123 Representations of travel motivation the translation of Gregory’s relics to Joseph’s monastery? This event, which based on the Life of Joseph would have taken place around 855,390 is however not narrated in the Life of Gregory. The Life of Gregory must therefore have been written before the translation of his relics – for this would surely have featured in the Life otherwise.391 Consequently, the phrase τῆς σῆς ποίμνης would presumably not refer to a monastic community headed by Joseph, with Gregory’s tomb still elsewhere in Constantinople. Rather, τῆς σῆς ποίμνης might more likely refer to a monastic community that considered Gregory himself to be the spiritual leader, while he was alive. The Life of Gregory of Decapolis does not include any building activity of the foundation of a (physical) monastery by Gregory, so this still does not lead to any certain conclusions on which exact monastic community this would be.392 The monastic community could either refer to the circle of monks that lived near and interacted with Gregory in Thessaloniki,393 a circle from his time at Mount Olympus, or from the last year of his life, in Constantinople.394 The narrative does not elaborate on his stays at Mount Olympus, nor in Constantinople, whereas plenty of episodes taking place at Thessaloniki are included. Disciples from his time at Thessaloniki might thus be potential commissioners of the Life, asking Gregory for supplication on their behalf by means of this Life. As some of these monks from Thessaloniki would have moved to Constantinople by 390 Joseph probably arrived back in Constantinople in 843, for festivities for the restoration of icons is referred to in the narrative; by this time Gregory had died. Joseph would have spent some time near Gregory’s corpse, and then together with John, a fellow disciple of Gregory, he would have stayed at a sanctuary dedicated to St. Antipas. After John’s death, which Daniel Stiernon has dated to 850 based on the second Life of Joseph by John the Deacon, Joseph would have stayed at a sanctuary dedicated to John Chrysostom for five years, before founding his own monastic community, bringing Gregory’s relics to the monastery and building the church dedicated to Bartholomew and Gregory. If we accept John’s death at 850, Joseph’s monastery was thus founded in 855. Stiernon (1973), p. 253. 391 This point has also been noted by Malamut (2004), p. 1197. 392 The absence of a narration of building activity or of an official foundation of a monastery does not contradict the idea that there was a monastic community of some sort for which the monks would consider Gregory as the spiritual leader. In fact, the Life of Gregory is full of encounters with monks who live near Gregory and go to him for advice and clearly see him as someone with spiritual authority. This testifies of the fluidity of more ‘loosely organised’ monastic practice common in the Eastern Roman Empire. 393 Although Prieto Domínguez is probably right in pointing out that at least some of the monks who lived with Gregory in Thessaloniki would have accompanied him in his final journey to Constantinople. First, because he was a sick man and would have required assistance. Secondly, the hagiographer indicates that Gregory was surrounded by fellow monks at his deathbed. Finally, the monk Anastasios, one of the informants for the narrative and initially one of the Gregory’s disciples in Thessaloniki, already moved to Constantinople and then to Mount Olympus earlier, as is recounted in the narrative; and Peter, another informant of Gregory’s Thessaloniki circle, is also described to have travelled to Constantinople after Gregory’s death: he would have been captured by Arabs and released through the intercession of Gregory (after Peter prayed to the saint: this is one of Gregory’s posthumous miracles). This inspired Peter to travel to Constantinople to visit the tomb of Gregory to express his gratitude for his release. His subsequent whereabouts are not narrated. So it may well be that the circle of Thessalonian monks were – at the time of commissioning – based at Constantinople or dispersed. Prieto Domínguez (2021), p. 186; Life of Gregory 52-53 and 88. 394 Malamut proposes that the monastic community is the one developing around a church of ‘St. Antipas’, after Joseph was sent to Rome and before he had returned (explaining the omission of Joseph’s name in the Life of Gregory). Malamut (2004), p. 1197-1198. St. Antipas is mentioned in the Life of Joseph the Hymnographer (ch.5) and the narrative gives the impression it was located near Constantinople (although not specified, but the Life narrates that Joseph went there immediately after following Gregory to Constantinople). The monastic community that developed there (according to the Life of Joseph) may correspond to the community in/near Constantinople where Gregory would have stayed according to the Life of Gregory. 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw