Ascetics, Authority, and the Church in the Age of Jerome and Cassian: Second Edition

II. LETTERS FROM BETHLEHEM

II LETTERS FROM BETHLEHEM Once established in Bethlehem, Jerome never left the region; but his life was in no way monotonous. An enormous liter­ ary output bears witness to intense activity; and his letters reveal a wide network of acquaintance, an undying interest in other people, and developing convictions of his own. Most important of all, his more settled life did not dull that anxious curiosity that had driven him from city to city, seek­ ing 'the pattern of the perfect life'.l The greater proportion of his letters, during the rest of his life, show him answering questions forming in his own mind, as well as in the minds of correspondents, about the best way to live as a Christian. One immediate reaction to his failure in the West, reflected in several letters, was to persuade others to follow him into exile.2 His friends should seek more the quiet and simplicity of the countryside; a land filled with the biblical songs of the plough­ man and gardener.3 No doubt the Kingdom of God was within (perhaps Marcella had urged this very objection,-the letter was addressed to her,-reflecting a Roman sense that an outward show of fervour was uncalled for, if not dangerous); but in Pales­ tine, according toJerome, standards were better protected, and ascetics found a welcome freedom from the judgement (and the control) of others: 'We may speak different languages, but our religion is one'.4 To Desiderius and Serenilla, he suggested that pilgrimage to the holy places would be a natural sequel to their religious conversion. He did admit that they need not remain there, if they found that customs and people were not to their taste-espousing a concept of pilgrimage, in other words, not 1 Ep. xxiv. l. 2 I say 'he' because although .Ep. xlvi came from Paula and Eustochium, there is every reason to suppose that it reflected the opinions ofJerome himself. 3 Ep. xlvi. 12. 4 Ep. xlvi. in the holy land. LETTERS FROM BETHLEHEM 115 quite the same as dedication to an exiled asceticism.s But even in the 390s, he could still praise the youthful desire of Nepo­ tianus to go to Egypt, to Mesopotamia, or perhaps to some island nearer home.6 Nevertheless, this willingness to encourage exile weakened with time. Letters to Paulinus of Nola illustrate the change.7 Paulinus, freshly converted, must leave the West; such was Jerome's first response to news of his change of heart. He must embrace a life of religious exile in the holy places-not least since death might come upon him when he least ex­ pected it.8 But in his second letter, literal exile was not in­ sisted on: 'I would not dare to confine within narrow bounds the almighty power of God, nor restrict within a little stretch of earth him whom the heavens cannot contain'; and, echoing Marcella, 'the Kingdom 'of God is within us',9 He merely pointed out that monks should not live in cities, and that bishops and priests who did were seeking their salvation by saving others, rather than by a direct attack on their own shortcomings. They had their own inspiring models, the apostles-different from Elias and Elisaeus, 'the authoritative pioneers of our enterprise'.10 This modification, accepting in effect the quasi-monastic community set up by Paulinus at Nola (not unlike those that Jerome had known in Aquileia), may explain in part why he did not cease to praise the household asceticism he had done so much to encourage in Rome. He now saw more clearly (as he had warned Marcella)11 that the demands of a great household or estate could militate against ascetic standards5 Ep. xlvii. 2. 6 Ep. Ix. 10. The last course Bonosus had chosen,-see above, p. 100-as also Martin-see below, p. 148. The custom continued to gain in popularity: Fabiola visited or cared for ascetics living on islands, and in other remote regions, Ep, lxxvii. 6; and there are the famous references made by Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu Suo, i. 439 ff., 515 ff. 7 On the dating and order of these letters, see Kelly, .Ierome, 192-4, with its documented appeal to the arguments of Nautin. At issue are the opinions of Cavallera, Jirome, i. 2, 89-91, and of Courcelle, 'Paulin de Nole et saint Jerome', RELxxv (1947), 250-80 (an article that retains, nevertheless, its usefulness). 8 Ep. liii. 1, ll; compare liv. 18. 9...