In My Solitude: Figurative Rationality and Axiological Inversion in Saints Barsanuphius and John of Gaza

The paper focuses on the relationship between the hermit and his cell, consid- ered as a semantic operator acting on the monk’s experience. The monk’s discourse pres- ents figurative transformations of the cell (e.g. into a cemetery or temple) and an axiological inversion between life and death; it constructs a topological equivalence between the cell and the monk’s soul. By acting on the monk’s experience, the cell allows him to re-catego- rize the semiotics of his world. The case study consists of writings about early monks and nuns, focusing in particular on Barsanuphius and John of Gaza (6th century AD).