Studia Litterarum Studia Litterarum 2500-4247 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2025-10-2-52-69 Research Article Articles Author in The Monuments of Late Antique Christian Hagiography Balakhovskaya Alexandra S. red@studlit.ru June 25, 2025 2025 September 01, 2022 The paper deals with the problem of authorship in the monuments of Late Antique hagiography, namely “The Life of St. Anthony the Great” written by Athanasius of Alexandria, and “The Lausiac History” by Palladius of Helenopolis. In the “Life” of Anthony the Great, the formation of the author’s self-awareness was influenced by such factors as the ancient rhetorical tradition and the late antique Christian ascetic theory and practice of humility. Athanasius, having been aware of the greatness of his hero, claims that he does not have the opportunity to talk about all the details of his life and recommends contacting other people who knew him, thereby limiting his authorship to external authority. Palladius of Helenopolis, similarly being in the context of the rhetoric of humility, additionally models his authorship according to the biblical model. Following the patterns of the authors of biblical books, he identifies himself as a preacher of the truth and uses simple language. Thus, for him, the tradition of biblical authorship serves as an external authority. So, both Athanasius of Alexandria and Palladius of Helenopolis comprehend their authorship within the framework of the tradition, humiliating themselves. late Antiquity hagiography authorship author’s self-awareness ancient rhetorical tradition Christian asceticism biblical authorship Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 1 Averintsev, S.S. Ritorika i istoki evropeiskoi literaturnoi traditsii [Rhetoric and the Origins of the European Literary Tradition]. Moscow, Shkola “Iazyki russkoi kul’tury” Publ., 1996. 448 p. (In Russ.) 2 Istoricheskaia poetika. Literaturnye epokhi i tipy khudozhestvennogo soznaniia [Historical Poetics. Literary Epochs and Types of Artistic Consciousness]. Moscow, Nasledie Publ., 1994. 512 p. (In Russ.) 3 Likhachev, D.S. “Sistema literaturnykh zhanrov Drevnei Rusi” [“The System of Ancient Russian Literary Genres”]. Slavianskie literatury. V Mezhdunarodnyi s”ezd slavistov (Sofiia, sentiabr’ 1963 g.) [Slavic Literatures. V International Congress of Slavists (Sofia, September 1963)]. Moscow, Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union Publ., 1963, pp. 47–70. (In Russ.) 4 Minets, Iu.O. Tvorchestvo Palladiia Elenopol’skogo v kontekste formirovaniia idealov khristianskoi zhizni: istoriko-sotsial’nyi aspekt [The Works of Palladius of Helenopolis in the Context of the Formation of the Ideals of Christian Life: Historical and Social Aspect: PhD Dissertation]. Kyiv, 2010. 310 p. (In Russ.) 5 Sidorov, A.I. Drevnekhristianskii asketizm i zarozhdenie monashestva [Ancient Christian Asceticism and the Birth of Monasticism]. Moscow, Palomnik Publ., 1998. 528 p. (In Russ.) 6 Steblin-Kamenskii, M.I. Mif [Myth]. Leningrad, Nauka, Leningrad branch Publ., 1976. 104 p. (In Russ.) 7 Ephthyamidis, Stephanos, editor. The Ashgate Research Companion to Byzantine Hagiography, vol. 1: Periods and Places. Farnham, Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2011. 464 p. (In English) 8 Brakke, David. “The Greek and Syriac Versions of the Life of Antony.” Le Muséon, vol. 107, issue 1–2, 1994, pp. 29–53. (In English) 9 Cox, Patricia. Biography in Late Antiquity: A Quest for the Holy Man. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1983. XVI, 166 p. (Transformation of the Classical Heritage, no. 5) (In English) 10 Cox Miller, Patricia. “Strategies of Representation in Collective Biography: Constructing the Subject as Holy.” Hagg, Tomas, Philip Rousseau, and Christian Hogel, editors. Greek Biography and Panegyric in Late Antiquity. Berkeley, London, Los Angeles, University of California Press Publ., 2000. 289 p. (In English) 11 Krueger, Derek. Writing and Holiness. The Practice of Authorship in the Early Christian East. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004. 298 p. (In English) 12 Minets, Yuliya. “Palladius of Helenopolis: One Author, Two Ways to Wright.” Journal of Early Christian Studies, vol. 25, no. 3, 2017, pp. 411–440. DOI: 10.1353/earl.2017.0035 (In English)