117 Representations of travel motivation The mobility model is not sufficient as a sole basis for discussing hagiographical representations of travel motivations. Two further considerations will be taken into account in the discussion. The first is that I will expand the model. Some types of (voluntary) mobility represented in the narratives do not fit into any of the subcategories. Types of mobility that are represented in the saints’ Lives that are lacking from Stouraitis’ model are: mobility motivated by interpersonal relations (a sense of loyalty towards family, friendship, but also mobility inspired by strained relations in times of interpersonal conflict);365 mobility for spiritual progress; and mobility inspired by a divine command or revelation. The last two are probably rather particular for monastic saints and for hagiographical texts. Because they are represented in hagiography, these categories of mobility will be considered as well in the analysis. Secondly, we should reflect on scale. It is important to consider how the monks relate to others in historical reality in order to assess how the representation of their mobility reflects on their portrayed identity. It is therefore pertinent to ask whether the journeys of the saints are journeys made by many people, or journeys that only relate them to a small percentage of society and are relatively unique. Whereas involuntary mobility generally affects much more people at the same time, for example fleeing from a natural or military catastrophe, voluntary mobility, such as educational mobility, would have happened more typically in smaller groups.366 Moreover, certain types of journeys may be made every week or every month (e.g., travel to a market), whereas others may only be pursued less frequently (e.g., pilgrimage). Considering the range of motivations reflected in the hagiographical narratives, the monks are represented as sharing experiences with many other travellers in the Mediterranean, especially with experiences of involuntary mobility, as well as with smaller percentages of the population for mobility for educational or professional purposes and perhaps an even smaller percentage for long-distance pilgrimage.367 The fact that they travelled for all these different reasons represents them as particularly versatile movers. Thereby they are represented perhaps as rather special movers compared to many people living in the Mediterranean, who might only travel in 365 For example, different theological standpoints could lead to severed interpersonal relations (and which could in the extreme case lead to forced exile, as happed to famous examples such as John Chrysostom or Theodore the Studite). In our saints’ Lives we do not find clear examples of forced exile, but in the Life of Gregory, the monk is presented to move away from a monastery because he disagreed with the theological position of the abbot. Life of Gregory 5. 366 Or even individually, as some journeys are represented in the saints’ Lives. In reality, most people probably did not travel alone, due to safety and practical reasons. See Dimitroukas (1997), pp. 112–114. 367 Pilgrimage to shrines close to home might have been much more frequent, but an extensive study on the prevalence of particular forms of pilgrimage compared to others in an Eastern Roman context is still lacking. On pilgrimage in the Eastern Roman Empire, see e.g., Talbot (2002); Ariantzi and Eichner (2018); Kulzer (2018); Ritter (2019a); Whiting (2020); Ritter (2020). Research using non-literary sources, such as a new research project studying inscriptions in the Eastern Mediterranean titled Pilgrims’ inscriptions, movement, and devotion between Byzantium and Rus’ in the 5th-15th centuries C.E at the Austrian Academy of Sciences (2021-2025), may shed more light on the prevalence of various forms of pilgrimage. 3
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