Sacrifice and Ascesis : the Taboo of Meat and the Holy Child*

1 The biography was written by an anonymous disciple of Symeon the Younger shortly after the saint’s death ; all quotations from the biography are taken from the Van den Ven’s edition : La Vie ancienne de S. Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521-592). I. Introduction et texte grec, Bruxelles, 1962. The Life of Symeon’s mother, Martha, was also published by Van den Ven : La Vie ancienne de S. Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521592). II. Traduction et commentaire. Vie grecque de sainte Marthe mère de S. Syméon, Bruxelles, 1970. For the Georgian version of the Life (published by K. Kekelidze, Monumenta hagiographica georgica I, Keimena 1, Tiflis, 1918, p. 215-340) and the other sources, see P. Van den Ven, op. cit. I, p. 53-100 ; see also V. Déroche, “Quelques interrogations à propos de la Vie de Syméon Stylite le Jeune,” Eranos, 94, 1996, p. 65-83 ; see B. Caseau, “Syméon Stylite le Jeune (521-592) : un cas de sainte anorexie ?”, Kentron. Revue du monde antique et de psychologie historique, 19, 1-2, 2003, p. 179-203. On the sermons ascribed to Symeon, see D. Hester, “The Eschatology of the Sermons of Symeon the Younger the Stylite”, Saint Vladimir Theological Quarterly, 34, 1990, p. 329-342. On the monasteries dedicated to Symeon, see J. Nasrallah, “Couvents de la Syrie du Nord portant le nom de Siméon”, Syria, 49, 1972, p. 127-159. On stylitism, see at the very least H. Delehaye, Les saints stylites, Bruxelles, 1923 ; J.-M. Sansterre, “Les saints stylites du v^e au xi^e siècle, permanence et évolution d’un type de sainteté,” J. Marx (ed.), Sainteté et martyre dans les religions du Livre, Bruxelles, 1989, p. 33-45 ; S.A. Harvey, “The Stylite’s Liturgy : Ritual and Religious Identity in Late Antiquity”, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 6, 1998, p. 523-539 ; on the stylites in the Antioch region, see O. Callot, P.-L. Gatier, “Les stylites de l’Antiochène”, Antioche de Syrie. Histoire, images et traces de la ville antique, Topoi. Orient-Occident, Suppl. 5, 2004, p. 573-596.

2 M. Kaplan, “L’espace et le sacré dans la Vie de Daniel le Stylite”, M. Kaplan (ed.), Le Sacré et son inscription dans l’espace à Byzance et en Occident. Étude comparées, Paris, 2001, p. 202 : “Le stylitisme est une activité sérieuse ; il apparaît toujours comme le stade suprême d’une vie ascétique, car le stylite ne descend plus de sa colonne que de façon tout à fait exceptionnelle et la mort du saint sur sa colonne constitue pour l’hagiographe un élément de choix et le point fort du récit.”

3 On the saints “de banlieue,” see M. Kaplan, “L’hinterland religieux de Constantinople : moines et saints de banlieue d’après l’hagiographie”, C. Mango and G. Dagron (ed.), Constantinople and its Hinterland, Aldershot, 1995, p. 191-205.

4 The biographies of Daniel the Stylite were published by H. Delehaye, op. cit. ; the primary one, the Vita antiquior, was translated in French by A.J. Festugière, Les Moines d’Orient. II Les moines de la région de Constantinople, Paris, 1961, p. 87-171 ; in English by E. Dawes : E. Dawes and N.H. Baynes (ed.), Three Byzantine Saints : Contemporary Biographies of St. Daniel the Stylite, St. Theodore of Sykeon, and St. John, the Almsgiver, Oxford, 1948, p. 1-84. On Daniel, see R. Lane Fox, “The Life of Daniel”, M.J. Edwards and S. Swain (ed.), Portraits. Biographical Representation in the Greek and Latin Literature of the Roman Empire, Oxford, 1997, p. 175-225 ; M. Kaplan, “L’espace et le sacré dans la Vie de Daniel le Stylite”, op. cit.

