To Train His Soul in Books: Syriac Asceticism in Early Christianity

7. Housekeeping: An Ascetic Theme in Late Antiquity

134 Susan Ashbrook Harvey 7. Housekeeping An Ascetic Theme in Late Antiquity One of the motifs especially dear to early Christian writers was that of the house as a metaphor for the human person, or of the body as a temple or sanctuary . Biblical allusions from both the Hebrew Bible and New Testament underlay this imagery. In Late Antiquity, however, this complex of building metaphors gained an additional set of images with the development of housekeeping as an image for ascetic discipline. In particular, the tasks and methods of cleaning house proved to be effective tropes for the practice of long-term asceticism, as a means for maintaining the self-identity of the Christian devotee whose vocational life was conducted with permanent commitment. Where the imagery of house building was suggestive for the task of constructing and establishing a given religious identity, housekeeping provided a rhetoric that stressed continual attention to the state of the self. It signaled the need for constant, diligent, at times unpleasant drudgery as a necessary component of ongoing ascetic vocation ; it counteracted any tendency to romanticize the ascetic life. Above all, it addressed pragmatically the fact that sustained asceticism (such as that of the monastic or recluse), as opposed to short-term practice (such as Lent or specific penances might warrant), could lead to lethargy, psychological dullness, or complacency. At the same time, the occurrence of housekeeping images in a Christian literature produced predominantly by and for male subjects is striking. Its appearance may alert us to interesting social consequences in the emergence of the H o u s e k e e p i n g i n L at e A n t i q u i t y 135 single-sex household as various forms of the ascetic life and monasticism rose into view over the course of the fourth century. For the most part, housekeeping as a cleaning enterprise had been obscured in earlier literature of the ancient Mediterranean—occluded from the historian’s gaze by its relegation to the domain of “female” activity. Its presence in late antique ascetic discourse across a diversity of social locations indicates a genuine change in social organization. That change makes evident a further set of considerations that ought to command the attention of the religious historian of the ancient world. One is an apparent shift—in some literature, at least—away from a rhetoric concerned with the cultic conditions of purity and pollution, and a turn instead towards a stress on moral psychology through the ordering (cleaning) of the passions. Another is a subtext within monastic literature that indicates a prevalent concern with how the practice of asceticism affected basic cultural assumptions of health and illness. Clearly, then, imagistic play with the tasks, methods, effects, and results of housekeeping allowed a rhetorical space in which ascetic advocates and practitioners could negotiate the difficult terrain of a shifting social, religious, and cultural landscape. Sources for the Imagery An eclectic array of biblical texts lay behind the image. In the Book of Proverbs, for example, Wisdom builds her house strongly with seven pillars (Prov 9:1), while Folly would tear it down (Prov 14:1). Proverbs contrasts the house of the harlot, prepared for seduction, with that of the good wife who runs her householdwithefficiency,wisdom,andkindness(Prov7:6–23,31:10–31).Indeed, biblicalwritersseemtoassumeadirectidentificationbetweenthetempleorsanctuary prepared as a place fit for the Lord's dwelling, and the human person as the microcosm thereof. The elaborate preparations described in Exodus, chapter 40, for the erection, anointing, and adornment of the tabernacle, and then for the washing, vesting, and anointing of its priests, find their parallel in passages that treat the preparation of the person who would be cleansed and purified for God (Ps 51:2), just as much as they resemble Levitical injunctions for cleansing the property of an infected house (Lev 14:33–54). Human and divine persons, it would seem, should seek to share the same dwellings, whether built by hands, by morals, or by personal intention; therefore, dwelling places of all varieties require appropriate construction, preparation, and adornment. 136   S u s a n A s h b r o o k H a r v e y Yet the Psalms admonish, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps 127:1). The faithful believer was thus one whose own hands worked as instruments for the...