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Harvard ivinity School
Anti-Black Sentiment in the "Vitae Patrum"Author(s): Philip MayersonSource: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 71, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1978), pp. 304-311Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity SchoolStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1509622 .
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8/11/2019 Anti-Black Sentiment in the ''Vitae Patrum''
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HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
ANTI-BLACK
SENTIMENT
IN THE VITAE
PA TRUM
As
more than
occasionally happens
in
research,
one comes
upon
material and ideas that are not related to the immediatefield of interest
but
are
so
striking
in
their
implications
that
they
have to be
pursued.
Upon looking
into the
various editions of the Vitae
Patrum,'
this
writer
has come
upon
expressions
of anti-black
(i.e.,
Ethiopian
or
"Indian")
sentiment
in
the
early
monastic communities
of
Egypt
(third
to fifth
centuries).
The evidence is not
one
of
highly
articulated
prejudice;
on the
other
hand,
it
is
neither
overly
subtle
nor subliminal.
Further,
the
evidence,
as I
see
it,
runs
contrary
to
the
conclusions
put
forward
by
Professor Frank M. Snowden, Jr., who maintains that the early
Christians
continued the Greco-Roman tradition
of
considering
no race
superior
or
inferior to the
other;
that "color was
inconsequential";
that
"they
regarded
as black all men who had
not
been illumined
by
God's
light
and considered all
men,
regardless
of color of
skin,
as
potentially
Christians."2
These
are
legitimate
conclusions derived
from the
exegetical
speculations
of
theologians-such
as
Origen,
Jerome,
and
Augustine-on
passages
from
the
Scriptures having
to do
with
Ethiopia
and
Ethiopians,
and of
course,
with the
passage
"I
am
black and
beautiful .. .." from the
Song
of Solomon
(1:15).
In
further
support
of
his thesis that black was viewed
as
beautiful,
Snowden cites from
the
Vitae Patrum
events
in
the life
of
Moses
the
Ethiopian,
a
brigand
turned
monk,
who
acquired
the
reputation
of
being
a
model of
Christian
virtue.3
A
closer
reading
of some of
the
episodes
in the
life of this
Desert Father will
show,
I
believe,
that he
was
abused and
subjected
to
discriminatory
treatment because
of the color
of
his skin.
On one
occasion Moses
openly
declares
himself to
be inferior
'For the
purpose
of
this article
I
use Vitae Patrum
as
a
generic
title that covers
the
following
works:
1.
Athanasius,
Vita S.
Antonii,
PG
26
2.
Apophthegmata
Patrum
(Alphabetical
Collection),
PG
65
3. Verba
Seniorum
(Systematic
Collection),
PL 73
4.
Palladius,
Historia
Lausiaca,
PG
34
5.
Palladius,
Historia
Lausiaca,
PL
73
6.
Rufinus,
Historia
Monachorum,
PL 21
7.
E.
A. Wallis
Budge,
trans.,
The
Paradise
or
Garden
of
the
Holy
Fathers
[The
Syriac
version of
'Anan
Tsh6o]
(2
vols.;
London:
Chatto
&
Windus,
1907).
Cited
hereafter as
"Budge" (contains
the
Syriac
versions
of
the
Life
of
St.
Antony
of
Athanasius,
the
Historia
Lausiaca of
Palladius,
the
Historia
Monachorum
attributed
here to St.
Jerome,
the
Verba
Seniorum,
and
the
Questions
and
Answers
of
the
Holy
Men).
2Blacks in
Antiquity:
Ethiopians
in the Greco-Roman
Experience
(Cambridge,
MA:
Harvard
University,
1970)
196-217;
330-39.
3Ibid.,
201,
209-11.
304
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NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
to his white
brothers
because
he is black. In the
Vitae Patrum these
episodes
are cited as
examples
of
the black monk's
humility
and
fortitude, qualities which earned for him a distinguished place in the
annals of the
Desert Fathers.
But these
incidents,
regardless
of
how
they
were
interpreted by
the
compilers
of
the
Vitae
Patrum,
are clear
evidence of anti-black sentiment.4
Abba Moses is
the sole black
among
the Desert Fathers about whom
we have
any biographical
information. The other blacks that are cited
in
the Vitae
Patrum
are
demons
or
devils.
