anti-black sentiment in the ''vitae patrum

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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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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








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








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








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








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








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








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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anti-black sentiment in the ''vitae patrum

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