This article analyzes instances of a particular form of scriptural quotation in early medieval Rules and Saints’ Lives, where the author presents the quotation as part of a conversation, spoken either to or by a monk or nun. These direct biblical quotations appear only in some Rules and Lives, and only in certain situations, such as in moments of heightened drama like prologues, conversion narratives or moments of death and Judgement, and in reference to important positions in the monastery. Over half of the direct biblical quotations in the Rules relate to perfection, and often suggest that the monk or nun is more able to directly interact with Scripture as they become more perfect and especially more humble. In the Lives, the saints hear or speak Scripture in ways that also maintain their humility and avoid claiming any special status through their quotations. The use of direct biblical quotations in the Rules and Lives therefore reflects the monastic goals of embodying Scripture and complete humility.
The twofold question of silence and conversation gave rise to two fundamentally opposite readings of the Benedictine Rule in Modern times, the reading of the Maurists and that of Rancé. In the light of the normative texts and of the commentaries of the Rule, this article attempts to characterize two kinds of relations with the world, which both meet in a very strained competitive monastic context. Two approaches also of the cenobitic life : one particularly penitential, the other more sociable, in the cloister and outside. However one point is common to both : quest for saving speech and its use, anchored in Biblical and patristic literature. Rancé does not allow conversation to his monks, but he himself as a superior keeps up a large correspondence with the religious and political world. In the same time, the Maurists conceive regulated conversation as a necessity of common life, on behalf of brotherly charity and in respect of obedience.
This article introduces the discovery of a manuscript of the full text of Rufinus of Aquileia’s Enchiridion. While the first part of this work composed in the early 400s is well known (the translation of the Sentences of Sextus), the second part mentioned by Rufinus in his preface was considered to be lost. The manuscript Praha, Archiv Prazského Hradu, Knihovna Metropolitní Kapituly, B XX (315) (s. XIV-XV) contains both parts of the work and shows that the second part corresponds to the translation of a Greek collection of philosophical maxims in alphabetical order known as the ‘Pythagorean sentences’, composed between the first and the third century. The Latin text is related to, but independent from, the two main Greek witnesses (Π and D). The article demonstrates the attribution to Rufinus, mainly through external criteria. It will be followed by an edition and analysis of the discovered text, currently in preparation.
