Zachary Smith: Monks, Bishops, and Constructions of Power in the Apophthegmata Patrum

Competing power structures in and between early Christian communities is a matter of simple fact. From the antagonism between the Paulists and the Apollans in 1 Cor. 3 to the struggles between the bishops of Rome and Constantinople, Christian communities and leaders in late antiquity struggled for the hearts and minds of the people both Christian and pagan. Power plays could be as overt as sending troops or destructive bands of wandering monks to depose one’s adversary, or as subtle as sending carefully constructed letters to the emperor or his family. One such example of the competition between complementary power structures is that of the relationship between the monks and bishops in Lower Egypt. While there have been many studies of the interplays between the bishops of Alexandria and the monks of Lower Egypt, little attention has been paid to how these relationships are constructed and portrayed in Apophthegmata Patrum.

This paper examines how the Apophthegmata Patrum serves as a corrective to the implied power structure proposed by Athanasius in the Vita Antonii. By analyzing the relationships between monks and the imperial and ecclesial authorities, this paper argues that part of the function of the Apophthegmata is to provide a foundation for monastic authority outside of ecclesial authority, thus countering the claims of Athanasius. First, this paper briefly examines the arguments for Athanasius’ attempt to use Antony as a way of claiming authority over the monks, followed by a short discussion on problems of the composition and redaction of the Apophthegmata Patrum. The final section of the paper will examine the stories and aphorisms that show how monks related to the dominant ecclesial and imperial power structures, paying particular attention to those instances where the lines between the monastic and ecclesial authorities are blurred.