ARAM, 15 (2003), 109-128 109

PETER THE IBERIAN AND

PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM
IN FIFTH- AND EARLY SIXTH-CENTURY GAZA*

CORNELIA B. HORN

PETER THE IBERIAN'S DEATH AND BURIAL

One early winter morning in 491 AD in Gaza's port-city Maiuma,1 previ-

ously known as Constantia,2 on the south-eastern shore of the Mediterranean
Sea, throngs of men and women, young and old, were rushing from their
homes to the monastery of Peter the Iberian.3 Like wildfire the news spread
that Peter, their beloved spiritual father and bishop, had died and that his bur-
ial was imminent. Everyone anxiously wished to take hold of the saint's body,
if need be by force. Failing that, at least they wanted to tear asunder and dis-
tribute among themselves the long outer garment which covered the dead
saint’s body. Yet by the time the crowds arrived at the monastery, Peter's dis-
ciples had already placed the holy man in his sarcophagus. The faithful could
only fall on their knees in pious veneration.4 With tears and lamentations they
kissed and embraced the holy remains, prostrated themselves, burst out into
shouts and cries, and made supplications like beloved children who were
orphaned of a father, and not only of a father, but also of a foster-father, a
shepherd, and a bishop.5

* Copyright June 2001 by Cornelia B. Horn. Unless stated otherwise, the responsibility for
the English translation of sources lies with the present author.
1
On Gaza in general and its sometimes conflict-ladden relationship with Maiuma see the use-
ful summary presentations with bibliographical leads by G. Downey, “Gaza,” in Reallexikon für
Antike und Christentum 8 (1972), 1123-1134; D. and L. Stiernon, “Gaza,” in Dictionnaire
d'Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastiques 20 (1984), 154-176; Geoffrey V. Gillard, “Gaza,”
in Theologische Realencyclopädie 12 (1984), 29-31; and Ulrich Hübner, “Gaza,” in Lexikon für
Theologie und Kirche 4 (1995), 306-307.
2
Because of its significant Christian population, Constantine had named the port of Gaza
Maiuma Neapolis after his son, Constantius. See Sozomen, Historia ecclesiastica, bk. 2, ch. 5, and
bk. 5, ch. 3. For the older but more widely accessible edition of the Greek text, see Patrologia
Graeca 67.844-1629 (Paris, 1859), here cols. 948 and 1221. See also Asher Ovadiah, “Les
Mosaïstes de Gaza dans l'Antiquité Chrétienne,” Revue Biblique 82 (1975), 552-557, here p. 553.
3
For the critical edition of the Syriac text of the Vita Petri Iberi see Richard Raabe, ed. and
transl., Petrus der Iberer: ein Charakterbild zur Kirchen- und Sittengeschichte des fünften
Jahrhunderts; syrische Übersetzung einer um das Jahr 500 verfassten griechischen Biographie
(Leipzig, 1895), abbreviated in the following as Vita Petri Iberi, followed by the page number of
the Syriac text. For Peter's first visit to Maiuma, see Vita Petri Iberi 49.
4
See Vita Petri Iberi 142.
5
See Vita Petri Iberi 143.
110 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

With such a description one seems to adequately capture the scenario of the
arrival and subsequent burial of the mortal remains of the anti-Chalcedonian
monk and bishop Peter the Iberian in Maiuma, Gaza, only a few hours after his
death on December 1, 491. The account of these events is due to Peter's bio-
grapher, John Rufus.

THE SIGNIFICANCE, LIMITIATIONS, AND SCOPE OF THE PRESENT

STUDY

For a number of years now scholars have realized the significance of the
history of Christianity in the Holy Land in general and the developments and
achievements of Palestinian asceticism in particular for a correct understand-
ing of life in the Middle East. Chalcedonian monasticism in the Judaean
Desert has been carefully studied by historians, archaeologists, scholars of reli-
gion, and other specialists. For a variety of reasons, the same scholarship could
not be applied to the study of the early history of Christian asceticism in the
south western part of the Holy Land, particularly in the Gaza area. In early
Byzantine times, that region was home to a second major center of Christian
asceticism and for a while contained the headquarters of anti-Chalcedonians in
Palestine. Due in part to the difficult access to and even scarcity of textual and
archaeological sources for the reconstruction of Palestinian anti-Chalcedonian
history in the fifth and sixth century, until very recently that group was only
little studied.6
This paper will examine what can be known about the history of anti-Chal-
cedonian monasticism in the Gaza area in the fifth and early sixth century
through the lense of the career of Peter the Iberian as it is recorded in the
works of John Rufus. Peter was one of the most influential participants in the
anti-Chalcedonian revolt in Palestine in AD 451 and seemingly the focal point
of the movement in Palestine throughout the time of its existence there.
Rufus's literary works about Peter are the main sources available to the mod-
ern historian's attempt at reconstructing anti-Chalcedonian history in Pales-
tine, both in the Jerusalem and the Gaza area.
After a short introduction to both Rufus and Peter, this paper will reveal
Rufus's agenda of assigning to Peter, and consequently to anti-Chalcedonian
asceticism in the Gaza area, the role of being the immediate heir to the Pales-
tinian proto-monk Hilarion. Next, an attempt is made at gleaning from the tex-
tual sources as well as from relevant but unfortunately scarce archaeological
sources what can be learned about the conditions and circumstances of the

6
See now Cornelia B. Horn, “Beyond Theology: the Career of Peter the Iberian in the Chris-
tological Controversies of Fifth-Century Palestine” (Ph.D. diss., The Catholic University of
America, 2001).
 C.B. HORN 111

daily life of Peter and his anti-Chalcedonian monks in the Gaza area. Topics to
be investigated here are Peter's integration into the already existing monastic
milieu in the Gaza area around the middle of the fifth century, his recruitment
of new disciples, the possible connections between his monastery and local
holy places, and the efforts of his community to enlarge and fortify the
monastery after Peter's death. What can be learned about the concrete circum-
stances that finally brought an end to the presence of anti-Chalcedonians in the
Gaza area is little. In its concluding paragraphs the paper will present and dis-
cuss the evidence derived from the sources which speaks of the conflict
between anti-Chalcedonians and Chalcedonians in the Gaza area. It can only
be hoped that other scholars will be able to add to those findings in subsequent
studies.

