MOSCHUS, JOHN

Seventh-century Byzantine monk and scriptural writer (also known as Eucratas ); d. 619 or 620. He was a monk and traveler, known for his collection of vivid monastic tales titled Leimon or Neos Paradeisos (in Latin, Pratum Spirituale ). Moschus began his monastic life at St. Theodosius' near Jerusalem in the third quarter of the sixth century. He made sojourns elsewhere in Palestine, Egypt, Sinai, Cyprus, Antioch, Egypt again, and finally Rome (614), usually accompanied by his disciple sophronius the Sophist, later patriarch of Jerusalem.

Toward the end of his life, John set down over 300 tales of edifying incidents, replete with details of the life and beliefs of the times. These are dedicated to Sophronius, but the preface indicates that Sophronius saw to their publication after John's death in Rome and his burial at the monastery of St. Theodosius. Their circulation was widespread. There are translations in Old Slavonic and Arabic; in Latin, a partial translation of the ninth and eleventh centuries; in Italian, first printed in 1475; and in the Latin of ambrose traversari (1423–24), published by Lippomano in 1558 and reprinted many times.

The Greek text was first printed by Fronton du Duc (1624), more completely by Cotelier (1686). French translations appeared in 1599, in 1653 by Arnauld d'Andilly, and in 1946 by M. J. Rouët de Journel. There seems to be no English translation. It is a neglected source of social and religious history, and a critical edition is needed. Sophronius and Moschus also composed a life of John the Almsgiver, Patriarch of Alexandria, of which only a portion has survived.

Bibliography: j. p. migne, ed. Patrologia Graeca, 161 v. (Paris 1857–66) 87.3:2851–3112; Patrologia latina, 217 v. (Paris 1878–90) 74:119–122. h. g. beck, Kirche und theologische Literatur im byzantinischen Reich (Munich 1959) 412. h. leclercq, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, 15 v. (Paris 1907–53) 7.2:2190–2196. o. bardenhewer, Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur, 5 v. (Freiburg 1914–32) 5:131–135. h. usener, ed., Der heiligen Tychon (Leipzig 1907). t. nissen, "Unbekannte Erzählungen aus dem Pratum Spirituale," Byzantinische Zeitschrift 38 (1938): 351–376. e. mioni, Orientalia Christiana periodica 17 (1951): 61–94, MSS; Studi bizantini 8 (1953): 29–36. f. halkin, ed., Bibliotheca hagiographica graeca, 3 v. (Brussels 1957) 3:1440z–1442tb. i. abuladze, ed., John Moschus, Pratum Spirituale (Tiflis 1960), in Georgian. h. gelzer, ed., Leben des heiligen Johannes des Barmherzigen (Leipzig 1893) 108–112. n. h. baynes and e. a. s. dawes, trs., Three Byzantine Saints (Oxford 1948) 199–206. n. h. baynes, "The Pratum Spirituale," Orientalia Christiana periodica 13 (1947): 404–414, reprinted in his Byzantine Studies and Other Essays (New York 1955) 261–270.

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