These,
as
far as
I
know,
have
not
entered
into
any
discussion
regarding
the attitude
of
early
Christians
towards
Ethiopians
or
blacks. It is true that
in
imagery
"blackness"was
associated with the darker side of human nature. But as far as demons
go,
the
Desert
Fathers,
who encountered multitudes
of
them,
never
characterize
them
by
color or race with the
exception
of those
comparatively
few that
are
cited as
Ethiopian
or
black.
Specifically
citing
a
demon as black
or
as
an
Ethiopian
must
surely
indicate a
sentiment
among
some
unlettered
and
theologically
uninformed
monks
that black
was not
always
beautiful.
With
regard
to Abba
Moses,
the
evidence
for the
prejudicial
treatment he received at the hands of his fellow monks or clerics is
contained
in
four
incidents. Moses
is either
insulted,
treated with
contempt,
"tested,"
or
reviled;
he was
subjected
to
treatment
of a
kind
that was not
inflicted
upon
other
monks,
even those
of a
lesser
reputation
for
ascetical
good
works.
The
clearest
instance of
color
prejudice
occurs
on
an occasion
when
the Fathers were
gathered together,
and because certain
people
wished
to
see
Abba
Moses,
they
treated
him
with
contempt, saying,
"Why
does
this
Ethiopian
come and
go among
us?" When
Moses
heard this
he held
his
peace.
And when the
congregation
was
dismissed,
they
(the
certain
people?)
said to
him,
"Abba
Moses,
were
you
not
afraid?"And he said
to
them,
"Although
I
was
afraid,
I
did not
say
a
word."5
The above is
adapted
with
very
little
change
from
the
Syriac
version.
The Greek text of
the
same
incident
makes
no
mention of "certain
people wishing
to
see Abba
Moses,"
but that
"the
Fathers,
wishing
to
test
him,
treated
him as
an
object
of
contempt, saying,
'Why
does
this
Ethiopian
come into
our
midst?'
Later
when the
congregation
was
dismissed, they (the Fathers?) asked him, 'Abba, were you not in any
way upset?'
He
replied,
'I
was
upset,
but I
did not
speak."'"6
4See
below
(p.
128).
Cf.
Helen
Waddell,
The Desert
Fathers
(Ann Arbor,
MI:
University
of
Michigan, 1957)
59:
Moses,
"the
long
black man ... liable to
gibes
about
his
colour."
5Budge,
2.
14.
6PG
65,
col.
284;
PL
73,
cols. 970-71.
305
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HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL
REVIEW
A
similar,
if not the
same,
incident
is
reported
in the
Syriac
Vitae
Patrum
under
the rubric
of
"Questions
and Answers
on the
Ascetic
Rule." In this instance it is "certain men"who revile Abba Moses. The
purpose
in
recalling
the incident is to
interpret
the words of the
monk's
reply: "Although
I
was
troubled,
yet
I
said
nothing."
The
conclusion
that
is reached
is that
although
Moses
had demonstrated
spiritual
excellence
in
maintaining
silence
and in
not
showing
his
inner
anger,
he
had not
attained
the
perfect
state
of
impassibility
(apatheia?)
by
being
angry
neither
inwardly
nor
outwardly.7
Abba
Moses is
subjected
to two more "tests"
at
a
time
when
he was
an
old
man
and had become
a
member
of
the
clergy.
The two incidents
are
combined in the Syriac and Latin systematic collections to illustratethe
virtue
of
humility.
The
translation
of
the
Syriac
text
is as follows:
They
used to
say
that
when
Abba Moses was one of the
clergy
he wore a
long
outer
garment,
and
that the
Bishop
said
unto
him,
"Behold,
thou art
wholly
white,
O
Abba Moses." The
old man
said
unto
him,
"Is the
Pappa
within or without?"
And
again
wishing
to
try
him,
the
Bishop
said unto the
clergy,
"When Abba
Moses
goeth
into the
sacrarium
drive him
out,
and
go
after him
and hear what he saith."
Now
when he went
into the
sacrarium
they
rebuked
him
and drove
him
out,
saying,
"Get
outside,
O
Ethiopian";
and
having gone
forth he
began
to
say
to
himself,
"Theyhave treatedthee rightly,O thou whose skin is dark and black;thou shalt not
go
back
as
if
thou wert
a
[white]
man."8
The
Greek text
of the
alphabetical
collection does not differ
substantially
from the
Syriac
or
Latin
versions,
but the
impact
of
the
treatment
that Moses
receives
at
the
hands
of
the
Bishop
(or
Archbishop)
and
his fellow clerics can
be felt
more
strongly.