JOHN RUFUS'S WORKS AS SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT

ANTI-CHALCEDONIANS IN PALESTINE

Most likely, John Rufus was a native of Syria, probably from the greater
Antioch area.7 Having received ordination to the priesthood from Peter the
Fuller between AD 475 and 477,8 Rufus served the Church in Antioch before
joining the radical anti-Chalcedonian monks around Peter the Iberian in Pales-
tine in the 480s. His historical and literary reputation is based on his author-
ship of (1) the Vita Petri Iberi9; (2) the Plerophoriae10; and (3) the De obitu
Theodosii,11 all composed in Greek. Today, however, Rufus's texts are only
extant in an ancient Syriac translation.
Rufus is to be considered one of the most prominent and influential authors
of the anti-Chalcedonian movement in Palestine in the fifth and sixth cen-
turies. His writings preserve the memory of the founders of the Palestinian
anti-Chalcedonian movement, i.e., the monks, nuns, and laypeople, who
abhorred and opposed the decisions of the fourth ecumenical council of Chal-

7
For a discussion of Rufus's origins see Cornelia Horn, “A Chapter in the Pre-History of the
Christological Controversies in Arabic: Readings from the Works of John Rufus,” paper pre-
sented at the VI. International Christian Arabic Conference, Sydney, Australia: July 2000, forth-
coming in the conference proceedings in Parole de l'Orient.
8
See the discussion in Horn, “Beyond Theology,” 32-33.
9
See fn. 3 above. An English translation of the complete works of John Rufus by C.B. Horn
and R.R. Phenix is forthcoming.
10
For the critical edition of the Syriac text, accompanied by a French translation, see Jean
Rufus, Évêque de Maïouma, Plérophories, c.-à-d. témoignages et révélations, edited by F. Nau,
translated by M. Brière, Patrologia Orientalis 8.1 (Paris, 1911). In subsequent footnotes the
abbreviation Plerophoriae is used, followed by the section number of the Syriac text.
11
For the critical edition of the Syriac text, accompanied by a Latin translation, see
E. W. Brooks, ed. and trans., Narratio de obitu Theodosii Hierosolymorum et Romani Monachi
auctore anonymo, in Vitae virorum apud Monophysitas celeberrimorum, Corpus Scriptorum
Christianorum Orientalium vol. 7, Scriptores Syri, series 3, tomus 25 (text), 21-27; Corpus
Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium vol. 8, Scriptores Syri, series 3, tomus 25 (versio), 15-19.
112 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

cedon in AD 451.12 Peter the Iberian, Rufus's predecessor as bishop of

Maiuma, clearly was one of their leaders.

WHO WAS PETER THE IBERIAN?

Peter the Iberian was born either in AD 412 or 417 as son of the Georgian
royal couple Bosmarios and Bakurduktia.13 At the age of twelve the young
prince was sent as hostage to the court of Theodosius II in Constantinople.14
At the Byzantine palace Peter was inspired to take up the monastic life.
Jerusalem seemed to him to be the best place for carrying out his plan. Thus,
accompanied by his Lazic friend and soul-mate John the Eunuch, Peter went
on pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
In Jerusalem the two young pilgrims first joined the monastery of Melania
the Younger on the Mount of Olives.15 Subsequently, Peter founded a
monastery in the Holy City proper, close to the Tower of David.16 When
involvement in the city's pilgrimage business seemed no longer reconcilable
with his monastic aspirations, Peter and John left Jerusalem and settled on the
Mediterranean coast, between Gaza and Maiuma. There again they partici-
pated in the life of an already existing monastic community.
Over time, Peter gained considerable esteem among the local population.
Once he was ordained a priest, the Maiumans even pressed him into becoming
their bishop. In late AD 452 or early AD 453 the monk Theodosius, who had
become the anti-Chalcedonian bishop of the Holy City in consequence of the
revolt of the Palestinian monks against Juvenal of Jerusalem,17 ordained Peter
as bishop of Maiuma.
Peter had played a central role in the Palestinian monks' revolt in AD 451.18
Roughly a year later he found himself installed as bishop, yet on the anti-Chal-
cedonian side. Endowed with such authority, Peter was well-prepared to take
on a key role in the Christological controversies arising in Palestine and Egypt
12 See now also Jan-Eric Steppa, John Rufus and the World Vision of Anti-Chalcedonian Cul-

ture (Piscataway, NJ, 2002), which appeared after this article was completed.
13
Vita Petri Iberi 5. It is not known, on what day or in which month Peter was born in
AD 412 or 417. He died on December 1, 491. For a useful discussion of important dates of his
chronology see Paul Devos's article “Quand Pierre L'Ibère vint-il à Jérusalem?” Analecta Bol-
landiana 86 (1968), 337-350. For a detailed discussion of Peter's life, see most recently Horn,
“Beyond Theology,” chapter 1.
14
Vita Petri Iberi 15-16.
15
Vita Petri Iberi 27-32.
16
Vita Petri Iberi 45.
17
For a discussion of these events see Lorenzo Perrone, La chiesa di Palestina e le contro-
versie cristologiche–Dal concilio di Efeso (431) al secondo concilio di Costantinopoli (553),
Testi e ricerche di Scienze religiose pubblicati a cura dell'Istituto per le Scienze religiose di
Bologna, vol. 18, (Brescia, 1980), 89-103.
18
See Horn, “Beyond Theology,” chapter 3. For the still authoritative study of Juvenal of
Jerusalem see E. Honigmann, “Juvenal of Jerusalem,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 5 (1950), 211-279.
 C.B. HORN 113

in the aftermath of the Council of Chalcedon. Both as bishop and as charis-

matic wandering monk Peter preached in support of the anti-Chalcedonians
until his death. His journeys led him all over Palestine, into Egypt and Trans-
jordan,19 and along the Phoenician coast up to Tripolis.20

PETER THE IBERIAN AS “SUCCESSOR” OF THE PALESTINIAN

PROTO-MONK HILARION

The reader of the Vita Petri Iberi cannot but note that Rufus appears to have
had a considerable interest in connecting Peter's ascetic career firmly with the
Gaza area. In the biography, Rufus emphasizes that at the invitation of Diony-
sius, an anti-Chalcedonian lawyer in Gaza,21 Peter dwelt in Dionysius's village
named “Magdal Tutha, south of Gaza,” for three years.22
This was a location from which Peter could conveniently cultivate a close
spiritual friendship with Abba Isaiah, the famous monastic teacher who had
come from Scetis and settled in Beth Daltha, four miles from Magdal Tutha.23
Whether or not and how clearly one can place Abba Isaiah in the Palestinian
anti-Chalcedonian camp is still debated and cannot be decided here.24 From

