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monasticism 749
brief and partly fictional Life, and founder of an ascetic settlement near
Gaza – was a declared admirer of the Egyptian Antony. Epiphanius, later
bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, had also been to Egypt, was inspired by
Hilarion, and sowed the seeds of another community in the Gaza region.
He continued (uncanonically) to maintain a close interest in Palestinian
affairs. As the fourth century came to a close, an increasing number of
ascetics had begun to leave Egypt, sometimes because of persecution but
also sensing decline, abandoning in particular the more loosely structured
settlements in Nitria and Scetis. Notable among them were Porphyry, the
later bishop of Gaza (leaving in 377), Silvanus, originally from Palestine
(leaving in 380), and Esaias (who left soon after 440 and did not die – again,
near Gaza – until 489).
Such men may have preserved at least some Egyptian values in their new
home, passing on stories and traditions to new companions and disciples. 8
Yet even older, according to tradition, was the career of Chariton, originally
from Iconium in Asia Minor. As a ‘foreigner’, he is a fitting archetype of the
enthusiastic pilgrims attracted in ever greater numbers by Palestine’s
growing status as the ‘holy land’, beautified and enriched by imperial generosity
and aristocratic patronage. 9 He eventually settled further north than
Gaza, first in country to the west of Jericho and then south of Jerusalem
beyond Bethlehem, founding what came to be known as the Old Laura
(Greek laura) or Souka (Syriac shouqa). These words have come to be associated
with markets or bazaars, with their long, narrow streets of shops and
stalls: thus, in the desert, a precipitous path wound past caves in the wadi
walls, each housing its ascetic. They were not hermits in a strict sense, for
the laura possessed also a communal church and a bakehouse, to which all
repaired on Saturday, sharing in vigils and a meal of bread, vegetables and
dates, and in the Sunday eucharist. Then, having collected fresh material for
basket work and other crafts, and a further supply of food, they returned to
their caves to work and pray alone during the other days of the week. In that
early generation, therefore, most of the characteristics of Palestinian asceticism
were set in place – economic as well as social: for its future prosperity
depended for the most part on donations from novices, admirers and highranking
patrons (chiefly in cash and food, more rarely in parcels of land),
simple horticulture and handicraft contributing no more than a supplement.
Chariton is presented in hagiography as a rival, indeed a predecessor, of
the Egyptian Antony; but his association with Asia Minor – reared as he
8 Still the fundamental survey is that offered by Chitty (1966), which may now be supplemented by
Gould (1993) and Binns (1994), although the latter may exaggerate Egyptian influence (157f.).
9 Hirschfeld (1992) 2, 11, 71. For pilgrimage and Christian developments in fourth-century and fifthcentury
Palestine, see Hunt, Holy Land Prilgrimage and Walker, Holy City, Holy Places? The surviving biography
of Chariton is late and has to be used with caution, since it may justify custom he never foresaw:
see Garitte (1941) and the English translation by Di Segni in Wimbush (1990) 393–421.
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