5 Chap. 26. On Symeon the Elder see R. Doran, The Lives of Symeon Stylites, Kalamazoo, 1992 ; S.A. Harvey, “The sense of a stylite : perspectives on Simeon the Elder”, Vigiliae Christianae, 42, 1988, p. 376-394 ; B. Flusin, “Syméon et les philologues ou la mort du stylite”, C. Jolivet-Lévy, M. Kaplan and J.-P. Sodini (ed.), Les saints et leur sanctuaire à Byzance. Textes, images et monuments, Paris, 1993, p. 1-23 ; B. Caseau, “Syméon Stylite l’Ancien entre puanteur et parfum”, Revue des Études Byzantines, 63, 2005, p. 71-96.

6 See A. Guillaumont, “Le dépaysement comme forme d’ascèse dans le monachisme ancien”, École Pratique des Hautes Études V section : Sciences Religieuses, Annuaire, 76, 1968-1969, p. 31-58 ; see also D. Caner, Wandering, Begging Monks. Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 2002, p. 25 : “Xeniteia was the term that became used for the voluntary alienation by which ascetics sought release from material and social circumstances that might hinder their ability to trust in God and make spiritual progress thereby.”

7 See S. Pricoco (ed.), Il demonio e i suoi complici. Dottrine e credenze demonologiche nella Tarda Antichità, Messina, 1995, esp. S. Boesch Gajano, “Il demonio e i suoi complici,” p. 237-263.

8 Esp. I Cor 8, 1 ; 10, 19-22. See C. Grottanelli, Il sacrificio, Roma-Bari, 1999, p. 73 ff., where the passage I Cor 10, 19-22 is discussed ; see also W.A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians. The Social World of the Apostle Paul, New Haven and London, 1983, p. 69-70, 97-100.

9 Chap. 52, p. 47.

10 On the “theamatic” aspect of stylitism, see C. Cremonesi, “Il corpo e lo sguardo : la relazione tra attore e spettatore nella performance ascetica”, Atti e memorie dell’Accademia Galileiana di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, CXVI-III, 2003-2004, p. 169-191. See also P. Cox Miller, “Visceral Seeing : the Holy Body in Late Ancient Christianity”, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 12, 4, 2004, p. 391-411, esp. p. 399-401.

11 See chap. 1, p. 3. Symeon, whose mother was forced to abandon her chastity and marry, will be very popular among virgins : see P. Escolan, Monachisme et Église. Le monachisme syrien du iv^e au vii^e siècle : un ministère charismatique, Paris, 1999, p. 160 : “Si le monachisme exerce une telle attirance c’est parce qu’il permet, en toute légalité, de fuir le mariage, ou l’atmosphère étouffante de la famille. La prédication monastique de Syméon Stylite le Jeune exerce une séduction particulière sur des vierges qui étaient fiancées. Elles renoncent au mariage à cause de la prédication du saint …”

12 Chap. 2, p. 3.

13 Ibid.

14 See P. Van den Ven, op. cit. II, p. 5, n. 5 ; see also G. Downey, A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, Princeton, 1961, p. 553-554.

15 Chap. 2, p. 4.

16 Chap. 2, p. 6.

17 Chap. 3, p. 5.

18 Chap. 3, p. 5.

19 P. Brown, The Body and Society. Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity, New York, 1988.

20 Ibid. See also P. Bettiolo, “Adamo in Eden e la liturgia celeste : temi della meditazione cristiana nella Siria del v secolo, tra Afraate e il Liber Graduum”, Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa, 37/1, 2001, p. 3-27.

21 See esp. the vegetarian neopythagorean “holy man,” Apollonius of Tyana, whose τελέσµατα were still very popular in Christian Antioch and Byzantium : W.L. Dulière, “Protection permanente contre des animaux nuisibles assurée par Apollonios de Tyane dans Byzance et Antioche. Évolution de son mythe,” Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 63, 1970, p. 247-277 ; E.L. Bowie, “Apollonius of Tyana : Tradition and Reality”, Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt, II, 1978, p. 1686, nn. 135, 136. See also W. Speyer, “Zum Bild des Apollonios von Tyana bei Heiden und Christen”, Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum, 17, 1974, p. 47-63. See E. Soler, “D’Apollonios de Tyana à l’empereur Julien : l’importance d’Antioche comme lieu de pèlerinage et centre philosophique grecs”, Antioche de Syrie. Histoire, images et traces de la ville antique. Topoi, Suppl. 5, 2004, p. 382-399.

