153 Representations of travel motivation with social roles as a monastic leader and his loyalty to his previous superior Theodore. Euthymius acquired his authority as a spiritual guide due to his asceticism and advanced spiritual state, but his spiritual leadership certainly involved more mundane aspects as well.518 Euthymius is thus presented to alternate between modes of retreat and interaction, between personal development and serving others. The latter mode is another essential aspect for representing Euthymius as a holy man. Like the hagiographer of the Life of Gregory, Basil used the representation of travel motivations for discursive aims. While the writing of Euthymius’ Life undoubtedly was motivated by the devotion of the author to his subject, Basil might partially have been motivated by a personal agenda as well. He was a monk in the monastic community that Euthymius set up at Brastamon and one of the disciples living in a more isolated manner, in anchoritic cells practicing hesychia. Like Euthymius, Basil concerned himself with working on his spiritual advancement during his time as a monk, before becoming a bishop. He may have hoped that Euthymius’ spiritual authority, which he promoted by writing his Life, would have reflected on the saint’s student, who received his monastic training from the best. These findings on the reasons and effects of the author’s representation of Euthymius’ mobility aside, can we also learn something about evaluative ideas on monastic mobility? Similar to the Life of Gregory we cannot point to a single type of mobility that the author puts forward as a justification of Euthymius’ frequent travels, so there is no attempt to provide a normative discourse on one particular motive that was considered acceptable and beneficial for monks (in contrast to other motivations). Many different types of mobility are presented. The travel motivations that are presented, specifically the emphasised mobility for spiritual progress, are presented as positive for the development of Euthymius, and the journeys that lead to interaction with other people are presented as beneficial for others (particularly monks, for whom Euthymius is presented as their spiritual father). We may therefore again speculate that the hagiographer valued these types of mobility positively for individual monks and for monastic communities. Different from what we saw in the Life of Gregory, the narrative provides a motivation for each journey. The hagiographer thus leaves less room than in the Life of Gregory for open interpretation by the audience. This could point to a concern of the hagiographer to counter potential critical opinions, but it may also just reflect Basil’s authorial preference to organise the narrative this way by giving more insight into the motives of his subject. The way in which Basil represented each travel motivation, in my view, does not provide us with enough clues to conclude much about expected perceptions on monastic mobility – positive, negative or neutral – on the intended audience’s part. 518 E.g., the physical building activity of the monastery at Peristerai is elaborately described in the narrative (Life of Euthymius 28-31). The hagiographer also shows Euthymius involved in acquiring property: the Life informs that Euthymius had bought land for his grandchildren and had a female monastery built for his female relatives (Life of Euthymius 37). 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTk4NDMw