By
Archimandrite Job
(Getcha)
Professor
Archimandrite Job Getcha traces the origins and development of Russian
monasticism, showing how both its roots and its spirituality are firmly based
in the Byzantine Hesychast tradition, and highlighting the particular
importance of the Athonite influence. Rather than being a poor cousin of the
Byzantine monastic tradition, the Russian monastic tradition has, from the very
beginning, been a part of it, bringing forth its own great scholars and
ascetics.
I will
begin my presentation on Russian monastic spirituality by telling an anecdote.
It is said that when Fr. Basil Zenkovsky defended his doctoral dissertation on
‘The history of Russian philosophy’ at St. Sergius’ Theological Institute in
Paris, Fr. George Florovsky made the objection that there is no such concept as
‘Russian philosophy’. Fr. Basil replied to his opponent saying: “I am thankful
to Fr. George for his remark, which I receive with great respect. Nevertheless,
I do not understand how Fr. George himself could be the author of a book
entitled ‘The ways of Russian theology’”.
The same
can be said about the Russian monastic tradition. It is not Russian at all. Its
roots are deeply Byzantine. Its spirituality is impregnated by the Hesychast
tradition, which summarises the monastic experience in the deserts of Egypt,
Palestine, Cappadocia and Syria. From its origins, it is tightly linked with
Mount Athos, the heart of spiritual life of the Orthodox Church and the only
monastic republic of the world.
We will
therefore start our survey of the Hesychast spirituality of the Russian
monastic tradition by recalling the genesis of monasticism in
Kievan Rus’. We will then focus on the golden age of Hesychasm in Russia, and
finally, we will speak of the renewal of Hesychasm in the XVIIIth century and
its impact of Russian monasticism.
The Kiev Caves Monastery
The
baptism of Kievan Rus’ in 988 marks the beginning of a new period of history of
the Russian people. Kiev, the mother of Russian cities, will reflect in the
former barbarian state the glory and splendour of Constantinople. The choice
taken by the Great Prince Vladimir will crown Kievan Rus’ with the Byzantine
culture and Greco-Roman civilisation of the Mediterranean World. This can
appear clearly not only in religious matters, but as well in the art, the
literature, the law and the architecture. Like Constantinople, Kiev will be put
under the protection of the Mother of God and will be adorned with the Great
Church of the Wisdom of God — Saint Sophia.
If the
capital of Xth century Kievan Rus’ was modelled after Constantinople, its first
largest monastery was modelled after Mount Athos and Byzantine Hesychasm. When
Saint Anthony, the founder of Russian Monasticism, came back to Kiev, and
established himself in a tiny cave where previously a pious priest named
Hilarion, who became by that time Metropolitan of Kiev, used to seclude himself
for ascetic labours, living the life of a Hesychast, Anthony brought with him
the blessing of the Holy Mountain which he sowed in the ground where the great
Lavra of the Kiev Caves ought to flourish. “Anthony”, his geronda told him, “go
to Russia, in order to become there an example and a guide for your people. May
the blessing of the Holy Mountain be with you!”
By that
time, Mount Athos had become not only the refuge of monks fleeing Persian and
Arabic invasions, but had appeared as the continuation of the great deserts of
Egypt, Palestine and Syria. The monastic lifestyle of the kelliots of Saint
Sabas Monastery, having been inspired by the organisation of monasticism of
Nitria, had been transposed to Athos since the arrival of the first monks on
that paradisiacal peninsula. Thus, it was through the Holy Mountain that the
first Russian monasticism was linked to the great monastic tradition of Egypt,
Palestine, Cappadocia and Syria. Indeed, the first monks of the Kievan Caves
not only took the names of the ancient Fathers of these deserts but also
followed their lifestyle, which they considered as their model.