22 C. Grottanelli, op. cit., p. 73 ; see also ibid. : “È certo grazie a tale carattere che la nuova liturgia fu in grado di scalzare–almeno in linea di principio e in certe aree del mondo cristiano–la centralità del sacrificio cruento che né le correnti antisacrificali greche ed ellenistiche né, nel contesto indiano, la speculazione religiosa upanishadica avevano saputo rimuovere.” See also A. Destro and M. Pesce, “Self, Identity and Body in Paul and John”, A.I. Baumgarten, J. Assmann and G. Stroumsa (ed.), Self, Soul and Body in Religious Experience, Leiden, Boston, Köln, 1998, p. 184-197.

23 On food as a “marker” in comparative perspective, see C. Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast : the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women, Berkeley, 1987 ; in general see P. Scarpi, Il senso del cibo, Palermo, 2005.

24 John 1, 29-30 : see C. Grottanelli, op. cit., p. 75.

25 Chap. 3, p. 5.

26 Chap. 3, p. 6.

27 Chap. 4, p. 4. As a newborn Symeon “chooses” the right milk and as an adult “heals” women devoid of milk : see chap. 138. He encounters these women and even touches their breasts. Cf. Evagrius, Historia Ecclesiastica, VI, 23, where the relationship between the saint and the women is mediated by their husbands.

28 Chap. 4, p. 6.

29 Chap. 4, p. 7.

30 Chap. 6, p. 7. Van den Ven translates “viande du sacrificateur” (P. Van den Ven, op. cit., II, p. 10, n. 1) ; see however V. Déroche, op. cit., p. 78. See also B. Caseau, op. cit., p. 184.

31 See K.W. Harl, “Sacrifice and Pagan Belief in Fifth- and Sixth-century Byzantium”, Past and Present, 128, 1990 ; F.R. Trombley, Hellenic Religion and Christianization c. 370-529, I, Leiden, New York, Köln, 1993, p. 1-97 ; see now N. Belayche, “Realia versus leges ? Les sacrifices de la religion d’État au iv^e siècle”, S. Georgoudi, R. Koch Piettre and F. Schmidt (ed.), La cuisine et l’autel : les sacrifices en questions dans les sociétés de la Méditerranée ancienne, Turnhout, 2005, p. 343-370. On the ritual consumption of animal meat, see C. Grottanelli and N. Parise (ed.), Sacrificio e società nel mondo antico, Roma-Bari, 1993 ; C. Grottanelli, “La carne e i suoi riti”, J.-L. Flandrin and M. Montanari (ed.), Storia dell’alimentazione, Roma-Bari, 1997, p. 83-96 ; on the transformations of rituals in Late Antiquity, see G. Stroumsa, La fine del sacrificio. Le mutazioni religiose della tarda antichità, trad. it., Torino, 2006, p. 60-87.

32 Chap. 6, p. 7.

33 Chap. 5, p. 7.

34 Chap. 6, p. 8. See P. Van den Ven, op. cit. II, p. 11, n. 2 : “Ce qui faisait pressentir déjà, entre autres signes rapportés plus haut, la carrière ascétique de Syméon, car beaucoup de moines orientaux se privaient totalement de bain. Déjà au iv^e siècle, S. Épiphane écrivait à leur sujet : oἱ πλείoής δέ βαλανείoή ἀπέχονται (P. G., t. 42, col. 829).” On “bath and bathing” in Roman Antioch see C. Saliou, “Bains d’été et bains d’hiver : Antioche dans l’Empire Romain”, Antioche de Syrie. Histoire, images et traces de la ville antique, Topoi. Orient-Occident, Suppl. 5, 2004, p. 289-309.

35 Chap. 3, p. 5. According to Drijvers (J.W. Drijvers, History and Religion in Late Antique Syria, Aldershot, 1994, p. 144), the Christian holy man “did not have a divine mind or spirit per se :”the askesis transforms the body into a holy temple in which “the divine spirit could dwell, as it did in Jesus of Nazareth ;” in the case of Symeon, the body is transformed ab origine and Symeon becomes stylite at only seven years of age. On the “holy man,” see of course P. Brown, “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity”, Journal of Roman Studies, 61, 1971, p. 80-101 ; P. Brown, “The Rise and Function of the Holy Man in Late Antiquity, 1971-1997”, Journal of Early Christian Studies, 6/3, 1998, p. 353-376 ; see also A. Cameron, “On defining the holy man”, J. Howard-Johnston and P.A. Haywards (ed.), The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, Oxford, 1999, p. 27-43.

