pillar of the communities: the lives of alypius the stylite

112 Pages·2015·0.96 MB·English

Florin Filimon

PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITIES: THE LIVES OF ALYPIUS THE
STYLITE

MA Thesis in Medieval Studies

Central European University

Budapest

May 2015

CEU eTD Collection
PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITIES: THE LIVES OF ALYPIUS THE
STYLITE

by
Florin Filimon
(Romania)

Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies,
Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements

of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies.
Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU.

____________________________________________

Chair, Examination Committee
____________________________________________
Thesis Supervisor

____________________________________________
Examiner

____________________________________________
Examiner

Budapest
May 2015

CEU eTD Collection
PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITIES: THE LIVES OF ALYPIUS THE
STYLITE

by

Florin Filimon

(Romania)

Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies,
Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements

of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies.

Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU.

____________________________________________
External Reader

Budapest
May 2015

CEU eTD Collection
PILLAR OF THE COMMUNITIES: THE LIVES OF ALYPIUS THE
STYLITE

by

Florin Filimon
(Romania)

Thesis submitted to the Department of Medieval Studies,

Central European University, Budapest, in partial fulfillment of the requirements
of the Master of Arts degree in Medieval Studies.

Accepted in conformance with the standards of the CEU.

____________________________________________
External Supervisor

Budapest
May 2015

CEU eTD Collection
I, the undersigned, Florin Filimon, candidate for the MA degree in Medieval Studies, declare
herewith that the present thesis is exclusively my own work, based on my research and only such
external information as properly credited in notes and bibliography. I declare that no unidentified
and illegitimate use was made of the work of others, and no part of the thesis infringes on any
person’s or institution’s copyright. I also declare that no part of the thesis has been submitted in
this form to any other institution of higher education for an academic degree.
Budapest, 20 May 2015
__________________________
Signature

CEU eTD Collection
Abstract
The thesis deals with one of the holy men who imitated Symeon the Elder in practicing his
peculiar form of asceticism. For Alypius, a stylite from Adrianoupolis, a prominent city in
Paphlagonia, who allegedly died in the times of Heraclius, three major versions of his biography
survived: one anonymous, one redacted by the Symeon Metaphrastes’ team, and one produced
by Antonius, a member of the Great Church’s clergy. Little attention has been given to the first
two versions, and even less to the Life by Antonius; hence, the present thesis aims to analyze the
narrative as it appears in the first two biographies; the one by Antonius is considered only in
some crucial aspects, since it is more distant from the anonymous Life, which may be considered
the basis of all further reaction. Since besides the titles of the manuscripts used by Hippolyte
Delehaye for editing the earliest Life, no chronological information emerges from the text, the
main goal of the thesis is to reveal those details that may allow one to determine when Alypius’
earliest biography was written, and likewise, when Alypius lived. In doing so, I analyze various
aspects of the Life. Besides the narrative in its entirety, the saintly figures included by the three
biographers in the ‘rhetoric comparison’ (synkrisis), the pillar and abandoned necropolis that
became a monastic milieu, and, finally, the monastery created around the pillar’s base, its
structure, and its dwellers, are at the core of the four chapters of my research. Each of them
provides elements that, correlated, offer a probable dating of the anonymous Life and of Alypius.
Finally, the thesis argues that one of the MS consulted by Delehaye (MS C), but constantly
disregarded at the expense of a clearer text filled with totally unexpected details, gives the
original form of the anonymous Life.

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Acknowledgements
The present thesis would have remained a desideratum without my main supervisor, István
Perczel, from whose unceasing dedication and high academic expertise I benefited. I definitely
hope that no student will ever ask him for the same amount of patience that my work needed.
I owe special thanks to Volker Menze, my second supervisor, for his encouragements,
patience, and guidance given in those moments in which they were most needed.
I am grateful to Zsuzsanna Reed for improving my language, to György Geréby for his
comments and advices, and to Niels Gaul for having made me acquainted with the tenth-century
Byzantium.
I am grateful to Andra Jugănaru, who offered me not only her friendship, but also her
expertise, and did her time. I would also like to give my warm thanks to Radu Mustaţă and Lucas
McMahon, who offered me suggestions whenever I needed. My friends and colleagues, Roxana
Maria Arăș, Ioana Haşu, and Danielle Giammanco, offered me their unceasing support and
unconditional camaraderie.
I also owe this thesis to my beloved ones, Iulia and Augustin, who allow me to indulge in
the academic life at CEU by temporarily exempting me from domestic and paternal duties. It will
not happen again!

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Contents
List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... v
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Chapter 1 - Preliminaries ................................................................................................................ 5
1.1. The pre-Metaphrastic and the Metaphrastic menologia ....................................................... 5
1.2. The relation between the Lives ............................................................................................ 7
1.3. The dossier of Alypius ......................................................................................................... 8
1.4. The manuscripts ................................................................................................................... 9
1.5. Dating Alypius ................................................................................................................... 11
1.6. The place ............................................................................................................................ 16
1.7. Alypius’ story according to the sources ............................................................................. 18
Chapter 2 - ‘Mightier than Job’: variation within the synkrisis in the Lives of Alypius .............. 32
2.1. Synkrisis – the rhetorical comparison ................................................................................ 33
2.2. Synkrisis in the Lives ......................................................................................................... 35
2.2.1. The anonymous Life ................................................................................................... 35
2.2.2. The Metaphrastic redaction......................................................................................... 37
2.2.3. The version by Antonius ............................................................................................. 38
2.3. The philoponia of the stylites ............................................................................................ 44
2.3.1. Job as a topos in the accounts on other stylites ........................................................... 45
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Chapter 3 – A pillar saint needs his pillar ..................................................................................... 49
3.1 The ‘desert’ and the narratives ............................................................................................ 49
3.2 The funerary column ........................................................................................................... 52
3.2.1 Praising, using, and abusing the funerary column ....................................................... 52
2.2.2 The cross and the icon .................................................................................................. 53
3.3. The pillar: the terminology ................................................................................................ 56
3.3.1 The significance of the pillar ....................................................................................... 58
Chapter 4 – Monastic community and ascetic routine .................................................................. 60
4.1 The ascetic community according to the Life ..................................................................... 61
4.2. Alypius’ ‘monastic rules:’ double monastery or two monasteries? ................................... 63
4.3 A Possible Structure of the Monastic Complex: ................................................................. 70
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 74
Bibliography ................................................................................................................................. 78
Sources ...................................................................................................................................... 78
Secondary literature .................................................................................................................. 80
Appendix I. Receiving the divine light: Coenae tuae ................................................................... 86
Appendix II. From the ‘bull-lion’ (ταυρολέων) to the ‘bull-and-lion’ (βουφάγος) ...................... 94
Appendix III. Illuminated manuscripts of the Metaphrastic Menologion .................................. 101
Appendix IV. ‘Alypius’ monastery’ in Constantinople .............................................................. 102

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List of Abbreviations
LSJ - Liddle-Scott-Jones Greek-English Lexikon
ODB - Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium
PG - Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca

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