Reminiscent
of the spiritual anecdotes of Apophtegmata Patrum, of the Historia Lausiaca of
Palladius or the Spiritual Meadow of John Moschus, the Paterikon of the Kiev
Caves appears as an edifying book, transmitting a spiritual message and
teaching, rather than a historical or biographical work. The Paterikon insists
on demonology and miracles, and here one can notice that the Vita Antonii of
Athanasius of Alexandria was perhaps one of the major sources of inspiration of
the Paterikon. Written around 1215 by Bishop Symeon of Vladimir and his friend,
the monk Polycarp, at the peak of the spiritual flourishing of the Kiev Lavra,
the Paterikon put into a written form an oral tradition which was latter
amplified in the XIVth century with some mystical flavour.
It
recalls the story of the foundation of the monastery, which was organised
following the lavratic system where a cenobite monastery, the centre of
formation for novices, is surrounded by hermits cells. Indeed, desiring to live
a more secluded life, Saint Anthony left his initial cave where several novices
had come, leaving them under the spiritual care of Saint Barlaam, and settled
in another empty cave. When Barlaam was appointed hegumenos of another
monastery, Saint Theodosius became his successor at the head of the monastery
of the caves. It was under his direction that the monastery developed. For his
cenobium, he used the Studite Typikon of Patriarch Alexis, the liturgical and
monastic rule observed in most Byzantine coenobite monasteries of that time.
This Typikon regulated the liturgical services as well as the private prayer of
the monks, their meals, and their duties. Theodosius is thus considered as the
founder of coenobite life in Russia. By his own example, Theodosius emphasised
not only the spiritual aspects of ascetic life, but also the necessity for
physical work and charity to the poor.
Quite
soon, because of the great number of the brethren and thanks to generous
donations, buildings were constructed over the initial caves for the coenobite
monastery, as well as a katholikon in honour of the Dormition of the Mother of
God. Nevertheless, the caves were still used as dwelling places for recluses,
hermits, for prayer, as well as for funerary purposes. The monastery received
the name of ‘Lavra’ because it followed the lavratic system inherited from
Palestine through Mount Athos. Since it was settled in the caves on the bank of
the Dniepr River, the Lavra was therefore called ‘of the Kiev Caves’. The
monastery had a hospital which took care of the ill as well as a guest house to
receive pilgrims and the poor, who were fed, serving in this way the newly
Christianised society in humility and charity.
Among the
various developed themes, the Paterikon insists on the necessity of prayer, of
fasting, of spiritual discernment in order to avoid spiritual illusion, of
love, of forgiveness, of humility. As in the classical ascetic literature,
monastic life is presented as a spiritual warfare with demons, and ascetic life
aimed at healing the major passions (gluttony, fornication, cupidity, anger,
sadness, depression, vainglory and pride). In order to teach this, the
Paterikon tells us many entertaining stories which have many parallels in the
Vita Antonii. As in the Ladder of Saint John Climacus — the great Byzantine
monastic classic — it presents monastic life as purification of the body and of
the soul, deep humility and total obedience, a life of free renunciation and
poverty, of severe fasting, sleepless vigil and unceasing prayer (cf. 1 Thess
5:17). In fact, the practice of the Jesus Prayer is attested literally by the
Paterikon in the life of Saint Nicholas Sviatocha, thus testifying that the
spirituality of Kievan Rus’ was indeed rooted in Byzantine Hesychasm.
Some
present Russian monasticism as rather simple and uneducated, while they
describe Greek monasticism as more intellectual, more erudite. This does not
seem to be true. From its beginning, the Kiev Caves Lavra appears to be not
only a place of ascetic labours but also a centre of learned monasticism. One
can read the most famous homilies of that time, the Discourse on Law and Grace,
written by the first native Metropolitan of Kiev, Hilarion, who appears also as
the first Russian Hesychast and who later retired in the Lavra. This pearl of
early Russian literature, composed as an Encomium in honour of Saint Vladimir,
the ‘Apostle’ of the Russian people, having dissipated the darkness of idolatry
and enlightened his land with the light of the Gospel, is a rather long homily
pondering on the essence of the New Covenant and the Divine economy. It shows
such a deep knowledge of Byzantine theology, exegesis and rhetoric that it
could not have been written by an illiterate monk. This is even more remarkable
considering that Hilarion is regarded not as a Greek, but as the first native
metropolitan.
