♥♥♥Life of St. Thekla♥♥♥

The Life of St. Thekla, (also spelled Thecla) a disciple and companion of the Apostle Paul in 1st century. She is given the title "Equal-to-the-Apostles" because she accompanied St. Paul in founding churches because her witness converted so many others to Christ, and she was the first woman martyr for the Christian Faith.

Life of
SAINT THEKLA

According to ancient Syrian and Greek manuscripts, Saint Thekla was born into a prosperous pagan family in the Lycaonian city of Iconium (present-day Konya in south-central Turkey) in A.D. 16. When she was 18 years old and betrothed to a young man named Thamyris, Saint Paul the Apostle and Saint Barnabas arrived in Iconium from Antioch (Acts 14). Thekla’s mother Theokleia prohibited her from joining the crowds which gathered to hear Paul preach. But Thekla found that if she sat near her bedroom window she could hear his every word. Thekla sat there for three days and three nights listening to Paul preach the word of God. She was parti­cularly touched by his call to chastity. As it became apparent that Thekla was becoming interested in the new Faith, Theokleia and Thamyris went to the governor of the city and complained about Paul and his preaching. To pacify them and the other outraged citizens of Iconium, the governor had Paul imprisoned to await trial.
When Thekla learned of Paul’s arrest she secretly went to the prison, and using her golden bracelets to bribe the guard, gained admittance to his cell. When she saw the Apostle she knelt before him and kissed the chains which bound his hands and feet. She remained there a long time listening to his message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Being concerned at Thekla’s prolonged absence, Theokleia and Thamy­ris asked her servant if she knew where she was. The servant said that Thekla had gone to visit an imprisoned stranger. Theokleia and Thamyris knew at once that she was with Paul. They decided to go again to the governor, this time demanding immediate judgement for the Apostle. After the governor chastened Paul for the disturbances he had caused in the city, he had him stoned and expelled from Iconium. The governor then admon­ished Thekla for her foolishness and commanded her to return home with her mother and fiancé. When Thekla announced that she had vowed to remain a virgin for the sake of Christ, her mother became enraged and asked the governor to threaten Thekla with severe punishment. The gov­ernor complied with this wish and ruled that Thekla was to be burned at the stake unless she renounced her faith in Christ.
When Thekla refused to renounce her Heavenly Bridegroom, she was taken to the arena for punishment. As she was tied to the stake she saw a vision of Jesus Christ which gave her strength to face the flames. The fire was lit, but as the flames came near Thekla a thunderstorm suddenly arose and a great torrent of rain and hail came down from heaven and extinguished the flames. Embarrassed because his plan had failed, the angry governor released Thekla but commanded that she must leave Iconium at once.
Upon her release, Thekla went to the outskirts of the city where she rejoined Paul. She told him of her trial and miraculous escape from punish­ment and asked for baptism. Paul refused to baptize Thekla, saying that this would be accomplished in God’s own way and time. Paul and Thekla then departed from the region of Iconium and traveled to Antioch in Syria. As they were entering the city a young nobleman named Alexander saw Thekla. Being entranced by her beauty he rushed forward and tried to seduce her, but Thekla fought him off, thus disgracing him in front of his crowd of friends. Alexander went to the governor of Antioch and complained that this wandering girl had disgraced him, a nobleman, in public. He demanded that she be punished with death. The governor complied and ruled that Thekla would face the wild beasts in the arena. Thekla’s only reply was that she be allowed to preserve her virginity unto death. Her wish was granted and she was given into the care of the noblewoman Tryphaena, a relative of Caesar, until the time of punishment.
When Thekla was taken to the arena, a lioness was set free to attack her. But to the astonishment of the crowd, the lioness approached the Saint and sat tamely at her feet. A bear was then released, but as it came close to Thekla the lioness rose up to defend her and killed the bear. A large lion was then released. The lioness again came to Thekla’s defense killing the lion, but losing her own life also. Then all the cages were opened and a large number of wild animals charged at the defenseless Thekla. After crossing herself and praying for courage, the Saint noticed a large tank of water which was nearby, containing the aquatic animals. She climbed into the water, asking that she might be baptized by Christ as she did so. Seeing that the beasts were unable to harm Thekla, Alexander asked that the Saint be given over to him for punishment. He tied her to two large bulls in the hopes that they would pull her asunder. But when the bulls charged off in opposite directions, the ropes which held Thekla to them were miracu­lously loosened and she was spared. Seeing that no harm could be done to Thekla, the authorities released her. She went to the home of Tryphaena where she remained for eight days preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ and converting Tryphaena and her entire household. When she departed from Antioch, Tryphaena gave her a treasure in gold and precious jewels.
After she left Antioch, Thekla journeyed to Myra where she rejoined Paul. She informed him of all that had occurred, including her baptism and asked that she might be permitted to spend the remainder of her life as an ascetic. Paul gave her his blessing and she departed, leaving with Paul all the gold and jewels that Tryphaena had given her so that he might distribute them among the poor and needy.
Thekla then traveled again to Syria where she went up into the moun­tains for a life of prayer and solitude. Many years later a young pagan found her praying in an isolated canyon and resolved to harass her and spoil her virginity. As he approached her and blocked her only exit to safety, she prayed that her Bridegroom would protect her as He had so many times in the past. At that moment the canyon wall was miraculously split allowing her to escape through a narrow crack in the rock.
Saint Thekla continued her life of asceticism and then peacefully fell asleep in Christ at the age of 90. Shortly after her death a community of virgins went to live in her mountain cell, building a small chapel to en­shrine her body. This Convent of Saint Thekla still exists today near the village of Ma‘loula, Syria.
Because of her many sufferings for the Faith the Church counts her as a “Protomartyr”. And because she converted so many people to Christ­ianity she is also know as an “Equal-to-the-Apostles”.
Holy Saint Thekla, pray unto God for us!

O Glorious Thekla, companion of Paul the divine, thou wast inflamed with the love of thy Creator. By the teaching of the divine Preacher thou didst despise the passing earthly pleasures and offered thyself to God as an acceptable and pleasing sacrifice, disregarding all suffering. Intercede with Christ, thy Bridegroom, to grant us his great mercy.