19
For a valuable discussion of some of the connections between Egyptian and Palestinian
monasticism, suggesting a location for Peter the Iberian in that context as well, see Samuel
Rubenson, “The Egyptian Relations of Early Palestinian Monasticism,” in Anthony O'Mahony
with Göran Gunner and Kevork Hintlian, eds., The Christian Heritage in the Holy Land (London,
1995), 35-46.
20
For an outline of his journeys in general, Rufus's interpretation of Peter's journeys as
a form of martyrdom, and for a more detailed discussion of Peter's encounters with the local pop-
ulation east of Jerusalem, see Cornelia Horn, “Weaving the Pilgrim's Crown: Rufus's View of
Peter's Journeys in Late Antique Palestine,” paper presented at the Symposium Syriacum VIII,
Sydney, Australia, June 2000, forthcoming in the conference proceedings, presumably in Orien-
talia Christiana Analecta; and Horn, “A Chapter in the Pre-History of the Christological Con-
troversies in Arabic.”
21
Vita Petri Iberi 100-101.
22
Vita Petri Iberi 101. On this locality, see C. Clermont-Ganneau, “Sur quelques localités de
Palestine mentionnées dans la Vie de Pierre l'Ibère,” in Études d'Archéologie Orientale
vol. 2 (1896), 1-22, here pp. 9-14.
23
Vita Petri Iberi 101-102. For a discussion of the friendship between Abba Isaiah and Peter,
see Horn, “Beyond Theology,” chapter 3. See also Jan-Eric Steppa, “Petros Iberern och Abba
Esaias: Stildrag och tendenser i två anti-Chalcedonensiska munkbiografier” [in Swedish], in Med-
delanden från Collegium Patristicum Lundense 12 (1997), 33-44. For a study of spiritual author-
ity in Gaza monasticism, see Jennifer Lee Hevelone-Harper, “Letters to the Great Old Man:
Monks, laity, and spiritual authority in sixth-century Gaza (Palestine)” (Ph.D. diss., Princeton
University, 2000). Important articles on Abba Isaiah include Derwas J. Chitty, “Abba
Isaiah,” Journal of Theological Studies 22 (1971), 47-72; Hermann Keller, “L'abbé Isaïe-le-
Jeune,” Irénikon 16 (1939), 113-126; R. Aubert, “Isaïe de Gaza,” in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de
Géographie Ecclésiastiques, vol. 26, fasc. 150 (1995), 115-117; and R. Aubert, “Isaïe de Scete,”
in Dictionnaire d'Histoire et de Géographie Ecclésiastiques, vol. 26, fasc. 150 (1995), 120-124.
24
For the thesis that Abba Isaiah never adhered to Chalcedon, see G. Krüger, “Wer war der
Pseudo-Dionysios,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 8 (1899), 302-305. R. Draguet, Les cinq recensions
de l'Asceticon syriaque d'abba Isaïe, in Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium,
114 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

Rufus's and Zachariah's works one hardly gets the impression that Abba
Isaiah made any effort to encourage Peter the Iberian to adhere to Chalcedon.25
Magdal Tutha could also pride itself in being located “by the side of the tem-
ple of the holy Hilarion, the great ascetic, prophet, and abbot of monks.”26 That
observation is not as insignificant as it may seem at first glance. It should be
seen in connection with the event which Rufus recounts immediately following.
Peter's host in Magdal Tutha, Dionysius, felt he also received a special blessing
through Peter's prayerful presence in the area. Dionysius told Rufus,
“When I had spent three hundred darics27 on the building and the preparation of
that place [in order to host Peter the Iberian], after a few days I brought in those
three hundred darics from where I never expected [it] nor [from where] it [ever]
came into my mind.”
Rufus continues his report: “those vineyards surrounding that village, which used
to produce worthless and humble wine, – because also the soil was sandy and
shallow, – when he [i.e., Dionysius] took the saint [i.e., Peter the Iberian] and
brought him to each one of the vineyards, he asked him to make a prayer and to
bless the place. And from that time it began to produce wine many times double
[the quantity] and durable, something which no one from among the workers of
that soil [could] remember ever happening. Those vineyards were giving this
yield of fruits continually, for the whole lifetime of the blessed one.”287

This effective prayer and blessing appears to have a closely related precedent,
with which Rufus's audience at Maiuma, both ascetic and lay, would have
been familiar. The Palestinian proto-monk Abba Hilarion (ca. 300-371) once
held a service in the vineyard of the monk Saba, presumably located in the
same general area where Hilarion dwelt and where Dionysius, the lawyer, later
owned his vineyard. At the end of the service, Hilarion “blessed the vineyard
and… those who partook [of the grapes] were not less than three thousand.
And whereas the whole vineyard had been estimated at a hundred flagons,
within thirty days he made it worth three hundred.”29 In a very direct sense,

vols. 289, 290, 293, and 294 (Louvain, 1968), advanced objections to that view. See also the dis-
cussions in Lucien Regnault, “Isaiah of Scetis, Saint,” in The Coptic Encyclopedia 4 (1991),
1305-1306, and Siméon Vailhé, “Un mystique Monophysite, le moine Isaie,” Échos d'Orient 9
(1906), 81-91.
25
For Zachariah's view of Abba Isaiah, see Zachariah Scholasticus, “Vita Isaiae,” in Vitae
virorum apud Monophysitas celeberrimorum, edited by E. W. Brooks, in Corpus Scriptorum
Christianorum Orientalium vol. 7, Scriptores Syri, series 3, tomus 25 (textus), 3-16; Corpus
Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium vol. 8, Scriptores Syri, series 3, tomus 25 (versio), 3-10
(Paris and Leipzig, 1907).
26
Vita Petri Iberi 101.
27
J. Payne Smith, A Compendious Syriac Dictionary (Oxford, first edition 1903, reprinted
1988), 97, explains that “a daric” is “a Persian gold coin named from Darius Hystaspes who
struck them. It is worth about a guinea.”
28
Vita Petri Iberi 101.
29
Jerome, Vita Hilarionis, ch. 27; for the more easily accessible Latin text of the Vita Hilar-
ionis see Patrologia Graeca 23.29-54. The English translation quoted here is from the Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 6, as published on http://ccel.org/fathers2/NPNF2-
06/Npnf2-06-05.htm.
 C.B. HORN 115

both monks are perfect examples of what scholars have claimed more gener-
ally for Gaza in the early Byzantine period: that the rise of monasticism
increased the grape and wine production, consumption, and trading in the
Gaza / Ashkelon area at that time.30 Yet one should also comment on the inten-
tionality behind Rufus's emphasis on the parallel between Hilarion and Peter.
Rufus seems to imply two things: first, that his hero Peter, by living for
an extended period of time in the very place where the Palestinian proto-
monk Hilarion had dwelt, became a direct heir to one of the two founders of
Palestinian monasticism31; second, that through the Hilarion / Peter connec-
tion, which is obvious in Rufus's mentioning of Hilarion's name and in
the parallel of the wine- / vineyard-focused miracles,32 anti-Chalcedonian
monasticism can trace its roots to the very beginnings of monasticism in Pales-
tine.
Given that Rufus ascribes great significance to Peter's ascetic life in the
Gaza area, the following discussion will present in greater detail the history of
anti-Chalcedonians in the Gaza area on the basis of the experiences and prac-
tices of Peter and his ascetic followers there.

PETER THE IBERIAN'S DAILY LIFE AS A MONK IN THE GAZA AREA

Already at a time when Peter was still living in Jerusalem, he established

contacts with ascetics living in the greater Gaza area. Given that ascetics
who lived in the larger Gaza area and followed in the footsteps of Abba Sil-
vanus resisted Chalcedon,33 it is significant that Peter had repeatedly sought
spiritual direction from Abba Zeno, an ascetic, hermit, and prophet, who
“was living… in the little village Kefar She'artha, about fifteen miles from

