is equal variety ranging from
illustrated manuscripts of secular and Christian writings,
finely wrought ivories, reliquaries or diptychs, to the more
monumental decoration in churches. In these both the
classical and the monastic traditions can be seen. This is
particularly true of the interior decoration in mosaics of
which splendid examples survive, notably in the catholicon
of the monastery of Hosios Lukas (early eleventh century),
the mid-eleventh century imperial foundation of Nea Moni
on the island of Chios (1042), or the mosaics at the church
of Daphni near Athens probably dating from the turn of
the eleventh century, as well as those of a rather different
character in the Great Church, Hagia Sophia, in Constanti-
nople. Here high up in the women's galleries there is a
mid-eleventh-century more than life-size mosaic portrait
panel showing the Macedonian Empress Zoe, with her third
husband, Constantine IX (there are clear traces that the
head of an earlier husband had been removed and replaced
by Constantine's which corresponds so closely to a con-
temporary description of him as to suggest that it was a
personal portrait).
How far do these various activities point to fundamental
antagonism between the humanists and the monks? or has
1
As I have suggested elsewhere (journal of Theological Studies, N.S. X (1959),
pp. 182-84), Dr. Joannou has dealt with the two men together. Psellus
~ppears to be more of a humanist than !talus, and he has a far wider range of
Interest.

