Clothes and Monasticism in Ancient Christian Egypt

213 Pages·2021·1.595 MB·English

by  Ingvild Sælid Gilhus

Clothes and Monasticism in
Ancient Christian Egypt
This book is an exploration of the ideals and values of the ascetic and monastic
life, as expressed through clothes. Clothes are often seen as an extension of
us as humans, a determinant of who we are and how we experience and
interact with the world. In this way, they can play a significant role in the
embodied and material aspects of religious practice.
The focus of this book is on clothing and garments among ancient
monastics and ascetics in Egypt, but with a broader outlook to the general
meaning and function of clothes in religion. The garments of the Egyptian
ascetics and monastics are important because they belong to a period of
transition in the history of Christianity and very much represent this way
of living. This study combines a cognitive perspective on clothes with an
attempt to grasp the embodied experiences of being clothed, as well as
viewing clothes as potential actors. Using sources such as travelogues,
biographies, letters, contracts, images, and garments from monastic burials,
the role of clothes is brought into conversation with material religion more
generally.
This unique study builds links between ancient and contemporary uses of
religious clothing. It will, therefore, be of interest to any scholar of religious
studies, religious history, religion in antiquity, and material religion.
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus is Professor of the Study of Religion, University of
Bergen, Norway. She works in the areas of religion in late antiquity and
New Age religion. Her publications include Laughing Gods, Weeping
Virgins (Routledge 1997); Animals, Gods and Humans: Changing Attitudes
to Animals in Greek, Roman and Early Christian Ideas (Routledge 2006);
Evolution, Cognition, and the History of Religion: A New Synthesis (edited
with Anders K. Petersen, Luther H. Martin, Jeppe S. Jensen, and Jesper
Sørensen, 2019); and The Archangel Michael in Africa: History, Cult, and
Persona (edited with Alexandros Tsakos and Marta Camilla Wright, 2019).
Routledge Studies in Religion
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Edited by Sonia Sikka and Ashwani Kumar Peetush
Orthodox Christian Identity in Western Europe
Contesting Religious Authority
Sebastian Rimestad
Spirit Possession and Communication in Religious and Cultural Contexts
Edited by Caroline Blyth
Blasphemies Compared
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Edited by Anne Stensvold
Religion, Family, and Chinese Youth Development
An Empirical View
Jerf W. K. Yeung
Contemporary Christian-Muslim Dialogue
Twenty-First Century Initiatives
Douglas Pratt
Heresy and Borders in the Twentieth Century
Edited by Karina Jakubowicz and Robert Dickins
Clothes and Monasticism in Ancient Christian Egypt
New Perspective on Religious Garments
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
religion/series/SE0669
Clothes and Monasticism in
Ancient Christian Egypt
New Perspective on Religious
Garments
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus
First published 2021
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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business
© 2021 Ingvild Sælid Gilhus
The right of Ingvild Sælid Gilhus to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gilhus, Ingvild Sælid, author.
Title: Clothes and monasticism in ancient Christian Egypt : new
perspective on religious garments / Ingvild Sælid Gilhus.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York : Routledge, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020046053 (print) | LCCN 2020046054 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780367505479 (hardback) | ISBN 9781003050308 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Desert Fathers—Clothing. | Clothing and dress—
Religious aspects—Christianity. | Clothing and dress—Social
aspects.
Classification: LCC BR190 .G55 2021 (print) | LCC BR190 (ebook) |
DDC 271/.02062—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046053
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020046054
ISBN: 978-0-367-50547-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-05030-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
1 Introduction 1
2 Heroes in the wilderness: the mythical background 20
3 Clothes and the construction of the monastic world 37
4 Interacting with the habit 61
5 Molding monastic minds and memories 84
6 The economy of salvation and the economy
of this world 103
7 Prelapsarian nakedness and wolves in sheep’s
clothing 128
8 Dressing death, clothing eternity 145
Epilogue 168
Bibliography 176
Index 200

