Saints’ mobility and confinement: deconstructing Byzantine stories of (fe)male ascetics and monastics

This article investigates stories of holiness which have ascetics or monastics as their hero(in)es and which develop based on a careful interlocking of two concepts: wanderings in urban or desert environments and self‐confinement in enclosed or secluded spaces. Through a close reading of two saints’ Lives (i.e., the Life of Mary of Egypt and the Life of Matrona of Perge) dating to the early and middle Byzantine periods, the present analysis uncovers the tripartite relationship between movement, confinement, and spiritual advancement from a literary‐narrative point of view, thus deepening our understanding of asceticism and monasticism in Byzantine contexts.