10
the conflict between the traditions of Antiquity and the
Christian world been exaggerated?
It is sometimes implied that there was a strong feeling
in monastic circles against what is described as "secular
learning." Up to a point this is true, the monks could also
be exceedingly irritating in this respect, as Symeon the
New Theologian was on occasion. And of course the
monastic way of life did not normally include direct concern
with the content of, say, the Greek dramatists. But the
fact remains that it was almost impossible for ascetics to
cut themselves off from their Greek heritage. Either
directly or indirectly most of them were brought into
contact with this in some form or other. Monks would,
for instance, use the Church Fathers and the commentaries
on them. There are four homilies of Gregory of N azianzus
which are full of allusions to pagan gods and myths, and
there is what is known as the Pseudo-Nonnus' commentary
on these sermons (it appears attributed to an "Abbot
Nonnus" in a manuscript dated 972, though it was probably
written in the sixth century). This commentary confines
itself to glosses or paragraphs (historiae) on all Gregory's
allusions to classical mythology. In some extant manu-
scripts of two of these sermons each paragraph dealing with
such mythological subjects has a miniature, and many of
these illustrations are derived from classical sources. 1
The influence of such illustrations from non-Christian and
secular texts was not only exercised on the reader. It
affected a far wider public. It influenced the iconography,
not only of miniatures in Christian books, but of mosaic
and fresco decoration in Christian churches. Dr. Weitz-
mann in his study of Greek mythology in Byzantine
manuscripts, and in particular of a tenth-century lectionary
in the Lavra on Mt. Athos, has shown how the iconography
of the Descent of Christ into Hell, and Anastasis or Resur-
rection as the Greeks call it, changed. The now familiar
1 This has been convincingly demonstrated by K. Weitzmann, Greek
Mythology in Byzantine Art (Princeton, 1951).
11
Christ dragging Adam from Hell, the cross triumphant in
the other hand, appears to be first found in the tenth century,.
and this new iconography corresponds closely to the
mythological representation of Hercules seizing Cerebus
from Hades, club in hand. Similarly the tenth century
iconography of the infant Christ being bathed by the mid-
wives can be closely related to the infant Dionysus being
washed by nymphs. 1 The fact that constantly emerges is
the remarkable lack of tension between pagan and Christian
iconography. The instances which I have cited of the
meeting of the two worlds in a monastic setting are not
exceptions. The French scholar Dr. Jean Irigoin had by
1953 examined about 350 literary manuscripts belonging
to the period 850-1050, and technical details have enabled
him to pick out the work of a monastic scriptorium situated
in Constantinople, one of whose copyists was a monk called
Ephraem. The manuscripts copied were not exclusively
religious; they include amongst others Thucydides, Aris-
totle, Lucian, Demosthenes, Polybius, and copies of a
military treatise, the Tactica. 2
It would appear then that the so-called Macedonian
renaissance (if we must use this term) stretches from the
mid-ninth, beyond the mid-tenth, well into, if not to the
end of, the eleventh century, and that throughout this period
artists, whether they were employed on decoration for
secular or ecclesiastical purposes, were influenced by the
classical tradition of iconography. Further, there was not
only the use of illustrations in literary texts surviving from
classical antiquity, but there was evidently a keen demand
for the actual classical texts themselves, as well as texts of
the Hellenistic and patristic periods.
The classical tradition is a thread which runs through the
eleventh century, but there is too another element, always
1
K. Weitzmann, "Das Evangelium im Skevophylakion zu Lawra,"
Seminarium Kondakovianum, 8 (1936), pp. 83 ff.; and idem., Greek Mytholog'I,
p. 206.
2
A. Dain, "La transmission des textes litteraires classiques de Photius a
Constantin Porphyrogenete," Dumbarton Oakt Paperr, No. VIII (1954),
pp. 44-47.
12
present in Byzantine life but particularly vigorous at this
time. This is a strong upsurge of asceticism, reflected in
various ways, and already noticeable in the late tenth
century. In the eleventh century a number of houses were
established and strengthened on Mt. Athos, following the
lead given by the Emperor Nicephorus who sponsored the
Lavra of St. Athanasius, which was founded in 963. The
cosmopolitan character of the Holy Mountain was reflected
in the many different races which settled there, including
the Latins of the house of St. Mary of Amal£.. Other new
foundations were also made in Constantinople and through-
out the Empire under imperial, lay and ecclesiastical
patronage. The work of the monastic scriptorium of
Ephraem in Constantinople has already been mentioned.
There is too the appearance for the first time in the eleventh
century of fully illustrated copies of the Ladder of Divine
Ascent, a treatise on the spiritual life, by the late sixth-
century Abbot John, called after his work John of the
Ladder, or John Climacus. In these manuscripts the
monks are portrayed climbing painfully up the thirty-
runged ladder; each step is the subject of a chapter in the
treatise, and both text and illustration tell of the hard struggle
to overcome some vice or acquire some virtue. The
particularly graphic pictures of the eleventh-century manu-
scripts of the Ladder reflect the stark austerity and faithful
devotion of the Christian ascetic.
But books of this kind were not the exclusive possession
of the monk. When Symeon the New Theologian visited
his family in Paphlagonia before entering the Studite monas-
tery in Constantinople, he found a copy of the Ladder in
the family library. 1 The will of an eleventh century Cap-
padocian landowner exiled to the eastern frontier theme of
Iberia in Asia Minor shows that his library contained two
copies of the Ladder, and indeed it was he, Eustathius
Boilas, who commissioned from the monk Theodoulus
1 Nicetas Stethatus, La vie de Symeon le Nouveau Theologien, ed. I. Hausherr
(Rome, 1928), Ch. 6, p. 12.
13
 one of the illustrated manuscripts which is now the
Bibliotheque Nationale Coislin 263, dated 1059, and which
shows signs of having been produced in one of the eastern
provinces. 1 Eustathius who commissioned it had been a
high official in Constantinople and would have been familiar
with the fashions in the capital. Whether this exiled
Cappadocian landowner Eustathius read the Ladder himself
remains unknown, but it is worth noting that this particular
manuscript also contained his will. Eventually both copies
went with other books and gifts to the Church of the
Theotokos which he built. The use of the Ladder in
monastic circles is however certain. The number of extant
manuscripts, quite apart from the vigorous and fine eleventh-
century illustrated copies, speaks for itself. This work had
a long life, not only in its original Greek, but for instance in
the Balkans and Russia in a Slavonic translation, and also
elsewhere in Arabic and other versions. It was a formative
influence in the life of the leading ascetic of the early
eleventh century, Symeon the New Theologian.
The same pungent asceticism as in the Ladder is found
in some eleventh-century art. Dr. Weitzmann concludes
his study on the influence of Greek mythology in Byzantine
art by asserting that in "the eleventh and twelfth centuries
the classical features begin to fade out again, or rather to
become submerged in an increasingly dematerialized style. " 2
This, I would suggest, is perhaps misleading in so far as
the eleventh century is concerned. Both traditions are
found at work. There is nothing "dematerialized" about
the mid-eleventh-century portrait panel of Zoe and Con-
stantine IX in Hagia Sophia. The later mosaics in the
central niches and the walls of the transept at Daphni
are characterized by their restraint and classical lines, for
1
_J. R. Martin, The Illustration of the Heavenly Ladder of John Climacus
(Pnnceton, 1954), pp. 104, 107, 173. The Greek text of the will was
originally published by V. Beneshevich, Zhurnal Minist. Narodnago Pros-
veshcheniya, 9 (1907), Classical Philology, pp. 219-31; and more recently with
an English translation and notes by S. Vryonis in Dumbarton Oaks Papers,
No. XI (1957).
2
K. Weitzmann, Mythology, p. 207.

