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Holy Land Pilgrimage and Western Audiences: Some Reflections on Egeria and Her Circle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Hagith Sivan
Hagith Sivan
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand
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Extract

In the vast literature centering on the Itinerarium Egeriae (IE) there is a serious lacuna. No attempt has been made to analyse the circle of readers to whom this remarkable document was addressed and for whose sake Egeria recorded so faithfully every detail of her journey. Yet if a full understanding of the IE is to be achieved, some definition of the circle of Egeria and of its relations with the pilgrim is essential. In other words, who in the West at that point in the late fourth century, would have been so interested in Holy Land pilgrimage as to read attentively such a personal account as the IE? The following is a tentative essay to gauge the concerns, expectations and cultural background of Egeria's immediate circle of readers through her own emphasis on various aspects of her pilgrimage. In addition, the investigation will try to assess the place of pilgrimage in the life of western communities and the value of communications between the pilgrim on the road and the society back at home.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , December 1988 , pp. 528 - 535
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1988

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References

1 Up to 1979, the list included about three hundred items, Starowieyski, M., ‘Bibliografia Egeriana’, Augustianum 19 (1979), 297–318CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Since then additions have included a revised edition of Wilkinson, J., Egeria's Travels to the Holy Land (Jerusalem and Warminster, 1981)Google Scholar; and Maraval, P., Égérie, Journal de voyage (SCh 296) (Paris, 1982)Google Scholar.

2 The date accepted here for the journey, namely A.D. 381 to 384, was established by Devos, P., ‘La date du voyage d'Égérie’, AB 85 (1967), 165–94Google Scholar.

3 The affectionate titles include Dominae venerabiles sorores, affectio vestra, dominae venerabiles, dominae sorores, dominae lumen meum. As late as the 470s the adjective venerabilis could have been applied to both clerics and laymen (cf. Sidonius Apollinaris, Ep. 6.2.1 where a religious laywoman is called venerabilis matrona and even sancta). In the late fourth century Paulinus of Nola used sancta parens, soror nostra venerabilis for Bassula, Sulpicius Severus' mother-in-law, who was very religious and even an ascetic but not a nun (Ep. 31.1; 5.19).

4 Note the striking anonymity of the numerous persons met on the way, with the single exception of Marthana (23.3). The IE was written and sent from Constantinople (IE 23.10).

5 IE 5.8. On the journey in the Sinai, IE 1.1–6. 1 with Valerius, Ep. 2 (ed. Diaz, M. C. Diaz y in SCh 296, pp. 323–49)Google Scholar.

6 In general, Gorce, D., La lectio divina. Des origines du cénobitisme à Saint Benoît et Cassiodore, Vol. IGoogle Scholar: Saint Jérôme et al lecture sacrée dans le milieu ascétique romain (Paris, 1925)Google Scholar.

7 IE 3.7; 5.12; 7.1 and passim.

8 IE 7.3. Pilgrims were apparently also prepared to be sceptical about the fountain of John on the way to Carneas. The guide there provided ‘archaeological’ proof, Wilkinson, op. cit., p. 221.

9 IE 12.7.

10 Theodosius, , De Situ Terrae Sanctae 20 (CC 175.122)Google Scholar; Placenti, Antoninus, Itinerarium 15 (CC 175.137)Google Scholar; Wilkinson, , Egeria's Travels, pp. 219–20Google Scholar.

11 IE 17.2. Devos, P., ‘Égérie à Édesse. S. Thomas l'apôtre. Le roi Abgar’, AB 85 (1967), 381–400Google Scholar. In spite of the lengthy description of her visit, there is no mention of the famed Ephrem who died just a few years before her arrival.

12 IE 19.19. Segal, J. B., Edessa, ‘The Blessed City’ (Oxford, 1970), pp. 172fGoogle Scholar. Lane, D. J., ‘Pervenimus Edessam. The Origins of a Great Christian Center outside the Familiar Mediaeval World’, Florilegium 3 (1981), 104–12Google Scholar.

13 IE 24.1. On the visual reliving of the Bible at the holy places, Hunt, E. D., Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire (Oxford, 1982), pp. 83ffGoogle Scholar. Parente, F., ‘La conoscenza della terra santa come esperienza religiosa dell'occidente cristiano del IV S. alia cruciate’, in Populi epaesi (Sett, di studi del centri ital… Spoleto, 1981) (Spoleto, 1983), 231–316Google Scholar.

