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figure 1
figure 2
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Though we have no concrete evidence of the number
of people who left cities and towns to become ascetics, monasticism
appears to have had a significant impact. Between the fourth and
the seventh centuries, birth rates declined and monasteries rather
than civic households became the basic unit through which money circulated
(Harvey, 317–18).
Further evidence of considerable numbers of ascetics is evident in
an early backlash. In the late third and fourth centuries, the “devotees
of idleness” were
condemned for deserting their civic duties to join bands of monks.
Monastics came under harsh attack for depleting the ranks of the
aristocracy, which brought about a shortage of heirs and local government
officials. By the fifth and sixth centuries, popular opinion was
with the ascetics, who were valued for their ideal Christian lifestyle
(Caseau, "Monks," 585–86). These men and women, who left society
but often remained tied to it, became major forces in early Christian
society. Monks played important roles in doctrinal disputes, and
monasticism helped to populate uncultivated lands, thereby becoming
an important vehicle for economic and cultural expansion (Leyser,
583–584).
The second major event affecting the early
Christian history of Sinai was the development of interest in the
Holy Land. As monasticism was flourishing in the eastern provinces,
Constantine I, who became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire
in 324 A.D., undertook the first large-scale, Christian archaeological
project in the Holy Land, beginning in Jerusalem, which had been
refounded and renamed Aelia Capitolina in 135 A.D. by the emperor
Hadrian (Wilkinson, Egeria's Travels,
8). Constantine ordered excavation below the Hadrianic levels of
the city in order to reveal Jerusalem as it had been in the time
of Christ. A temple of Aphrodite built over the tomb of Christ
was demolished, and Constantine ordered all rubble, stones, and
soil to be cleared away to purify the area. The emperor declared
that over the tomb a “house
of prayer worthy of God” be
built “on
a scale of rich and imperial costliness” (Caseau, “Sacred Landscapes,” 31).
Other sites were identified, excavated, and built upon (Cameron,
10). Legend has it that during her trip to the Holy Land, Constantine’s
mother, Helena, found the True Cross in Jerusalem (Drijvers, 95).
Other relics of the Passion were found. In one particularly striking
account, the nails from the Cross were discovered and sent back
to Constantinople, where Constantine incorporated them into his
helmet and horse’s bridle
(Cameron, 10; Drijvers, 95). |
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