Asceticism and Monasticism, I. Varieties of Eastern Monasticism

In English Recent research on early Eastern monasticism has shown that earlier images of a fairly uniform movement can no longer stand. The chapter reviews earlier scholarship and discusses various froms of monasticism in the East, both generally and in each region. Five distinct types are presented, the ascetic household, the itinerant preaching monks, the recluses or hermits, the groups of anchorites and the cenobites. The theological and social developments are discussed for each of the regions Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor and Constantinople. Finally the impact of monasticism in the East during the fourth to sixth centuries, ecclesiastically as well as politically, is emphasised.