A monk of
the Lavra described by the Paterikon, Nestor the Chronicler, is considered as
the first Russian historian and the protector of learned monasticism. According
to the Paterikon, he came to the Lavra at the age of 17, and was revealed by
God as the chronicler who had put into a written form the history of the
Russian land and the foundation of the Kiev Caves monastery. His story brings
therefore a testimony to the fact that the Kiev Caves Lavra was a centre of
science and education. Indeed, Nestor’s Chronicle of Ancient Times remains
until now the major source of ancient Russian history.
The
authors of the Paterikon, Symeon and Polycarp, show in their writings a deep
knowledge of the greatest classics of Byzantine monastic literature, which was
not only translated but read and assimilated as well. We know, for instance,
that the Vita Antonii, the Ladder of Saint John Climacus and the writings of
Saint Ephrem the Syrian were among the patristic works which were translated
and read in Kievan Rus’. Thus, the phenomenon of learned monasticism is not
only a characteristic of Byzantine monasticism, but was also present in Russian
monasticism from the very beginning.
This
fascinating period of ‘Kievan byzantinism’ came to an end in 1240, when Kiev
was destroyed by the invasion of the Tatar Khan Baty. Monks had to flee and
find refuge in other places. Some of the monks of the Kiev Caves Lavra went to
the West and settled on the Pochaev hill where a large monastery flourished in
the XVIth century. Others fled to the North, leading to another chapter of
Russian monasticism.
The Golden Age of Russian Hesychasm
The XIVth
century was a century of great paradox both in Russia and Byzantium. Although
both were struggling in a political instability — Byzantium with the Ottoman
empire, Russia with the Golden Horde — it was nevertheless a very bright moment
in history where theology and liturgy were the spiritual light that enlightened
the darkness of everyday life. Once again, Mount Athos, the spiritual centre of
the Orthodox world, played a very important role.
Cyprian of Kiev
Known as the
‘Metropolitan-liturgist’, Cyprian Tsamblak should be seen as the bridge between
Russia and Byzantium. He was born around 1330 in the region of Trnovo in
Bulgaria. He can be considered as the disciple or even as the spiritual son of
the Palamite monk Philotheos Kokkinos, who first became hegumenos of the Great
Lavra on Mount Athos and later Patriarch of Constantinople (1353-1354,
1364-1376). Closely linked to this major figure of XIVth century Byzantine
hesychasm, Cyprian lived on Athos in his youth where he was initiated into the
dogmatic and spiritual teaching of Saint Gregory of Sinai and Saint Gregory
Palamas and acquainted with the Typikon of Jerusalem (of Saint Sabas
Monastery), having influenced worship on the Holy Mountain. Later, he was sent
to Russia by his spiritual father, Patriarch Philotheos, and appointed
Metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania (in 1375), and later, as Metropolitan of
Kiev and all Russia (1381-1382, 1390-1406).
He was in
contact with the great Russian ascetic of that time, Saint Sergius of Radonezh.
We have a correspondence between them, where Cyprian tells Sergius about his
struggle to reach his throne in Moscow against the will of the Great Prince
Dimitri Donskoj. In one of these letters, Cyprian states that he is seeking
neither glory nor wealth, but the metropolis that has been entrusted to him by
the Great Church of Constantinople.
Once
established in Moscow, Cyprian visited many times the Kiev Caves Lavra, which
was being rebuilt after its destruction by the Tatars. Although he was a bishop
in a tumultuous period of history, he was seeking a Hesychast life-style. The
experience that he had had as a young monk on Mount Athos among the hesychasts
had determined in him a deep desire for secluded life, for prayer and study,
which he achieved in his hermitage in the village of Golenischevo, near Moscow.
Being also a greatly erudite man, he installed a scriptorium where, with the
help of copyists, he copied and translated patristic and liturgical
manuscripts. Historians have attributed to him translations of the Corpus
Areopagiticum and the Ladder of St. John Climacus, although recent studies seem
to point out that Cyprian would have only copied existing translations.
