Shenoute and the Women of the White Monastery : Egyptian Monasticism in Late Antiquity

## Abstract Analyzes the evidence for the lives of women living in the White Monastery, located in upper Egypt, under its third abbot, Shenoute, who served from 385–464 c.e. Several of Shenoute's letters, which were written in Coptic and survive in fragmentary form, address periods of conflict either between female monks or between the female community and Shenoute. As a result, they differ in genre from any other evidence of female monasticism in late antiquity and so present a unique corpus of material for investigation. A key issue pertains to Shenoute's efforts to establish his monastic authority over the women's community, which was physically separate from the men's, and the evidence for the women's acceptance and resistance to that expansion. I then argue that gender analysis reveals that Shenoute regarded his efforts as part of the creation of a universal monasticism, which had uniform requirements for male and female monks, including the controversial subject of corporal punishment. It simultaneously reveals, however, points of gender asymmetry, and so inequity, within monastic authority and practices, some promoted by Shenoute and some by the women themselves. Finally, Shenoute's use of the family as a model for the monastery helped him create kinship bonds among all monks, both those who had left their families and those who brought their relatives with them. Like gender, with which the family is intimately connected, this model also allows Shenoute to negotiate tensions and contradictions using egalitarian language while simultaneously constructing patriarchal authority. This Book Depicts The Lives Of Female Monks Within A Monastery Located In Upper Egypt In The Period 385-464 C.e. During This Period, The Monastery Was Headed By A Monk Named Shenoute; Thirteen Of His Letters To The Women Under His Care Survive. These Writings Are Fragmentary, Only Partially Translated, Little Studied, And Written In Difficult-to-decipher Coptic. Despite These Problems, Krawiec Has Used The Letters To Reconstruct A Series Of Quarrels And Events In The Life Of The White Monastery And To Discern Some Of The Key Patterns In The Participants' Relationships To One Another Within The World As They Perceived It. The Book Begins By Describing The Monks' Daily Routine And Argues That The Monastery's Culture Was Based On Uniformity, In Both Material Goods And Emotional Support. The Female Monks' Relationship With Shenoute Was Colored By The Physical Separation Of The Female Community From The Male Community. Krawiec Examines How Shenoute Constructed And Exerted His Authority In These Conditions, And Investigates The Degree To Which The Women Accepted It. Krawiec Then Investigates The Role Of Gender Both In Shenoute's Presentation Of His Authority And In The Women's Reaction To It. She Argues That Shenoute Believed In A Universal, Genderless Monasticism, Appropriate For Both Men And Women. However, Alongside This Dominant Model, We Can See A Gendered Monasticism Created By The Women's Physical Separation And Shenoute's Own Cultural Assumptions About Women. Shenoute Was Able To Have These Two Apparently Incompatible Views Of The Role Of Gender In Monasticism Co-exist In Part Because He Structured The Monastery As A Family, Idealized By Its Ascetic Values. Krawiec Shows That In This Way Shenoute Was Able To Combine Egalitarian Rhetoric And Patriarchal Structures. Krawiec Concludes By Examining How Shenoute's Creation Of The Monastic Community As A Family Affected Female Monks Who Had Kin Alongside Them In The Monastery.--jacket. Rebecca Krawiec. Revised Version Of The Author's Dissertation (doctoral)--yale University, 1996. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 237-244) And Index. This title depicts the lives of female monks within a monastery located in upper Egypt in the period 385-464 CE. Piecing together 12 original letters, the author examines how the male monk in charge constructed and exerted his authority, and the degree to which this was accepted. The daily life of the monks in the White Monastery revolved around prayer and work, which, for Shenoute, were equally important.