Philosopher-monks, episcopal authority, and the care of the self

This volume explores the Apophthegmata Patrum in the context of church-monastery dynamics in fifth-century Palestine. Positing that the Apophthegmata Patrum was compiled in response to perceived external interference, Zachary B. Smith provides the first examination of the Apophthegmata Patrum in its Palestinian context, illuminating monastic strategies for resisting episcopal control. Engaging literary and historical methods, this volume weaves a narrative that places the Apophthegmata Patrum squarely in the political and philosophical worlds of the eastern Mediterranean in late antiquity. The Apophthegmata Patrum’s compiler carefully selects stories to highlight problematic interactions between monks and ecclesiastics. He then appeals to classical and late antique philosophical categories of self-care to assert monastic autonomy, making the monks the new philosophers. In the context of contentious theological debates during the fourth and fifth centuries, these selected interactions and assertions tacitly advocate a path of monastic autonomy.