His major
achievement was definitely the liturgical reform he inaugurated, following the
model of the reform Patriarch Philotheos had previously achieved in Byzantium.
This reform consisted in the introduction of the Typikon of Saint Sabas. It was
not just merely a textual reform, like the one of Patriarch Nikon in the XVIIth
century, but a reform that changed profoundly the liturgical habits of both
monasteries and parochial churches. The Typikon of the Great Church, used in
parochial churches, as well as the Typikon of Alexis the Studite, used in
monasteries, were both replaced by the Typikon of the Lavra of Saint Sabas in
Palestine, thus leading towards the introduction of a unique Typikon for both
parishes and monasteries, and towards a synthesis of both monastic and
parochial liturgical traditions. This Typikon of Saint Sabas was already in
usage by that time on Mount Athos and was therefore propagated everywhere in the
Byzantine world by the Hesychasts.
Cyprian
is the author of the famous ‘Answers to Hegumenos Athanasios’, a disciple of
St. Sergius of Radonezh and hegumenos of the Vysotsky Monastery in Serpukhovo,
founded by St. Sergius in 1374. Athanasios was later the editor of the first
Russian Sabaite Typikon. In these ‘Answers’, Cyprian tells Athanasios to read
the Paterikon, the works of St. Ephrem the Syrian, of St. Dorotheos of Gaza as
well as the Hexameron of St. Basil the Great in the refectory of his monastery.
This shows, once again, the interest, the culture as well as the erudition of
the Russian monks who were disciples of the Byzantine Hesychasts.
Through
his broad pastoral activity, Metropolitan Cyprian makes the link between XIVth
century Russia and the great Byzantine Hesychast tradition summarised by St.
Gregory of Sinai and St. Gregory Palamas. One of the major and essential
aspects of their spirituality is the universality of prayer. For them, the
commandment of St. Paul: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) has to be
applied to every Christian without any exception. Cyprian’s mentor, Patriarch
Philotheos, in his Life of St. Gregory Palamas, says that this saint taught
“that not only we, [the monks], ought to pray without ceasing, but had to teach
this also to all the others — to the monks and laymen, to the wise and to the
ignorant, to men as well as to women and children, and to exhort them to pray
always”. Therefore, it appeared to the Hesychasts of that period that there
were not two kinds of spirituality, one for the monastic and another for the
laity, nor two kinds of worship, but only one, since prayer was a universal and
essential part of Christian life of both the laity and the monastic.
We often
think that the life of the hesychasts as consisting essentially in the practice
of the Jesus Prayer, which they preferred rather than liturgical services. But
this image does not reflect the true reality. If one reads in the writings of
St. Gregory of Sinai his description of the day of a monk on Mount Athos, it
will appear obvious that its rhythm was set by the liturgical services of the
Horologion, the reading of the Psalter, Jesus prayer and work. The teachings of
St. Gregory of Sinai, as well as the teaching of the Hesychast Patriarchs
Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopouloi, remind us the origins of the Horologion as
the rule of psalmody (kanôn tês psalmôdias) which the monks of Palestine ought
to accomplish every day. The Vita of Saint Sabas tells us that novices at the
Lavra of Saint Sabas in Palestine had to learn this rule of prayer by heart as
well as the entire Psalter when entering the monastery. The Horologion was
therefore the only liturgical book used daily for their rule of prayer, even
when travelling. In a letter attributed to Patriarch Euthymios of Trnovo,
written to the young monk Cyprian who was at that time on Mount Athos, we read:
“Do not neglect to sing matins, the hours, vespers as well as compline, and
with them, the midnight service, since they are powerful weapons of the soul
against the enemies”. Therefore, it is not surprising that the liturgical
reform of Metropolitan Cyprian was undertaken by editing an Horologion — a copy
of which has been carefully kept until our days in the Holy Trinity Lavra near
Moscow.
