The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings

Kalmykova, Elena

doi:10.18254/S0002478-4-1

English

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The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings

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The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings

Annotation

PII

S207987840002478-4-1

DOI

10.18254/S0002478-4-1

Publication type

Article

Status

Published

Authors

Elena Kalmykova Send message

Occupation: Associate Professor
Affiliation: Lomonosov Moscow State University
Address: Russian Federation, Moscow

Edition

Volume 9 Issue 9 (73)

Abstract

This article examines the use of military metaphors and images in medieval monastic writings. From the beginning of Christianity, theologians and preachers, inspired by biblical texts, employed war metaphors to discuss spiritual matters. Thus they began to call saints and martyrs ‘the soldiers of Christ’. With the rise of monasticism, this image was applied to all ecclesiastics. By accepting the metaphor of ‘a soldier’ the church community also accepted the whole set of associations attached to this category. The whole process of spiritual discipline was equated to military training and described through the categories of military vocabulary. The Bible that introduced the notion of a ‘spiritual battle’ and ‘spiritual armours’ did not restrict the fantasy of the later authors interested in the detailed application of these ideas. Moreover, the subsequent technological development of weaponry organically influenced the ideational development of the notion of ‘spiritual weapons’. The image of the pious soldier, inspired by the relevant biblical passages, was going through some complex changes and transformations in the middle ages. The general tendency, however, was for this category to broaden at every new stage of its development. The eventual inclusion of all Christians into the category of ‘Christ’s soldiers’ led to a systemic rethinking of the scale of this imagined ‘spiritual war’: from the apocalyptic battle between the army of Christ the Saviour against the hordes of the Devil or the Antichrist, it shrank to the individual struggle of a human with his or her sins and temptations.

Keywords

war, weapons, metaphors, images, ‘the Soldiers of Christ’, medieval monastic writings

Received

10.05.2018

Publication date

31.10.2018

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27735

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GOST	Kalmykova E. The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings // ISTORIYA. – 2018. – V. 9. – Issue 9 (73). URL: https://history.jes.su/s207987840002478-4-1/. DOI: 10.18254/S0002478-4-1
MLA	Kalmykova, Elena "The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings." ISTORIYA. 9.9 (73) (2018). DOI: 10.18254/S0002478-4-1
APA	Kalmykova E. (2018). The Metaphors and Images of War in Medieval Monastic Writings. ISTORIYA. vol. 9, no. 9 (73) DOI: 10.18254/S0002478-4-1

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