Extract
[...] To what extent does the monastery of Saint John of the Prodrome of Petra constitute a high place of teaching and intellectual activity in Constantinople? Introduction Attested to by specialized literature, although it has since disappeared, the monastery of Saint John of the Prodrome of Petra is a high place of Byzantine religious intellectualism in what is now Turkey, and it is possible to trace it geographically through etymological analysis and architectural remains. Etymology itself, in fact, gives clues about the geographical positioning of this influential place, with 'Petra' evoking sharp and cutting rocky structures on which the monastery was built. [...]
[...] This progression of the laicization of knowledge within the monastic space is however not without troubling contemporaries, as certain contemporaries report. Thus Theolept of Philadelphia, who lived in part under the reign of Michael VIII Palaeologus at the end of the 13thand century, warns against this opening, which would be accompanied by the penetration of secular vices into the heart of the monastic space, in his "Instruction on the duties of common life". The secularization of monastic life is also accompanied by an opening to bookish knowledge not only for the sake of pure knowledge or scientific practice, but also administrative: the activity of copyists is indeed essential to the proper functioning of the Empire, which relies on knowledge abundantly developed by monks over the centuries. [...]
[...] But few traces remain of this first period of the monastery of Saint-Jean of the Prodrome of Petra. The attempts at historical reconstruction follow the traces of the other buildings of the time, such as the monastery of Manuel who 'was to rise on the artificial mound that borders the Tchoukour-Bostan in its North-East part' or the monastery of Saint-George and an annexed monastery, which 'were no doubt located near the northern end of the cistern of Aspar'. B. The monastery of Saint-Jean of the Prodrome of Petra at the time of its renaissance (XIIIand 16th centuryand century) The historiographical and paleographical traces are more numerous in the Late Middle Ages and the glorious hours of Byzantium from the XIIIand century. [...]
[...] Alexander Kazhdan, "Some Problems in the Biography of John Mauropous", Byzantion, vol no pp. 362-387. Rosa Benoit-Meggenis, The Emperor and the Monk. The Relations of Imperial Power with Monasteries in Byzantium (9e-13e century), Lyon, Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Editions, 2017. Raymond Janin, 'The sanctuaries of the quarter of Petra (Constantinople)', Revue des études byzantines, vol no p. 64. [...]
[...] Baras, Patapios and Raboulas (AB Paris, Société des Bollandistes, 1969. Pierre Gylles, De Topographia Constantinopoleos et de illius antiquitatibus, Lyon IV. Marie-Hélène Congourdeau, Bernadette Martin-Hisard, 'The institutions of the Byzantine Church', in Jean-Claude Cheynet Le Monde byzantin: the Byzantine Empire (641-1204), Paris, Presses universitaires de France pp. 89-124. Marie-Hélène Congourdeau, 'Religious Life', in Angeliki Laiou and Cécile Morrisson, The Byzantine World: The Greek Empire and its Neighbors XIIIe-XVe century, Paris, Presses universitaires de France pp. 281-307. [...]
