Mystical Intersections around 1300. Elijah’s Posture on Mount Carmel

The article deals with the body position used for prayer by Byzantine monks in the first half of the 14th century, as witnessed by Gregory of Sinai and Gregory Palamas, was well known and practised in that same period by Jewish pietists and Muslim Sufis in Alexandria with a common awareness of the precedent represented by the episode of Elijah on Mount Carmel. The parallel between these practices and their reinterpretations in the three religious milieus suggests that we are dealing with some form of interaction, rather than with a chance convergence. The direct relations between ḥasidim and Egyptian Sufis are well attested, while positive testimonies about the relations with the Byzantine monks seem to be lacking.