14 IE 29.2; 29.5; 31.1; 32.1; 35.3.4; 36.1.3.6; 39.5; 40.1.2; 43.5.6.9; 47.5.

15 Eastern influences have been identified in the case of the Gallic or Gallican liturgy, though the date of their introduction is undecided between supporters of an early one (2nd–3rd century) and those who prefer a date in the fifth century. For bibliography and a brief summary, Delage, M. -J. in SCh 175, pp. 158–9Google Scholar. On the importance of returning pilgrims, Hunt, , op. cit. (n. 13), p. 126Google Scholar. For an attempt to assess the influence of Holy Land liturgy on triumphal decoration of western sarcophagi, Simon, M., ‘Sur l'origine des sarcophages Chretiens du type Bethesda’, Melange d'archéologie el d'hisloire 55 (1938), 201–23CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

16 IE 46.1.

17 IE 45.1.1; 46.1.

18 IE 46.2. Augustine's De Catechizandis Rudibus was only written c. 400.

19 IE 46.2–3.

20 She may have been baptized in Jerusalem. Aside from drawing attention to the logic of the whole process and to the registration of strangers, Egeria also notes the participation of women in the catechesis (IE 46.1). And though she stops short of disclosing the instruction preparatory to the actual act of baptism, the disciplina arcani, her own participation cannot be excluded. After the three necessary years of instruction she may have ended her stay in the Holy City with her personal initiation. At that time the West clearly lacked the elaborate preparations connected with the process of initiation. See ‘initiation’ in The Study of Liturgy, edd. Jones, C., Wainwright, G., Yarnold, E. (London, 1978), pp. 79–146, esp. pp. 95–7Google Scholar.

21 Chitty, D. J., The Desert a City (Oxford, 1966), pp. 46–64Google Scholar. The precise way in which the focus of pilgrimage in the fourth century subtly shifted to include not only holy places of the past but also saintly figures of the present awaits further study.

22 Hunt, , op. cit. (n. 13), 60fGoogle Scholar. on the role of Christian hospitality in general. The existence of xenodochia in virtually all the monasteries excavated in Egypt and Israel testifies to the influence of pilgrimage on the development of monastic architecture. SeeWhite, H. G. Evelyn, The Monasteries of Wadi 'N Natrun, Vol. II (New York, 1932), pp. 168–88 (Cellia and Nitria)Google Scholar;Walters, C. C., Monastic Archaeology in Egypt (Warminster, 1974)Google Scholar.

23 On Postumianus' pilgrimage, Sulpicius Severus, Dial. I; Rufinus' Latin version of the Historia Monachorum in Aegypto (PL 21, 387–462) is clearly based on his own experience. On the value of miracles,Ruggini, L. Cracco, ‘Il miracolo nella cultura del tardo impero: concetto e funzione’, in Hagiographie, Cultures et Sociétés IV–XII siècles, Actes du Colloque organisé à Nanterre et Paris (mai 1979 [Paris, 1981]), pp. 161–204Google Scholar. One can hardly imagine ascetic/ monastic literature without the crucial role of miracles in establishing the reputation, sanctity and authority of the holy man.

24 IE 20.13 confirmed by theApophthegmata patrum (PG 65, 72–440)Google Scholar; Eng., transl. byWard, B., The Sayings of the Desert Fathers. The Alphabetical Collection (London, 1975)Google Scholar, where stories by disciples about their spiritual masters form a major part of the narrative (Poemen 187). On the importance of biblical exegesis, see Copres 3 (discussing Melchizedek) and Athanasius, V. Anthonii 72–3.

25 Note however that Augustine did not know abou t Athanasius' Vita Anthonii until after Egeria's pilgrimage (Conf. 8.8).

26 Ch.Saulnier, , ‘La vie monastique en Terre Sainte apres les lieux de pèlerinage (IV S.)’ Miscellanea Historiae Ecclesiasticae (Congrès de Varsovie 1978 [Bruxelles, 1983]), i. 223–50Google Scholar.

27 IE 23.10: ‘From this place (Constantinople), ladies, my light, when I was writing these words to your affection, a plan was formed in the name of Christ to go to Asia… If, after all this I should be in the body… then either in person, if God should deign me worthy to survive, I shall return to your affection or for sure, if another idea occurs to me, I shall inform you in writing. You only, ladies, my light, deign me worthy of remembrance, whether I should be in the body or outside it.’ These last words echo Paul, II Cor. 12.3.

28 On early western, esp. Gallic, monasticism,Lorenz, R., ‘Die Anfange des abendlandischem Mönchtums im IV J.’, ZKG 77 (1966), 1–61Google Scholar.Griffe, E., La Gaule chrétienne à l'époque romaine (Paris, 1964), i.271–98 (Martin), 366–80 (general)Google Scholar.Prinz, F., Frühes Mönchtum in Frankreich: Kultur und Gesellschaft in Gallien, dem Rheinland und Bayern am Beispiel der monastischen Entwicklung (München/Wien, 1965), pp. 19–46 (Martin), 47–87 (Lerins)Google Scholar.Chadwick, O., Cassian, John. A Study in Primitive Monasticism (Cambridge, 1968)Google Scholar.

