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9 The Ideological and Gultural Dimensions 141

secretis (AnBoll, 19, 1—2, 1981, p. 40: “whitened, beautiful like the moon”). It may be compared with the erotic visions of the desert anchorites, which, however, are expressions of demonie temptation, e.g. in the HMAeg, pp. 20— 21, 30, 33, 118—119, or in the Encomion of St. Alypios (F. Halkin, Inłdits, p. 187), or in the Life of the martyr St. Abercios (ibid., p. 26). Another aspect of erotic rpproach in hagiography are the stories of seduced virgins like the no. LXIX of Palladios’ Lausaic History about an ascetic virgin who borę a cliild from a chorister but repented, the similar story in no. LXX, etc.; or the story cf a eunuch monk begging with a girl and scandalising people Ich. 23 of the Bios tou Hagiou Ioannou tou Elleemomonos by Leontios of Neapo-lis, ed. by C. Hadjioannou, Limassol, Cyprus, 1988, pp. 80—85), the story of abbas Yital^;os who lived with harlots in order to correct them (ibid., pp. 198 — 117 ch. 38); or the scandalising though non sexual intercourse of Symeon the Fool with women (L. Ryden, Das Leben as in pa. 8, pp. 147—158); etc. Ali these cases point to the integration of erotic feeling in some pieces of hagiography morę or less belonging to the category of hagiographic romance. Though the number of manuscripts of such pieces that have survived is not great (e.g. iive of Bestos' Encomion, seven of Irene’s Life), we may surmise that they were read by many. Symeon Salos' Life has come down to us in morę that twenty manuscripts, something indicative of its widespread diffusion. So eros should be considered an important part of hagiographic culture and ideology.

13. Tl.e rich variety o i Byzantine hagiography in the 9. and 10. cen-turies has teen pointed out by L. Ryden (in Ann. Soc. Litt. Hum. Reg. Ups._t 1985, pp. C9—79). The task of the hagiographer was to “stylise the saint's life and gi\e it a pattem that conformed to the prevailing idea of sanctity ... rather tf an to paint a realistic portrait of a holy man or woman, the hagiographer was supposed to bring out his or her essence ... He could take many liberties” in chronology and structure and, most important, he “could ex-ploit topoi and literary motifs at will and borrow freely from his predeces-sors” (p. 74). Still morę important is the fact that saints read the lives of previous saints and fathers and fervently imitated them. Besides the case of Andrew the Fool mentioned by Ryden, there are many others. E.G. John the Almsgiver is said by his biographer to occupy himself with leaming the Scrip-tures by heart, doing administrative and political work, the stories about (the lives of) the Fathers, and scriptural and doctrinal problems (Bios as in par. 12, pp. 64,118). Similar reachngs by St. Niphon (Ryden in Greek and Latin..., as in par. 7, pp. 33, 38), by St. Irene (Life, p. 16), by Julianus and Basilissa (AnBoll, 98, 3—4, 1980, p. 245), by Alexios the Man of God (ibid., 98, 1—2, 1980, p. 12), by Theodore the Studite and Stephen the Younger (A. Moffatt, ‘Schooling in the Iconoclast Centuries’, in leonoelasm, 1977, p. 88), and by many other saints. Perhaps the oldest precedent is the alleged saying of Basil of Caesarea ąuoted in the Iconoclastic Florilegium of 754: “The study of the God-inspired writings constitutes the best path towards the discovery of our duties ... these provide a guide for actions; so do the Lines of Blessed Men, transmitted in written form; they are offered /to us/, so to say, as living images of the way of life according to God through imita-tion of Godly deeds”. This saying was paraphrased in the Vita of George, autocephalous bishop of Amastris, the model Iconoclast Viła according to I. Sevcenko (as in par. 12, pp, 121, 130); So there was a substantial continuity