Blue deserts : Jerome and the origins of insular monasticism in the Adriatic

Ciglenečki, Jan (author), Bobovnik, Nena (author)

This article focuses on Jerome as one of the first ,ideologists of the desert‘. To this end, it discusses his letters, Vitae, and his personal experience in the desert of Chalcis (c. 374–377 AD). Jerome is also an important historical source for the 4th-century insular eremitism in the Adriatic: in Ep. 60 to Heliodorus, he mentioned Dalmatia as one of the three archetypal deserts, equating it with Egypt and Mesopotamia. The article analyses Jerome’s extant references on anchoretic communities and ascetic monks residing in Dalmatia. A special place among them was given to Bonosus, Jerome’s close friend who around 374 AD moved to an unknown Northern Dalmatian island. Jerome depicted Bonosus’ ascetic life on an island as an ideal that surpasses even the established forms of eremitism in more traditional desert environments. Jerome’s propaganda for insulae Dalmatiae raises the question about their possible localization, which is shortly discussed in the concluding paragraphs.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Bonosus, insular eremitism, monasticism, asceticism, Dalmatia
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.01.2021
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: Str. 437-452
• Numbering: Letn. 81, [št.] 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-163923
• UDC: 27-36-1sv.Hieronim
• ISSN on article: 0006-5722
• DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/02/Ciglenecki
• COBISS.SI-ID: 87861251
• Publication date in RUL: 14.10.2024

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Bogoslovni vestnik : glasilo Teološke fakultete v Ljubljani
• Shortened title: Bogosl. vestn.
• Publisher: Teološka fakulteta
• ISSN: 0006-5722
• COBISS.SI-ID: 8745472

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Modre puščave : Hieronim in izvori otoškega meništva na Jadranu

Abstract

Članek se osredotoča na Hieronima kot enega prvih ,ideologov puščave‘. V tem oziru se obrača tako k Hieronimovim pismom in hagiografijam kakor tudi k njegovi osebni izkušnji v sirski puščavi Halkis (ok. 374–377). Hieronim je pomemben tudi kot zgodovinski vir za začetke otoškega puščavništva na Jadranu v 4. stoletju: v Ep. 60, naslovljeni na Heliodora, Hieronim omenja Dalmacijo kot eno izmed treh arhetipskih puščav in jo postavlja ob bok Egiptu in Mezopotamiji. V osrednjem delu članek analizira Hieronimova pričevanja o anahoretskih skupnostih in menihih na Jadranu. Posebno mesto med njimi zaseda Bonoz, Hieronimov bližnji prijatelj iz otroštva, ki se je okrog leta 372 preselil na neznan otok na področju severne Dalmacije. Bonozovo asketsko življenje na otoku Hieronim vzporeja z najbolj znamenitimi puščavniki tistega časa. Ob Hieronimovi propagandi za insulae Dalmatiae se zastavlja vprašanje o njihovi lokaciji, ki ga avtorja obravnavata v zadnjem delu članka.

• Keywords: Bonoz, otoško puščavništvo, meništvo, asketizem, Dalmacija