The Spiritual Meadow (also known as the Pratum spirituale, Leimonarion , or New Paradise) is a Greek book by John Moschus (d. 619 or 634) written in the late sixth to early seventh century. The text is composed of anecdotes from Palestinian and Egyptian monasteries from the travels of John during his travels with Sophronius, his friend, as they seek out spiritual edification. In all, it contains several hundred narratives, biographies, and collections of sayings.
No critical edition has been published yet of the manuscripts of the Spiritual Meadow, although one is in preparation by Bernard Flusin and Mme Marina Flusin based on manuscript Φ.
A French translation was published by Rouët de Journel in 1946, an Italian by Riccardo Maisano in 1982, and an English translation by John Wortley in 1992.
Summary In the Spiritual Meadow, John Moschus narrates his personal experiences with many great ascetics whom he met during his extensive travels, mainly through Palestine, Sinai and Egypt, but also Cilicia and Syria, and repeats the edifying stories which these ascetics related to him.
The Spiritual Meadow contains stories of various patriarchs and bishops such as Theodotus of Antioch, Elias I of Jerusalem, Ephraim of Antioch, Gennadius of Constantinople, Eulogius of Alexandria, Patriarch Amos of Jerusalem, John Chrysostom, Pope Gregory I, Patriarch Apollinarius of Alexandria, Synesius, and Athanasius of Alexandria. There are also stories of Byzantine emperors such as Anastasius I Dicorus and Zeno.
The work teems with miracles and ecstatic visions and it gives a clear insight into the practices of Eastern monasticism, contains important data on the religious cult and ceremonies of the time, and acquaints us with the numerous heresies that threatened to disrupt the Church in the East.
Relationship with the Quran In Quranic studies, beginning with Roger Paret, a number of historians have proposed similarities between Quran 18:65–82 with a story in a (still unedited) manuscript of the Spiritual Meadow. In the story as it appears in Moschus there is:an angel of God (equivalent to the mysterious “servant of God” in the Qurʾān) who acts in ways that mystify an old and pious monk. The angel steals a cup from a pious man, strangles the son of another pious man, and rebuilds the wall which belonged to an impious and inhospitable man. The angel explains that the cup which belonged to the first man had been stolen. The son of the second pious man was to grow up to be an evil sinner; by strangling this son the angel allowed him to die before he fell into sin. Beneath the wall of the impious man lay hidden treasure, and by rebuilding the wall, he kept the man from finding this treasure and using it for evil. These line up closely to the Qurʾānic “Moses and the servant of God” passage.
Manuscripts A substantial number of manuscripts of the Spiritual Meadow exist, in Greek and other European languages. Manuscripts vary substantially however, as additions were made to some whereas other manuscripts contain selections of the tales, sometimes with varied ordering. This issue was already recognized in the 9th century by Photios I of Constantinople, who commented in his Bibliotheca: "Read a book composed of 304 tales ... The compiler has given the book the name Meadow ... And in all the books in which the tales are preserved you will not find an equal number, but in some they are divided into 342, with the number increased in part by the division of some chapters, and in part by the addition of tales."
The 15th-century Latin translation of the work by Ambrose Traversari was done from a 12th-century Florentine codex known as Laurentianus Plut.X.3 (== F). This is also the most complete manuscript. The Florentine manuscript contains a numbering from 1 to 301, which Traversari preserved, but was renumbered to go up to 219 by Lippomano in his 1558 Latin version, which has now become the standard numbering.
There are two Vatican manuscripts, called Vat. gr. 663 and 731. There are also two 10th and 13th century Georgian manuscripts at Iviron on Athos and at Sinai respectively containing selections of almost 90 chapters. An Arabic version of the text is known, called the 'Book of the Garden', and several manuscripts of it are also available. Old Slavonic manuscripts are called F. An Ethiopic patericon is also known. Coptic and Syriac versions are not known.
Print editions and early translations A few print editions and early translations of the text are as follows:
A Latin translation, by Ambrose Traversari, is printed in Migne, Patrologia Latina, LXXIV, 121–240, and an Italian translation made from the Latin of Traversari was published in 1475 (Venice, 1475; Vicenzo, 1479). A Greek text was edited by Fronton du Duc in Auctarium biblioth. patrum, II (Paris, 1624), 1057–1159. A better edition was brought out by Cotelier in Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta, II (Paris, 1681), which is reprinted in J.-P. Migne, Patrologia Graeca (PG) 87:3:2851–3112.
Chapters John Wortley's 1992 translation of the Spiritual Meadow contains the following 240 chapters.
