The significance of staying in cell for a monk’s spiritual life in the teaching of Paul of Tamm and Stephen of Thebais

Abstract

This article contains an analysis of some aspects of the idea, that prevailed in early Egyptian monasticism, about spiritual significance one of the ascetic practices — the monk’s sitting in the cell. It’s known that the cell occupied an exclusive position in the life of Egyptian hermits: their prayer life, exploits, and mystical contemplations were associated with it. Cell was perceived not only as earthly housing, but also as a sacred place, a place of meeting and communication with God. This exclusive attitude to the cell was reflected in the monuments of monastic literature, in particular, in the works of the Paul of Tamma and Stephen of Thebes considered in the article. Analyzing their views, the author of the article seeks, firstly, to identify and reveal the key elements of the tradition of comprehension of sitting in the cell, and, secondly, to find in the views of the studied authors individual traits, those are unique to them, and show the reasons for their emergence.