Commemorated on September 24
Troparion (Tone 4) –

You were enlightened by the words of Paul, O Bride of God, Thekla,
And your faith was confirmed by Peter, O Chosen One of God.
You became the first sufferer and martyr among women,
By entering into the flames as into a place of gladness.
For when you accepted the Cross of Christ,
The demonic powers were frightened away.
O all-praised One, intercede before Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion (Tone 8) -

O glorious Thekla, virginity was your splendor,
The crown of martyrdom your adornment and the faith you trust!
You turned a burning fire into refreshing dew,
And with your prayers appeased pagan fury, O First Woman Martyr!

Origins of the Western Monasticism

George   Valsamis
Origins of the Western Monasticism in the 4th and 5th c. A.D.




THE ISSUE of the origins of organised monasticism has caused much talk. In St. John Cassian’s 18th Collatio abbot Piamoun uses the exemplar of the first apostolic community in Jerusalem (a common connection in ascetic writings), saying that even bishops (ecclesiae principes) ignored that model, by taking advantage of the leniency of the apostles towards the nations, they abolished the principle of poverty. Those who wished to keep a strict Christian life, left the cities in the course of time, they separated themselves from the lukewarm multitude of Christians. They did not get married and they did not keep any contact with their relatives in the world. This is how coenobitic monasticism was founded. For the austerity of their life and the abandonment of the world they were called μοναχοί (monachoi) and μονάζοντες (monazontes), while for their common life with each other they were called κοινοβιάτες (coenobiates). (1)

Abbot Piamoun’s explanation differs from the one in Cassian’s second book of the Instituta, in that it seems to impute the supposed decline of the Christian spirit to the Apostles’ policy towards the nations. Besides this, in the second book of the Instituta ascetic life, as it was developed later, in the patristic period, is considered superior even to the exemplary community of Jerusalem. (2)

Cassian’s theory resembles certain modern views, according to which the founding of monasticism should be ascribed to the increasing secularisation of the Church when persecutions ended. Yet, in Cassian’s explanation, monastic is the Christian life at its height, and as such it would be impossible to appear suddenly three centuries after the Christian message appeared, and as a phenomenon of a negative course, at that. In Cassian too, the appearance of monasticism has in part a negative character, yet this is secondary; primarily and positively it is founded on the life of the ancient Church. The case of Eusebius of Caesaria is even more characteristic. He didn’t see anything strange in the appearance of a Christian coenobium in the 1st c. A.D., when he was describing as such the jewish community of the ‘therapists’, mentioned by Philo. Most likely Eusebius was not trying to establish a connection between monasticism of his times and the older history of the Church, because when he was commenting on Philo’s testimony, the coenobitic structure of Pachomius did not exist.


IT IS known that from Paul’s time already, there was an oath of virgins and widows, which, in the third century (at least), was being given before a bishop. (3) The emphasis of the Fathers on continence and virginity is also known. Jerome too, in his famous ascetic epistle 22 to the virgin Eustochium, stresses the importance of Tertullian, Cyprian, Damasus and Ambrosius to the development of monasticism, concentrating, obviously, in the western tradition. In the epistle of St. Ignatius Theophorus to Polycarp, we find traces of the formation of a distinct monastic class inside the Christian Church, and, moreover, we see that those who had chosen the way of celibacy, considered themselves offen superior to the bishop.(4) St. Irenaeus describes the apostles as ascetics, who abandoned all worldy relationships for the Word of God. Irenaeus conjoins the priestly, the apostolic and the ascetic attributes.(5) And we should also take into account the significance of the Martyrs in the formation of Christian monasticism. In St. Ignatius’ Epistle to the Romans, death is seen as a way of freedom pointing to Christ.(6) We find in Irenaeus, as an essential characteristic of a Christian, studying to die (μελετᾶν ἀποθνήσκειν).(7) In the times of Ignatius already, and according to the exemplar of the discussion between Christ and the youth who searched for perfection, monasticism was a choice, it had to be by all means voluntary.(8) When Christians were still being slaughtered by the governing power, it would be rather difficult to have devotion and the making of institutions out of such a devotion to the war against invisible demons. It was a time of patience in faith and in the confession before visible demons, and yet, already in Origen there is the distinction between seeable (ἐν φανερῷ) and secret (ἐν κρυπτῷ) martyrdom.(9)

In the Epistle 127 (about Marcella), Jerome’ note about how important was for the formation of western monasticism, the sojourns of Easterners to the West and of Westerners to the East due to the arian conflicts, presupposes an already existing western ascetical tradition, independent from the eastern one, at that.

In the first Christian centuries ascesis in both East and West was being practised by a Christian individually, in personal virginity, prayer, charity and fast, without going away from one’s city or even family. (10) At about the middle of the 3rd c., it was common for such a person to withdraw a little out of the boundaries of the city or village. St. Anthony the Great, according to the Life of St. Athanasius the Great, went through both those steps.(11) It seems that in the West ascesis continued in such a way for a little longer than in some areas of the East. Yet even in the East, if we recall e.g. Pontus, private ascesis was not a rare phenomenon. St. Basil the Great, although having visited Egypt, chose by himself the place of his ascesis, he did not entered a coenobium, he longed for the company of his friend Gregory the Theologian, he composed himself his ascetical plan.


IN THE BEGINNING of the 4th c. in Rome, a youth of aristocratic descent was depreciated to a great extent by becoming a monk, so that this had to be done as secretly as possible. (12) After the information St. Athanasius gave about Anthony and Pachomius, the monks, which until then were being despised by aristocracy, gained strength and courage. When Athanasius was writing the Life of St. Anthony, about thirty years after the founding of the first coenobium by Pachomius, there had also started to appear in the West the first monasteries,(13) and from Rome they extended to all Italy.(14) Pope Sixtus the 3rd founded a monastery for men in St. Sebastian, ad catacumbas. The monastery of St. Agnes in Rome was founded at about the middle of the 4th c.(15) We also know about two monasteries for women, one in Bologna and another in Verona.(16) Eusebius of Vercelli contributed significantly by applying actively the theoretical connection St. Irenaeus had made between priesthood and ascesis. Eusebius gathered with him clerics to live ascetically, “ut esset in ipsis viris contemptus rerum et accuratio levitarum”.(17) Eusebius was in exile in Scythopolis of Palestine and in Thebais of Egypt from 355 to 362, where he gained familiarity with Eastern ascesis. He slept in 370.(18) The attitude of Eusebius of Vercelli is to be found also in St. Ambrose.(19) He gave his property to the poor, he fasted and prayed in vigils. Ambrose was supporting a monastery for men in the gates of Milan and he showed a special interest in encouraging monasticism among women. He had such a great effect, that he was accused of decreasing the population of the empire!(20) Jerome believed that Ambrose spoke about virginity better that any of the previous Fathers.(21)

Another western bishop who combined the life of the ascetic with that of the priest was Paulinus. His descent was from an aristocratic family of Aquitaine and he was governor of Campania. At about 409 he was elected bishop of Nola in Italy. (22) He called himself a monachus and his residence a monasterium.(23) Paulinus stressed the importance of poverty.

Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, stayed in the East from 356 to 360. (24) What is of interest here to us, is that Hilary was very much appreciated and known as a teacher and protector of St. Martin, the first great ascetic of the West and bishop of Tour. Martin was born in Pannonia but from an early age he left in Italy. According to his old biographer Sulpicius Severus, Martin was 10 years old when he entered voluntarily the class of catechumens, and at about 327, 12 years old, he wanted to follow the eremitical life, but an imperial edict forced him to serve in the Roman army. He was baptised at about 337. After two years roughly, Martin sought after Hilary’s help and he settled in Poitiers. Hilary tried to ordain him a deacon, but Martin refused and he agreed at last to receive only the office of the exorcist. After a while he left to Illyricum to work in a mission. His mother became a Christian but his compatriots drove him away. He went to a cell in Milan, where he faced the enmity of the arian bishop Auxentius, so that he withdrew as an hermit in Gallinaria island. About 360, when Hilary returned from exile, Martin went again to Galatia. He was living ascetically in the suburbs of Poitiers, in Ligugé, and soon many disciples gathered around him. In 371 Martin was ordained bishop of Tour under the pressure of the people, who admired him for his faith and the miracles that he did. Yet, even as a bishop he went on living ascetically, he kept his humble spirit and he was still wearing the same humble clothes, according to his biographer.(25) Oftentimes he withdrew in a cell near the church, yet many disciples visited him and he was forced to found a new hermitage in Marmoutier, about two miles away from Tour. About eighty disciples gathered together with him, living in individual cells too. That system resembled the Eastern Lavra. All property was held in common and no commercial action was allowed. They did not exercise any craft except for copying manuscripts, which was assigned to the younger ones, while the elders were devoted exclusively to prayer. Just as was the case with monks in Egypt, no one left his cell, save only for the common prayer, but they ate together, in conformity with the coenobitic exemplar. Later on this community offered many bishops. Martin became very active in mission, mainly in the open country where paganism was still strong. He destroyed pagan temples and in their place he built churches and monasteries.(26) According to Hamman, the influence that the Life of St. Martin exercised can be compared with that of the Life of St. Anthony, and it became the exemplar of medieval hagiographical texts.(27) Martin became also known in the East. Sozomen already refers to him using the Life, while a translation of it in Greek is considered probable, upon which the Greek Life of St. Martin must have been based, a text of the 8th or 9th c. A.D.(28)

St. Athanasius’ and St. Martin’s activity made the ascetics more popular to the aristocratic classes of the West. There begin now systematic visits of the Westerners to the Eastern ascetic loci and as the fourth century was reaching to its end, two Western monasteries were founded in Jerusalem, the one for men and the other for women. According to Jerome, “there exist now learned, powerful and noble people not only among Christians, but mainly among monks”. (29) Petronius came from the famous family of Anicii, with roots in the days of the old Roman democracy, being son of Anicius Petronius Prompus, eparch of the praetorium. He was an ascetic before he was elected bishop of Bologna. From the same family came also St. Benedict and Gregory the Great.(30) There were noblemen among the disciples of St. Martin, Jerome addresses many epistles with spiritual directions to noble widows and virgins who followed the ascetic life. His compatriots Bonosos, Rufin and Chromatius belonged to the circle of Jerome, too. Chromatius presided in a monastery for men in Aquileia. Rufin also belonged to the same ascetical circle in Aquileia, from 368 to 373, when he left to the East.(31)

In 373 Jerome follows Evagrius of Antioch to the East. He was an ascetic for about two years (375-7) in the desert of Chalce, northwest of Antioch, (32) and then he was ordained presbyter.(33) In about 382, returning to Rome, Jerome instructs Marcella to convert her house into a coenobium. Together with Paula in the summer of 385 Jerome returns to the East, where he visits the Holy Lands, then Egypt and finally he settles in Bethlehem. With the financial support of Paula there were founded then the two western monasteries where she and Jerome stayed to the end of their life.(34)

At about 370 the Life of St. Anthony is translated for the second time in Latin by Evagrius of Antioch, the same Evagrius who had lived for many years in Italy and attracted Jerome to the East. Already in his first ascetical period (375-7) Jerome writes the Life of Paul, the supposed first anchorite. The Life of Hilarion, spiritual father of Epiphanius of Salamis, is written between 386-390. (35) At about 390 Jerome writes the Life of Malchus. The three Lives Jerome wrote, as well as his epistle to Eustochium, were translated in Greek already while Jerome lived.(36) After Paula died, in 404, Jerome translates into Latin the Rule of Pachomius, epistles and other texts of the Pachomian circle.(37) Eustochius, daughter of Paula, slept in 419. Jerome in 420. He had asked to be buried beside the two ascetical women.

Rufin stayed in Egypt from 373 to 380 and then he settled at the Mount of Olives until 397, near Melany the elder, a Roman of noble origin who had lost her husband when she was 22 years old. Melany had visited also Nitria and she had met with Rufin there for the first time. (38) Rufin returned to Rome in 397 and in Aquileia in 399. At about 403 he translated chapters of Evagrius of Pontus’ works To the monks and To a virgin, and besides these, the History of the monks in Egypt. Yet before these, and before his devotion to translations of Origen, Rufin offered to the western monasticism the Rules of St. Basil the Great (397).

