Illness, Pain, and Health Care in Early Christianity by Helen Rhee;

Author:Helen Rhee;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: INscribe Digital
Published: 2022-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Ascetic Text (Syncletica): Shareability of Pain and Community of Cosufferers

We now move to a pain narrative and pedagogy written from an ascetic and hagiographical perspective, The Life and Regimen of Blessed and Holy Teacher Syncletica (Vita). As addressed in chapter 2, it showcases Syncletica’s holiness not only through her rigorous ascetic regimen (askēsis) and teaching but also through her bearing of a decaying illness and bodily pain that the text describes in graphic detail. Whereas martyrdom as “second baptism” achieves Christian perfection through (relatively) instant victory in a public spectacle, asceticism as “bloodless martyrdom” pursues ever-continuing perfection through private, lifelong discipline (askēsis) with no guarantee of its attainment (Vita 15, 19, 26, 38, 47, 53). Yet, as both martyrs and ascetics are the imitators of Christ par excellence, ascetic texts also share the familiar motifs of the martyr texts such as the agōn (contest/struggle) motif with athletic and military metaphors (8, 18), the cosmic nature of that agōn with the devil (8, 18, 106–107), constructions of masculinity and virtue (30, 54–58, 72–73, 111), and the subjective heroism of a particular ascetic. All these characteristics are exhibited fully in the Life.

This Life portrays the saint’s illness and pain “as a shared way of living rather than as solitary suffering” for her and her ascetic cosufferers; Syncletica’s pain and illness become a means of constructing communal subjectivities.176 As such, this text illustrates pain “as a social relationship,” as pain is part of what creates the particular conditions of action and experience, according to Talel Asad.177 First, in her teaching, Amma Syncletica sees a pedagogical value in the pain of ascetic austerities (e.g., fasting) “because every sprig of virtue grow[s] straight as a result of pain” (41); but the pain of askēsis can also be harmful and even evil, as it can lead the ascetic to be self-deceived and prideful (52–54). The painful askēsis is a remedy (pharmaka) and virtue, but it must be accompanied by humility, which is the critical virtue and remedy of the soul, particularly with regard to pride (54–58). Furthermore, “the evil originating from God,” such as famines, droughts, plagues, poverty, and other misfortunes, is for the salvation of the soul and the training of the body (84). The determinists falsely regard these as evils of the soul; however, they are in fact saving remedies offered to those who believe in free will for conversion by the Almighty (84). Thus it is the self-mastery of will through lifelong askēsis in humility that benefits from the seemingly evil afflictions coming from God. However, the devil also uses suffering such as illness to weaken the ascetic’s resolve (98). Still, in that case, illness functions as a medication and remedy, helpful to the ascetic because it is allowed for the destruction of pleasures. Just like martyr texts, the suffering, pained body becomes a site of spiritual battle and healing; and beyond body-soul dualism, the attainment of spiritual health “demands the complete engagement with the human body,” particularly in pain and suffering.178 As

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