Ascèse et liturgie dans l’Orient chrétien. Coutumes monastiques à l’enfermement d’un reclus

Abstract

Abstract This article focuses on the ancient Greek and Coptic euchologia containing a little-known monastic liturgical ritual used when a monk exchanged his coenobitic way of life for a solitary one. The oldest Greek manuscripts which preserve this ritual date back to the 10th century. In the Coptic environment, it is found in manuscripts from the 14th century. Nevertheless, long before these dates, Syriac literary sources mention an office for the blessing of the monastic cells, which contains several elements in common with the Greek and Coptic liturgical texts. As the ritual is no longer included in the modern euchologia, the article highlights the traces of the custom and the monastic reasons of this tacitly accepted forgetfulness.