126 Chapter 3 3.3.2 Representation of travel motivation in the Life of Gregory of Decapolis The Life of Gregory of Decapolis can be divided in approximately three parts with regard to the representation of travel. The first 36 chapters are characterised by travels throughout the Mediterranean, roughly from Asia Minor, via Thessaloniki and the Peloponnese to southern Italy and Rome, and back to Thessaloniki. The majority of the journeys narrated, 17 out of 23, are included in this part. The second part, chapters 36 to 76, is mostly situated in Thessaloniki, but includes several journeys from and to that city. The final part, chapters 76 to 90 narrating the end of Gregory’s life and his posthumous miracles, includes a final journey to Constantinople. The travel theme could thus be said to be present throughout the Life, but most journeys occur in the first part of the narrative. For just over half of Gregory’s journeys (13) the narrator makes a travel motivation explicit, whereas this is omitted for 10 of the journeys.404 As we will see, this is different from the Life of Euthymius and the Life of Elias, which include an explicit travel motivation much more consistently. Many of the journeys in the Life of Gregory can be seen to constitute one large journey for which a single travel motivation is narrated. Almost all journeys are represented as voluntary mobility.405 Whereas there is no shortage of danger in the Life of Gregory, these are not represented as leading to involuntary mobility – Gregory encounters dangers while travelling and then overcomes them.406 The types of voluntary mobility represented in the narrative include educational mobility (for monastic training), travel due to loyalty of personal connections (friendship, professional and family bonds), and journeys that are spiritually motivated (see appendix 4). When we examine more in detail which travel motivations are emphasised in the Life, we can distinguish two groups of journeys tied to specific travel motivations. That is, the hagiographer represents two consecutive sets of journeys within these two frameworks: travel as a means to climb the monastic career ladder, and travel as a divinely inspired 404 See appendices 3 and 4. 405 Possibly with the exception of journey 4 and 17. Journey 4 is motivated by a disagreement between Gregory and the abbot of the monastic community in which he resides, which could be labelled as involuntary mobility, although his reason to go to another monastery is also within the frame of educational/professional mobility: in order to receive monastic training; journey 17 is not motivated explicitly, but it is clear from the narrative that Gregory was in an unsafe situation in Otranto, from where he moved to Thessaloniki. However, even for this journey the danger itself does not seem the primary reason for Gregory to move away: Otranto never seemed to have been the destination itself, but functioned as a stop in between. See appendices 3 and 4. 406 That is, dangerous circumstances do not constitute the reason for travel: Gregory travels despite danger or unfavourable circumstances, not because of it. These episodes of danger also have a narrative function: they represent the monk as a hero who overcomes difficulties. Moreover, they provide an opportunity to include miracles, such as the miraculous calming of a storm or passing enemy ships unseen. These episodes therefore also contribute to the monk’s representation as a saint. On this literary theme in hagiography, see Mantova (2014); Mullett (2002).
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