The Apophthegmata Patrum in the context of the occidental reformation of monastic life in 11th and 12th century France: Their transmission, interpretation and importance in Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable and in their environment

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The sayings and deeds of late-antiquity desert fathers were collected and transmitted under the name “Apophthegmata Patrum”. These fundamental testimonies of eastern eremitism and monasticism had an enormous impact on Christian asceticism and spirituality, and were circulated widely even in the medieval Occident. Eastern monasticism served as a model, especially in the context of the western reformation of monastic life during the 11th and 12th centuries. In that context, the Apophthegmata Patrum, that is, their Latin translation, the “Verba Seniorum”, played a major role which has been repeatedly emphasised in research, but has nevertheless not really been analysed thus far.Through an interdisciplinary approach the project will study the reception of the Verba Seniorum by concentrating on the centre of (today’s) France which was a major focus of the monastic reform movements, namely on the environment of Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, and of Peter the Venerable – of three monastic reformers who belong, each in their own special way, to the Benedictine tradition. The project combines the disciplines of theology/church history and medieval history and aims at three interconnected goals:1) Assemble the evidence of transmission of the Apophthegmata Patrum in the research field (Abelard, Bernard of Clairvaux, Peter the Venerable, and their environment): the presence of the Vitae Patrum in manuscripts and references in texts of those authors.2) Reconstruct the reception and interpretation of the Apophthegmata Patrum in that research field, starting from the texts that can be identified.3) Assess the importance of the Apophthegmata Patrum for those authors and their environment and the Apophthegmata’s general impact on the occidental reformation of monastic life in the 11th and 12th centuries and, beyond, on contemporary developments in society, church and theology (which are mirrored particularly in early scholastic literature) that can be deduced.The research results will be published in a monograph on the Verba Seniorum’s transmission, interpretation and importance in Bernard of Clairvaux and in Peter the Venerable as well as in complementary and summary research articles – the latter will also place special emphasis on the Apophthegmata’s reception in Abelard.