Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 45 No. 70, 2026.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22586/pp.v45i70.8x5bgv84
Typology of Monasticism as a Discursive Instrument: Jerome, Pastoral Power, and the Formation of the Ascetic Subject in His Epistula 22
Marko Marina
Petar Ušković Croata
orcid.org/0009-0002-5277-6946
Abstract
This paper analyses Jerome’s typology of monasticism in his Letter to Eustochium (Epistula 22) as a complex discursive instrument for shaping the ascetic subject in late antique Christianity. The study undertakes a historiographical shift away from the traditional, linear accounts of the origins of monasticism towards contemporary approaches that emphasize the plurality of monastic practices, the instability of ascetic identities, and the constructive role of texts in shaping religious life. Within this framework, monastic texts are not viewed as neutral descriptions of existing institutions, but rather as rhetorical and normative structures participating in the production of models of holiness, obedience, and authority. The methodological framework of the paper relies on Gabrielle Spiegel’s concept of the “social logic of the text” and on Foucault’s theory of pastoral power. Such an approach makes it possible to interpret Jerome’s classification of monastic forms not primarily as an empirical survey of Egyptian monasticism, but as a technology of guidance, supervision, and normativity. Pastoral power is understood here as a specific form of Christian governance operating through the care for salvation, the shaping of conscience, the disciplining of the body, and the production of desirable forms of subjectivity. Within this framework, the typology of monks becomes a means of distinguishing between legitimate and unacceptable ascetic practices.
The central part of the paper focuses on Jerome’s division of monks into the remnuoth, cenobites, and anchorites. The analysis demonstrates that this threefold structure did not function as a neutral description, but rather as a hierarchically organized normative scheme. The remnuoth are presented as deviant, undisciplined, and morally suspect forms of monasticism, marked by arbitrariness, economic disorder, outward affectation, and inappropriate closeness to women and clerics. In contrast, cenobitic life is portrayed as a model of order, obedience, silence, labour, and hierarchical organization. The eremitic ideal occupies the highest position on the ascetic scale, yet it is simultaneously rhetorically deferred, whereby Jerome redirects Eustochium’s attention towards the practically attainable form of disciplined asceticism.
The paper places particular emphasis on the Roman context in which the letter was written. Epistula 22 emerged within aristocratic and domestic ascetic circles, in which pious women, monks, clerics, and spiritual teachers interacted. Since these circles lacked a stable institutional centre, Jerome’s typology functions as an intervention into the fragmented ascetic landscape of late antique Rome. By invoking the authority of Egyptian monasticism, Jerome not only describes a distant monastic reality, but also shapes the criteria according to which Roman ascetic practices should be evaluated. In conclusion, the paper argues that Jerome’s typology of monasticism in his Letter to Eustochium is not merely a classification of ascetic groups, but an instrument of pastoral power. It constructs a hierarchy of holiness, delegitimizes undesirable forms of monastic life, directs the reader towards a normative model of spiritual existence, and reinforces Jerome’s own position as an authoritative interpreter of “correct” monasticism. Epistula 22 may therefore be understood as part of the broader process through which late antique ascetic practices gradually became institutionalized through discourse, normativity, and supervision.
Keywords
Jerome; Epistula 22; typology of monasticism; pastoral power; asceticism
Hrčak ID:
349438
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2026.
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