La parrhesia de Isidoro de Pelusio o cuando politeia y paideia llegan a encontrarse

Abstract

A severe life style (politeia) – proper of a monk – and rhetorical education (paideia) – proper of a sophist – are both gifts that Isidor, monk from the desert, possesses. He is the spokesman of a philosophia monastike oriented towards several directions: his own and his brothers’ moral improvement, through a break with the materiality (apotaghe) and an in-depth study of the Scriptures; his own and his brothers’ devotional submission to a rule; improving both Christian and laic societies, through the exercise of the parrhesia. Though retired in the desert, Isidor never abdicates his social dimension and he strongly commits himself, by explicit request, in order to conduct the sinners to the straight and narrow path. He reproaches the defaulting klerikoi, the corrupted archontes, by asking them to perform their duty honestly, or by denouncing recidivism. He consoles the afflicted and he is interested in various aspects of social life: assistance to the poor, education of the young.