Paper short abstract:

Egyptian hagiography abounds with private encounters of monastic heroes with angels and saints of the past. The paper investigates the fasting and scriptural recitation as formal prerequisites of such visits as presented in hagiographic literature from Egypt written in Greek and Coptic.

Paper long abstract:

The concept of a heavenly ascent and revelatory discourse with the divine constitutes the backbone of Jewish, early Christian and Gnostic apocalyptic narratives. In these texts, an initiator is always a supernatural agent, and a human protagonist remains passive and receptive. Egyptian monasticism was highly suspicious of personal revelations (since the Devil can easily take the shape of Christ) and literature containing revelatory narratives.

It does not mean monks did not crave personal contact with the supernatural world or did not produce stories about such meetings. Quite the contrary was true. Egyptian hagiography abounds with private encounters of monastic heroes with angels, saints of the past and even Christ.

Interestingly the mechanism of such meetings is different than in revelatory discourses. In these stories, the divine descends onto the earth, not the saint goes up to the heavens. Moreover, the visit of an angel or Old Testament prophet might be induced by the monk, who plays a much more active role than in traditional apocalyptic narratives.

The monks used at least two techniques to make superhuman agents descend and converse on equal terms. These two are (prolonged and strict) fasting and attentive recitation of the memorized Scriptures. My paper investigates these technical prerequisites of such visits as presented in hagiographic literature from Egypt written in Greek and Coptic. Even when imaginative, the accounts of visits from heaven represent the shared convictions about the ultimate effectiveness of fast and recitation that encouraged monks to steadfastness in ascetical exercises.