Managing Financial Resources in Late Antiquity (eBook)

Gerasimos Merianos is Senior Researcher in Byzantine History at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens, Greece. George Gotsis is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece.

Managing Financial Resources in Late Antiquity 4
Contents 6
Abbreviations 8
Chapter 1 Introduction and Acknowledgements 13
Chapter 2 Historical Background: Early Christian Conceptions of Hoarding 26
The New Testament World: Social and Economic Context 26
Intellectual Encounters: The Greek and Roman Literature on Household Management 28
Conceptualizing Hoarding 30
The Synoptic Gospels: Hoarding as Endemic to Human Acquisitiveness 30
The Excesses of Wealth Accumulation 32
Framing Early Christian Rhetoric on Hoarding 33
Hoarding Denounced: Wealth Employed to Perpetuate Injustice 33
Hoarding Mitigated Through Circulation of Surplus: Alleviating the Needy in Paul 34
Hoarding Abolished: The Ideal of Sharing Possessions 36
Hoarding as a Morally Perilous Practice 37
Hoarding as a Socially Detrimental Practice: Delivering Hoarders to Divine Judgment 38
Hoarding as the Corollary of Rapid Economic Growth: Endangering Faithfulness to Christ 39
Hoarding as a Form of Alienation from Fellow Believers: The Need for Benevolent Aid 40
Chapter 3 Justifying Savings but not the Pursuit of Wealth: Contradictions, Tensions and Accommodations in Early Patristic Texts 53
Economic Pursuits in the Graeco-Roman Urban Centres: The Social Setting 53
Glimpses of Hoarding and Saving in Graeco-Roman Literature of the Imperial Period 54
Justification and Distribution of Surplus 56
Work Ethic, Business Activities and Trade 56
The Justification of Moderate Prosperity 59
An Organicist View of Society 61
Welcoming the Rich 63
The Framework of Christian Discourse on Savings 66
Universalizing Moral Exhortations for Charity 66
Two Distinct Models of Almsgiving 68
Motives for Almsgiving 70
Chapter 4 Savings for Redistributive Purposes: Stewardship of Wealth in the Teachings of Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom 83
Sketching Out the Setting: New Responsibilities and Challenges 83
Aspects of Basil of Caesarea’s Views on Property and Wealth 87
Famine in Cappadocia, 368/9 87
Private Vs. Common Property, Hoarding Vs. Sharing 90
Institutionalizing Poverty Relief: Basil’s Pt?chotropheion and the Bequest of Gregory of Nazianzus 92
Delineating John Chrysostom’s Views on Hoarding 95
The Ideals of Self-sufficiency and Stewardship of Wealth 95
The Monastic Stewardship Paradigm 99
Hoarding as a Socially and Individually Inefficient Practice 101
A Call for Almsgiving 102
Usury in Basil of Caesarea and John Chrysostom 106
Chapter 5 Fifth-Century Patristic Conceptions of Savings and Capital: Isidore of Pelusium and Theodoret of Cyrrhus 126
Isidore of Pelusium 126
Pelusium 127
Isidore’s Attitude Toward Wealth: Benefaction vs. Accumulation and Luxury Consumption 128
Theodosius II Exhorted to Disperse Wealth 130
Mismanagement of Church Property: “Who Watches the Watchers?” 131
Eusebius, Bishop of Pelusium 133
Two of Eusebius’ Accomplices 135
Presbyter Zosimus 135
Martinianus the Oikonomos 136
An Assessment of Isidore’s Accusations of Ecclesiastical Mismanagement 138
Theodoret of Cyrrhus 141
Theodoret as a Civic Patron 141
Theodoret as a Mediator 144
Wealth, Poverty and Divine Providence 145
Economic Exchange Viewed as Social Cooperation 148
Theodoret’s Conception of Social Dynamics: An Appraisal 151
Chapter 6 Contextualizing Patristic Concepts of Hoarding and Saving 168
Economic, Monetary and Social Transformations 168
Debasements, Inflation and Reforms in an Age of Crisis 168
Shifting Gradually into the “Byzantine” World 171
The Constantinian Solidus: A Lever for Change 173
The Emperor as the “Lord of the Gold” 175
Imperial Reserves 176
The Formation of a “Golden” Elite 178
Melania the Younger: A Case Study of a Super-Rich Person’s Divestment 183
The First Steps of Divestment: Italy 183
The Role of Imperial Intervention in the Sale of the Couple’s Property 185
Melania’s “Poverty” 186
Coveted Patrons in Africa 187
The African Bishops’ Advice: A Turning Point in the Couple’s Benefaction 188
Transferring Monetary Capital in the Mediterranean 191
Chapter 7 Conclusions 205
Bibliography 214
Index 247