30
See Philip Mayerson, “The Wine and Vineyards of Gaza in the Byzantine Period,” Bulletin
of the American Schools of Oriental Research 257 (1985), 75-80; re-published in Philip Mayer-
son, Monks, Martyrs, Soldiers and Saracens; Papers on the Near East in Late Antiquity (1962-
1993), published by The Israel Exploration Society in association with New York University
(Jerusalem, 1994), 250-255, here pp. 250-251, where Mayerson called attention to the miracles
worked by Hilarion and Peter as well.
31
Usually Chariton, who settled in the Judaean Desert, and Hilarion, who dwelt in the Gaza
area, are venerated as the two founding fathers of Palestinian monasticism. For editions and/or
translations of the lives of these holy men see L. Di Segni, tr., Cercare Dio nel deserto: Vita di
Caritone (Bose, 1990); and A. A. R. Bastiaensen, ed. and tr., Vita di Martino, Vita di Ilarione,
In memoria di Paola (Milan, 1975).
32
One may add yet another element of comparison between Hilarion and Peter, which the
audience of the Vita Petri Iberi could have noted. Hilarion's first miracle concerned a sterile
woman from Eleutheropolis who was able to bear a son after Hilarion had “raised his eyes to
heaven and bade her to have faith, then wept over her as she departed” (Jerome, Vita Hilarionis
13). When traveling in the Transjordan area, Peter's prayers likewise helped sterile parents to
conceive children. For a discussion of these instances see Horn, “A Chapter in the Pre-History of
the Christological Controversies in Arabic.”
33
Plerophoriae 48.
116 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

Gaza,”34 and “who was a disciple of the great Silvanus.”35 In obedience to

Abba Zeno's advice Peter had left his monastery in Jerusalem to “dwel[l] in
the congregation which was between Gaza and a small city, called
Maiuma.”36
From the Vita Petri Iberi and the Plerophoriae one can reconstruct some of
the aspects of the early history of that monastic community before it received
its distinctive shape under Peter's influence. Rufus states in the Vita Petri Iberi
that at the time Peter joined the congregation it “was full of many holy
monks,” whom Rufus calls “bearers of their cross.”37 A certain Abba Irenion
seems to have been the community’s abbot.38
From the Plerophoriae one learns that Peter dwelt in a laura.39 Peter's cell
was part of the laura guided by Abba Irenion. Rufus states that Abba Irenion,
Peter, and John the Eunuch considered one another as neighbors and were on
excellent terms with one another.40 Yet this did not prevent Abba Irenion from
assisting Juvenal of Jerusalem’s nephew, Bishop Paul, who held the episcopal
throne of Maiuma at the time when Peter arrived, to ordain Peter as a priest,
against his will and by force.41 The ordination took place at the feast of the
martyr Victor whom the people in the Gaza area venerated. From the Madeba
map (ca. 560 AD) one learns that a sanctuary, O TOU AGIOU BIKTOROS
(“the [house]42 of the holy Victor”), was located between the city of Gaza and
the seashore.43 Pilgrims used to visit the place in the sixth century. In 1893,
U. Bouriant published a Coptic panegyric on the martyr Victor, attributed to
Theodosius, the anti-Chalcedonian bishop of Jerusalem.44 Van Esbroeck dis-

34
Vita Petri Iberi 50. On Kefar She'artha, see Clermont-Ganneau, “Sur quelques localités de
Palestine,” 15-16.
35
Vita Petri Iberi 47. On Abba Silvanus and his followers, see the important study by Michel
van Parys, “Abba Silvain et ses disciples; Une famille monastique entre Scété et la Palestine à la
fin du IVe et dans la première moitié du Ve siècles,” Irénikon 61 (1988), 315-331 and 451-480.
On Zeno in particular see there in the first part, pp. 324-331, as well as the whole of the second
part of van Parys's study, which is an evaluation of sayings in the Apophthegmata tradition
which are attributed to and / or are dealing with Abba Zeno.
36
Vita Petri Iberi 49.
37
Vita Petri Iberi 49.
38
Vita Petri Iberi 51.
39
Plerophoriae 2. As M. G. Mara, “Laura,” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, vol. 1
(1992), 475, conveniently defines this specific organizational form of Palestinian monasticism, a
laura is “a monastery… composed of a group of individual cells of semi-hermits under the lead-
ership of a single superior, like a village of monks centered on the church.”
40
Vita Petri Iberi 51.
41
Vita Petri Iberi 51.
42
I owe this suggestion to Robert Phenix.
43
For a view of the respective section of the Madeba map, see Mohammed-Moain Sadek, in col-
laboration with Yasser Matar Abu Hassuneh and Jean-Baptiste Humbert, O.P., “Gaza,” Les dossiers
d'archéologie, n. 240 [Special issue: L'Archéologie Palestinienne] (January / February 1999), 46-67,
here p. 50. I am grateful to Stephane Verhelst for having drawn my attention to this article.
44
U. Bouriant, “L'Eloge de L'Apa Victor, fils de Romanos,” Mémoires de la Mission
archéologique française au Caire 8 (1893), 145-266.
 C.B. HORN 117

cussed how “the cult of Saint Victor [had] a strongly anti-Chalcedonian

tone.”45 Taken together, these few pieces of evidence suggest that the venera-
tion of the martyr Victor may have played a certain role in the tradition of the
Palestinian anti-Chalcedonian community, and particularly in the life of the
monastic community of Peter the Iberian.
While Peter was living in his laura close to the shore of Maiuma, Pela-
gius, an anti-Nestorian monk and prophet from Edessa who had found refuge
in Palestine used to visit him. Pelagius may have lived not far away from
Peter's laura, so that frequent visits did not cause great trouble. Probably
Peter's laura was situated very close to the sea-shore, since Rufus portrays
Pelagius and Peter as “pacing up and down in the sandy places of the laura”
and disputing with one another about theological questions.46 Even though
Peter engaged regularly in spiritual and theological conversations with
Pelagius or another one of his many visitors,47 he most enjoyed the with-
drawn life of quietness in the laura, and did not wish to mingle with the
world.

PETER THE IBERIAN'S RECRUITMENT OF MONASTIC DISCIPLES

Most likely only after his return from Egypt to the south western coast of
Palestine, the local monastic community grew in reputation through Peter's
presence there. Eventually, a group of his followers formed the nucleus of an
anti-Chalcedonian center of zealous ascetics. From far and wide, young and
older ascetics and laypeople were attracted. Rufus states that
“[w]hen [Peter] dwelt [close to Ashkelon], and many were coming to him from
every place, he was strengthening some,… while he was enlightening [others]
[and] was adding [them] to the orthodox church. Some, however, he incited
to renounce the vanity of the world entirely, persuading [them] to run after
perfection, to distribute their possessions to the poor, and carrying the Cross of
Christ to follow him alone. Among them were the blessed Procopius, who was
chaste in everything and who in truth depicted a man of God (1 Tim 6:11), and
Cyril, that sheep [78] of Christ,–while he led both of them out from the world, he
brought [them] to the place of the angels,–and Theodore, a lawyer, who in the end
also was the recipient of his evangelical way of life, of his zeal, and of the gov-
ernship of his monastery, together with Abba John, the venerable old man, the one
who was dear and beloved and who was adorned with every virtue of monasti-
cism, especially with humility. He attracted many others, not only men but also
women, to the army of Christ. While he urged them to carry the sweet yoke of vir-

45
Michel van Esbroeck and Khalil Samir, “Victor Stratelates, Saint,” in The Coptic Ency-
clopedia 7 (1991), 2303-2308, here p. 2304.
46
Plerophoriae 2.
47
Plerophoriae 3. Rufus mentions “other saints” who together with Pelagius of Edessa were
approaching Peter.
118 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

ginity, he was preparing for the Lord a people, abundant and zealous for good
works.”48

