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Monastic Views of Work

By Peter Brown

To the “holy poor” or the “real poor”—that is the question. To whom were alms to be directed? This question divided the early monastic movement in the East. Alms to the “real poor” ultimately traveled west and came to dominate modern Christianity.

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Endnotes

1.

Another form of this article was given as the James M. and Margaret H. Costan Lectures in Early Christianity at Georgetown University, and a more extensive treatment can be found in Peter Brown’s forthcoming book, Treasure in Heaven. The Holy Poor in Early Christianity (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press).

2.

Dublin Kephalaia Folio.

3.

Athanasius, Life of Saint Anthony 2.5, 134.

4.

Papyrus Kellis Copt. 32.1–13, p. 214.

5.

Papyrus Kellis Copt. 31.17f, pp. 210–211.