36 Chap. 15, p. 13-14.

37 Symeon asks Jesus : “Kύριε, πῶς σε ἐσταύρωσαν ο’ ἱoήδαῖoι ; (chap. 16, p. 14). The harshness of anti-Jewish polemic returns in the contemporary work of John of Ephesus ; he refers the violent campaign of Sergius monk against the Hebrews (PO 17, 84-111) : “And every day he used to contend against them as with the slayers of God, being fervent in the Love of his Lord, and gnashing his teeth, and saying, ‘These crucifiers of the Son of God should not be allowed to live at all’ ; and he used to upbraid Christians who had dealings with them in the way of taking and giving” (English translation by Susan Ashbrook Harvey : S.A. Harvey, Asceticism and Society in Crisis. John of Ephesus and The Lives of the Eastern Saints, Berkeley, Los Angeles, 1990 ; in particular see p. 53-54).

38 See also chaps. 19, 35, 41.

39 Chap.16, p. 14. See also chaps. 17, 25 and 112. On this issue, see P. Van den Ven, op. cit. I, cit., p. 147 and n. 5 and S.A. Harvey, “The Sense of a Stylite”, art. cit., p. 388 and 393, n. 74.

40 Chap. 16, p. 14.

41 Chap. 25.

42 S.A. Harvey, Asceticism and Society in Crisis, op. cit., p. 14.

43 See chap. 25.

44 Chap. 26.

45 Chap. 31.

46 See G. Downey, op. cit., p. 533-546.

47 Chap. 57, p. 50. Cfr. Cor I 10, 21-22.

48 Cf. P. Van den Ven, op. cit. II, p. 61, n. 2 : “Les Perses sont ainsi appelés, au sens biblique de l’expression, par réminiscence du Deutéronome, 32, 31 et de l’épître aux Romains, 10, 19, parce que, contrairement au peuple d’Israël, ils ignorent les vérités religieuses et morales.”

49 Chap. 59. In comparative perspective, cf. the unsuccessful siege of the Brahmans’ castle in Philostratos’Life of Apollonios of Tyana, II, 33.

50 Chap. 59.

51 Rom. 10, 19.

52 Chap. 78, p. 67. Cf. also chaps. 157.

53 Chap. 141, p. 130. See also chaps. 143, 184, 188-190, 221.

54 According to Downey (op. cit., p. 563), before the deaThof Justin II in a. d. 578.

55 I refer to Luigi Canetti’s discussion of the “generale strategia di fondazione della cultura politica cristiana tramite un’appropriazione delle forme ovvero dei codici culturali (lingua, generi letterari, rituali civico-politici, ecc.) della società tardoantica” : Frammenti di eternità. Corpi e reliquie tra Antichità e Medioevo, Roma, 2002, p. 143-144. See also (ibid.) : “La demarcazione avviene così, sul piano ideologico, tramite una ridefinizione o addirittura uno stravolgimento del significato esplicito dei codici comunicativi (rituali inclusi), l’efficacia dei quali andrà ricercata allora non tanto sul piano del ‘realmente accaduto’ quanto invece su quello della nuova interpretazione fornitane dagli autori cristiani. La posta in gioco, dunque era la ‘maîtrise du sens’, e la lotta doveva svolgersi più sul versante ermeneutico che su quello evenemenziale, giacché i codici di comportamento e comunicazione erano largamente comuni ai pagani e ai cristiani e l’importante era la nuova gi ustificazione ideologica degli stessi codici alla luce della rivendicazione del primato cristiano nello spazio politico post-costantiniano.”

56 K.W. Harl, op. cit., p. 20 ff.

57 Suffice it here to mention that there is no direct reference to Monophysites : see P. Van den Ven, op. cit. I, p. 167.

58 The expression is Marino Niola’s : Il corpo mirabile. Miracolo, sangue, estasi nella Napoli barocca, Roma 1997, p. 33. I am here indebted to him for to his suggestive discussion of punitive miracles in baroque sanctity and his reactualization of Sahlins’issue on “negative reciprocity”.

59 See L. Canetti, op. cit., p. 146.

* Traduction de Giovanni Fort.