14
instance the Crucifixion; though I have recently heard these
mosaics described as old-fashioned and out of touch with
the "modern" trends of eleventh-century Byzantine art,
which might well appear to be the case, if a dematerialized
style is regarded as being the predominant feature of this
period. 1 The more austere monastic style, which is in such
marked contrast to the mosaics of Daphni which have just
been mentioned, is admirably instanced in the earlier
eleventh century mosaics of Hosios Lukas, where the stark
eremetical figures clustering in almost every corner of the
catholicon reflect the upsurge of asceticism evidenced both
in the capital and in the provinces.
This upsurge has left its mark on literature and documents
of this period. We have saints' lives, monastic charters,
polemic, sermons, and other writings on Christian spirit-
uality. But here again it may be suggested that the two
traditions are seen side by side. Amonst many, two men-
John Mauropous and Symeon the New Theologian--
stand out as exponents of two different interpretations of
the Christian life, though both were monks and ecclesiastics.
John Mauropous (Blackfoot) had the outlook of a humanist,
he was also a faithful bishop and a monk (and certainly a
faithful friend to his contemporaries). His life spans the
eleventh century; he was a private tutor in Constantinople
well before mid-eleventh-century university activities, and
evidence suggests that he lived on into the eighties.
Practically every eleventh-century intellectual and religious
activity can be illustrated from his work and writings. 2 He
was a teacher and lecturer; he drew up the constitution for
the re-organization of the University of Constantinople; he
1 The views of experts on Byzantine art change with bewildering rapidity.
In 1948 in his stimulating treatment of the whole question of mosaic
decorati~n, Otto Demus associated the mosaic scenes at Daphni with "a
new wave of Hellenism" and could speak of "the rustic character" of the
work at Hosios Lukas (Byzantine Mosaic Decoration (London, 1948), p. 61
and p. 57).
1 See J.M. Hussey, "The Writings of John Mauropous: a Bibliographical

Note," Byzantinishche Zeitschrift, 44 (1951),,,PP· 278 ~-, and idem., "T~e

Byzantine Empire in the Eleventh Century, Transacttons of the Royal Hts-
torical Soriety, 32 (1950), pp. 84 ff.
15
wrote poetry in classical metre; he corresponded with his
many friends; he preached sermons in his cathedral church
in Asia Minor; his life of the contemporary St. Dorotheus
shows fine insight into the aims of monastic life as well as
the needs of the small rural community; his substantial
corpus of canons was almost certainly used as a supple-
mental hymn book in monastic houses; and his own special
contribution to the enrichment of the liturgy is to be found
in the Menaion for 30 January, where his hymns for the
festival of the three Church Fathers, St. Gregory of
Nazianzus, St. Basil the Great, and St. John Chrysostom,
still stand (I regret to say much truncated in the recent
Vatican edition of the Menaion). His personal letters re.fleet
the conventions of his age and may seem to us mannered,
full of conceits, over-metaphored, indirect in approach.
For instance, he does not say "I was delighted to receive
your letter, and still more delighted to get a second one ...
though I do wish that you yourself could have come in
person." But he writes:

