425 Izvirni znanstveni članek/Artcle (1.01) Bogoslovni vestnik/Theological Quarterly 81 (2021) 2, 425–436 Besedilo prejeto/Received:10/2020; sprejeto/Accepted:02/2021 UDK: 27-36-1sv.Hieronim DOI: 10.34291/BV2021/02/Sales © 2021 Sales-Carbonell, CC BY 4.0 Jordina Sales-Carbonell Jerome and Western Monastcism: Ascetcism, Evergetsm, and Orthodoxy in the Late 4 th Century Hispania Hieronim in zahodno meništvo: asketcizem, everge- tzem in ortodoksnost v Hispaniji poznega 4. stoletja Abstract: Jerome had very litle Hispanic epistolary correspondence. Nonetheless, the informaton contained in his few surviving leters gives us an idea of the essental nature of the frst Hispanic monastcism - that related to aristocratc ascetcism in a family milieu. Among other things, it was the economic basis for the foundaton of monasteries throughout the Holy Land under the direct patronage of Jerome of Stridon. Lucinus and his wife Theodora were wealthy Baetcan landowners who became actve euergetes for the Christan cause and embraced an ascetc life under Jerome’s infuence. Lucinus sent conspicuous amounts of money to Jerome. He also sent a garment he had worn as a sym- bol of his conversion to monastcism, a decision Jerome endorsed and blessed when he replied by sending silicon garments for him and his wife, Theodora. Abigaus was a blind man who also converted to ascetcism under the episto- lary infuence of Jerome. He appears to have been related to a proto-monastc community to which Lucinus and Theodora may have belonged. This is an excit- ing aspect that allows us to fully comprehend the beginnings of coenobitsm in the western reaches of the Roman Empire. The portrait of a late 4 th -century orthodox ascetcism painted by Jerome’s leters will be analyzed and compared with the informaton gleaned from the contemporary archaeological remains in Hispania impregnated by Priscillianism and other heterodox movements against which Jerome railed through epistolography from his base in the Holy Land. Keywords: Hispania, monastcism, ascetcism, orthodoxy, Christanizaton among the aristocracy, ecclesia in villa Povzetek: Čeprav je Hieronimovih epistolarnih korespondentov iz Hispanije zelo malo, je iz nekaterih ohranjenih pisem kljub temu mogoče razbrat bistveno značilnost zgodnjega hispanskega meništva, ki je bilo povezano z aristokratskim asketcizmom družinske narave, to pa je med drugim prispevalo k ekonomski