Workshop "The Paradox of Monastic Bishops. A Comparison between the Eastern and Western Churches in the Middle Ages", Dresden, 01.-02. April 2025

Workshop as part of the DFG project „Heilige Mönchsbischöfe. Zu Diskursen über die Vereinbarung von Mönchtum und Bischofsamt in Heiligenviten des 11.-13. Jahrhunderts“ / „Holy Monk-Bishops. Discourses on the Compatibility of Monasticism and Episcopacy in Hagiographic Vitae (11th-13th Centuries)“

The Paradox of Monastic Bishops. A Comparison between the Eastern and Western Churches in the Middle Ages

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.

You can find the programme here.