Besides
the liturgical services, hesychasts emphasised the importance of frequent
communion. In the letter attributed to Patriarch Euthymios of Trnovo, written
to the young monk Cyprian, the ancient practice in Palestinian monasticism of
self-communion in kellia is being raised. Although Euthymios states clearly
that monks should attend regularly the Divine Liturgy and receive communion in
the monastery church, nevertheless, if, due to illness, monks cannot attend it,
or, if they are living faraway from a church with a priest, they can administer
Holy Communion to themselves after having read the proper prayers. The same
emphasis on frequent communion is also attested in the writings of the
Hesychast Patriarchs Kallistos and Ignatios Xanthopouloi, which are found in
the Philokalia. These authors considered that frequent communion to the Divine
mysteries was beneficial for the purification of the soul, illumination of the
intellect, sanctification of the body and remission of sins, and that,
therefore, monks ought to prepare themselves for receiving holy mysteries every
day.
Sergius of Radonezh
The
history of the Holy Trinity Lavra, founded in 1337, is of course tightly linked
with the figure of St. Sergius of Radonezh (1314-1392). The Vita of St.
Sergius, written by his disciple, Epiphanius, surnamed the Wise, was written in
a style that recalls by its miracles and demonology the Paterikon of the Kiev
Caves, especially the Vita of St. Theodosius, and its major source, the Vita
Antonii by St. Athanasius the Great and other great classics of Byzantine
ascetic literature. Born in Rostov into a boyar family, the young Bartholomew
moved with his parents to Radonezh nearby Moscow, due to the frequent inroads
of the Tatars. The Vita presents his childhood with a catalogue of Christian
virtues: stillness, meekness, silence, humility, wrathlessness, simplicity,
equal love to all men. It presents him as a contemplative child, lover of
solitude, prone to tears and loving to recite the Psalter, which he knew by
heart. As a young man, he settled with his brother Stephen in the forest not
faraway from Radonezh — in the place which would later become the great Lavra —
taking over the anchorite tradition of ancient monasticism. Reproducing the portrait
of St. Anthony the Great, his hagiographer presents him as frequently attacked
and intimidated by terrifying demons. Epiphanius also presents fasting as the
only ascetic weapon in struggle with fleshly temptations.
Sergius
received the monastic tonsure at the age of 24 from the hands of the hegumenos
Metrophanes. Imitating the ancient desert Fathers, Sergius did not want to be
ordained a priest. And here appears in the Vita of St. Sergius the importance
of the liturgical services and frequent eucharistic communion in the life of
the Russian monks. The different canonical hours could have been celebrated
without a priest, but not the Divine Liturgy. After the death of Metrophanes
who was a priest, the brethren who were twelve by that time, insisted that
Sergius should become their superior and their priest: “We wish to come to you
for confession and to see you celebrating the Divine Liturgy every day, and to
receive communion from your venerable hands”. Sergius refused, saying that it
was better for him to weep for his own sins, but he finally accepted and was ordained
priest and hegumenos. Nevertheless, this did not change his humble lifestyle
based upon the imitation of the humiliated Christ. This extreme humility led
Sergius to renounce the episcopal consecration that was proposed to him by
Metropolitan Alexis, who presented him with his own golden pectoral cross:
“Forgive me, my lord — said Sergius to the Metropolitan — from my youth I never
wore gold, and in my old age I wish even more to live in poverty”.
Prof.
Fedotov liked to speak of the kenotic ideal of Russian monasticism, which was
of course incarnated by St. Sergius as well as many other Russian saints. This
also recalls the way St. Theodosius used to administrate the Kiev Caves Lavra.
The miracle of the loaves of bread which were sent by the Divine Providence
through an unknown benefactor after the prayer of Sergius when his brethren
were starving reminds us of a similar episode in the Vita of St. Theodosius in
the Kiev Caves Paterikon while teaching us about Christian patience and hope.
We can see many other similar episodes speaking of simplicity, openness,
humility and charity between the lives of St. Sergius and St. Theodosius, the
founder of Russian coenobitism, modelled after the Studion of Constantinople.
As Prof. Fedotov has pointed out, “the model of Theodosius is manifestly
reflected in him (Sergius), only more refined and spiritualized”.
