127 Representations of travel motivation quest.407 The journeys within each group mostly follow each other, although the categories are not completely distinct from each other in the narrative. In addition, there are the journeys motivated by loyalty to personal connections and by acquiring hesychia, which do not directly relate to either. The journey to an ideal monastic career In Byzantine hagiography of monastic saints we can observe a pattern of consecutive steps that saints undertake in order to become monastic leaders. The individual steps may be seen as hagiographical topoi.408 The individual journeys and stages are, however, more than ‘just’ topoi: taken together, these steps could be seen as a model for the ideal monastic career path. In the Life of Gregory the following consecutive stages of his monastic career are included:409 1. Resolution to become a monk 2. Monastic training 3. Spiritual maturation 4. Monastic leadership The transitions from one stage to the next each involve mobility in the Life of Gregory.410 The representation of motives for Gregory’s first journeys are related to reaching a next stage in this career development. Resolution to become a monk In saints’ Lives a desire to become a monk is often paired with a journey away from his previous surroundings in order to break family ties and all ties to worldly concerns.411 This break away from the family thus marked the first step towards the separation from the ‘world’. Similar to other hagiographies, Gregory leaves his family to become a monk to avoid 407 I disagree with Prieto Domínguez who states that ‘The tale of Gregorios’ travels seems neither to make sense nor to respond to any clear motivation. […] The vita does not tell us that the saint had to carry out a specific mission either divine or human; the stages of his journey seem to be the result of chance or external determinants, and his spiritual growth is not emphasised, making it difficult to see the itinerary as a reflection of an inner journey or a coming closer to God’. Prieto Domínguez (2021), p. 172. Considering the fact that the hagiographer left out many travel motivations for specific journeys, Prieto Domínguez’ remark is understandable. However, the hagiographer represents multiple motivations that do give purpose to the travels – even those which are not individually accompanied by a motivation: the first set of journeys reflect the path towards monastic leadership (which in fact does imply spiritual growth as well); the second category of travels, as we will see, is framed as a divinely inspired quest. 408 On topoi in middle-Byzantine hagiography see, Pratsch (2005). For the idea that monks are represented as following a ‘consistent cursus honorum’ in saints’ Lives (particularly by the sixth-century Cyril of Scythopolis), see Booth (2014), p. 17; Flusin (1983). 409 These stages are a simplification of Gregory’s (and also other monks’) monastic and spiritual development, which consisted of further small steps as well. 410 As discussed in the Introduction, the initial move away to become a monk and a journey to found a monastery is also reflected other monastic saints’ Lives. See pp. 22-23. 411 See a discussion of this broadly spread ideal in Byzantine monasticism in Oltean (2020), pp. 139–179. 3
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