The text that he used saved an early version of Basil’s work, which contained almost half of the rules now included in the vulgata (203 of 368). It was previously believed that Rufin modified Basil’s work, but Gribomont’s research, comparing the so called small-asceticon with a similar Syrian translation, showed that Rufin’s edition saves the Rules in the form they had before Basil became a bishop. (39) St. Benedict knew St. Basil’s Rules in Rufin’s version.

Melany the younger, grand daughter of Rufin’s friend, and her husband Pinian founded in Tagaste, where Augustine was born, two monasteries, the one with 80 men and the other with 130 women. Melany copied manuscripts with a marked dexterity and speed – as Augustine writes. (40) Her husband became a gardener. They ended in Jerusalem where they separated. In Lausiac history we read that Pinian entered a community of thirty ascetics and went on being a gardener.(41) Melany, who still was below thirty, stayed for 14 years in a cell in the Mount of Olives, and then he built a church and a coenobium with 90 women.(42) The Greek Life of Melany is considered older than the Latin one.(43)

Augustine was baptised by St. Ambrose in 387. In the summer of 388 he went to Tagaste, where he gave his property to the poor and he withdrew with his friends and son in the estate he had from his father. There they devoted themselves to ascetic life. (44)

The way of life of Augustine at that time resembles that of the common exercise of Basil and Gregory in Pontus. It was then that Augustine wrote De vera religione, where he distinguishes between otium desidiae and otium cogitationis, that is, between spiritual calmness and inactivity, and also De moribus ecclesiae Catholicae et de moribus Manichaeorum. De vera religione was translated in Greek by Prochorus Kydonis. (45) In 391 Augustine was ordained presbyter under the pressure of the people and also urged by Valerius of Hippo. With the financial support of the later he founded a second coenobium.(46) After the return to Tagaste and before he became a bishop, Augustine wrote De diversis quaestionibus octoginta tribus, a work with answers to issues raised by ascetics. In 396 he was ordained bishop of Hippo and he was to remain in this office for the next 34 years, until he slept in 430. At about 397 he wrote his ascetical Rule, although himself did not use this term for any of his ascetical texts.(47) The so called Rule of St. Augustine is the older western rule and, as Lawless notes, it is not only a lifeless text of late antiquity, but it inspires every day more than 150 Christian communities today.(48)

As a bishop Augustine continued to live ascetically and he also ordered his clergy to sell their property and give the money to the poor or to the Church. The bishop’s residence-and-coenobium in which he presided, became a school of bishops and abbots. This was also the case with Eusebius Vercelli and Ambrose, as we have seen, but Augustine was more aware, as is obvious even by the expression monasterium clericorum, which is to be found in one of his late works. (49) The support of monasticism by Fathers as Ambrose or Augustine is even more significant, if we think of the mistrust, if not enmity, of the clergy at large against monasticism, because of the heretical austere trends of the priscillianists.(50)

As a bishop Augustine will found also a monastery for women, the first in north Africa, in which his sister presided. After her death, due to conflicts that happened between the ascetics, Augustine wrote the famous ascetical epistle 211. In the time of Augustine there were founded two monasteries for men, the one under presbyter Leporius and the other under presbyter Eleusinus. (51)

As Basil did, Augustine wanted to connect the unity of soul with poverty, the two elements that characterised the apostolic community in Jerusalem, and this he wanted for the whole Church and not only in the ascetic communities. (52) Yet, while the ascetic writings of Basil’s condemn explicitly and absolutely anchoritic monasticism, Augustine, in spite of the orientation of his thinking towards community life, apologises by answering to certain accusations against anchoritic asceticism. For example, to the assertion, which Basil also made, that anchoritic life is fruitless, Augustine answers that anchorites help us by means of their prayers and their exemplary life.(53) By this remark, Augustine defends the anchoritic exemplar, and yet it wouldn’t be wrong for one to say that in the same time he restrains its position in the Church – contrary to Athanasius, for example. St. Anthony’s Life by Athanasius presents, besides all else, the anchorite as a defender of Orthodoxy, he recognises in him a prophetic and apostolic role. Did Athanasius gave attributes non-existing in Anthony’s life, or, perhaps, anchoritism rejected these elements in order to achieve the greater possible commitment to theory (contemplation)? It’s a fact, that the attitude of anchoritism in Egypt tended to the command, “avoid the bishop as you avoid women”.(54) Even talk about demons, intense in Anthony’s Life, decreases. It is characteristic that the expression “discernment of spirits” (διάκρισις πνευμάτων), since already the 5th c. is being replaced in the ascetic writings by mere discernment (διάκρισις), which regards all matters of ascetic life.(55) The direction that the West, and the East too, was going to follow, is seen in the prevalence of the coenobitic exemplar, its close relationship with the whole life of the Church and even in the (de facto, but also synodically expressed) devaluation of anchoritism.


In the beginnings of the 5th c., the island of Lérins, north of Corsica, near the gulf of Provingia, was empty and, as St. Hilary of Arles writes, inaccessible due to the presence of many snakes. (56) Another young man of noble origin, St. Honoratus, followed the ascetic life and in between 400 and 410, the year Rome fell to the barbarians, came to Lérins with some disciples of his. There were soon more of them gathered around him, especially from Gall, but even from Britain.(57) According to his biographer, Honoratus’ coenobium stressed hospitality and all forms of charity.(58)

It has been wrongly assumed that Lerin’s coenobium followed the Rule of St. Basil, yet there is indeed a kinship between the ascetical teaching of St. Basil and the life in Honoratus’ community, (59) not a great kinship, if we think that in the later there was a combination of coenobitic and anchoritic ascesis, in a central coenobium and nearby cells.(60) Research tends to the view that in Honoratus’ coenobium there was written and applied the so-called Rule of the Four Fathers, and later on the Second Rule of the Fathers.(61) Near the end of 426 Honoratus became bishop of Arles and served in this office for two years until he slept in 429. Lérins’ coenobium gave to the Church many saints, hierarchs and writers. Besides St. Honoratus, the name of whom is the name of the island today, we can also recall Hilary – disciple and biographer of Honoratus who succeeded him in the seat of Arles – St. Caesarius of Arles, St. Eucherius bishop of Lyon and writer of two ascetical works, Salvianus, Vincent of Lérins, etc. St. Patrick, the apostle of Irland, and St. John Cassian, lived for a while in the coenobium of Lérins.(62)


