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| grazing_hermits [2009-12-22 17:25] – theunkarelse | grazing_hermits [2010-02-02 14:28] – theunkarelse |
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| ==== Bosci or Boskoi; the Grazing Hermits. ==== | ==== Bosci or Boskoi; the Grazing Hermits. ==== |
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| Bovskoi (Greek) Boskoi (E) = grazers; from bovskw, to graze, to feed. | * βοσκοί (Greek) Boskoi (E) = grazers or browsers; from bovskw, to graze, to feed. |
| | * Boskoi = name of an [[augmented_foraging]] app we're creating for mobile phone. |
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| On one of my explorations through hagiographic literature in the Central Library of Amsterdam, I came across a text which just mentioned a piece of very very odd behavior, where early Christians literally joined the flock. | On one of my explorations through hagiographic literature in the Central Library of Amsterdam, I came across a text which just mentioned a piece of very very odd behaviour, where early Christians literally joined the flock. |
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| == Historical back-ground: == | == Historical back-ground: == |
| </blockquote> | </blockquote> |
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| and the sickle also appears in this picture: [[http://www.mondimedievali.net/medicina/images/altomed76.jpg]] | Much like Kevin Butcher in 'Roman Syria and the Near East' p392: |
| | <blockquote> |
| | Some ascetics became boskoi, 'grazers', living in the open without proper clothing, eating grass, nuts, berries and roots, like animals. Others loaded themselves with heavy chains. The Mesopotamian 'dendrite' David perched like a bird in a tree at Thessalonica in Greece. The unusual behaviour could lead to iconic, superstar status." |
| | </blockquote> |
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| | The sickle also appears in this picture: [[http://www.mondimedievali.net/medicina/images/altomed76.jpg]] |
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| There is a longer section on Boskoi in 'Wandering, Begging Monks; Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity' by Daniel Caner starting on page 50. | There is a longer section on Boskoi in 'Wandering, Begging Monks; Spiritual Authority and the Promotion of Monasticism in Late Antiquity' by Daniel Caner starting on page 50. |
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| Such zealots for 'freedom from care' not only avoided artificial shelter and clothing, but rejected all ordinary labors by which human beings obtained their food. According to Sozomen this 'strict philosophy off the beaten track of mankind' had been introduced to Syria by a monk named Aones 'just as Anthony introduced it to Egypt.'Aones is otherwise unknown, but the ascetic lifestyle associated with him is familiar to what we have already seen of Bessarion and other wanderers in Egypt. In fact, testimony from the Western Mediterranean to Northern Mesopotamia shows that the lifestyle attributed to only a few Egyptian monks was one that many adopted wherever there was enough vegetation to survive. It especially came into vogue in Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Here monks could easily follow the footsteps of their Old Testament forebears (the patriarchs and the prophets) and imitate their nomadic patterns. Near Eastern hinterlands offered more possibilities for healthy sustenance than the Egypt desert did, nuts, asphodel roots and a juicy thistle (mannouthia) that grew on the desert fringe may even account for the reported longevity of many who took up the diet. In cultivated regions they could live by scavenging garden fruits and vegetables. They may have also picked tares off the ground or used their sickles to reap uncut corners of fields set aside for the poor to glean in accordance ancient charitable custom. Although one admirer in the fifth century expressed concern that some Boskoi were settling down and taking up agriculture, their ascetic lifestyle (as distinct from other forms of anachoresis) would long persist among Christian monks, both male and female. Late into the sixth century they could still be glimpsed roaming along the Dead Sea coast or forging in the Palestine desert naked 'like animals... nolonger human in the way they thought.' | Such zealots for 'freedom from care' not only avoided artificial shelter and clothing, but rejected all ordinary labors by which human beings obtained their food. According to Sozomen this 'strict philosophy off the beaten track of mankind' had been introduced to Syria by a monk named Aones 'just as Anthony introduced it to Egypt.'Aones is otherwise unknown, but the ascetic lifestyle associated with him is familiar to what we have already seen of Bessarion and other wanderers in Egypt. In fact, testimony from the Western Mediterranean to Northern Mesopotamia shows that the lifestyle attributed to only a few Egyptian monks was one that many adopted wherever there was enough vegetation to survive. It especially came into vogue in Syria, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Here monks could easily follow the footsteps of their Old Testament forebears (the patriarchs and the prophets) and imitate their nomadic patterns. Near Eastern hinterlands offered more possibilities for healthy sustenance than the Egypt desert did, nuts, asphodel roots and a juicy thistle (mannouthia) that grew on the desert fringe may even account for the reported longevity of many who took up the diet. In cultivated regions they could live by scavenging garden fruits and vegetables. They may have also picked tares off the ground or used their sickles to reap uncut corners of fields set aside for the poor to glean in accordance ancient charitable custom. Although one admirer in the fifth century expressed concern that some Boskoi were settling down and taking up agriculture, their ascetic lifestyle (as distinct from other forms of anachoresis) would long persist among Christian monks, both male and female. Late into the sixth century they could still be glimpsed roaming along the Dead Sea coast or forging in the Palestine desert naked 'like animals... nolonger human in the way they thought.' |
| | </blockquote> |
| | |
| | In Latin Boskoi is occasionally translated as 'Pabulatores'. From 'The Classic Journal' an essay on the regiments of Julius Ceasar: |
| | <blockquote> |
| | This [foraging] work was done sometimes by legionaries, sometimes by cavalrymen and the term pabulatores could be applied to both of them. ... Pompey's cavalry had the duty of foraging. |
| </blockquote> | </blockquote> |
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| Bishop Kallistos Ware on his [[http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@texts2/1980_kal-ware/02_hermits-east.htm#_ftn4|site]] mentions a few Boskoi near the Great Lavra monastery in Greece in the 60-ties: | Bishop Kallistos Ware on his [[http://ldysinger.stjohnsem.edu/@texts2/1980_kal-ware/02_hermits-east.htm#_ftn4|site]] mentions a few Boskoi near the Great Lavra monastery in Greece in the 60-ties: |
| <blockquote> | <blockquote> |
| There arc even solitaries on Athos today who follow the same way of life as the boskoi [browsers] in primitive monasticism—dwelling with the animals like Adam in Paradise, not building cells but remaining in caves or in the open air, wearing no clothing and eating no cooked food. Although I have not myself seen any such, I have spoken with monks who know about them. They are to be found chiefly near the tip of the peninsula, on the wooded slopes above the Great Lavra and Kerasia. For a description of one such monk, see J. Valentin, The.Monks of Mount Athos (London 1960), pp.36-38.</blockquote> | There are even solitaries on Athos today who follow the same way of life as the boskoi [browsers] in primitive monasticism—dwelling with the animals like Adam in Paradise, not building cells but remaining in caves or in the open air, wearing no clothing and eating no cooked food. Although I have not myself seen any such, I have spoken with monks who know about them. They are to be found chiefly near the tip of the peninsula, on the wooded slopes above the Great Lavra and Kerasia. For a description of one such monk, see J. Valentin, The Monks of Mount Athos (London 1960), pp.36-38.</blockquote> |
theunkarelse