religious and intellectual life was dominated by Greeks and Syrians. The early Middle Ages saw the emergence throughout the Mediterranean of Christian literary forms such as the saint's life and of a popular religious culture centred around processions, icons, and relics; in a simple age men craved tangible tokens of holiness. Patron saints became the revered guardians of cities in east and west, and the liturgy was perfected as an elaborate, dramatic expression of collective devotion.

A move towards greater uniformity is also evident in both parts of the Church. In the east the authority of the patriarch of Constantinople was strengthened by the loss of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem to the Arabs, and between the fourth and the ninth century a series of ecumenical councils codified the doctrine and discipline of the Church. In the west traditional differences in local customs were gradually eroded by conciliar legislation, papal authority, and the development of canon law, and throughout the Church archbishops and metropolitans were acquiring more fully defined jurisdiction.

A similar trend was also visible in monasticism, originally the most radical and varied sphere of religious activity. The first monachoi ('solitaries') were devout laymen who aimed at fulfilling Christ's precepts of poverty and self-denial by removing themselves from the temptations of secular life. The movement started in Egypt, where early desert fathers such as St Anthony attracted thousands of followers. A wide range of monastic communities soon emerged, some loyal to the original hermit life-style, others organized on a coenobitic (communal) basis under an abbot. In the fourth and fifth centuries monasticism rapidly spread northwards to Palestine, Syria, and Anatolia and westwards to Gaul, Italy, and Spain. Amid a ferment of monastic experimentation numerous kinds of holy men appeared. Some of these exerted considerable influence through the simplicity of their lives and the earthy good sense of their counsel, such as St Symeon the Stylite, who remained for thirty-seven years on a pillar near Damascus. In general the emphasis shifted towards the moderate, disciplined regime advocated by the scholar St Basil of Cappadocia, whose

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