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Document Details :

Title: Child or Monk?
Subtitle: An Unpublished Story Attributed to John Moschos in MS Coislin 257
Author(s): PAPACONSTANTINOU, Arietta
Journal: Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists
Volume: 45    Date: 2008   
Pages: 171-184
DOI: 10.2143/BASP.45.0.3209358

Abstract :
This article presents an as yet unpublished edifying tale from the 11th-century manuscript Coislin 257 of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, which contains among other works a collection of stories from the Spiritual Meadow by John Moschos. To illustrate the monastic virtues of humility and obedience, the tale uses the motif of the separation between parents and their child, albeit in an unusual way, since contrary to most early monastic accounts, it is the child who finds the strength to break with its parents. The text also reflects the practice of transferring the legal authority over a child from the parents to the monastic community, which in the late sixth century was becoming widespread enough to be officially regulated.

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