Many of the ascetic newcomers were former law school students from
Beirut. Next to Rufus's works, Zachariah Rhetor's biography of Severus of
Antioch supplies the most valuable information about these fervent young law
students-turned-ascetics.49 At one point, Zachariah himself had studied at the
Beirut Law School.50 Yet he never took the step of becoming a monk in
Peter's monastery, even though his father's house in the Gaza area was in the
immediate neighborhood of Peter's monastery.51
One of the Beirut Law School students who had joined Peter's circle early
on, as Rufus already indicated, was Theodore of Ashkelon.52 Theodore had
sold his possessions in Ashkelon, the city of his birth, and had given the
money to the poor in fulfillment of the Gospel command.53 He understood his
entering the monastic life under Peter as taking up the Cross of Christ and fol-
lowing him.54 Theodore was called “'the Just' because of the virtues which
he… possess[ed].”55 After Peter's death Theodore inherited a share in the gov-
ernorship of Peter's monastery56 and seemed to have exercised his leadership
effectively.
Some of the young lawyers from Beirut who joined Peter's monastery
learned about the saint by word of mouth and from friends who already lived
in communion with the saintly ascetic. John Rufus, for example, had learned
about Peter from his school-time friend Theodore of Ashkelon. After his law
studies in Beirut and his subsequent service as priest in Antioch, when Rufus
became greatly dissatisfied with the situation in Antioch after Peter the
Fuller's exile in AD 477,57 he decided to break with the city's clergy. Since he
had maintained correspondence with friends from Beirut, particularly with
Theodore, who by then was one of the monks in Peter's community and who

48
Vita Petri Iberi 77-78.
49
For text and French translation see Zachariah Scholasticus, Vita Severi, edited by
M. A. Kugener, Patrologia Orientalis 2.1 (Paris, 1907), 7-115. For an English translation of
excerpts see Robin A. Darling Young, “ZACHARIAS: The Life of Severus,” in Vincent
L. Wimbush, ed., Ascetic Behavior in Greco-Roman Antiquity – A Sourcebook (Minneapolis,
1990), 312-328.
50
Vita Severi 86. Reference is made to the page numbers in this edition. For the still author-
itative monograph on the famous Beirut Law School see Paul Collinet, Histoire de l'École de
Droit de Beyrouth (Paris, 1925).
51
Vita Severi 88.
52
Vita Severi 87 states that Theodore had chosen the monastic life before Rufus.
53
Vita Severi 87. Cf. Matthew 19:21.
54
Vita Severi 87. See also Vita Petri Iberi 78, quoted above. For a study of the significance
and relevance of the motif of the Cross in anti-Chalcedonian spirituality in Palestine, see Horn,
“Beyond Theology,” chapter 4.
55
Vita Severi 87.
56
Vita Severi 86.
57
Vita Severi 86-87.
 C.B. HORN 119

repeatedly had invited Rufus to visit the great saint and become part of his
community himself, Rufus decided that the time was ripe for such a step.
Theodore personally introduced him to Peter. Quickly Rufus became “a fellow
of [Peter's] communion” and “a companion of his ministry.”58 In the Vita
Severi Zachariah emphasizes that both Rufus and Theodore of Ashkelon had
“a great reputation in [regard to] temperance and love of God.”59 He espe-
cially singles out Rufus for “the seriousness of his face and the asceticism of
his body,” in consequence of which he “was being called Lazarus.”60 The
deep spiritual friendship which developed between Rufus and Peter formed the
basis for Rufus's continued involvement in the affairs of Peter's monastery.
Rufus became one of the heirs to Peter's monastery,61 and as a committed anti-
Chalcedonian, seems to have succeeded Peter as Bishop of Maiuma.
Peter also recruited some of the ascetic disciples of his Maiuma monastery
directly and in person. Apparitions of him became a popular motif in the sto-
ries of his young recruits. The Vita Severi recounts how Anastasius of Edessa
and Elisaeus felt called to the monastic life when they saw Peter appear to
them in a nightly vision. Anastasius was the first to receive such a marvellous
calling, as Zachariah notes. Anastasius had seen in a dream how Peter the Iber-
ian “commanded… him to come immediately, by mounting a horse like a
courrier.”62 Zachariah interpreted the dream for Anastasius, explaining that
through this “divine apparition” Anastasius was called to the monastic life.63
For fear of his uncle, a governor in the province of Tyre, who did not wish that
his nephew should leave a promising legal career, Anastasius first delayed his
departure. Eventually, however, he made it to Caesarea where he met several
disciples of Peter who guided him safely to the saint.64 First the holy man
reproached Anastasius for not having come promptly. Yet as soon as Anasta-
sius promised “to embrace the monastic life and to live under [Peter's] obedi-
ence,” Anastasius's body, which had been infected with leprosy, was healed.65
Anastasius’s experience seems to have functioned as a catalyst for similar
occurrences. After his story broke in Beirut, it did not take long until the pious
Elisaeus, “a man of simple habits,” had a similar experience. For a while
already Elisaeus had been taken captive by a desire to lead the life of a monk.
One day he had “an apparition of the holy man [i.e., Peter the Iberian], who
58
Vita Petri Iberi 82.
59
Vita Severi 86-87.
60
Vita Severi 87.
61
Vita Severi 86.
62
Vita Severi 83.
63
Vita Severi 84.
64
Vita Severi 84-85.
65
Vita Severi 85. For a discussion of the value of the episode dealing with Anastasius's and
Elisaeus's experience for the dating of the hagio-biographical work of Zachariah Rhetor, see
M.-A. Kugener, “Observations sur la Vie de l'ascète Isaïe et sur les Vies de Pierre l'Ibérien et de
Théodore d'Antinoé par Zacharie le Scolastique,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift 9 (1900), 464-470.
120 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

commanded him during the night to get up and to chant to God the fiftieth
psalm.”66 The encounter lit in Elisaeus “the fire of the divine philosophy [i.e.,
monasticism],” and since he did not know how “to resist the flame of the
divine vocation,” he betook himself hastily to Peter in Palestine and took on
“the yoke of philosophy” [i.e., monasticism] by placing himself under obedi-
ence to the holy man.67
Why were young law school students in Beirut so excited about the ascetic
from Palestine? Peter had traveled extensively during the later years of his life
and had spent an extended visit in the city of Beirut, because he felt that God
had called him to recruit new ascetics precisely from among these law school
students.68 The students kept alive the memory of his visit and passed it on to
the following generations. Peter also wrote letters to individuals there.69 The
Vita Severi mentions Evagrius in Beirut who “did not cease to lead many peo-
ple to the love of the divine philosophy and to the monastic life.” Evagrius
continuously talked “about the asceticism of those who cultivated the philoso-
phy in the East,” referring to Peter the Iberian and Abba Isaiah, even though
Evagrius himself had never met Peter in person.70 In the Vita Severi Zachariah
describes both of them as “these two men, [who] during their sojourn in Pales-
tine, had acquired a great reputation with all the Christians.”71 It may be that
Anastasius and Elisaeus simply had become so excited about the charismatic
figure of Peter the Iberian that their imagination was aroused, they dreamed
about him, and then felt they should follow him.
Severus of Antioch, debatably the most famous student of the Beirut Law
School and a spiritual son of the above-mentioned Evagrius, settled for a while
in a monastic cell in the immediate vicinity of Peter's laura in Maiuma.72

WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN THE MAIUMA MONASTERY BEFORE AND

AFTER PETER'S DEATH?