ST. JOHN CASSIAN became first an ascetic in Bethlehem. He was there in about 380, and he stayed till 382. Then he continued his ascesis in Egypt. He was ordained deacon without wanting it (63) by Chrysostom in about 400, and he left Constantinople in 404 or 405, carrying to Rome an epistle of the clergy of the Capital for the exiled Chrysostom.(64) In about 415, already a presbyter,(65) Cassian founded in Marseilles two monasteries, one for men (under the protection of saints Peter and Victor, and the other for women (under the protection St. Soter).(66) That was a period when Provingia had just been free from attacks by Visigoths, attacks, however, that people had not forgotten and in which ascetics suffered too. Matters of theodicy prevailed under such circumstances,(67) yet not so much with the intention for God’s will to be approached, as for monasticism to be condemned. Under fierce political conditions and into an environment full of suspicion against monasticism, Cassian offered Gall for the first time a theory of monasticism.(68)

Cassian didn’t begin to write when he founded the two monasteries in Marseilles. It was about 420 when Castor, the bishop of Apte, asked him to help in organising the coenobium which he was going to found in his bishopric. (69) Cassian corresponded by writing 12 books De institutis coenobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis. It is obvious that the four books of the Instituta (70) are distinguished from the rest eight books (on the principal sins),(71) as also Cassian himself says: “Nam post quattuor libellos, qui super institutis monasteriorum digesti sunt, nunc arripere conluctationem adversus octo principalia vitia”.(72) Those four books exercised major influence in the old western ascetic Rules, and probably in the 7th c. in Spain they were arranged to form a text known as Cassian’s Rule.(73) Their influence in the East was significant too. Instituta were translated in the 5th c. in Greek and with that translation as a base there was formed a summary in two books, known to Photius, having the name of Athanasius the Great as its author.(74) Another summary is saved under the name of St. Neilus.(75)

The composition of De Institutis was followed by Collationes, a series of talks Cassian and his friend Germanus had with ascetics in Egypt. The arabic translation of the Collationes, saved in a manuscript of the 9th c., was made from a Greek prototype. (76)

Cassian called the ascetics that he met in Egypt, Fathers and Saints. (77) He valued highly the ascesis in Egypt and saw it as an organic part of the Eastern tradition, a tradition which, in his opinion, western monasticism should adopt in order to avoid anarchy.(78) He distinguished the anchoritic exemplar, but he saw in it such a danger, that he ended by seeing it as an inferior way compared with coenobitic monasticism. The exemplar of the coenobitic ascesis which Cassian recommended to the West, was the (quasi military) coenobium of Pachomius and not the coenobium of St. Basil. Moreover, Cassian keeps many anchoritic elements even when he seems to promote coenobitic ascesis.


St. Patrick was from Britain. 16 years old he was kidnapped and sold as a slave in Ireland, but 6 years after he managed to escape. He owes his religious education to St. Martin of Tours, St. Honoratus and most of all to Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, whom he also escorted in his mission to Britain. After a recommendation by Germanus, Pope Celestin I tasked Patrick with converting Ireland. Patrick arrived in Ireland in 433 and stayed to his death in 461. There is no mention of his founding monasteries, but he cared to create and organise clergy. According to his biographer, Patrick ordained in Ireland 350 bishops. Even if this is an exaggeration, it reveals at least the orientation of Patrick’s work. (79) Himself was living as an ascetic and this is the kind of organisation that he gave to the Church in Ireland.(80) In his Confession Patrick expresses to God his admiration, how it happened and in Ireland, those who never knew God and always adored the idols, have now become a people of God and they are named sons of God. How happened, and the sons and the daughters of the kings of Ireland have been transformed to monks and virgins of Christ.(81) Finally, we have to note that monasticism in Ireland is characterised until today by excessive austerity.


THE SIXTH century of western asceticism will be the age of Caesarius of Arles, Aurelius, Eugippius, St. Columba, St. Columbanus, Cassiodorus, the Rule of the Master and mainly the Rule of St. Benedict, the only western Rule, besides Cassian’s Instituta, that seems to have exercised some influence in the East too, since it was used by St. Athanasius the Athonite in the 10th century. (82) From the 5th to the 6th c., that is, from Augustine to the Rule of Paul and Stephen, we have in the West 15 coenobitic Rules. If we separate the Ordo monasterii from Praeceptum, the Instituta from Collationes, the Rules to men from the Rules to women of Caesarius and Aurelius, then we have 19 western Rules – without the Latin editions of Basilian and Pachomian texts.(83) In spite of its influence, even Regula Benedicti never brought the oneness that both Cassian and Rufin desired when they transferred to the West the ascetical traditions of the East. Differentiation increases with the founding of monastic Orders. This variety, until today, of the western monasticism, explains the (hyperbolic of course) assertion of some scholars, that in the East, after St. Basil, we can’t really talk about a history of monasticism, but only about historical circumstances under which the various monasteries were being founded.

---

NOTES

1. - Cassian, C XVIII.5

2. - "verum etiam his the characteristics of the Jerusalem apostolic community.- multo sublimiora cumulaverant" (Inst. II.5).

3. - Aumann, "Origins of monasticism", p. 6.

4. - Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp 5.

5. - Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.8.3.

6. - Ignatius, Epistle to the Romans, 3, 4, 6, 8.

7. - Irenaeus, Fragments 11. This expression, as is known, comes from Orphism and Plato.

8. - Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp 5.

9. - Loveren says that "Origen was the first to apply this image to the ascetic life" ("Once again: ‘The Monk..., p. 537). Cf. Origen, Exhortatory to Martyrdom 21.

10. - Butler, "St. Anthony".

11. - PG 26, 844.

12. - Cf. Jerome, Epistle 22.

13. - St. Athanasius, Life of St. Anthony, PG 26, 835.

14. - Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 289.

15. - We should note that from the wider area of Rome comes also the Rule of Paul and Stephen, which was written by the end of the 6th c. and returns to older traditions. Cf. Règles Monastiques..., p. 25.

16. - Hamman, "Western Monasticism", p. 26.