I thought that the season was already autumn, and not

spring. Where then did this. nightingale of spring come
from to visit me now? Its voice did not resound from
some distant wood or grove, but-most wonderful to
tell-it flew into my very hands. And here it sings to
me of spring. And listening to the liquid notes here
dose at hand, I stand spellbound. Yet, if I must speak
the truth, it seems to me that though the voice of this
most beautiful bird is that of a nightingale, its form is
that of a swallow. Its song is clear and melodious like
the nightingale's; but on its body two contrasting colours
are wonderfully blended together like the swallow's.
·The black words stand out on the white paper, like a
rich purple embroidered on a shining and translucent
material. But whether a nightingale or a swallow, this
marvellous letter filled me with complete joy. It made
me look upon the season as a second spring and I think
16
 that those who call it an equinox are right. Perhaps I
should immediately have thought that it was spring,
only there came to mind the jealous proverb "One
swallow does not make a spring." But when a second
one came flying down, then I knew for certain that it
was indeed spring-and a most important spring, or as
people usually call it, "the first of the seasons." But
since, as one always says, good things in life are rare, this
present boon, though it came alone (i.e. without you) is
naturally precious. And in any case what is really good
is a microcosm in itself. This wise and precious letter
not only speaks to me of the usual topics, but utters
articulate words laden with magic and exercising the
inexplicable attraction of the magic wheel whether by
compulsion or by persuasion. And it includes at one
and the same time every harmonious note, just as though
it were getting ready for a musical contest or display.
It has a thrilling and a splendid and a brilliant sound.
It makes me dependent on my ears and heart and hands.
For I listen to the song in complete fascination and
wonder; I seh:e and carry round this fine-voiced and
many-toned instrument of such wonderful harmony.
And I pray that I may see with my own eyes its wise and
inventive creator and maker, a:nd may listen to his voice,
so that, speaking face to face without any kind of wall
or barrier, I may know still more clearly the difference
between the running stream and its source, between the
written and the spoken word. 1

Yet John Mauropous' hymns could be used by the most

narrow and rigidly puritanical ascetic. With such a man it
is impossible to maintain that monasticism had little or no
use for secular learning. It is this John who made the
passionate plea to Christ that Plato and Plutarch, who had
all the virtues of Christians, might be included amongst the
1 John Mauropous, Archbishop of Euchaita, Ep. 100, ed. P. de Lagarde

(Gottingen, 1882), p. 51.

17
saved in heaven. -He belongs to the classical tradition as
much as to the Christian. Or rather, he belongs in the
fullest sense to the medieval Greek tradition.
Symeon the New Theologian, John's earlier contemporary,
differed from him in temperament and in experience. He is
probably the best known of all the Byzantine ascetics of the
middle and later periods. He was born in the mid-tenth
century and he died in 1022. His follower, the Studite
monk Nicetas Stethatus, who himself wrote polemic
against the Latins as well as works on asceticism, produced
a life of Symeon and, as he tells us in it, a transcription of
Symeon's writings. 1 Symeon came of a well-to-do Paph-
lagonian family, and as a boy he was sent to the capital
where his father hoped that he would find a career in the
imperial service. He was, however, strongly drawn to the
monastic life and after a period of hesitation he entered the
Studite house in Constantinople when he was about twenty-
six or twenty-seven. He had a forceful, and perhaps a
difficult, personality. He was turned out of the Studite
house, allegedly because of jealousy (according to Nicetas
Stethathus), but possibly for insubordination. He entered
another monastery in Constantinople, the house of St.
Mamas, where he later became Abbot. It was here that on
one occasion some of his own monks rushed out of the
monastery to complain to the Patriarch of his harsh words
and treatment. He had a violent contretemps with a high
ecclesiastic, the patriarchal syncellus, the ex-metropolitan
of Nicomedia, on which occasion he repudiated any claim
to secular learning or letters. He was censured by the
Patriarch and exiled (only a few miles away across the
Bosphorus) for another matter, his public promotion of the
cult of his spiritual father. Tension between ecclesiastical
authority and the regulars is apparent even from the some-
what conventional and laudatory biography of Nicetas,
where every now and then unpalatable truths break through
1
Nicetas Stethatus, La vie de Symeon le Nouveau Theologien, ed. I. Hausherr
(Rome, 1928), c. 131, pp. 188-90.

