Extreme asceticism

Archaeologists recently found the remains of a 1,500-year-old monk, who was buried in a cist grave next to two small niche-like closed cells in the central apse of the church. Around the neck, hands and feet of the monk are a series of iron rings weighing tens of kilograms, which the researchers suggest are symbolic of living an ascetic lifestyle, wearing the chains to prove his devotion.

Monks that followed asceticism lived a lifestyle characterised by abstinence from sensual pleasures in the pursuit of salvation, redemption from sin, or spirituality.

More extreme asceticism included the practice of chaining the body to rocks or within a cell, praying seated on a pillar in the elements, solitary confinement, abandoning personal hygiene, or self -inflicted pain and voluntary suffering.

The monk found at Khirbat el-Masani likely lived in or near the church compound, placing himself in seclusion while chained inside a secluded closed cell. The practice originates in Syria in the 4th or 5th century AD, however, the discovery of the burial shows that this form of extreme asceticism spread as far south as the Jerusalem region during the Byzantine period.

Another example was previously discovered by archaeologists during excavations at Giv’at HaMatos near the Mar Elias Monastery, located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Archaeologists at the time found the burial of a man wearing iron chains around the upper body in a subterranean cave consisting of two cubicles.

BYZANTINE MONK CHAINED WITH IRON RINGS UNCOVERED

January 3, 2023

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Markus Milligan 

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Ascetism as a way of life for attaining salvation or redemption from sin for self and others was greatly emphasized in traditional Christianity. It involved fasting and abstinence from sensual pleasure. The earliest Christian hermits and ascetics lived mostly in the desert of Scetes in Roman Egypt. They migrated there from cities to escape the pagan persecution of Christians. They came to be known as the Desert Fathers.

In time, more extreme forms of ascetism developed in eastern Christianity, particularly in Syria around the fourth and fifth centuries AD, as recorded in historical sources. It included practices such as solitary confinement, chaining the body to a rock or inside a cell, subsisting only on grass, inflicting pain on one’s body, abandoning personal hygiene and voluntary suffering. There is archaeological evidence of the spread of these drastic practices of self-abnegation and self-punishment as far south at least as Jerusalem during Byzantine rule which lasted from 313 to 636 AD.

Christianity became widely practiced in ancient Israel during this time and churches were built in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Galilee. The territory was divided into three provinces: Palestina Prima, Palestina Secunda and Palestina Tertia, which were all part of the Diocese of the East.

Remains of a Byzantine-era Monk in Chains Excavated in West Bank, January 3, 2023 By Sahir Pandey, Ancient Origins