First of all, at an early date committed women emerged within the Christian Church. These were the widows and the virgins. New Testament evidence suggests that widows appeared very early on. Younger virgins possibly developed as a separate category within groups of widows. Certainly before the end of the third century, both groups were described in the ‘‘Apostolic Church Order.’’ Some of these seem to have formed communities from which they undertook pastoral and spiritual tasks. Communities existed in the main cities of the empire as well as in Palestine and Egypt. Their spiritual motivation was partly pastoral but the choice of virginity is significant. Scriptural teaching is not a sufficient explanation as the texts do not portray celibacy as an indispensable means of following Jesus Christ. It is possible that there was some inspiration from temple virgins in Greco-Roman religion. Socially, celibacy freed women from conventional social roles and enabled them to share with men in the quest for spiritual perfection. There may also have been a remaining sense that the ‘‘final days’’ were approaching when the current world order would end. Thus virginity anticipated the perfect society of the Kingdom of God when the physical continuity of the human race would cease to have meaning and when all would live in harmonious, voluntary relationships (‘‘like the angels’’).
A second group that predates Egypt was in Syria-Palestine. However, as the prestige of Egyptian monasticism became dominant, this earlier Syriac tradition was largely forgotten. From what we can work out, the dating of the Syriac ascetical tradition may have been very early. Indeed it may have derived from the understanding in Luke’s Gospel that Christian discipleship was to be a literal imitation of Jesus portrayed as poor, homeless, and single. So, radical asceticism was closely related to costly discipleship – total abandonment of homes and possessions in imitation of the one who had nowhere to lay his head. The Syrian word for such ascetics was ihidaya (the single one) of which the Greek monachos was a translation (from which the English ‘‘monk’’ derives). The ascetic ‘‘single one’’ certainly left family life behind but was also single-hearted and bound to Christ, ‘‘The One,’’ in an exclusive relationship. Interestingly, no doubt partly because of physical environment (there was no deep desert in the Syrian wilderness) Syriac ascetics remained close to villages as visible challenges to ordinary life yet often with significant roles as guides and arbitrators. Their ‘‘otherness’’ tended to be expressed by eccentricity or ascetical extremes. Early Syriac asceticism remained largely expressed in the lives of single hermits.
Egypt was where monasticism emerged in an organized sense. Yet even here the movement remained essentially a lay one. The reasons for the emergence of monastic life in Egypt include local factors. There was a major economic crisis in third- and fourth-century Egypt and this may have driven numbers of people to seek alternative lifestyles away from the cities. However, in the case of St Antony (died c. 356), who came to be known as the ‘‘father of monasticism,’’ the famous Life by Athanasius of Alexandria suggests that the inspiration was purely spiritual. Thus Antony, a relatively wealthy young farmer with a religious disposition, received a final impetus from hearing the story of the rich young man read in church. Athanasius’ account also stresses the ideal of dispossession and the desert as the place where the full gospel may be practiced. These emphases may have owed something to the influence of Neoplatonic philosophy in Egypt, particularly through the teachings of the theologian Origen in Alexandria. This emphasized the soul’s alienation from God but also stressed human potential for ascent back to God through scriptural contemplation, repentance, purification, and celibacy.
Egyptian monasticism developed broadly in three forms associated with geographical locations and by 400 numbered many thousands of ascetics, both men and women. The first, and earliest, form was the hermit life of which St Antony was the archetype. This flourished especially in what was called Lower Egypt to the south of the Nile Delta. Antony withdrew into solitude c. 269 and gradually went further into the desert wilderness. Yet he attracted many disciples. The notion of total solitude needs some modification as two hermits sometimes lived together and disciples stayed in close proximity to their ‘‘spiritual father’’ or ‘‘mother’’ from whom they received guidance. The second form consisted of small groups of ascetics to the West of the Nile Delta. Several monks lived together as disciples with their spiritual father (abba) or mother (amma) in monastic ‘‘villages,’’ known as a lavra or skete. The most famous settlements were at Nitria and Scetis near Alexandria which became important meeting places of desert and city worlds. At Nitria visitors like John Cassian (who became a key figure in the foundation of monasticism in Europe) first made contact with the desert tradition. A more educated, Greek-influenced monasticism evolved around theologically sophisticated figures such as Evagrius (345–399). The third form of monasticism was in Upper (or southern) Egypt, in a region close to the ancient city of Thebes. This form consisted of relatively ordered and large communities of men or women. The leading figure was Pachomius (290–347) who founded the monastic settlement of Tabennisis which is conventionally described as the origin of organized monasticism.
The Young Sayyid Mahmud: An Enlightened Soul in Search of Righteousness
