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  • Il Sole e il Fango: Puro e Impuro tra i Padri del Deserto
  • Roberto Alciati
Il Sole e il Fango: Puro e Impuro tra i Padri del Deserto. By Fabrizio Vecoli. [Centro Alti Studi in Scienze Religiose, Vol. 5.](Rome: Edizioni di Storia e Letteratura. 2007. Pp. xii, 183. €28,50. ISBN 978-8-884-98496-8.)

Since Plato katharotēshad been used to describe physical, moral, and spiritual purity. With Origen, the concept of purity plays an important role as the indispensable prerequisite to the attainment of theōria. In chapter 36 of the Life of Antonythe expression katharotēs tes psychesis to be taken as expressive of the perfect condition of the soul. Therefore, Vecoli opens his book by stating that purity and the vision of God are the pillars of the monastic spirituality in late antiquity.

The book is divided into five chapters; the first, "Puro e impuro: una breve introduzione," begins with an overview of some methodological issues connected [End Page 783]to the concept of purity in ancient monasticism and the selected sources. Chapter 2, "Corpo del monaco, pensieri dei demoni," explores the nature of purity in Antony's Lettersand the Life of Antonyby Athanasius. Chapter 3, "Purificazione: strategia e simboli dell' ascesi," considers the monastic anthropology as a complex interplay of physiological, moral, and theological factors. In chapter 4, "Se il corpo è il monastero," Vecoli moves to the role of purity in the coenobium. The last chapter, "Oltre il monastero," is about the relationship of the monk to the world.

Originating in Old Testament concerns for ritual purity, the concept of puritascame in Christian texts, via Origen and Evagrius, to avoid evil thoughts. According to Vecoli, in Egyptian monasticism purity can be interpreted as a pristine state to be achieved from the normal corruption of human beings (p. 5) and the Lettersof Antony clearly proves this statement (p. 40, contraRubenson). Origen is often presented as an optimist; Antony could be his pessimistic counterpart, and this change should be ascribed to some Gnostic and Manichaean influences (p. 42). Human beings are mud and as mud huts they simply wait to be dried by the sun-God (p. 81).

The quest for purity also means to redefine the relationship with the world. A key issue for the understanding of this relationship is the bakery (p. 112). Pacethe Sonderweltargued long ago by Karl Heussi, Vecoli stresses the importance of the monastic presence into the world; monks cannot be set apart from lay society completely, and these intersections shape their identity. Instead of a theological otherworldliness, Vecoli suggests that one pay attention to the daily relationships with the lay world.

Nevertheless, this more challenging point of view does not quite fit the traditional opposition between anchorites and coenobites (chap. 4). Common to most scholars recently has been an effort to avoid using the oppositional categories imposed by tradition (such as monasticism/asceticism, desert/city), and to make those categories a matter of historical investigation instead. Anchorites and coenobites are not really very useful terms for a history of monasticism sub specie puritatis. At one point, the author agrees with this statement (p. 126). A more interesting theme—even if not investigated in this book—would be the role of purity, from a theological and a historical point of view, within the relationship between Christian laity and perfect monks.

The subtitle of the book contains the expression desert Fathers. The renewed academic interest in the heritage of the Fathers often lacks a considered hermeneutic of what exactly the nature of this expression might be. As Thomas Graumann has recently written, "even the very concept of 'the Fathers' frequently remains vague." 1As we know, Christian monasticism was a [End Page 784]late-antique invention, but not until the late-fourth and early-fifth centuries did monastic history begin to be written. Nevertheless, all those monastic historians are interested in promoting their own definitions of proper monasticism over alternative typologies. The desert Fathers and their supposed theology as a whole are later categories and not undisputed at all.

Roberto Alciati
University of Turin

Notes

1. Thomas Graumann, "The...

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