There is only little information available that allows one to describe the life
at the Maiuma monastery during Peter's lifetime. Yet the community, which
Peter had gathered in Gaza during his earlier years and which eventually
received its name from him, reestablished itself at the site of Peter's monastery
after his death and managed to flourish for a while. By combining pieces of
evidence from Rufus's and Zachariah's works, it is possible to reconstruct

66
Vita Severi 85.
67
Vita Severi 85-86.
68
Vita Petri Iberi 113.
69
For example, to one named Lucius. See Vita Severi 88.
70
Vita Severi 86.
71
Vita Severi 83.
72
Vita Severi 96.
 C.B. HORN 121

aspects of the community's practices as they pertain to the liturgical and

ascetical life at Maiuma, particularly for the years after Peter's death when
Rufus held responsibility among the monastery's leaders.73
One can trace the origins of liturgical customs observed in the Maiuma
monastery to practices introduced by Peter himself.74 The monks kept the tra-
dition of commemorating the saints of their community on special feast days.
Peter had introduced a custom of celebrating a memorial service for his Geor-
gian relatives who had been guides for him to the ascetic life. Their feast was
celebrated “on the Sabbath in the middle of Lent.”75 The Vita Petri Iberi's
“Sitz im Leben” is to be seen as the annual memorial celebration which
Peter's followers held for their founder and spiritual guide. At that occasion
Rufus's account of Peter's life was read to the monks.
The Vita Petri Iberi pays great attention to the physical altar used at the
monastery in Maiuma. Peter had testified to the monks that in an extraordinary
apparition Mark the Evangelist had consecrated that altar in Egypt.76 At one
occasion, Peter's dear friend and soul-mate John the Eunuch had offered the
liturgy at that altar and during a three-day ecstasy at the altar received a vision
of the Second Coming of Christ. Grounded in that vision, the community at
Maiuma believed that its altar represented the one and only true altar on
earth.77 Through such a conviction Peter’s anti-Chalcedonian followers
demonstrated that they thought of themselves as being the only rightful and
God-pleasing Christian church in existence.
In many of the monasteries throughout the ancient Christian East, ascetics
followed the rule of Basil the Great.78 It is no great surprise then that in his last
will Peter laid down that his monks should also live according to Basil’s rule.79
In the Vita Severi, Zachariah provides an illustration of the way of life
which the monks at Maiuma practiced. According to Zachariah, Severus of
Antioch had observed that the monks
“spent every day fasting, taking the earth for their bed, standing upright every
day, giving the entire night to watching, praying constantly, and assisting at the

73
See also Horn, “Beyond Theology,” chapter 3; and Cornelia Horn, “Peter the Iberian and
anti-Chalcedonian monasticism in Gaza in the light of Old and New Sources,” paper read at the
Mid-Atlantic regional AAR / SBL meeting, Glen Mills, PA (March 24, 2000), unpublished man-
uscript.
74
To the ones mentioned in this paragraph, one could also add the usage of a particular cov-
ering for the altar table on the feast day of the commemoration of Peter of Alexandria. See Vita
Petri Iberi 132.
75
Vita Petri Iberi 6.
76
Plerophoriae 44.
77
Plerophoriae 43.
78
Patrologia Graeca 31.889 – 1305 (Detailed Rule and Short Rules). See Johannes Quasten,
Patrology, vol. 3, 213; Karl Suso Frank, “Basiliusregeln,” in Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2
(1994), 71-72.
79
Vita Petri Iberi 135: “Meditate, however, and read always in the book on asceticism, the
one on the questions of the brothers, of the blessed Basil, the bishop. And like his holy orders
also set his laws.”
122 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

office. They gave only a small part of the day to manual labour, so that they could
acquire what they need[ed] to nourish their bodies and to help the poor. Each one
laboured over the sacred Scriptures during the hour of manual labour. Their
chastity was so great that they did not look at each other's faces. They looked at
the ground and made their responses to everyone. They laboured religiously at all
things that led to virtue and attempted not to speak unnecessarily.”

Zachariah himself
“knew some among them who, during the bodily lifetime of the great Peter, were
advised to remain silent for six years, speaking only to God in the prayers and the
divine office, and not to reveal (because of the curiosity of the demons) that God
had given this combat as a remedy for their faults. They were careful to obey, so
that no needless words left their mouths and they did not even express useless
thoughts by standing still, or walking, or moving their eyes.”80

Both Severus and Zachariah attest to the fact that the monks at the Maiuma
monastery practiced strict forms of ascetic abstinence in regard to human
needs for food, sleep, and human interaction. The strong emphasis on silence
is remarkable. To what extent it may have been due to the teachings of Abba
Isaiah would have to be contemplated more carefully.81

WHAT CAN BE KNOWN ABOUT THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF

THE MAIUMA MONASTERY?

While Peter still dwelt at the Maiuma monastery, he ordered the construc-
tion of “three sarcophagi which were joined to one another.”82 He intended
these sarcophagi as resting places for his own body and those of two of his
close friends, John the Eunuch and Abraham of Atripe. The sarcophagus in the
middle was reserved for his own relics.83
With the translation of Peter’s relics to the Maiuma monastery, recounted at
the beginning of this paper, also several if not all of the brothers that had gath-
ered around Peter over the years returned to and settled at their spiritual
father's former monastic residence. In a joined effort they rebuilt and revived
the monastery. It seems that during their years of absence due to constant trav-
eling the place had fallen somewhat into decay. By the time of Peter's death in
the last decade of the fifth century, the group of his disciples comprised thirty
members. Thus the few cells that remained from earlier years did no longer
suffice. In the Vita Petri Iberi Rufus describes the building activities which
80
For both quotes see Zachariah Rhetor, Vita Severi 93-94. English translation quoted from
Darling Young, “ZACHARIAS: The Life of Severus,” 325.
81
Regnault, “Isaiah of Scetis,” 1305, notes “hesychia, that blissful quietude essential for the
monk,” first in the list of practices which Abba Isaiah recommended to monks. A fuller study of
the importance of solitude and silence in Abba Isaiah would help clarify the question raised here.
82
Vita Petri Iberi 141.
83
Vita Petri Iberi 142.
 C.B. HORN 123

Peter's heirs undertook to improve the living conditions at the monastery.

