| The theological and historical issues surrounding Byzantine sanctity have never been thoroughly tied together by historians. However, the inner experience of theosis (union with God) and the external recognition of saints were in fact closely tied in the Byzantine mind. Once this is understood it becomes clear that saints' Lives, which have often been considered only as a part of a literary genre, were in fact a type of theological writing which fit into the larger history and practice of the Orthodox Church. Even when the Lives did not discuss theosis explicitly, it is clear that they assumed it.; Reading the tenth century Lives of Nikon ho Metanoeites and Mary the Younger of Bizye according to this model of theosis shows that Byzantine conceptions of sanctity were not static, but that different types of sanctity held sway at different times, or even at the same time. These Lives particularly reveal tensions among Byzantine Orthodox over the monasticization of religious life in the wake of Iconophile victory. It also becomes evident that Nikon's cult was the product of his monastery, while Mary's cult was promoted by her family. The resources of and ties between male monasteries in this period go a long way toward explaining why so many middle Byzantine saints were male monks.; Reading these saints' Lives as theological documents reveals that they are a type of practical theology, notable especially because the tenth century is lacking in formal theology. To the Byzantine mind, theology meant being granted contact with God and then communicating that to others. The Byzantines did not like to produce formal theology unless there was a compelling need to explain doctrine in order to prevent heresy. Therefore, once Iconoclasm had been rejected, most of the major Christological debates were solved and they were content to focus theological energies upon direct practice, as seen in activities such as hymnography, hagiography, and prayer itself. For them, theology was expressed in all of these activities, and all of these methods advanced the doctrine of theosis toward which every Orthodox Christian should aim. |
