A History of Byzantine Monasticism

Graduate / Professional

Monastics and monasteries constituted a quintessential element of Byzantine society. This seminar investigates Byzantine monasticism in its historical, theological, and social contexts from its origins in the third century to the codification of Hesychastic practice in the fourteenth. The course aims to familiarize students with the foundational texts of this tradition, inquire into lives of monastic saints as both rhetorical constructs and historical sources, analyze foundation documents that regulated liturgical and everyday life in Byzantine monasteries, explore the architecture of and artistic production in Byzantine monasteries, and understand the ways and means by which cults of saints were developed and cultivated in a monastic context. T 1:30pm-3:20pm