Priests, Confessors, and Flock in the Middle Byzantine Period (8^th-12^th c.): Social Regulation and Daily Life in the Mirror of Provincial Penitentials and Apocalyptic Sermons

This dissertation is a study of the role of the lower clergy, namely priests and confessors, and their relationships with churchgoers in provincial, predominantly rural communities in Byzantium between the eighth and twelfth centuries based on penitentials and apocalyptic sermons. I argue that using such mechanisms of social control as sermon and confession, the local clergy attempted to admonish the flock and regulate the believers’ individual and social behavior through rebuke and intimidation by threatening churchgoers with punishments in the afterlife and imposing earthly penances. A juxtaposition and analysis of two apocalyptic sermons, namely the Apocalypse of the Holy Mother of God and Apocalypse of Anastasia, with two confessors’ manuals shed light on several aspects of social relations, hierarchies, beliefs, everyday practices, and mentality of community members, as well as contribute to a better understanding of a two-sided regulation of behavior. Being in close contact with churchgoers, priests and confessors strove to build relationships with their flock based on reverence and mutual responsibilities, regulate the intimate life of community members, oversee their religious practices, and have an impact on their social relations and economic activities. The local clergy’s chief goal was to generate or alter perceptions that would contribute to a change of behavior and steer the social and individual conduct of community members into a way of life consistent with Orthodox Christian teaching and ethics. A comparison of norms presented in penitentials and sermons with concepts reflected in secular and ecclesiastical law reveals multiple similarities that point to the fact that many standards of behavior were universal and relevant to all Orthodox Byzantines. Yet, handbooks for confessors and apocalyptic sermons express a different view on various issues, especially regarding social justice and sexual mores. Such discrepancies reflect social tensions in Byzantine provinces and the local clergy’s ambition to educate the flock concerning certain matters differently from what the law dictated. By illuminating several facets of social relations and daily life in provincial communities with the help of previously neglected sources, this dissertation contributes to the study of the social history of Byzantine provinces and the countryside.