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Shenoute | |
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| Archimandrite | |
| Born | 348 (uncertain) Egypt |
| Died | 1 July 465[1] Sohag,Egypt |
| Venerated in | Oriental Orthodox Churches |
| Majorshrine | White Monastery |
| Feast | 7Epip |
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Shenoute of Atripe, also known asShenoute the Great orSaint Shenoute theArchimandrite (Coptic:Ⲁⲃⲃⲁ Ϣⲉⲛⲟⲩϯ ⲡⲓⲁⲣⲭⲓⲙⲁⲛ'ⲇⲣⲓⲧⲏⲥ), was the abbot of theWhite Monastery inEgypt. He is considered asaint by theOriental Orthodox Churches and is one of the most renownedsaints of theCoptic Orthodox Church.
Shenoute was born in the middle of the fourth century CE[2] (the date 348 CE, often mentioned but not universally accepted, is based on an inscription in his monastery, dating from the 12th or 13th century[3]).
Around 385 CE, Shenoute became the father of theWhite Monastery inUpper Egypt.[4] It has often been assumed that Shenoute was the immediate successor of the White Monastery's founder, Pacol. However, the reconstruction of Shenoute's literary corpus made it possible to realize that Pacol died in the 370s and was then succeeded not by Shenoute but by another father, Eboh and that a spiritual crisis during Eboh's tenure as head of the White Monastery, a crisis which seems to have involved carnal sin, enabled Shenoute to come to prominence and to become Eboh's immediate successor.[5]
Because of his popularity inUpper Egypt and his zeal, Shenoute was chosen byCyril, the ecclesiarchalPatriarch of Alexandria, to accompany him in representing theChurch of Alexandria at theCouncil of Ephesus in 431 CE.[6] There he provided the moral support that Cyril needed to defeat the heresy ofNestorius,Bishop of Constantinople. The eventual exile of Nestorius toAkhmim, Shenoute's backyard, was a testimony to the impression Shenoute had made upon the council attendees.
On 7Epip (14 July) 466 CE, following a short illness possibly brought upon by advanced age, Shenoute died in the presence of his monks.
From his uncle,Saint Pigol, Shenoute inherited amonastery based on thePachomian system ofcenobitic monasticism, though more austere and stringent. This made its followers few in number and probably promoted decline rather than growth. Shenoute implemented a more comprehensive system that was less stringent and more adaptable. This new system had an unusual component: a covenant (Koine Greek:διαθήκη,romanized: diathēkē) to be recited and adhered to literally by the new novices. It read as follows:
I vow before God in His Holy Place, the word which I have spoken with my mouth being my witness; I will not defile my body in any way, I will not steal, I will not bear false witness, I will not lie, I will not do anything deceitful secretly. If I transgressed what I have vowed, I will see the Kingdom of Heaven, but will not enter it. God before whom I made the covenant will destroy my soul and my body in the fiery Hell because I transgressed the covenant I made.
— Bell, the Life of Shenute by Besa, pp. 9–10
Transgressors of that covenant were expelled from the monastery, which was considered a near-death sentence for the peasant monks.
Another feature of Shenoute's monastic system was the requirement for the new novices to live outside the monastery before they were deemed worthy to be consecrated as monks. This seemed to be at odds with theNitrian monastic system, which allowed the monks to live away from the monastic settlements only after they became proficient in the monastic life. Shenoute also utilized the monks' time, outside prayer and worship, in more varied tasks within the monastery than theNitrian monks were exposed to. Aside from the traditional trades of rope and basket weaving, the monks engaged in weaving and tailoring linen, cultivating flax, leatherwork and shoemaking, writing and bookbinding, carpentry, metalworking, and pottery. All in all, Shenouda tried as much as possible to employ the monks in their old professions. Such activities made the monastery a vast self-supporting complex, which occupied some 20 square miles (52 km2) of land.