It
is
said
of
Abba
Moses that when
he became
a
member
of
the
clergy
and
had been
invested with the
ephod,
the
Archbishop
said to
him, "See,
Abba
Moses,
you
have
become entirely white." The old man said to him, "Outwardly,Lord and Father;
am I
also so
inwardly?"
Wishing
to
test
him,
the
Archbishop
said
to
the
clergy,
"Whenever Abba
Moses
comes into
the
sanctuary,
drive
him out
and
follow him so
that
you
may
hear what
he
says.
The old
man came in and
they
abused
him
and
drove him
out
saying,
"Get
out,
Ethiopian "
He
went out and said
to
himself,
"They
have
treated
you
properly,
you
soot-skinned
black Since
you're
not a
man,
why
should
you
come into
the
company
of men."9
Howevermuch
these
episodes
were viewed
in the
past
as
demonstrations
of
Abba
Moses's
humility, they
were
also deliberate
acts
of humiliation directedagainst the man because of the color of his skin.
7Budge,
2.
325-26.
8Ibid.,
2. 112. For
the Latin
version see PL
73,
cols. 959-60.
9PG
65,
col.
284;
PL
73,
col. 959. The
Syriac
version
and some
readings
n the Greek
Mss
have
"Bishop"
instead
of
"Archbishop."
Snowden
(p.
210)
cites
him
incorrectly
as
the
"archbishop
of
Alexandria."
306
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NOTES
AND
OBSERVATIONS
There
can be
no
question
but that
the use
of the word
"Ethiopian"
in
these
contexts
is
strongly deprecatory
and is
the
equivalent
of
the most
offensive word used against blacks in American society. The
demoralizing
effect that this treatment had
upon
Abba
Moses
understandably
results
in his
denigrating appraisal
of himself:
". .
.
you
soot-skinned
black
Since
you're
not a
man,
why
should
you
come into
the
company
of men." He
of
course means
"in the
company
of
white
men."
Further,
the remark made
by
the
Bishop, gratuitous
at
best,
that
Moses had
become
completely
white because
of
his
ephod
stirs
a hostile
reaction within
the black
monk.
His
rejoinder-if
it
is
accurately
reported-is
oblique yet
pointed;
he
says
in
effect:
"It seems
that
I
am
completely
white outside because of my ephod, but do you think that I
am
completely
white
inside as
well,
and
hence
in
every
respect
like
you?"'0
Whereas Abba Moses
is attacked
because
of the color
of his
skin,
black demons-or
even
the devil
himself
in the
form
of
a
black-attack
the monks as
they
strive to attain
spiritual
and
moral
perfection.
These
black
demons
appear
in the form
of a
woman,
a
man,
or
as
young
boys.
Four of the seven
instances cited
in
the Vitae
Patrum
represent
demons
of fornication or lust; the others represent arrogance or pride,
disobedience,
and
distracting thoughts.
The
brief narratives
that
follow
are so
explicit
in
characterizing
black
or
Ethiopian
spirits
as evil
that
they hardly require
further
commentary.
The
biography
of the earliest
of the
Desert
Fathers,
St.
Antony
the
Great,
provides
us
with the
example
of
the devil
assuming
the
appearance
of
a
black
boy.
It is the saint's
first
encounter
with
a
demon
of
any
kind. The
devil,
seeing
that he
was
unsuccessful
in
getting
the
youthful
Antony
to
surrender
to
temptation,
troubles
him with
maddening thoughts
of lust.
Through
prayerand divine help, Antony
maintains his
equilibrium
and
his
chastity.
The devil
then
appears
to
him
as a black
boy
and
speaks
to
him in a
human
voice.
Antony
asks
him
who he
is,
and the
black
boy replies,
"I
am the friend
of
fornication;
I
trap
and seduce
the
young,
and
I
am called
the
spirit
of fornication."
'?There
appears
to be some confusion
in
the translation
of Abba Moses's
oblique
retort
(4Apa
r&
ofW,
KVpt
6
&lHn-a,
j
KaL rTa
go).
The Greek
text,
PG
65,
col.
284,
makes
the
remark
exclamatory
when it
is
clearly interrogatory.
Cotelier's
translation
of
the
Greek is
also
misleading
(
Utique
exterius,
domnepapa,
utinam et
interius).
Snowden
(p.
