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Book Review: History of Monasticism: The Eastern Tradition by John Binns

John Binns currently holds teaching and research roles at the Institute of Orthodox Christian Studies (IOCS) in Cambridge and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, respectively. His semi-retired status, however, hardly conveys the full extent of his experience. Having served as parish priest of Great St Mary’s the University Church Cambridge for over two decades, Binns has worked closely with academics in the university and has considerable ecumenical experience with Orthodox institutions in countries such as Serbia, Russia, Ethiopia, Israel/ Palestine, and Romania. Writing as an Anglican with his broad background in the Orthodox world, Binns is aptly situated to provide a balanced presentation of the subject in view. The work itself is rather ambitious as it seeks to conduct an overview of the entire eastern monastic tradition. While other works have focused on the theological, institutional, or cultural development of the tradition, this book stands apart in its attempt to address all these together. Binns states that he intends to aim for “clarity” rather than “consistency” regarding the spelling conventions of various monks (p. 5). This statement can be extended as a reasonable descriptor of the entire text insofar as Binns selects different elements to represent distinct streams within the complex phenomenon of eastern monasticism. This seems to be a prudent measure given the scope of the work, and this reviewer deems it to be successful on the whole. Readers are given a clear outline of the book’s structure, which is divided into five sections. In line with Binns’ varied approach, these sections differ significantly in length and focus. Part One reviews the foundational precursors that contributed to the birth of monasticism proper. Therein, the author lays out a remarkably lucid summary of ancient practices ranging from Christian and Jewish to Greek and even Buddhist traditions. Part Two deals with the actual practice of monasticism as it was developed, guided, and controlled by the newly Christian hierarchies of Byzantine church and state. This section sensibly selects the Ecumenical Councils as a chronological parameter and consequently engages key debates surrounding Christology and Iconoclasm vis-à-vis increasingly powerful monastic communities. It becomes apparent that monks themselves were thoroughly enmeshed in these debates, which renders futile any attempt to partition the monastic movement from the cultural and political struggles of the Byzantine Empire. A key feature of this section is the way that Binns considers distinct geographical regions in turn, exploring the Stoudite, Sabaite, and Laurite “styles” in the process. Thus, Egypt is handled apart from Syria and Asia Minor apart from the urban environs of Jerusalem and Constantinople. Part Three follows various developments in monasticism from the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” after Iconoclasm until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Binns traces expansion following all four points of the compass. The famous exploits of the Benedict(s) in the West and Cyril and Book Review