Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

monasticism 761
Ennaton, a large Delta monastery with Pachomian roots. Esaias of Scetis,
another generator and hero of such anecdotes, was not averse to drawing
up rules. He clearly worked in the Pachomian tradition, even though he
sprang from the exiled northern communities of Egypt that probably
created the Sayings themselves. As for Basil, his Regulae circulated at first in
at least two collections, each subject to editing and accretion. They are
notable for saying less about monastic institutions than about the development
of the ascetic’s spiritual life, or else were designed to meet particular
needs and to answer particular questions as they arose. 50 The memory of
such pioneers survived among the communities they inspired largely
because of their personal reputation, enhanced in Pachomius’ case by a rich
biographical tradition. It may be that the greater influence of Basil was due
precisely to his lesser specificity, the detailed prescriptions of Pachomius’
actual rules being more difficult to transfer unchanged to other settings. So,
even on paper, individual character continued to count for most: one was
loyal to reputations as much as to regimes. Wherever a ‘rule’ does seem discernible,
we find constantly an eclectic tendency: ascetics did not adopt the
practice of one particular place, whether Caesarea or the Thebaid, but reinforced
the customs and recollections of more immediate instructors, or, at
the very most, responded admiringly to the wisdom of some figure in the
more distant past. Sabas was to prove, in a way that applied to a multitude
of monasteries, a typical example: he bequeathed, in a.d. 532, written
instructions to his successor; but they represented not one authority but
‘the traditions handed down in his monasteries’ – only at that late stage,
perhaps, committed to writing. 51
Yet there were developments proper to the west, governed to some
extent by precedents in its own provinces. Before the translated Life of
Antony could gain widespread effect, and certainly before Jerome and
Rufinus began to offer the west their own ascetic works and translations,
bishops in particular were beginning to make formal prescriptions for
ascetic disciples. Eusebius of Vercelli (died 371) and Ambrose of Milan
(died 397) are famous examples. Episcopal initiative and control were
important features of the development: in some cases, indeed, the bishop’s
household became the centre of the ascetic endeavour, with the inevitable
involvement of members of his clergy. Jerome and Rufinus were, indeed,
products of that world; and Augustine (a.d. 354–430) continued the tradition.
His towering stature within the western Christian tradition can often
encourage us to forget how local Augustine could be in his initial influence;
and that is particularly true of his monastic experiments. Suspicions
50 See Rousseau, Basil of Caesarea 354f. and Gribomont (1953).
51 Cyr. Scyth. V. Sab. 76, tr. Price (1991) 191.
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