201)
in his
translation
apparently
follows the Latin
of
Cotelier:
"Outwardly,
holy
Father,
would
that
I
were
inwardly
too." The Latin version
of
Pelagius
in the
Verba Seniorum
(PL
73,
col.
959)
is
closer to the
Greek: "Putas
aforis,
domne
papa,
aut deintus?"
A
recent
translation
of
the
Greek text
by
Benedicta Ward
(The
Sayings
of
the
Desert Fathers
[London:
Mowbrays,
1975]
117)
gives
a
completely
different
meaning
to
the remark:
"It
is
true of the
outside,
lord
and
father,
but what about
Him who
sees
the inside?"
I
find
nothing
in the
Greek
or Latin text to
support
this translation.
307
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HARVARD
THEOLOGICAL REVIEW
After
giving
an account of
his
powers,
he is assailed
by
Antony:
"You are
utterly
contemptible,
for
you
are
black-hearted and weak as a
child."
The
black
being, hearingthis,
fled and was henceforth
afraid of
coming
near
Antony.
1
Under the
rubric
of
fornication
in
the Latin
systematic
collection of
the
Verba
Seniorum,
the
story
is told of a man
who went into the
desert
of
Scete
to become a monk and
took
with him his
infant
son.
When
the
boy
became a
young
man
and
the
demons
began
to
wage
their war
against
him,
he told
his father that he
had to
go
into the
world because
he
could
not bear the
desire
of
lust that had
overwhelmed him. To
prevent
his
leaving,
the
young
man's father
urged
him
to
spend forty days
in
the
inner desert, taking with him forty days' worth of bread and work. The
young
man
obeyed
his father
and lived
a
life
of
seclusion and
hard
work
in
the remote desert.
Twenty days
passed
when,
suddenly,
he
saw the
work of
the devil
appear
before
him,
"and it
stood before
him
in the form
of
an
Ethiopian
woman,
smelly
and
disgusting
in
appearance,
so
much
so that he could not bear her smell. She
then said
to
him,
'In
the hearts
of
men
I
smell
sweet,
but because
of
your
obedience and
your
labor,
God
does not
permit
me to
lead
you astray,
but
I
have
let
you
know
my
smell.'"
When the
young
man
returned
to
his father
he said that he no
longer
wished to
go
into
the
world
for
he had seen the
work
of the
devil
and
had
smelled his
foul
odor.
The
young
man's father
replied
that
if
he
had
stayed
another
twenty days
deep
in the
desert,
he
would have
seen
a
greater
vision.12
Under the
same
rubric,
but
apparently
given
only
in
the
Syriac
version,
is the
story
of
a
man who
went
into
the desert to
become a
monk.
The man
was a
virgin
and did not
even
know
that
there
was such a
thing
as
whores in
the
world.
"And when
he
was
dwelling
in
his
cell,
the
devils began to stir up in him the passion of fornication; and lifting up
his
eyes
he saw
the devils
going
round about him
in
the form
of
Ethiopians
and
they
incited
him
to
yield
to
the
passion."
After a
brief
prayer,
a
stone fell from
the room
and the monk
heard,
as
it
were,
a
sweet
voice,
and he
enjoyed
a short
respite
from
his lustful
thoughts.
When
seeking
an
explanation
for
these
events,
the monk
was told
by
Abba
Poemen that
the stone
that he
had seen fall
was
the
Calumniator,
and that the
voice which
he
heard was
Lust.
Supplication
to
God,
he
was
'PG
26,
cols.
849-52;
Budge,
1.
10-11. The
Syriac
version has the
devil
assuming
the
appearance
of
an
"Indian
boy"
but
is later
described as
a
"black
being."
I
have
translated
Kal
yap
cEtXa9
erTv
vowv"for
you
are
black-hearted." A more
colloquial
translation
might
be "for
you
have
a
dirty
mind."
Budge's
translation
of the
Syriac
has "for thou art
black in
thy
nature."
'2PL
73,
col.
879;
Budge,
2. 131.
308
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NOTES
AND
OBSERVATIONS
told,
was the
way
in
which to
contend
with the devils
and to free himself
from
the war
of
fornication.13
The story is also told of a certain young monk who was sorely
disturbed
by
the demon
of lust. He
related
his
thoughts
to an
old
man
who himself was
free of those
thoughts.
The old
man,
upon hearing
the
young
monk's
confession,
was
very angry
and
said
that,
since he had
such
thoughts,
the brother was
a
wretch and
unworthy
of
wearing
the
habit
of a monk.
