86 Chapter 2 but the Life suggests that Gregory attracted other monks who built cells there as well. In chapter 55, for example, a monk desired ‘the hesychia of the holy man’ and subsequently built himself a cell near the cell of Gregory.283 The narrative therefore gives the impression of a gradually expanding hub of monks living in individual cells near each other. An example found in the Life of Euthymius the Younger also illustrates a group of (semi-) solitary monks, but there the arrangement is represented as having been planned by the saint, rather than as an organically growing monastic community. The passage narrates about a group of monks living together in individual cells. These were cells for ascetics that Euthymius would have built at Brastamon, situated in a different location than the monastery Euthymius founded at Peristera. In chapter 34 these cells are specifically referred to as ‘anchoritic’, so cells for monks who wanted a degree of solitude and separation.284 ‘Anchoritic’ does not imply independency, for in this example the cells seem to be connected to the monastery at Peristera and Euthymius is regarded as the spiritual leader of these monks in anchoritic cells. The latter example expresses explicitly the desired circumstances that make the space of a monastic cell suitable for practising or being in a state of hesychia: […] καὶ πρὸς βραχὺ τάξας ἐν τοῖς ἀναχωρητικοῖς αὐτοῦ κελλίοις ἔξω κατοικεῖν· ἔρως γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἶχε τῆς ἡσυχίας τέως διάπυρος (κἂν φιλοδοξίᾳ νικηθέντες τοὺς θορύβους καὶ τὰς ἐν ἄστει διατριβὰς μετὰ ταῦτα προετιμήσαμεν) […].285 [Euthymius] ordered me [Basil] to live outside [the monastery] for a short time in his anchoritic cells: for an ardent love of hesychia held me fast during that time (even though later on, defeated by vainglory, I would have preferred the clamour and distractions in a city) […].286 283 Life of Gregory of Decapolis 55. 284 […] καὶ πρὸς βραχὺ τάξας ἐν τοῖς ἀναχωρητικοῖς αὐτοῦ κελλίοις ἔξω κατοικεῖν· ἔρως γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἶχε τῆς ἡσυχίας τέως διάπυρος […]: ‘[Euthymius] ordered me to live outside [the monastery] for a short time in his anchoritic cells’. Translation by Talbot in Alexakis (2016), but slightly altered by me (‘monastery’ put in brackets, for it is only implied, but not stated in the text). 285 Life of Euthymius the Younger 34. 286 In my attempt to stay as close as possible to the Greek my translation here deviates slightly from the translation by Talbot in Alexakis (2016). The most significant deviation that is relevant for my interpretation is in the interpunction: Talbot translates ‘[he] ordered me to live outside the monastery for a short time in his anchoritic cells. For an ardent love of spiritual tranquility held me fast (even though later on, defeated by vainglory, I preferred the clamor and distractions of the city), […]’. Talbot thus starts a new sentence with ἔρως γὰρ ἡμᾶς εἶχε τῆς ἡσυχίας τέως διάπυρος, but in my understanding this phrase refers to the previous clause (καὶ πρὸς βραχὺ τάξας ἐν τοῖς ἀναχωρητικοῖς αὐτοῦ κελλίοις ἔξω κατοικεῖν). The love of hesychia of Basil is the explanation (hence γάρ) why Euthymius sends Basil to the cells at Brastamon, some distance away from the monastery at Peristerai. Moreover, τέως (during that time) refers to a time earlier mentioned, that is the short time (πρὸς βραχύ) at the cells. Finally, the clause that follows the citation has no apparent relation with the love for hesychia: Basil tells that he destroyed a Manichaean book after he became convinced that it was heretical.
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