Given the scarcity of available funds, the efforts of Theodore of Ashkelon in
particular appear to have made the difference. While one may assume that his
fellow monks assisted Theodore in his building activities, Rufus describes the
monastery's reconstruction in the following as largely the work of Theodore
alone:
“When those heirs of the blessed one saw, however, that the place was small and
was not sufficient for a dwelling-place of many monks, for the cells were few and
those were [such] that one was neglecting them, they prepared to revive the place.
There was want of many supplies, and that blessed one had left [behind] little,
which hardly [144] was sufficient for a few days for the nourishment of the broth-
ers, who were about thirty in number. For that blessed one left only twenty-four
dinars84 for supplies, because he used to distribute the greater part to the poor, and
there was not one resource, neither from the produce of the soil, nor from the
work of the hands of the brothers, because they were only occupied with the
reception and refreshment of these saints and strangers who were coming contin-
ually to there during the life of the blessed one. If, however, anyone was offering
anything, he was distributing the greater part of it, as I said, immediately to the
poor. Nevertheless, while they put their trust in the riches of the kindness of God,
and were strengthened by the prayers of the saint, those heirs began with the con-
struction of the building. Especially, however, the diligent Theodore, that scholas-
tic; accepting the work, he began the building with great cheerfulness, faith, and
hope. And since God was helping, and gave strength, cheerfulness, and supplies
invisibly, he built in a few days the tower and the Church, which is in it, and a
house of prayer in the church. He built also the wall of the monastery and let [it]
go around [it]. He constructed many cells, both lower and upper ones. He led a
wall around the porticos, the pillars, and the courtyard, dug a well, fashioned gar-
dens, and took care of the rest of what was necessary, of the building of the
monastery, and of the work of the hands of the brothers, while he put his trust
only in the goodness, the care, and the help of the Lord. When he had finished the
construction of the building and they had decorated [145] the house of prayer,
they dug a place of reverence under the altar. And they transferred to there the
body of the saint during the following year, one day before [the anniversary] of
his death.”85

The former monastery structures consisted of several cells to which new

ones were added. The buildings had pillars and porticoes, which suggests a
centralized arrangement of the cells. The monks planted gardens and dug a
well for water supply. A wall surrounded the whole monastery, probably as
defense against intruders.
Rufus emphasizes that Theodore also built a tower and a new church.
Within the church building, a special prayer-house was erected, which seemed
to have been the central place for the liturgical life of the community. After
finishing the prayer-house, the monks deposited Peter’s relics in a special
84
According to Payne Smith, Syriac Dictionary, 91, a dinar was generally gold, sometimes
silver.
85
Vita Petri Iberi 143-145.
124 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

“place of reverence under the altar.”86 The monks at the Maiuma monastery
preserved a vivid sense of the continued presence of Peter among them and of
his uninterrupted intercession in heaven for the needs of his brothers.87 In
accordance with the model of Egyptian liturgical practice customary for the
commemoration of Archbishop Peter of Alexandria, the monks at Maiuma
also celebrated the feast of commemoration of their own founder on three con-
secutive days.88

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

The textual sources state that the monastery of Peter the Iberian in question
was located “between Gaza and Maiuma.”89 In modern times, excavations in
the Gaza area have been rather difficult. On the one hand, the vicinity of the
Mediterranean Sea has to account for climatological conditions which are
unfavorable to the preservation of materials from antiquity. Under Islamic
rule, materials from formerly Christian buildings were removed from their
original locations and reused in architectural structures that served purposes
that were foreign to those for which the materials were originally prepared.
Moreover, given the present political, social, and economic situation of the
inhabitants of the Gaza area, tasks other than archaeological work have a
greater priority and importance.
Nevertheless, some archaeological research is being carried out by the
Department of Antiquities of the Palestinian Authority, especially in collabo-
ration with the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem.90 At
certain locations in the Gaza area mosaics, including mosaic floors, of sixth-
century churches have been discovered. Those mosaics were up to now known
only through the descriptions of Chorikios of Gaza, who in the sixth century
painted vivid verbal tapestries of the mosaics of the Churches of St. Sergius
and of St. Stephen.91 In 1999, in an article in Les dossiers d'archéologie,
86
Vita Petri Iberi 145.
87
Vita Petri Iberi 145.
88
Vita Petri Iberi 146.
89
Vita Petri Iberi 44.
90
See, e.g., École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, Excavations in Gaza, at
http://www.op.org/ebaf/news-001.htm (accessed Summer 2001).
91
Chorikios of Gaza's encomia on Bishop Marcian of Gaza (530-550) are of particular
importance for the history of Christian art in Gaza. For the text of Chorikios's works see the edi-
tion by R. Förster and R. Richtsteig, Choricii Gazaei opera (Leipzig, 1929; reprinted Stuttgart,
1972). For an English translation of relevant sections, see R. W. Hamilton in Quarterly state-
ment; Palestine Exploration Fund (PEFQSt.) (1930), 178-191. For a short summary of
Chorikios's descriptions see Ovadiah, “Les Mosaïstes de Gaza,” 553-554. See also F.-M. Abel,
“Gaza au VIe siècle d'après le rhéteur Chorikios,” Revue Biblique 60 (1931), 5-31. On Chorikios
of Gaza, see P. Bruns, “Choricius of Gaza,” in Dictionary of Early Christian Literature [trans-
lation of the German Lexikon der antiken christlichen Literatur], ed. by Siegmar Döpp and Wil-
helm Geerlings (New York, 2000), 123.
 C.B. HORN 125

Mohammed-Moain Sadek, representative of the Palestinian Department of

Antiquities, reported that in April 1995 a large fragment of a mosaic floor was
found, most likely the pavement of an ancient villa, about 300 m east of the
United Nations Relief Center, in an area called al-Sabra, located between the
ancient city of Gaza and its port, Maiuma.92 The mosaic consists of marble
tesserae of approximately 2 cm x 2 cm. The mosaic fragment constitutes the
corner of a rectangular surface filled in with geometrical shapes, i.e., rows of
circles and diamonds. The partially damaged mosaic covered an area of about
2 m x 2 m. The fragment which was found contains no inscriptions. The exca-
vators stated that the style of the mosaic is to be regarded as typical for the
Gaza region and resembles closely a mosaic found in the Byzantine theater in
Alexandria, Egypt, which in its turn can be dated to the sixth century AD. One
may therefore date the mosaic fragment from Gaza to the same period.
8 m south west of the location of the mosaic was found a layer of building
stones mixed with chalk and ashes on top of Byzantine jars.93 However, no
traces of any architectural structures have yet come to light. This makes it
extremely difficult to identify the building of which the mosaic once was a
part.
In his article, Sadek asked whether the mosaic could have belonged to a
Byzantine monastery of St. Victor, for which the Madeba map indicates a
location between Gaza and Maiuma. In the end Sadek thought the mosaic
rather belonged to the larger area surrounding a monastery of St. Victor.
While it still has to be clarified what exactly the nature of “the [house] of
the holy Victor” was, the existence of monasteries in the region between Gaza
and Maiuma is clearly attested to. As mentioned above, Severus of Antioch
built a laura in the area. Literary sources offer substantial information about
the monastery of Peter the Iberian, which, as shown above, comprised numer-
ous extensive buildings and was inhabited by anti-Chalcedonians at least until
AD 518, the beginning of the reign of Emperor Justin. The sixth-century Life