The
young
man,
taking
this
scolding very
much
to
heart,
left
his cell and
was
on
his
way
back
to the
world.
Abba
Apollo
met
the
troubled
brother
and
queried
him
about his sadness. After
being
told
of what
had
happened, Apollo
consoled
him
and
advised
him
to
returnto his cell.
Apollo
then went to the cell of the old man who had
caused
his fellow monk
to
despair,
and he
prayed
that the old man
might
learn
in his
old
age
what time had never
taught
him:
to
have
compassion
on those
who are disturbed
by temptations
of this sort. "When
his
prayer
was
finished,
he
saw
an
Ethiopian
standing
close to the cell
and
shooting
arrows at
the
old
man;
and
as if
pierced by
them,
the old man weaved to
and
fro
like
a man drunk with wine. And when
he
could bear it no
longer,
he left his
cell
and
took the same road to the world that the
young
man had taken."Abba Apollo met him and lectured him on the need to
comfort
those who
wage
war
with their
passions. Apollo
then
made
his
prayer
and
immediately
the old
man
was freed
from the
lustful
desires
that the
Ethiopian
had
brought
upon
him.14
As
an
object
lesson
in
obedience,
Abba Herakles tells the
story
of a
certain old
man who had
a
disciple
who
for
many
years
was
exceedingly
obedient.
When the
disciple
was
attacked
by
sinful
desires,
he
begged
the
old
man to make
him
a
monk. He
agreed
and the
disciple
built a
cell
for
himself
a short
distance
away
from his
abba. The
old
man then
gave
him
specific
instructionson how to
live,
and told him not to come out of his
cell until the Sabbath.
For
two
days
the
disciple
did as he was
told,
but
on
the third
day
he
became
depressed
and decided
against
instructions
to
sing
a
great
number of
psalms.
When he
went
to
lie down on his mat in
the
evening,
"he
saw an
Ethiopian
lying
there
and
gnashing
his
teeth at
him."
Terrified,
he ran back to
the
cell of
the old man
and
begged
to be
let
in.
Knowing
that his
disciple
had not
followed
instructions,
the
old
man
would
not admit him until the
following morning,
and then
only
out of compassion. The disciple burst in and said, "Father,I needyou I
saw
a
black
Ethiopian
on
my
mat
when
I
was
about to
go
to
bed." The
old man
told
him
that he
had had this
experience
because he had
not
been
obedient.15
'3Budge,
2.
130.
'4PL
73,
cols.
874-75.
'5PG
65,
col.
185;
Budge,
2.
54-55.
309
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NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
at
prayer.
Macarius then
perceived
that the
black demons
cause
all vain
and
needless
thoughts,
but
that
they
are
repelled
by
those who
guard
themselves against having these thoughts. Macariusalso observed that
when some
of the brothers
stretched out
their
hands
to receive the
sacraments
from
the
priest,
the
Ethiopian
demons
put
charcoal
in
their
hands,
but
that the
demons
fled
in
fear when
deserving
monks
held
out
their hands.'7
As a
postscript
to the above
notices
of the third to
the
fifth
centuries,
we see
that the black demon continued
to
disturb
the
psyches
of men in a
later
period.
It
is
reported
that
Petronas,
the
conqueror
of
the
Arabs
in
863,
fell
seriously
ill after
having
an
affair
with a
slave
girl.
After other
means
to
cure
him
failed,
he came to St.
Antony
the
Young
for
help.
He
confessed
that he had not behaved like a Christianand
that,
"an
angry
Ethiopian
with a
very
eager
look on
his face
came
up
to
me
at
night
[in
a
dream]
and
said,
'You
are mine '"
Antony
reassured him that he would
sleep
well
that
night.
After
certain
rituals
prescribed
by Antony
were
performed,
the black
man
no
longer
appeared
to
Petronas
and he
regained
his
health."'
PHILIP MAYERSON
New
York
University
New
York,
NY
'7PL
21,
cols.
453-55;
a
short redaction of this
account
is found in
PL
73,
cols.
765-66.
In the
latter,
nigros
is
found instead
of
tetros
("loathsome").
This narrative is
lacking
in
both
the Greek
and
Syriac
redactions.
'8F.
Halkin,
ed.,
"Saint Antoine le
Jeune
et
Petronas
le
vainquer
des Arabes en
863,"
AnBoll 62
(1944)
215-17.
311
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