Broadly speaking, psychological theories define solitude as the state of being alone, either voluntarily or involuntarily. When voluntary, one might experience solitude as a pleasant, positive condition. But if secluded or isolated, one might feel it as loneliness and as being unhappy and alone, even in the crowd. Voluntary, self-imposed solitude was a principal feature of Byzantine ascetic and monastic life in striving to achieve spiritual perfection. Distancing oneself from this world was practiced by men in early monasticism, in isolation like Saint Simeon Stylites, and in the hesychastic, contemplative mode of life in later Byzantium. Women who wished to embrace a sacred way of life withdrew to nunneries, lived in cells close to these nunneries, or in solitude like Mary of Egypt. Some of these women adopted a monk’s attire and lived in male monasteries or in solitude/isolation. Monastic and ascetic practices have been widely researched in Byzantine studies. However, solitude and related feelings, such as aloneness and loneliness, have not yet attracted scholarly interest. Some research has been done on loci, such as real or imagined desert, mountains, and caves, associated with solitary figures in Byzantine context, but there is no study on isolation’s effects on the ascetic. The proposed round table aims to shed light on questions such as the following: how could theories of solitude and loneliness developed in the last decade be useful for Byzantine Studies? What are the topographic, cultural, emotional, and literary markers framing solitude and its effects in Byzantium?
In homes and churches, caves and communities, and away from home in the natural world and in exile and pilgrimages, Eastern Roman people pursued solitude as a way of getting closer to God. In the introduction to this panel, Bronwen Neil will introduce solitude in Byzantium and various practical challenges, health impacts, emotional and creative…
In recent decades, the archaeological record of desert asceticism in the Holy Land, characterized by large monastic centers and numerous hermitages, has expanded with the discovery of additional material evidence of seclusion. Identified through extensive surveys as well as salvage and academic excavations, these sites of monastic seclusion provide tangible testimony to the pursuit of…
This paper focuses on the staging of solitude and aloneness in theatrical works with Byzantine themes composed in Greek from the 19th to the 20th centuries. It examines the ways the protagonists of these plays (powerful men and women) articulate their ‘alone’ identities while situated within densely populated social settings. Although these characters appear surrounded…
The phenomenon of monastic and ascetic solitude has been widely researched in Byzantine studies. However, albeit the vibrant scholarship on emotions, especially in the last decade, not much attention has been devoted to the negative or positive emotions and states of mind of one being alone or kept apart from others in the Byzantine context….