We read
also in the Vita that St. Sergius was blessed by the Patriarch Philotheos
(Kokkinos) of Constantinople who had heard about him and sent him a letter
asking him to follow the coenobite rule in his monastery. To encourage him in
his further ascetic labours, Patriarch Philotheos had also sent him a cross and
many other gifts.
The Vita
of St. Sergius does not credit him with scholarship. He is not presented as a
writer. The Vita even recalls the miraculous gift of learning which he received
in his childhood through eating a piece of prosphora presented to him by an elder.
Nevertheless, St. Sergius popularised among his disciples the great Byzantine
Hesychast legacy, inheriting the best monastic traditions of Mount Athos and
Sinai through the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas and St. Gregory of Sinai.
Among his disciples, the future hegumenos Athanasios of the Vysotsky Monastery,
spent twenty years in Constantinople to study and copy manuscripts. His other
disciple and hagiographer, Epiphanios the Wise with Pachomios Lagothet
undertook a considerable hagiographic edition. Soon, the library of Holy
Trinity Lavra contained translations of St. Gregory of Sinai dating to the
XIV-XV centuries as well as translations of the works of St. Symeon the New
Theologian — both great classics of Byzantine Hesychast literature. Thus,
Sergius had rooted the spiritual life of his disciples in the great heritage of
Byzantine Hesychasm.
The Northern Thebaid
Sergius
had a great impact on monastic life in Russia. Besides the Holy Trinity Lavra,
he founded many other monasteries. Eleven of his disciples also became founders
of monasteries, most of them while Sergius was still alive. They carried the
spiritual legacy of St. Sergius to all the corners of Russia, particularly in
Northern Russia which has been surnamed by A. Muravev the ‘Russian Thebaid’.
The monasticism of this period is different from that of ancient Russia: it is
a monasticism of the ‘desert’. With the destruction of the urban monasteries
during the Mongol invasions, it became obvious for the monks to seek refuge in
virgin forests where they could live in the classical tradition of the desert
monasticism of Egypt, Palestine and Syria.
The
figure of Cyril of Belozersk, who did not belong to Sergius’ immediate
disciples, was a real link between Sergius and the Northern monasticism.
Besides obedience and patience, the gift of tears — “umilenie” – a
characteristic of the Syrian monastic tradition, was among his numerous
virtues. With Ferapont, a monk of the Simonov Monastery, he travelled from
Moscow to the North, to the region of the White Lake, and founded a monastery.
There, particular attention was paid to celebrate the divine services according
to the Sabaite Typikon introduced in Russia by Metropolitan Cyprian. Ferapont
founded also his own monastery nearby Cyril’s monastery. It became famous
because of the frescoes made by the master Dionysios. Around the big
monasteries, groups of cabins (sketes) were built where anchorites lived in
silence and extreme poverty, thus keeping faithfully the ancient Palestinian
and Athonite monastic tradition.
In the
Vologda region, in the Komela forest, monasteries were founded by Paul of
Obnora and Sergius of Nuroma, Sergius’ disciples, who called silence the mother
of all virtues. Another monastery was built on the Kuben Lake by a monk who
came there from Mount Athos. The island of Solovki in the White Sea became the
famous monastic centre of Northern Russia as well, with its establishment by
Zosima and Savvatius. In the region of Novgorod, Sabas of Vishera founded his
monastery.
Poverty
was considered as one of the main monastic virtues. It was also a way of life
allowing independence toward the civil authorities. Exterior asceticism was
nevertheless subordinated to an inner one, to “spiritual working” consisting in
the purification of the mind and union with God in prayer. This activity
corresponded obviously to the “mental prayer” practised by the Byzantine
Hesychasts and which was fully developed in Russia by Nilus Sorski (1433-1508).
We do not
know much about Nilus’ biography. We only know that he became a monk “in his
youth” and that he visited both Constantinople and Mount Athos, where he was
initiated into “mental prayer”. The greatest merit of Nilus’ for Russian
monasticism was the compilation of an anthology of ascetic writings which was
the anticipation of the XVIIIth century Philokalia. Among the writers selected
by Nilus for his anthology we find: Basil the Great, Macarius of Egypt, John
Cassian, Nilus of Sinai, Dorotheus, John and Barsonophius of Gaza, John
Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, Isaac the Syrian, Symeon Stethatus, Philotheus
of Sinai, Peter Damascene and Gregory of Sinai. He is also credited in Russia
with founding the lifestyle of sketes, an intermediary way of life, between
coenobitism and heremitism, which was very popular on Mount Athos at that time.