As a monastic leader, Shenoute recognized the need for literacy among monks. He required all his monks and nuns to learn to read and encouraged more of them to pursue the art of writing manuscripts. This made the monastery increasingly appealing to belong to and consequently made the threat of expulsion more painful.
In his laudatoryLife of Saint Shenoute, his disciple and biographer Saint Wissa (Besa) recounts several incidents of Shenoute coming to the aid of poor Coptic peasants. One time he went toAkhmim to chastise a pagan because of the oppression he was inflicting on the poor (Vita #81–2). Another time he acted to eliminate the cause of grief of the peasants, that the pagan landlords of Paneheou forced them to buy the latter's spoiled wine (Vita #85–6). On a third occasion he risked his life to successfully ask for the freedom of the captives at Psoi from the hands of theBlemmyes warriors (Vita #89). He also at times appealed on behalf of the peasants to those in power, including theRomanemperorTheodosius I. In summary, Shenoute fully recognized the misery of his people and emerged as their sincere advocate and popular leader.
To talk about Shenoute's writing is to discussCoptic literature at its best.[neutrality isdisputed] He wrote in a style that was essentially his own, with writings based on a careful study of the scholastic rhetoric of his time, which displayed the wide and deep range of knowledge he possessed. They were adorned with endless quotations from the Holy Scriptures, a typical feature of patristic writings. The scriptures were quoted whenever a presented argument needed support. In doing so Shenoute also displayed an astonishing memory as he rendered these passages with amazing accuracy.
Shenoute's knowledge was not confined to theHoly Bible, as was the case for the majority of the monks inEgypt. He was fluent in bothCoptic andGreek, and was fairly well acquainted withGreek thought and theology. The sprinkling of Greek loan-words in his writings was both extensive and sophisticated, and it was definitely not a product of his living environment. He also expressed knowledge of the works ofAristotle,Aristophanes, thePlatonic school, and even some of theGreek legends. He certainly read some ofSaint Athanasius' works like the Life ofSaint Anthony and some of his homiletic works. Shenoute also knew the letters of Saint Anthony, some of the letters ofSaint Pachomius, and most likely some of the works ofEvagrius. His knowledge further extended to such popular non-canonical texts as theActs of Archelaus and theGospel of Thomas.
The writing of Saint Shenoute can be grouped into four categories:
As more and more identifications of Saint Shenoute's literary works are made, his contribution to Coptic literature appears to be even greater than previously assumed. On the one hand, it is becoming clear that he treated a wide range of subjects, not only monastic ones. This suggests a more favorable assessment of the theological character of his writing, his spirituality, and his moral and nationalistic behavior. On the other hand, he accepted the inclusion of literary activity in the religious field. This sets him apart from thePachomian system that tended to treat religious literature as mere written instructions with no regard to style being given. He further developed a style that is clearly a product of careful study of the scholasticGreek rhetoric of his time.
Four Coptic Orthodox monasteries worldwide are named after Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite, namely:
There is also a Coptic Orthodox church – St. Mary and St. Shenouda – inCoulsdon, England.
There has been difficulty in accessing and reconstructing the works of Shenoute for a variety of readings. The number of legible manuscripts his works survive in are not many, and he wrote in Coptic, which is a language that ceased in use as a spoken language in the Middle Ages, which added to the obscurity of his writings. For a long time, his works stopped being transmitted, and the remaining manuscripts were subject to decay from then on. Shenoute was responsible for collecting his own literary works into two collections, which were then transmitted. These were theCanons and theDiscourses (orLogoi).[7] Johannes Leipoldt published several volumes of his works, although he did so without access to all the manuscripts and so did not produce a critical edition.[8] The transmission and structure of these two collections were first reconstructed in a dissertation by Stephen Emmel.[9] Dwight Young has published some Coptic editions of this work with English translation.[10] Bentley Layton has additionally published new Coptic texts of his rule and their translations.[11]