17. - Breviar. Romanum, die 16 Decemb., in Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 289.

18. - Papadopoulos, Patrology, v. II, p. 256.

19. - Lawless, Augustine of Hippo..., p. 42.

20. - Loughlin, "St. Ambrose".

21. - Jerome, Epistle 22.

22. - Löffler, "St. Paulinus....

23. - Lienhard, Paulinus of Nola..., p. 152

24. - Papadopoulos, Patrology II, p. 243.

25. - Sulpicius Severus, Vita Martini 10.

26. - Sulpicius Severus, Vita Martini; Article "Μαρτῖνος" in, ΘΗΕ 8, Athens 1966, στ. 780-782; Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism, pp. 13-14.

27. - Hamman, "Writers of Gaul", pp. 540-1.

28. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., pp. 203-4

29. - Jerome, Epistle 24.

30. - Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 293.

31. - Gribomont,"The translations..., p. 247.

32. - Saltet, "St. Jerome".

33. - Gribomont,"The translations..., p. 214.

34. - Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism, p. 15.

35. - Gribomont,"The translations..., p. 237.

36. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 205.

37. - Gribomont,"The translations..., p. 218.

38. - Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism, p. 14.

39. - Gribomont, Histoire du texte..., p. 323.

40. - Augustine, Epistle 225, referred by Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 316.

41. - Palladius, Lausiac 121, referred by Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 317.

42. - Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 317.

43. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 206.

44. - Portalié, "Life of St. Augustine....

45. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 207.

46. - Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 330.

47. - Lawless George, Augustine of Hippo, p. 60 and 123

48. - Lawless, Augustine of Hippo..., p. xii.

49. - Augustine, Sermo 355.2.

50. - Kelly, "The Gallic Resistance..., p. 506 ff.

51. - Lawless, Augustine of Hippo..., p. 62.

52. - Lawless, Augustine of Hippo..., p. 59.

53. - See Augustine, De morib. 1338: "uidentur enim nonnullis res humanas plus quam oporteret deseruisse, non intelligentibus quantum nobis eorum animus in orationibus prosit, et uita ad exemplum, quorum corpora uidere non sinimur".

54. - See Inst. XI.18.

55. - Lienhard, "‘Discernment..., p. 521.

56. - Montalembert, The monks of the West..., p. 347.

57. - Besse, "Abbey of Lérins".

58. - Terrade, Hilarius of Arles’...

59. - Terrade, Hilarius of Arles’...

60. - Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism, p. 15.

61. - Règles Monastiques..., p. 24.

62. - Besse, "Abbey of Lérins".

63. - Inst. XI.18, and Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 30.

64. - Olphe-Galliard, "Cassien", 214, Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 32.Chitty, The desert a city..., pp. 59-60. Cf. Inst. praef. 3 and Sozomenus, Eccl. History 8.26.8.

65. - He was ordained by Innocent I in Rome, or from Procolus in Marseilles. Chadwick says that the second case is more probable (John Cassian, p. 33).

66. - Olphe-Galliard, "Cassien", 217.

67. - "And in the abbey of St Victor puzzled enquirers came to Cassian to ask why God permitted righteous monks to die at the hands of barbarians" (See Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 34 and the author’s references to Salvianus, De Gub. I.I and C VI.3. As Chadwick writes, "Monks and nuns certainly suffered during the invasions".

68. - Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 36 and 29. Cf. Hamman, "Writers of Gaul", p. 518: "The Institutiones and the Conlationes are the magna charta of monastic life in the West.-. Through these, Cassian brought the contribution of the method and experience of Eastern monasticism to the improvisations of Gallic monasticism". Cassian is honored as a saint only in the East (February 29) and in N. France (July 2). This happened because his teaching was considered in the West as semi-pelagianism. Decretum Gelasianum mentions the works of Cassian "undoubtedly because of the Conferences; in particular book 13 and the presentation or prevarication. In the line of Clement, Origen, Chrysostom and Hilary, Cassian permits prevarication in order to avoid a greater evil (Conl. 17, 17) while Augustine and Aquinas defend the opposite thesis" (See Hamman, "Writers of Gaul", p. 516).

69. - It was forty miles north of Marseilles. Castor was the first who wanted to found there a monastery (cf. Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 37.

70. - They are, according to Chadwick, "the nearest which Cassian came to a rule, like the Rule of St Pachomius or the Rule of St Benedict ... so far as Cassian provided a rule for Castor or any other monastery, it is contained in these four books" (John Cassian, pp. 41-2).

71. - They are exactly the sins Evagrius had described (see PG 40, 1272-1276; cf. St. Neilus, On the eight spirits of evil, PG 79, 1146. Cf. also Hamman, "Writers of Gaul", p. 514). Cassian’s books on the eight sins are likewise dedicated to Castor. The supposed epistle of Castor to Cassian (PL 49, 53-54) is not authentic – see Hamman, "Writers of Gaul", loc.cit.

72. - Inst. V.1. Cf. Hamann, p. 514· "the second part, De octo principalium vitiorum remediis (5-12) soon became detached as a separate work and is not contained in the two oldest manuscripts (Monte Cassino and Autun, saec. VII)".

73. - Vogüé, Les Règles Monastiques..., p. 54-5.

74. - Πρὸς Κάστορα τὸν μακαριώτατον περὶ τῶν κανονικῶν τῶν κοινοβίων διατυπώσεων (PG 28, 849-905, and cod. Vindobon. graec theol. 121· cf. Hamann, pp. 514-5).

75. - Περὶ τῶν ὀκτὼ τῆς κακίας λογισμῶν (PG 79, 1435-1463; cf. Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 213-4).

76. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 214.

77. - Inst. praef. 3. It is considered very probable that he also met Evagrius of Pontus (cf. Chadwick, John Cassian, p. 26). However, it is certain that not only was he influenced by him, he actually read writings of his.

78. - Inst. praef. 2, where the "disciplinae" and the "instituta" of the "Easterners and the Egyptians" (Orientalium et Aegyptiorum) are presented as the highest human knowledge, superior to which is only the divine wisdom. (Cf. Inst. praef. 3· "Orientalium maximeque Aegyptiorum").

79. - Cf. Moran, "St. Patrick".

