“Men in Black”: Early Christian Monks in the Mirror of Pagan Criticism

Vedeshkin Mikhail A.

The article discusses the question of the objectivity of reports on the activities and lifestyle of early Christian monks in late Roman pagan literature (works of Julian the Apostate, Eunapius, Zosimus, Libanius et al.). Having analyzed and compared the testimonies of pagan and Christian authors, the author comes to the conclusion that most of the charges brought against monks by the pagans were trustworthy.

Keywords: Late Antiquity, Later Roman Empire, early Byzantium, monasticism, pagans
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