Monks had already been elevated to bishops since the 4th century; nevertheless, monk-bishops were judged controversially in medieval Latin Europe. On the one hand, they were idealised (such as St. Martin of Tours), but on the other hand they were also repeatedly criticised, as monasticism and the office of bishop were often seen as incompatible. Why should a monk who had dedicated his life to obedience, poverty and seclusion in the monastery return to the world to become a rich and powerful bishop? Was he not breaking his vows? How was it possible to reconcile these two very different ways of life and legitimise his becoming a bishop?

These questions arose all the more as the sources relevant to Latin canon law had stipulated since Late Antiquity that a monk-bishop should continue to live a monastic life. The monks, their monastic communities and later the religious orders were thus faced with the task of finding suitable models for reconciling the two ways of life that did justice to their original vows. The often sceptical attitude in the Latin West stands in an interesting contrast to the Eastern churches, in which the monastic bishop developed into the predominant ideal during the Middle Ages, so that it can be assumed that it was the non-monastic bishops who came under pressure to justify themselves.

The differences between Eastern and Western ideals and practices regarding the monk-bishop have hardly been researched to date, which is the starting point for the workshop. A comparison between different Eastern churches and these in turn with the Latin West has not yet been undertaken, nor has an investigation of mutual disputes and exchange processes with regard to monk-bishops. The workshop aims to offer initial approaches to closing this research gap and encourage further studies on the topic.

Programme :

Tuesday, 1 April 2025

9:00 Arrival at FOVOG

9:15–9:45 Daniela Bianca Hoffmann (Dresden): Welcome and introduction

I Monk-Bishops in the Latin Church – From the Early to the High Middle Ages
(Moderator: Nathalie Schmidt, Dresden)

9:45–10:30 Shigeto Kikuchi (Tokyo): Monk-Bishops in the Frankish Kingdom(s) under the Carolingians: Praxis and Perception
10:30–11:00 Break

11:00–11:45 Stephan Bruhn (London): A World Full of Monks? Early English Bishops between vita activa and vita contemplativa
11:45–12:30 Jesse Harrington (Dublin): The Problem of Monk-Bishops in Twelfth-Century Ireland
12:30–14:30 Joint lunch

II Monk-Bishops in the Latin Church – The High Medieval Empire
(Moderator: Victoria Smirnova, Dresden)

14:30–15:15 Matthias Weber (Bochum): Monastic Bishops in the Roman-German Empire – Career and Impact with Special Reference to the 11th Century
15:15–16:00 Johannes Luther (Zurich): ‘Because the Poverty of Men is Particularly Fruitful in this Region’. Monk-Bishops in the 12th Century Kingdom of Burgundy
16:00–16:30 Break

III Monk-Bishops in the Latin Church – The Religious Orders in the High and Late Middle Ages
(Moderator: Mirko Breitenstein, Dresden)

16:30–17:15 Daniela Bianca Hoffmann (Dresden): The Paradox of Carthusian and Cistercian Bishops. Models for the Combination of Monasticism and Episcopacy in Hagiographic Vitae (12th/13th Centuries)
17:15–18:00 Ralf Lützelschwab (Berlin): Controversial, but Necessary? Remarks on the Assumption of the Episcopal Office by Carmelites in the 13th and 14th Centuries

18:00–18:30 Final discussion: Latin monk-bishops

Joint dinner

Wednesday, 2 April 2025

IV Monk-Bishops in the Eastern Church – Byzantium, Russia, and Africa
(Moderator: Jörg Sonntag, Dresden)

9:00–9:45 Sebastian Kolditz (Berlin): Monastic Virtues and Episcopal Duties in Byzantine Lives of Holy Bishops (and Other Sources)

9:45–10:30 Victoria Smirnova (Dresden): The Elephant in the Room? Russian Orthodox Bishops and the Problem of Monastic Vows

10:30–11:00 Break

11:00–11:45 Dirk Jäckel (Bochum): From the Desert to the City: The Coptic Monastic Bishops

11:45–13:45 Joint lunch

V Monk-Bishops between East and West – Serbia and Southern Italy
(Moderator: Mirko Breitenstein, Dresden)

13:45–14:30 Boris Stojkovski (Novi Sad): Sava Nemanjić and his Successors. The Monastic Foundation of the Autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church

14:30–15:15 Meta Niederkorn (Vienna): Barlaam of Seminar[i]a (c.1290–1348). From Orthodox Monasticism to Catholic Bishopric (Euclid – Compotus – Filioque – Hesychasm)

15:15–15:45 Final discussion: Eastern monk-bishops and comparisons to the Latin ones

Afternoon and evening: Visit of Dresden and joint dinner

Informations pratiques :

Forschungsstelle für Vergleichende Ordensgeschichte (FOVOG), Budapester Straße 34b
Dresden

01.04.2025 – 02.04.2025

Source : H-Soz-Kult