The
treatise of Nilus was in fact in Russia the first summary of the ascetic doctrine
of the ancient Fathers. From Hesychius of Sinai, Nilus borrowed the five stages
of sin: the appearance of a thought, conjunction with it, its acceptance,
enslavement and finally, the passion. From Evagrius, probably through Cassian,
he received the classification of eight major passions (gluttony, fornication,
cupidity, anger, sadness, depression, vainglory and pride). Faithful to the ascetic
tradition of the Christian East, he affirms that the most efficient weapons in
combating sins or thoughts are the recollection of death and tears. From the
old Palestinian Fathers John and Barsonophius, he developed the doctrine of
unconditional obedience to the elder — a principle which will become perhaps
the fundamental principle of Russian monasticism. Nilus also summarises the
Hesychast method of prayer used for the Jesus prayer, where recitation of the
prayer is associated with the physical rhythm of breathing and the heartbeat. A
form of asceticism especially dear to Nilus is that of extreme poverty — and
here arises a large problem, which was to trouble the Russian monastic world.
Joseph of Volok will object to the program of Nilus the question of charity in
the traditional form of almsgiving. ‘Possessors’ and ‘Non-possessors’ will
argue with each other, and finally the Russian Church will consider both forms
of monasticism as acceptable.
The Renewal of Hesychasm in Russia
The great
Byzantine hesychast heritage in Russia was lost during the ecclesiastical
reforms of Peter the Great (1694-1725) which had disastrous consequences for
monasticism. Under Elizabeth (1741-1762), most monastic property was
confiscated, and under Catherine the Great (1762-1796), more than half of the
monasteries were closed and the number of monks limited. Those who were
searching a genuine type of monastic life had to flee to the South with their
elders.
The
renewal of the Byzantine Hesychast tradition in Russia in the XVIIIth century
is linked with the great figure of starets Paissij Velichkovskij (1722-1794).
His life, known to us thanks to his autobiography, is a captivating one and
gives us an outlook of the condition of monasticism at that time. Born in Poltava
in central Ukraine into the family of a priest, the young Peter came to Kiev to
study theology. Finding the lectures too dry and scholastic, he quit the
Theological Academy — perhaps the best theological school among the Slavs at
that time — and entered the Kiev Caves Lavra with the desire of becoming a
monk. But at that time, the monastic life in this very ancient urban monastery
had more to do with promotion in the ecclesiastical hierarchy than with
Hesychasm. In search for an elder and a more authentic monastic life, the young
novice went to Valachia, to where the best Russian elders had fled the
disastrous ecclesiastical reforms of Peter the Great. Here, he found his
starets, a monk named Basil.
With the
help of the manuscripts of Nilus Sorski, he founded a living school of mental
prayer, and decided to go to the Holy Mountain in order to familiarise himself
with a living tradition. On Athos, his elder Basil tonsured him into the little
monastic schema. He begins his major work in the different monastic libraries
of collecting, compiling and translating into Slavonic texts of the major
Fathers on prayer. But this was a great challenge, since Athos had also
suffered a lot in this period due to the Ottoman occupation, and therefore,
athonites of that time were not well educated and knew very little about the
patristic writings on mental prayer.
Soon,
many disciples settled around Paissij and a monastic community was born. In
order to take care of them, Paissij had to accept ordination into the priesthood.
But since the number of disciples was always growing, the community had to move
from place to place and finally, had to go back to Moldavia, to Dragomirna,
where starets Paissij received the great schema. Eventually, they had even to
split and settled in Sekoul and Niamets. The starets continued his work of
translation and edition of the Slavonic Philokalia, and established around him
a school of learned monks learning Greek and helping him in this gigantic work.
