85 Mobility, immobility and sainthood Monastic cells are interior, more or less ‘private’ spaces; thereby these spaces imply a degree of separation, both from other (exterior and ‘public’) spaces and from other people. From Justinian’s Novels we know that there have been top-down unsuccessful attempts to ban the idea of ‘private space’ (and property) from monasteries and instead only have communal spaces, including communal dormitories (although exceptions would be reserved for solitary hermits).278 It seems that in addition to these ‘exceptions’ for solitary hermits communal monasteries often (also) had individual cells, rather than dormitories as Justinian would have liked it. From some middle-Byzantine monasteries of which there are remains of the monastic complex (in addition to the church), there are attested a number of small rooms next to each other, often against the outer wall of the monastic establishment, probably serving as monastic cells.279 Examples are the Zygos monastery near Mount Athos and the monastery of Meletios in Attica, were such archaeological remains with a row of cells remain.280 The hagiographers and their audiences thus likely would have imagined monastic cells as built, interior, more or less solitary spaces. They would also have recognised that the arrangement of monastic cells could vary: either as part of a communal monastic establishment, as (semi-)independent cells for solitary hermits, or something in between. The examples in the texts, while not elaborating greatly on monastic cells themselves, suggest that the cells are for one person. The majority of cells referred to in the texts do not seem to be arranged within a cenobitic monastic community, such as the Zygos monastery, or at least not constructed as such from the outset.281 A few examples in the Lives allow to reconstruct some aspects of the arrangement of cells. These examples show that the cells are often placed in groups, either planned as such, or they reflect organically developing ascetic communities. The cells in the Life of Gregory that would have been situated near Thessaloniki illustrate the loosely-organised and organically developing character of monastic communities and the cells within them. These cells were part of a monastic community that – as it appears from the narrative – Gregory founded.282 They were centred around the church of Menas, just outside the city. According to the narrative, Gregory was not the first monk in the area, 278 E.g., various stipulations in Justinian’s Novel 5 (5.3 on dormitories); Novel 123.36 (communal living should be the norm, although there may be exceptions for monks who wish to live in individual cells), Novel 133.1 (no monk is to have a separate cell, but instead live and sleep communally, with the exception of solitary hermits). 279 For many Byzantine monasteries only the middle-Byzantine church has remained, while the other buildings often post-date the Byzantine period (among other reasons due to later renovations), which makes generalisations difficult. On the other hand, many of these post-Byzantine buildings show a similar pattern to the archaeological remains – so we may speculate that these reflect also the earlier middle-Byzantine organisation. For these and other reflections on the arrangement of middle-Byzantine monasteries and problems for studying them, see Makris (2015); Ousterhout (2019), pp. 321–331. 280 Another example are the post-Byzantine monastic cells at Hosios Loukas, which may reflect the earlier middleByzantine organisation. For the examples of Zygos and Meletios, see Ousterhout (2019), pp. 321-331. 281 It is often not specified whether cells belonged to a monastery, but some examples may in practice have referred to cenobitic monasteries. For example, the Life of Gregory 25, in which Gregory is reported to have stayed in a cell in Rome, might refer to a cell that was part of a cenobitic monastery in the city, but the narrative does not specify this. 282 From chapter 36 onwards the narrative is mostly situated in or around these cells. 2
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