80. - See Daly, Benedictine monasticism..., p. 56.

81. - See St. Patrick, Confession.

82. - Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques..., p. 214.

83. - 12 more Rules appear in the 7th c. (Vogüé, Les Règles Monastiques..., p. 13-4).

---

Bibliography


-Aumann, "Origins of monasticism" = Aumann Jordan, "Origins of monasticism"· Word and Spirit 6 (1984), pp. 3-10.

-Besse, "Abbey of Lérins" =Besse J. M., "Abbey of Lérins"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-Butler, "St. Anthony" =Butler E. C., "St. Anthony"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-C = Johannes Cassianus, Conlationes, ed. Dom E. Pichery, SC42.

-Chadwick, John Cassian= Chadwick Owen, John Cassian, Cambridge 19682.

-Chitty, The desert a city...= Chitty Derwas J., The desert a city: an introduction to the study of Egyptian and Palestinian monasticism under the Christian empire, London-Oxford 1966.

-Daly, Benedictine monasticism...= Daly Lowrie J., Benedictine monasticism: it’s formation and development through the 12th century, New York 1965.

-Dekkers, "Les traductions grecques... = Dekkers E., "Les traductions grecques des écrits patristiques latins"· Sacris Erudiri 5 (1953), pp. 193-233.

-DI = Johannes Cassianus, De incarnatione Domini contra Nestorium, ed. M. Petschenig, CSEL 17, Vienna, Tempsky, 1888.

-Gribomont,"The translations..., =Gribomont Jean, "The translations - Jerome and Rufinus" in Quasten Johannes, Patrology, v. 4, ed. A. di berardino, tr. Placid Solari, Allen-Texas (no year), pp. 195-254.

-Gribomont, Histoire du texte...= Gribomont Jean, Histoire du texte des ascétiques de S. Basile, Louvain 1953.

-Hamman, "Western Monasticism"=Hamman Adalbert, "Western Monasticism" in Quasten Johannes, Patrology, v. 4, ed. A. di berardino, tr. Placid Solari, Allen-Texas (no year), pp. 25-32.

-Hamman, "Writers of Gaul"=Hamman Adalbert, "Writers of Gaul" in Quasten Johannes, Patrology, v. 4, ed. A. di berardino, tr. Placid Solari, Allen-Texas (no year), pp. 504-563.

-Inst. = Johannes Cassianus, De institutis coenobiorum et de octo principalium vitiorum remediis, ed. J. C. Guy, SC 109.

-Kelly, "The Gallic Resistance... = Kelly J. F., "The Gallic Resistance to Eastern Asceticism"· Studia Patristica 17 (1982), pp. 506-10.

-Lawless, Augustine of Hippo...=Lawless George, Augustine of Hippo and his monastic rule, Oxford 1987.

-Lawrence, Medieval Monasticism=Lawrence C. H., Medieval Monasticism, New York 19892.

-Lienhard, "‘Discernment...=Lienhard Joseph T., "‘Discernment of Spirits’ in the Early Church"· Studia Patristica 17 (1982), pp. 519-522.

-Lienhard, Paulinus of Nola...=Lienhard Joseph T., Paulinus of Nola and early western monasticism, Köln-Bonn 1977.

-Loughlin, "St. Ambrose"= Loughlin James F., "St. Ambrose"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-Loveren, "Once again: ‘The Monk...= Loveren A. E. D. van, "Once again: ‘The Monk and the Martyr’-Saint Anthony and Saint Macrina"· Studia Patristica 17 (1982), pp. 528-538.

-Löffler, "St. Paulinus... = Löffler Klemens, "St. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-Montalembert, The monks of the West...=Montalembert C. F. R. Count de, The monks of the West: from St. Benedict to St. Bernard, v. 1, New York 19662.

-Moran, "St. Patrick"= Moran Patrick Francis Cardinal, "St. Patrick"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-Olphe-Galliard, "Cassien"=Olphe-Galliard Michel, "Cassien"· Dictionnaire de la spiritualité,v. 2, (1953).

-Papadopoulos, Patrology, v. II = Papadopoulos Styl., Patrology v. II, Athens 1990.

-Portalié, "Life of St. Augustine... = Portalié Eugène, "Life of St. Augustine of Hippo"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-Règles Monastiques...=Règles Monastiques d’Occident, Vie Monastique 9, Abbaye de Bellefontaine 1980.

-Saltet, "St. Jerome"=Saltet Louis, "St. Jerome"· The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, at http://www.knight.org/advent/.

-St. Patrick, Confession = St. Patrick, Confession, translated by Ludwig Bieler, at http://ccel.wheaton.edu/patrick/confession/confession.html.

-St. Basil, Epistle = St. Basil, Epistles, ed. P. Christou, EPE (Greek Fathers of the Church), Thessaloniki, v. 1 (1972), v. 2 (1972), v. 3 (1973).

-Terrade, Hilarius of Arles’... =Terrade Laurent, Hilarius of Arles’ Life of Honoratus, http://www.evansville.edu/~ecoleweb/ 1997.

-Vogüé, Les Règles Monastiques...=Vogüé Adalbert de, Les Règles Monastiques Anciennes (400-700), Brepols-Turnhout 1985.

Ioannis M. Konidaris The Mount Athos Avaton

Ioannis M. Konidaris
The Mount Athos Avaton
From: The Mount Athos Avaton, εκδ. Εκδόσεις Α. Σάκκουλας, Athens 2003.


The author is Prof. of Ecclesiastical Law at Athens Univ., and Secretary General for Religious Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs of Greece.


I

During the 15 September 1997 meeting of the EC Council of Ministers for Foreign Affairs, the then Greek Minister for Foreign Affairs Th. Pangalos, responding to the expressed wish of the Athonite monks, attempted to have the unilateral "Declaration by Greece concerning the Declaration on the status of churches and non-confessional organisations", annexed to the final Act of the Amsterdam Treaty, adopted as a Joint Declaration by all 15 member-states. By virtue of the 1997 Declaration, the content of the joint declaration on Mount Athos annexed to the Final Act of the Treaty of Accession of the Hellenic Republic (1979) to the European Communities is recalled and renewed.
[...]

This occasion provides a good opportunity for a comprehensive overview of the issue of the Mount Athos avaton, a subject often debated without due scrutiny and consideration.