18
which are not entirely to the credit of Symeon, such as the
Patriarch's exasperated cry of "What else could I expect of
a Studite ?" when Symeon refused to meet his conciliatory
offer. But Symeon, though he roused opposition and was
the centre of controversy, had throughout a large following,
both of monks and of laity, and he was later canonized by
the Greek Church.
The secret of Symeon's influence on his own and later
generations is crystal clear to any one who reads his own
writings. The immense number of these and the com-
plexity of the manuscript tradition make a critical edition
of his complete works beyond the power of any single
scholar, but a beginning has been made by Fr. Darrouzes
who has published the Capita on the spiritual life. 1 And
after some years of devoted labour Archimandrite Basil
Krivocheine's 2 critical edition of the Catecheses (about
90,000 words on his calculation) is to appear in the same
series, the Sources Chretiennes. 3 These Catechetical Sermons
are the original version of Symeon's addresses to his monks
and abound in personal passages, in criticism of contem-
porary ecclesiastical dignitaries, or members of Symeon's
own community. I am much indebted to Bishop Basil's
generosity for a pre-view, as it were, of the text of these
sermons, as the only text easily accessible in England is the
Latin translation of an "official" version made in the eleventh
century, in which the original sermons are toned down,
softened, far less pungent, and have been deprived of their
personal character, occasionally pruned of expressions open
1 J. Darrouzes, A.A., Symeon le Nouveau Theologien: chapitres theologiques,
gnostiques et pratiques. Introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes
(Sources Chretiennes, No. 51, Paris, 1957).
2 The name under which his writings have appeared; in 1959 he was

raised to the Episcopate with the title of Bishop of Volokolamsk.

3 Until Bishop Basil's edition of the Catecheses is published
reference should be made to his "St. Symeon the New Theologian and Early
Christian Popular Piety," Studia Patristica II, ed. K. Aland and F. L. Cross
(1957, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlic~en
Literatur, Bd. 64). This gives a bibliography of some of Bishop Basil's
writings on Symeon. See also his "The Most Enthusiastic Zealot,"
Ostkirchliche Studien, 4 (1955), pp. 108-28.

19
to misinterpretation, and often entirely rearranged. 1 It is
these "orations from the writings," as they are called, which
were translated into Latin by Pontanus in 1603, and re-
printed in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, vol. 120. Then, as
well as further orations and letters, there is the collection
known as the Divine Hymns, 2 a series of mystical writings
of varying length on Symeon's own spiritual experiences.
They are not in classical metre, but in syllabled verse, and
they mostly belong to the later period of his life, that is,
after 1009 when he founded his house of St. Marina on the
Asian shores of the Bosphorus.
Symeon's writings belie his repudiation of secular
learning. Whatever he might say, he wrote clearly,
directly, simply, and his was not the prose, or the poetry,
of an uneducated man. On the contrary-he was often a
grand stylist. As far as the problem has been explored, it
is clear that he was widely read in Christian literature,
including the early Christian writings of the pre-Nicene
period. 3 His Divine Hymns, the Capita, and other works,
certainly show that he was well-versed in the orthodox
tradition of spirituality with its own special ascetical terms.
What he wrote was dynamic, compelling, agonizing,
disconcerting, and even crushing to the indifferent, showing
him driven on by his own experiences, suffering in pro-
portion as he attained some foretaste of the Divine Love.
His mainspring was the grace of God whereby his spiritual
life was nourished, but could he have inspired so many
generations and still continue to do so, without the agelong
tradition of Greek learning? In the eleventh century,
indeed throughout the history of medieval Byzantium,
whether in letters or in art or in other activities of the
human spirit, it was impossible to escape from what has

1
B. Krivocheine, "The Writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian,"
Orientalia Christiana Periodica, 20 (1954), pp. 298-328.
2
My translation largely based on Cod. Monac. gr. 177, should appear
shortly.
3
See B. Krivocheine, in Studia Patristica, op. cit., pp. 487 ff.

20
been called "perennial hellenism. " 1 This was something
which was shared consciously, and even more often
unconsciously, by ascetic and humanist alike.

1 E. Kitzinger uses this term in connection with ~yzantine art in his

report to the Byzantine Congress at Munich, 1958, op. ctt., P· 7.
21