Rufinus’ "Historia monachorum in Aegypto" and the Promulgation of Evagrian Ascetic Teaching
Around 403 Rufinus composed his Historia monachorum in Aegypto, a Latin translation of Ἡ κατ’ Αἴγυπτον τῶν µοναχῶν ἱστορία (“Inquiry about the Monks of Egypt”). This Greek work, authored anonymously years earlier by one of the monks in his monastery on the Mount of Olives, chronicles the author’s mo...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2017
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| In: |
Vigiliae Christianae
Year: 2017, Volume: 71, Issue: 3, Pages: 285-314 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity KCA Monasticism; religious orders KCD Hagiography; saints |
| Further subjects: | B
Historia monachorum
Rufinus
Evagrius of Pontus
Egyptian monasticism
hagiography
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Around 403 Rufinus composed his Historia monachorum in Aegypto, a Latin translation of Ἡ κατ’ Αἴγυπτον τῶν µοναχῶν ἱστορία (“Inquiry about the Monks of Egypt”). This Greek work, authored anonymously years earlier by one of the monks in his monastery on the Mount of Olives, chronicles the author’s months-long travels throughout Egypt, where he met notable monastic personalities and recorded for posterity their deeds and teachings. In rendering the Greek original into Latin Rufinus made certain amendments which point to possible reasons why he undertook this ambitious translation project. In this article I draw attention to amendments he made pertaining to the figure and teachings of Evagrius of Pontus and I argue that one of his principal authorial objectives was to promulgate and popularize the core principles of Evagrius’ ascetic mysticism among a western readership. |
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| ISSN: | 1570-0720 |
| Contains: | In: Vigiliae Christianae
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15700720-12341298 |