II

a. […] Τhe prohibition of men's entry and sojourn in convents and the prohibition of women's entry and sojourn in monasteries, that is, the avaton in its strict sense, is a very old concept deriving from the very essence of the monastic movement, especially since the abandonment of every material pleasure by the first anchorites included sexual continence in the broadest sense.
[…]
III

The avaton principle has been faithfully observed by all the Monasteries of Mount Athos without exception ever since they were founded. Α brief introduction to the status of Mount Athos would perhaps be useful at this point.

Pursuant to Article 105 of the 1975/1986/2001 Greek Constitution, the Athos peninsula, beyond Megali Vigla, and constituting the region of Mount Athos (Holy Mountain/ Άγιον 'Ορος), is, in accordance with its ancient privileged status, a self-governed part of the Greek State, whose sovereignty thereon remains intact.

On Mount Athos there exist a total of twenty sovereign Monasteries, which are legal entities of public law. Attached to them, as dependencies are other monastic establishments, such as sketes, kellia, kalyves etc., with no separate legal personality.

The Monasteries of Mount Athos, which are all coenobitic again today, are directly subject to the spiritual jurisdiction of the Oecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Mount Athos is also supervised by the Greek State through the Governor of Mount Athos, appointed by presidential decree on a recommendation from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and having, according to the new Internal Regulation of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, the rank and remuneration of the Secretary General of a Region.

Within Mount Athos, there is a clear distinction between the administration of the monastic community of the twenty Monasteries and the administration of each Monastery.

The administration of the entire Mount Athos is exercised by the Holy Community, which consists of twenty members representatives of the twenty Monasteries, with its seat at the capital municipality of Karyes. These representatives are elected pursuant to each Monastery's By-Law and hold office for one year. The executive authority is exercised by the four-member Holy Epistasia, i.e. representatives chosen by rotation on the basis of a tetrad system: the twenty Monasteries are divided into five tetrads, with one of the five senior Athonite Monasteries as the first member of each tetrad. Each tetrad in turn takes over the Holy Epistasia for a year, headed by a member of the senior monastery of the tetrad as chief monk, the Protepistates (or Protos, i.e. first elder).

The supreme administrative organ, meeting twice a year, namely fifteen days after Easter and on 20 August, is the extraordinary twenty-member Holy Assembly, consisting of the Abbots of the twenty Monasteries.

Each one of the Holy Monasteries of Mount Athos is administered by the Abbot, the Assembly of the Elders and the Abbot's Council. The abbot is elected by secret ballot for a life term of office by all the members of the brotherhood, who have completed at least six years after their tonsure. The Assembly of Elders is elected for a life term of office according to the provisions of the internal organisation of each Monastery. Finally, the Abbot's Council consists of two or three members, depending on the provisions of each Monastery's internal organisation, and is elected every year by the Assembly of Elders from among its members.

Within the Mount Athos territory, only the twenty Holy Monasteries have the right of ownership. The entire peninsula of Athos is divided among them and its territory is exempt from expropriation, according to express constitutional provision (Article 105 of the Constitution). The monastic brotherhood attends to the administration of the movable and immovable property of the Monasteries, which is, however, exercised by the Abbot and the Abbot's Council.

IV

[…]

b. The customary origin of the avaton is also confirmed in the legislation in force, namely Article 186 of the Constitutional Charter of Mount Athos (1924), effective since 1926 through its ratification by the Greek State by the Legislative Decree of 10/16 September 1926. According to this provision of the Constitutional Charter, the entry of females in the Athos peninsula is, according to the ancient custom, forbidden. However, from the point of view of public law, this provision was a lex imperfecta, since it did not provide for sanctions in the event of violation. Only the measure of deportation from the Mount Athos territory could be taken against a woman violating the avaton.

However, this provision was subsequently complemented by a law penalising the violation of the avaton, as a result of the disembarkation of several ladies on the Mount Athos territory during the 9th International Congress of Byzantine Studies, convened in April 1953 in Thessalonica. Legislation Decree 2623/1953 stipulated that the violation of the avaton incurs a penalty of imprisonment for a period between two months to one year, which, according to the general provisions of the Penal Code, can now be commuted into a pecuniary penalty.
[…]

V

We shall now proceed with the discussion of the possible reservations that have been raised from time to time as to constitutionality of the legal provision establishing the Mount Athos avaton. […].

A first superficial approach might lead to the conclusion that the prohibition of women's entry into the Mount Athos territory contravenes the principle of equality and/or constitutes a restriction of personal freedom. Both the principle of freedom and free movement of persons are enshrined not only in the Constitution of Greece, but also in many international treaties that have been ratified by Greece and constitute an integral part of Greek law and, what is more, prevail over any opposite provision of law as prescribed by the Constitution.
a. The principle of equality, enshrined in Article 4 of the Constitution, obligates the legislator to treat in an equal or similar manner all Greek citizens under the same or similar conditions and prohibits any favourable or unfavourable treatment of the same by way of exception from the general rule.

However, the principle of equality does not preclude the different statutory regulation of dissimilar or different cases, or cases occurring under different or special conditions. On the contrary, in such cases different treatment is imperative, because various special reasons, social, economic, religious etc., fully justify different treatment, provided that such different treatment is objective and is based on general and impersonal criteria.

Such is the case with the avaton. All women are forbidden entry in Mount Athos, without any exception. There would be a case of violation of the principle of equality, only if specific categories of women or only women meeting some specific criteria were allowed entry.
b. Personal freedom, which according to Article 5 paragraph 3 of the Constitution is inviolable, is not unlimited - as indeed is the case with any other individual right. The Constitution expressly mentions that freedom of movement may be restricted, when and as stipulated by law.

Naturally, such restrictions on personal freedom and particularly the free movement of any person cannot be arbitrary. They should be justified by sufficient reasons serving the general public or social interest and it is up to the courts to examine whether such conditions concur.

So, as none has ever thought of contesting the constitutionality of other restrictions on the free movement of persons, such as the prohibition of entry into military areas or the prohibition of hunting or fishing in several areas or during certain seasons etc., for the same legal reason there is no violation of the Constitution in the case of the avaton.
[…]