Philosopher-Monks, Episcopal Authority, and the Care of the Self: The Apophthegmata Patrum in Fifth-Century Palestine

Zachary B. Smith reads the Apophthegmata Patrum in the philosophical and political contexts of late antique Palestine. He explores how the compiler asserts monastic autonomy from ecclesiastics by incorporating classical and late antique philosophical categories, and by selectively presenting problematic interactions between monks and ecclesiastics.