29 Cf. the scope of Augustine's travels after his ordination as the bishop of Hippo, which were entirely confined to Africa. His only two sea voyages were undertaken before ordination.Perler, O., Les voyages de saint Augustin (Paris, 1969), pp. 57–81, 205–405Google Scholar. Note also Egeria's own remark on the small number of bishops in Jerusalem, IE 49.2. On the Gallic contemptuous attitude to the ‘wandering monks’ of the East,O'Donnell, J. J., ‘Liberius the Patrician’, Traditio 37 (1981), 55CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 The little we do know about monastic profession of women in Gaul, for example, involves two types of affiliation. One type was ‘virgines devotae’ who were devoted to perpetual chastity and exercised ascetisicm at home. The others were members of a ‘monasterium puellarum’ first attested by Sulpicius Severus towards the end of the fourth century. SeeMetz, R., ‘Les vierges chrétiennes en Gaule au IV siècle’, in Saint Martin et son temps (Studia Anselmiana 46, Tours, 1961), 109–32Google Scholar.

31 Spitzer, L., ‘The Epic Style of the Pilgrim Aetheria’, Comparative Literature 3 (1949), 225–58CrossRefGoogle Scholar. On education in general,Marrou, H. I., Histoire de l'éducation dans l'antiquité (Paris, 1948), pp. 451 ffGoogle Scholar. Marcella contributed to the Origenist controversy by forging copies of Rufinus' translations ( Jerome, , Ep. 127.9)Google Scholar; forMelania, , Palladius, , HL 46Google Scholar; 54; 55. Paula even knew Greek and Hebrew, though admittedly this was the exception rather than the rule ( Jerome, , Ep. 108.28)Google Scholar.

32 Proba is the best example of the aristocratic woman's familiarity with the classics and their literacy,Clark, E. A., Hatch, D. E., The Golden Bough, the Oaken Cross: The Virgilian Cento of Faltonia Betitia Proba (Scholars Press, Calif., 1981)Google Scholar. On Melania's literacy,Moine, N., ‘Melaniana’, Recherches Augustiniennes 15 (1980), 64 n. 327Google Scholar.

33 The case of Egeria's Greek is unclear and opinions range from ‘the fragmentary Greek of a tourist’ (Hunt, p. 153) to an ‘abundant Greek vocabulary’ (Maraval in SCh 296, p. 53). She herself refers to the presence of interpreters in Jerusalem (IE 47.3–4), but not to her use of them.

34 IE 13.4; 15.3; 15.5 and passim.

35 Ziegler, J., ‘Die Peregrinatio Aetheriae und die Hl. Schrift’, Biblica1 12 (1931), 162–98 (mostly on the use of the Vetus Latina version)Google Scholar. On apocryphal readings,Starowreyski, L. M., ‘Les apocryphes chez les écrivains du IV S.’, Miscellanea Historiae Ecclesiasticae IV (above n. 26), i. 140Google Scholar. Egeria was familiar with the acts of Thecla whose shrine she visited, IE 22.2. ForJerome's, recommendations, Ep. 107.12Google Scholar.

36 Jerome, , Ep. 107.12Google Scholar.

37 The countryside, both Spanish and Gallic, accepted belated conversion, as the literary and archaeological evidence demonstrates:Pallol, P. de, ‘La conversion de l'aristocratie de la peninsule ibérique au IVe siècle’, Miscell. Hist. Ecc. (above, n. 26), 47–69Google Scholar;Stancliffe, C. E., ‘From Town to Country: The Christianization of the Touraine 370–600’, Studies in Church History 16 (1979), 43–59CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

38 Étienne, R., Bordeaux antique (Bordeaux, 1962), pp. 265ff.Google Scholar;Maille, Marquise de, Recherches sur les origines chrétiennes de Bordeaux (Paris, 1959)Google Scholar.

39 Sivan, H., ‘Who was Egeria? Pilgrimage and Piety in the Age of Gratian’, HThR 81 (1988), 59–72Google Scholar

40 IE 18.2 referring to the Rhone.

41 In general, Kelly, J. N. D., Jerome (New York, 1975), pp. 91–103; 273–89Google Scholar; and passim. In greater detail, Clark, E. A., Jerome, Chrysostom and Friends: Essays and Translations (New York, 1979), pp. 63ffGoogle Scholar. Some useful comments on the place of women in provincial communities,Dam, E. Van, Leadership and Community in Late Antique Gaul (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1985), pp. 69–76Google Scholar.

42 Rousseau, P., Ascetics, Authority and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian (Oxford, 1978), p. 121Google Scholar.

43 Jerome, , Ep. 122Google Scholar.

44 Jerome, , Ep. 123Google Scholar.

45 Matthews, J., Western Aristocracies and the Imperial Court (Oxford, 1975), pp. 101–45 (Constantinople)Google Scholar; pp. 183–222 (Milan).

46 I am deeply grateful for the kind help of Professors E. A. Clark and J. Wilkinson. My thanks to the useful comments of Caroline White and Debra Nails and, above all, of Michael Grounds.