In his community, the starets adapted the Hesychast method of prayer to the
conditions of coenobite monastic life.
The
hesychast renewal in Russia inaugurated by starets Paissij may be compared to
the Hesychast revival in XVIIIth century Greece thanks to the Collyvades, and
especially Makarios of Corinth and Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. This renewal
is closely linked with the edition and diffusion of the Philokalia, the great
anthology of patristic texts on prayer which has become since then the manual
of every Orthodox monk. Paissij was in fact the initiator of this major
undertaking. Makarios and Nicodemus used in fact some of the texts which were
already collected by Paissij while he was still on Athos for their version of
the Philokalia published in 1782. But Paissij’s version, published in 1793, has
fewer treatises than the Greek one.
But this
spiritual revival inspired by Paissij dealt not only with the practice of the
Jesus prayer. It is also at the origin of the renewal of the tradition of
spiritual fatherhood, “starchestvo”. Paissij Velichkovskij became the father of
Russian elders, and directly influenced Optina Pustyn’ and Sarov, two major
centres of spiritual life in XIXth century Russia. The famous story called The
Way of a Pilgrim (c. 1860) is testimony to the practice of mental prayer and
obedience to a starets not only in monasteries, but also outside monastery
walls, among lay pilgrims and solitary hermits. Among theologians, it initiated
a “patristic renewal” which has led them to give up scholasticism and go back to
the early sources.
Thanks to
Paissij, monastic life in Optina Pustyn’ was rooted in the ancient teaching of
the Hesychasts, especially with regards to the practice of mental prayer. This
monastic centre, which has provided Russia with great elders, is tightly linked
with great Slavophile philosophers, such as I. Kireievskij, and inspired a
great writer such as F. Dostoevski for his novel, The Brothers Karamazov.
Sarov
became famous with the figure of St. Seraphim (1759-1833) who “unsealed the
seal which the Synod had placed on Russian sainthood” as once said Prof. Fedotov.
He was a traditional hermit who lived with a bear in the forest, as many
centuries before him St. Gerasimos lived with a lion in the Jordan Desert. Like
St. Symeon the New Theologian or the athonite hesychasts of the XIVth century,
he had an experience of the vision of the Thaboric light, of the uncreated
divine energies, according to the testimony of his disciple Motovilov. His
spiritual weapons were the Jesus prayer, fasting and Holy Communion, which he
considered as the only medicine for the healing of soul and body. Perhaps he
has best summarised the whole Hesychast tradition by stating that the aim of
human life is “the acquisition of the Holy Spirit”.
The Contemporary Renewal of Russian
Monasticism
This
thousand year old heritage of Byzantine Hesychasm may have disappeared due to
an atheistic communistic regime of seventy years, which has cut the chain of
spiritual fatherhood. More than one thousand monasteries were closed, and monks
were scattered or sent to concentration camps. When, after perestroika, the
time came to reopen these monasteries, it was very difficult, almost
impossible, to find good spiritual fathers who could teach the very young
generation of novices, filled by good enthusiasm, the wisdom of monastic life,
not only by words, but by their own experience. But once again, thanks to the
Holy Mountain — from where, in ancient times, St. Anthony of the Kiev Caves
brought the monastic tradition to Russia — the Hesychast monastic tradition is
now being resurrected through permanent contacts and publication, in Russian,
of the writings of contemporary spiritual figures of Mount Athos.
Among
them, the writings of the Russian monk, St. Silouan the Athonite (1866-1938),
popularised by his compatriot, Fr. Sophrony (Sakharov) (1896-1993), have had a
considerable impact on the spiritual life of many young people and have given
birth to many monastic vocations. Today, Russian believers discover, thanks to
very recent translations, the spiritual teaching of Fr. Joseph the Hesychast
(1898-1959), Fr. Ephrem of Katunakia (1912-1988) or Fr. Paisios (1924-1994)
who, among the great human tragedies of the XXth century, had the same
spiritual visions and experience and even accomplished the same miracles as the
major figures of the golden age of Hesychasm.
Source: http://www.bogoslov.ru/en/text/2372746.html
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