The aim of this lecture is to highlight several unique features of women monasticism in the Holy Land, from its first stages during the fourth century up to its decline in the seventh century. The emphasis will be on the social, religious and political context of the activity and image of famous women, among them, Melania the Elder, Paula, and Melania the Younger.
Brouria Bitton-Ashkelony is Martin Buber Professor in the Department of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research focuses on religious thought and behavior of late antique Christianities. She is the author of Encountering the Sacred: The Debate on Christian Pilgrimage in Late Antiquity (2005); The Ladder of Prayer of Prayer: The Praying Self in Late Antique East Syrian Christianity (2019); co-author, inter alia, of The Monastic School of Gaza (2006), and Late Antique Monasticism in the East (2024, in Hebrew).