The life of John the Elder and the cave of Sapsas The elder who fed lions in his own cave The life of Conon, priest of the community of Penthoucla The vision of Abba Leontios Abba Polychronios' story of the three monks Another story of Abba Polychronios The life and death of an elder who would not be higoumen of the lavra of the towers The life of Abba Myrogenes who had dropsy The wondrous charity of a holy elder The life of Barnabas the Anchorite The life of Abba Hagiodoulos A saying of Abba Olympios The life of Abba Mark the Anchorite A brother assailed by a lascivious spirit who was stricken with leprosy The wondrous deed of Abba Conon Abba Nicolas' story The life of a great elder The life of another elder at the monastery of the lavra who slept with lions Abba Elijah's story about himself The conversion of a soldier (whose life is briefly described) when God worked a miracle for him The death of an anchorite and of his slayer The life of another elder named Conon The life of Theodoulos the Monk An elder who lived at the cells of Choziba A brother at the monastery of Choziba, the words of <the prayer of> the holy offering and Abba John The life of Theophanes, his wondrous vision and concerning intercourse with heretics The life of the priest of the Mardardos Estate A wondrous deed of Abba Julian the Stylite A miracle of the most Holy Eucharist The life of Isidore the Monk of Melitene and another miracle of the most Holy Sacrament The conversion and life of Mary the Harlot The conversion and life of Babylas the Actor and of Cometa and Nicosa his concubines The life of the holy bishop Theodotos The life of the godly Alexander, Patriarch of Antioch The life of Elias, Archbishop of Jerusalem and concerning Flavian, Patriarch of Antioch The life of Ephraim, Patriarch of Antioch and how he converted a Stylite monk from the impiety of the Severan heresy The life of a bishop who left his throne and came to the Holy City where he changed his clothes and became a builder's labourer The death of the impious Emperor Anastasios The life of a monk of the monastery of Abba Severian and how he was prudently restrained by a country-girl from sinning with her The life of Abba Cosmas the Eunuch the life of Abba Paul of Anazarbos The life of Abba Auxanon The horrible death of Thalilaios, the impious Archbishop of Thessalonica The life of an elder, a monk living near the city of Antinoë and concerning his prayer for a dead brother The life of a monk, a recluse on the Mount of Olives and concerning the veneration of an icon of the most Holy Mother of God The wondrous vision of Abba Cyriacos of the lavra of Calamon and concerning two books of the impious Nestorios A miracle of the holy mother of God against Gaianas the Actor who was blaspheming her in the theatre Another miracle of the Holy Mother of God by which Cosmiana, wife of Germanos, was compelled to return to the true faith from the Severan heresy The wondrous vision of the duke of Palestine by which he was compelled to renounce the aforementioned heresy and to enter into communion with the Church of Christ The vision and a saying of Abba George the Recluse The life of Abba Julian, the elder of the Egyptians' monastery A saying of Abba Elias the Solitary The life of Cyriacos the Elder from the monastery of Saint Sabas The life of the monks of Scete and concerning an elder <named> Ammonios The life of an elder who stayed at Scete and concerning Abba Irenaeus The life of John, the disciple of a great elder who lived in the village of Parasêma The death of Symeon the Stylite and concerning Abba Julian, another Stylite Concerning Julian again The life of Abba Thalilaios the Cilician The strange deed of an anchoress as a result of which a youth who loved her became a monk out of remorse; and concerning Julian again The life of Abba Leontios the Cilician The life of Abba Stephan, priest of the lavra of the Eliotes Concerning the same Concerning the same Concerning the same The life of Abba Theodosios the Solitary Concerning the same Concerning the same The life of Abba Palladios and of an elder of Thessalonica, a recluse named David The life of a Mesopotamian monk, Addas the Recluse The beautiful saying of a murderer to a monk who followed him when he was being led to execution Abba Palladios' story of an old man who committed murder and falsely accused a youth of the same crime The life of John the soldier of Alexandria A true saying of the same abba, Palladios, concerning heresies A miracle of the Lord for the wife and daughter of one of the faithful who was accustomed to entertaining monks The drowning of Mary The story of three blind men and of how they became blind The amazing miracle of a dead girl who detained her despoiler and would not let him go until he promised to become a monk A tremendous and stupendous miracle of the most holy sacrament under Dionysios, Bishop of Seleucia The spring conferred on the brothers of the monastery in Skopelos at the prayers of Theodosios, their abbot A well that filled with water when an icon of the same Abba Theodosios was let down into it The life of John, an elder at the Skopelos monastery Concerning the same The life and death of an anchorite of the same monastery, a servant of God How the wheat of the same monastery germinated because the customary almsgiving had been suspended Concerning another anchorite of the same monastery The finding of the corpse of the anchorite John the Humble The life of Abba Thomas, the steward of a community near Apamea and the miracle of his corpse after he died The finding of a holy anchorite on Mount Amanon The death of two anchorites on Mount Ptergion The life of Abba Gregory the Anchorite and of Thalilaios, his disciple The life of Brother George the Cappadocian and the finding of the body of Peter the Solitary of the Holy Jordan The life of Abba Sisinios (who declined a bishopric) and of his disciple The life of Abba Julian, the Bishop of Bostra The life of Patrick, an elder at the monastery of Skopelos Concerning the same <father> and also Julian, the blind Arab The life and death of two brothers who swore never to be separated from each other Concerning the surviving brother The life of Anthony, an elder at the monastery of Skopelos The life of Peter, the monk of Pontus The life of Pardos, the Roman monk The story of Sophronios the Sophist about what happened to him on the road The life and qualities of Abba Strategios The life of Abba Nonnos the Priest The life of a holy elder named Christopher, a Roman Abba Theodore's story of the Syrian monk, Severian The life of Abba Gerasimos The life of a virgin priest and of his wife, who was also a virgin The life of Abba George who was never perturbed Various sayings of an Egyptian elder The deed of a bald man dressed in sack-cloth The life and death of Leo, a Cappadocian monk