92
Sadek, Humbert, and Abu Hassuneh, “Gaza,” 60.
93
Sadek does not indicate, whether or not the excavators were able to determine the use that
was made of the jars in question. In excavations of the Byzantine strata at numerous sites along
the Mediterranean coast between Caesarea and Gaza, sherds of storage-jars have come to light in
large numbers. Archaeologists and ceramists commonly speak of them as “'Gaza wine jars' or
‘Gaza storage-jars.'“ See Philip Mayerson, “The Gaza ‘Wine' Jar (Gazition) and the ‘Lost'
Ashkelon Jar (Askalônion),” Israel Exploration Journal 42 (1992), 76-80; republished in Philip
Mayerson, Monks, Martyrs, Soldiers and Saracens; Papers on the Near East in Late Antiquity
(1962-1993), published by The Israel Exploration Society in association with New York Univer-
sity (Jerusalem, 1994), 347-351, here p. 347. It would be interesting to know whether or not also
the jars in question here belong to that group. Given that the rise of Palestinian monasticism in
the Gaza area had a very positive and stimulating effect on increasing the production of and trad-
ing in wine in the early Byzantine era, as discussed above, p. 103 and n. 30, and if the jars in
question could be identified as wine-jars, one would have a further indicator pointing to the like-
lihood that the mosaic in question could have been part of a monastery, and especially the
Maiuma monastery of Peter the Iberian.
126 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

of John of Hephaestopolis indicates that the “Monastery of Peter the Iberian”

flourished until the second generation after Peter. Then the community moved
to Egypt.94 What happened to the buildings of Peter's Maiuma monastery is
not known. Yet given the likelihood of a connection between the cult of the
martyr Victor and Peter's anti-Chalcedonian followers as discussed above,
would it not be intriguing to suggest that the discovered mosaic fragment once
belonged to the structures that made up Peter's Maiuma monastery, possibly
including a sanctuary of the martyr Victor?

ANTI-CHALCEDONIANS AND CHALCEDONIANS AT PEACE AND IN

CONFLICT WITH ONE ANOTHER IN THE GAZA AREA

Simply to say as I just did that two generations after Peter the community of
his followers moved to Egypt is only half the truth. If one reads John of Eph-
esus carefully, one notices that he says that “[the community] of father Peter
the Iberian, the doer of great and apostolic signs… was expelled with the rest,
and came into the territory of Alexandria; and there it lived in a place called
Ennaton.”95 It very likely was Chalcedonian pressure exerted by Emperor
Justin which forced the rest of the Palestinian anti-Chalcedonians who had
survived and for a time had prospered in the Gaza area to seek refuge in
Egypt.
At a few instances in the literary sources considered for this paper,96 one can
catch glimpses at how the relationship between Chalcedonians and anti-Chal-
cedonians in the Gaza area developed. For the time prior to Chalcedon, when
Peter and John the Eunuch first joined the monastic community of Abba Ire-
nion, Rufus indicates that the three considered one another as neighbors and as
being on excellent terms.97 The aftermath of Bishop Juvenal's finally success-
ful return to his throne in Jerusalem and the subsequent expulsion of anti-Chal-
cedonians from Palestine, however, severly affected the inhabitants of the
Maiuma monastery as well as local lay anti-Chalcedonians. It seems that the
religious climate in Maiuma became unfavorable for zealous anti-Chalcedo-
nians. Rufus knows of a certain Cyril who had been driven away from Maiuma
because of his anti-Chalcedonian orthodoxy. This Cyril had to settle in
Ashkelon, and there earned a living as keeper of a tavern.98 Also Pelagius of

94
John of Ephesus, “Life of John of Hephaestopolis,” in John of Ephesus, Lives of the
Eastern Saints, part 2, edited and translated by E. W. Brooks, Patrologia Orientalis 18.4 (Paris,
1924), 527.
95
John of Ephesus, “Life of John of Hephaestopolis,” 527.
96
I.e., Rufus's Vita Petri Iberi and the Plerophoriae, and Zachariah's Vita Severi.
97
Vita Petri Iberi 51.
98
Plerophoriae 6.
 C.B. HORN 127

Edessa, one of the regular visitors to Peter, had to flee and keep in hiding in
Ashkelon. Interestingly enough, he found refuge with Cyril, the tavern
keeper.99 Yet apparently not all anti-Chalcedonians had to leave Maiuma. Per-
haps the less zealous ones among them were those who were able to stay in
Maiuma.100
In the Vita Petri Iberi Rufus creates the impression that after twenty years
of exile in Egypt, Peter returned to Palestine because the local population of
Maiuma desired to regain their former bishop. Yet judging from what Peter
actually did when he returned to Palestine, one is led to believe that Rufus may
have exaggerated a bit with his description of warm and welcoming sentiments
of the local population. When Peter returned to Palestine, he arrived at
Ashkelon where he was welcomed by the anti-Chalcedonian community. Then
“he abode in a village which is called Palaea, about ten stadia from the city [of
Ashkelon],”101 at quite some distance to the north of Maiuma. He stayed in
several places in the larger Gaza area, which does indicate that there were
pockets of his supporters in the area. Yet Rufus never directly says that Peter
functioned again as local bishop of Maiuma or even set foot into his former
monastery there. Only rarely, if indeed more than once, did Peter return to
Maiuma.102 The center for his operations had clearly moved to Palaea, i.e., to
the north in the Ashkelon area. Moreover, according to Rufus, it was Peter's
express wish to die as a pilgrim and thus never to return to his home
monastery.103 A less tendentious reading of the fact that Peter did not settle
again in the community at Maiuma has to take into account that perhaps Peter
felt that as a zealous anti-Chalcedonian he with his followers would not really
have found a warm welcome in Maiuma.
Only for a period of roughly thirty years right after Peter's death did the sit-
uation seem to have changed somewhat. Emperor Anastasius (491-518) eased
the lot of anti-Chalcedonians in Palestine. It is obviously only by mere chance
that the year of Peter's death coincides with the year in which Anastasius
ascended to the throne. Nevertheless, after Peter's death and under the patron-
age of Anastasius, Peter's anti-Chalcedonian followers returned to their
monastery between Gaza and Maiuma and repossessed it. Still, how secure
and confident they really felt is debatable. The fact that the monks under the
leadership of Theodore of Ashkelon on their return to the Maiuma monastery
quickly built a wall around their monastery may indicate that they still felt a

99
Plerophoriae 6.
100
Plerophoriae 6.
101
Vita Petri Iberi77. For a discussion of the precise location of Palaea, see Clermont-Gan-
neau, “Sur quelques localités de Palestine,” 2-9.
102
At Vita Petri Iberi 78 Rufus says that “[o]nce… [Peter] was migrating to the places which
are at the shore of Gaza, also that [place] which is called Maiuma.”
103
For a discussion of the importance of pilgrimage in Peter's life, see Horn, “Beyond
Theology,” chapter 2; and Horn, “Weaving the Pilgrim's Crown.”
128 PETER THE IBERIAN AND PALESTINIAN ANTI-CHALCEDONIAN MONASTICISM

need to protect themselves and their property against intruders or outside

attacks of various sorts. Perhaps tensions slowly calmed down after an initial
period of discomfort, since John of Ephesus afterall describes that period as
one during which the community even flourished for a while.
Yet in the end, it was again imperial intervention which determined the des-
tiny of anti-Chalcedonians in Palestine. With the accession of Justin I in 518,
the fate of Peter the Iberian's followers, i.e., the last remnant of zealous anti-
Chalcedonians in the Gaza area, was sealed. The whole community, as John of
Ephesus says, “was expelled.” Whether or not there were any lay people from
Maiuma who joined the monks on their flight to Egypt cannot be determined.