John Moschus: Pratum Spirituale

The Spiritual Meadow is a collection of stories about monks and holy people gathered by John Moschus, a monk who travelled with his companion Sophronius through Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Sinai and other regions in the late sixth and early seventh centuries, and who died in Rome around 619. This Latin version, translated from the Greek, contains short chapters each telling an anecdote or saying, often introduced as the report of a named abbot. The first tells of an old man named John who, on his way to Sinai after refusing to become an abbot, fell ill and died in a small cave beyond the Jordan.

The stories record miracles, ascetic feats, conversions and sayings of the monks of the eastern Mediterranean on the eve of the Persian and Arab conquests, as in the sample’s tale of Abba Orentius of Sinai, who wore his cloak inside out to rebuke the stewards. The collection is a major source for the monasticism and daily religious life of the period, and it was widely read in both Greek and Latin as edifying literature.