Acknowledgments
The background to this book about monastic clothes was an invitation to
a seminar on religion, law, and justice, arranged by my colleagues Håkan
Rydving and Stefan Olsson in 2014. After racking my brain to summon up
what I knew about the topic and coming up with little, I remembered the
Pachomian Rules. I had read these monastic rules in a Coptic version when
I was studying the language many years ago, and this gave me an oppor-
tunity to revisit them. Very soon, I was hooked. Through the study of the
Rules, the importance of artifacts in monasteries, and in particular monastic
clothes, became more and more obvious. I decided to focus on them and
expand the source material. The topic turned out to be much more interest-
ing and with many more dimensions than I had imagined.
In recent years, I participated in several conferences, where I presented my
project. At these conferences, colleagues offered invaluable criticism of vari-
ous aspects of the work. I am especially grateful for the helpful comments
I got from participants at a research seminar at the Norwegian Institute at
Athens (February 25–26, 2020): Moa Airijoki, David Brakke, Jan Bremmer,
Christian Bull, Laura Feldt, Anders Klostergaard Petersen, Dimitris J. Kyr-
tatas, Samuel Rubenson, Einar Thomassen, Alexandros Tsakos, and Jorunn
Økland.
I am especially indebted to Hugo Lundhaug, who read and critiqued the
entire manuscript. His expertise in the textual culture and early monastic
tradition of Egypt and keen comments have been extremely helpful.
Special thanks are due to Jan Bremmer, Laura Feldt, and Siv Ellen Kraft,
who read and commented on some chapters. Their great knowledge and
expertise helped me improve the manuscript. I would also like to express my
sincere thanks to Christian Bull for his advice on the Hermetic texts and to
Lisbeth Mikaelsson, Torunn Selberg, Einar Thomassen, and Sissel Undheim
for fruitful discussions.
Kari Normo at the University of Bergen Library has, as always, offered
invaluable help and obtained interlibrary loans faster than I thought it was
possible for books to travel from one end of Europe to the other. For his
meticulous editing, useful comments, and active involvement in the prepara-
tion of this manuscript for publication, Dimitri Kakos is warmly thanked.
viii Acknowledgments
Many thanks are due to the Norwegian Research Council and the Depart-
ment of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion of the Univer-
sity of Bergen for offering me an extra sabbatical as part of the Evaluation of
the Humanities in Norway. I am also deeply grateful to my department for
the excellent working conditions and my wonderful colleagues for a lively
and fruitful research environment and for their interest, helpful comments,
and general encouragement in the progress of this work.
The last part of Chapter 6 has earlier been published in Ingvild Sælid Gil-
hus. 2018. “Sheepskins, Hair Shirts and Tunics of Palm Leaves: Charismatic
Authority and Monastic Clothing in Egypt in Late Antiquity.” Temenos
54 (1): 79–102.
Finally, I wish to thank my beloved husband, Nils Erik Gilhus, for his
firm support in all phases of this work, from the first ideas to the finished
manuscript.
Bergen, September 2020
Ingvild Sælid Gilhus
1 Introduction
The crocodile and the habit
A brother going to Scete arrived at the Nile worn out by the journey. At the
heat of the day, he took his clothes (himation) off and went down to bathe.
Then an animal called a crocodile rushed in and seized him. Now an elder
who had the second sight (dioratikos) passed by and saw that the brother
had been seized. He shouted at the animal, saying, “Why did you eat the
abba?” In a human voice, the beast said to him, “I did not eat an abba.
I found a worldling (kosmikos) and ate him; the monk is there,” and it nod-
ded toward the habit (schema). The elder went his way grieving over what
had taken place.
(AP S 18.53)1
Because a monastic goes bathing having removed all his clothes and leaving
them on the shore, the crocodile mistakes him for a secular person and eats
him.2 The crocodile has the power of speech and wants to justify what it
has just done. It obviously thinks that it is legitimate to eat secular people
but not to gorge itself on monastics. With its statement, the crocodile points
to the special status of the monastics, while at the same time stressing the
indecency and inconsistency of monks who appear in the nude.3 But the
animal makes an additional point, which is the importance of clothes for
the monastic identity. Pushed to their logical conclusion, the crocodile’s
words indicate that the identity of the monastic is inseparably connected
to his habit. Without his clothes, he is no longer considered a monk. It is
doubtful whether the reptile is the best judge of what constitutes human
identity, and we, humans, might be unwilling to accept that clothes are us or
represent us. Clothes are rarely a matter of life and death and rarely involve
clairvoyant crocodiles, but they are essential to the lived life of humans.
The present study aims to offer a more comprehensive view on clothes. It
is driven by a double interest—a special interest in ascetic and monastic
clothes and a general interest in clothes as an integrated part of embodied
existence: What were the meanings and functions of ascetic and monastic