Ariel G. Lopez

Shenoute of Atripe and the Uses of Poverty


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fostered by the Roman government itself. By rewarding petitioners, the emperor encouraged criticism of local powers and even of his own provincial representatives as a way to strengthen his precarious hold over provincial life and the state apparatus. Just when they refused to leave their capital, the emperors’ role in local life became more important than ever. As a result, all politics, in the late antique Near East, was imperial politics. Two well-known examples of this situation—which has been described as an “advocacy revolution”43—come from Egypt. The famous petition of Appion, bishop of the border town of Syene (Assuan), demanding military protection for his churches, shows that the emperor was available even in the most remote confines of the empire.44 Dioscorus of Aphrodito, on the other hand, the “pompous, vain and opinionated”45 villager who repeatedly resisted the demands of the city of Antaeopolis on his village, traveled twice to Constantinople in the mid-sixth century to argue on behalf of his “poor” village and against the violence it suffered at the hands of the powerful of Antaeopolis.46

      It is not surprising, therefore, that Shenoute frequently threatened his enemies at Panopolis with a trip to the emperor, or that he boasted of a privileged relationship to the imperial court.47 His writings show that he did eventually travel to Constantinople. And like Dioscorus of Aphrodito, he did it to denounce “the violence which the powerful (archōn) were inflicting upon the poor.”48 To make clear what he stood for, he showed up at the imperial palace dressed like a beggar, and then proceeded to humiliate a powerful senator before an amazed emperor.49 We do not know what—if any—the results of this mission were. We only know that he would often recall it with pride:

      I have said this about those who came up to me on the hill (i.e., the monastery) in the night with their document saying, “Your brothers do violence to us”: If I have crossed the sea to the comitatus on account of those who do violence and we are the ones doing it, how great will God’s judgment against us be?50

      On a day-to-day basis, however, the emperor was a distant presence and only a last-resort solution. The imperial authorities typically approached by Shenoute were the military and civilian governors of the Thebaid (usually called the dux/comes and the hēgemōn, respectively). They play a central role in his writings, and, in marked contrast to the anonymous “violent men” from Panopolis, they have specific names. Shenoute names at least nine military commanders, nine civilian governors, and one Augustal prefect of Alexandria.51 It was in the person of these provincial governors that Shenoute focused, first and foremost, his hopes for “vertical solidarity.” For it was they who made the emperor’s will a reality in Upper Egypt, and it was from them, above all, that Shenoute could expect protection from his enemies in Panopolis, justice for the “poor,” and, potentially, financial aid.

      The central role of provincial governors is a well-documented aspect of the political life of the later Roman Empire. It is related to the new political structure of the empire, in which the unit of government was no longer the autonomous city, but the small province. The provincial capital now assumed an unprecedented weight in political life and eclipsed every other city in the province.52 In the case of Upper Egypt, this was the city of Antinoe, or rather the “twin cities” of Hermopolis and Antinoe. The aristocracy itself—made up not only of civic notables but also of the members of the governor’s staff and above all of former magistrates (the so-called honorati)—was now organized on a provincial and no longer on a civic level, and its life was focused on the provincial capital. There they would meet and welcome the military and civilian governors, both of them foreign individuals (at least in the sense of being foreign to the province) who would keep their position for only brief periods of time—so much so that they were advised not to bring their wives.53 Shenoute points out, as a remarkable feat, that a particularly righteous governor had obtained his position for three consecutive years, and this without paying any bribes.54

      In modern accounts of Shenoute’s public role, the hostile letters from governors Dorotheos and Theodosius—which he duly refuted and preserved in his literary corpus—loom large (in part simply because they are the first texts in Leipoldt’s edition) and seem to confirm his quintessential hostility to the powerful.55 As we have seen above, a “corrupt” governor supposedly went even so far as to consider killing him. And Shenoute attributed the defeats suffered by some military governors to their paganism, which cannot have endeared them to him.56 Overall, however, these are rather exceptional cases. As a rule, Shenoute’s writings and his biography emphasize that good provincial governors were his “friends.” They respected him more than anyone else in the province, they liked to listen to his preaching, they needed and heeded his advice and correction, and they protected him when necessary. Even a pagan military governor, we have seen, could not help but be amazed at Shenoute’s “happiness.” In contrast, the villains of Panopolis had a much harder time getting heard by the governor and tried in vain to give Shenoute a bad name. Thus when the military governor Chryssipos was visiting Panopolis, “that godless one”—almost certainly Gesios—accused Shenoute of theft to the governor. Shenoute had broken into his house and removed his heathen books. But Chryssipos’s answer to these accusations was deeply gratifying. “A dear friend,” Shenoute writes, “informed me that Chryssipos told that miserable man: ‘Look, your judgment applies to me too; for I am also a Christian.’” In the same way, when a governor was “furious” at some of Shenoute’s people (Christians accused of antipagan violence?), and the latter was forced to travel to the governor’s palace in Antinoe to justify himself, Gesios was there hoping to witness Shenoute’s public humiliation. Once again, his hopes were dashed: “He in whose holy name we came trusting Him did according to those He loves and they were saved instead of dying and He let the chains be removed from them and they were released.”57

      Shenoute seems to have visited the provincial capital relatively often. In fact, it seems to be the only city in Upper Egypt besides Panopolis that he honored with his presence. We know that he preached there against paganism, at the so-called Church of the Water; that he traveled there to defend both his own monasteries and other Christians accused by the pagans; and that he shared his wisdom with both bishops and imperial authorities in the city. He claimed to have an almost infinite capacity to inspire deference among the Roman magistrates of Antinoe, and he resorted liberally to name-dropping in order to prove it:

      Many also asked me in Hermopolis and Antinoe about many issues and things, and they did not dare to [say] this senselessness (i.e., like a certain hostile philosopher).58 If they looked for a word from me, they did so with prudence. The governor Alexander and also the governor Peter, I talked to them many times, and they did not say follies of this sort. And I also talked to you,59 to Aidesios the military governor, and to Peter the civilian governor inside the governor’s palace, and they did not say such senselessness. If they hide their darkness in their hearts, you should know it, for they are your friends.

      Many started to reveal their error in that city, and when I talked to them about what is right, they stopped in their loquacity, knowing that I say the truth from the scriptures. The son of the general who was in the city those days dared to [say] these confusing things … [and when he heard me] he repented. The tribune of the Cusites asked me about many things when he came to us.60

      More important, though, than Shenoute’s visits to Antinoe were the visits of the governors themselves to Shenoute’s monastery. Other Egyptian holy men had been visited by provincial governors before. John of Lycopolis, the famous late fourth-century recluse who had predicted the victories of the emperor Theodosius, angered his visitor Palladius by giving priority to a governor who had arrived later than he.61 He also blessed military governors on their way to the war-torn southern frontier.62 But the visits received by Shenoute seem to have been far grander occasions. One or both governors—for they usually traveled together63—would arrive at the monastery in the company of their staffs, lawyers and assessors (the omnipresent scholastikoi), “friends,” “brothers,” former magistrates residing in the area (honorati), troops, and other members of the provincial elite to pay him their respects, attend Mass at the monastery, and listen to his words. The presence of the provincial elite on Shenoute’s doorstep was a tribute to his status among the powerful. It validated his