Catechetical teachings

The collection “Catechetical Teachings” consists of 95 instructions delivered by St. Theodore the Studite before the brethren of the monastery. These teachings are part of his catechetical heritage, which is traditionally divided into the “Great Catechumen” and the “Little Catechumen.” The teachings cover a wide range of topics: 1) the basics of monastic achievement (teachings 1, 13, 47, etc.): calls for constant struggle with passions, for the mortification of carnal lusts and abstinence; 2) virtues and their acquisition (teachings 6, 11, 14, 23, etc.). Particular attention is paid to obedience to the abbot and elders, humility, love, patience in sorrows and thanksgiving; 3) community life (teachings 1, 27, 39, 76, etc.): instructions on unanimity and peace among the brethren, on the importance of fulfilling monastic obediences with the fear of God and on the inadmissibility of reprehensible conversations; 4) repentance and confession (teachings 2, 17, etc.). St. Theodore emphasizes the importance of sincere confession of thoughts as a path to purification of the soul; 5) liturgical life and church year (teachings 40, 57, 69-71, etc.). The instructions are dedicated to the most important church holidays (Christmas, Annunciation, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost) and periods of fasting, revealing their spiritual meaning and calling for worthy participation in the sacraments; 6) eschatological reflections (teachings 3, 18, etc.): a reminder of death and the coming Last Judgment; 7) confessional spirit (teachings 8, 55, etc.). The instructions contain words of support and strengthening for believers who steadfastly endure persecution, recalling the crown of martyrdom. This publication is a Russian translation of 95 teachings, completed in Optina Pustyn in 1872. The translators relied on the modern Greek edition, widely used in eastern monasteries, which in turn was translated into the Slavic language by St. Paisiy Velichkovsky. The Monk Theodore, abbot of Studia, is known in Church History as a great ascetic, as a confessor of the Orthodox faith, and as a teacher of monasticism. He was born in Constantinople in 759 A.D., from pious and noble parents, during the reign of the iconoclast Constantine Copronymus, and from his youth he led a virtuous life. Having excellent talents by nature, Pr. Theodore also received a good external education: he was a rhetorician and philosopher. Being twenty-two years old from birth (781), he left worldly life, and together with his father according to the flesh and two brothers, he retired to Boscite, near Sakkudion, within the Byzantine region, a wooded place and very convenient for desert living, where a monastery was subsequently founded. Theodore's uncle, Pr., also settled in the same place with them. Plato, who at that time was already a skilled monk. Under his leadership, Theodore diligently labored in the field of monastic life. His prayer was earnest and unceasing, his obedience to his mentor was complete and unquestioning, his humility was deep, his labors were continuous, his abstinence was prudent. At the same time, the Reverend loved to read the books of St. Scriptures and conversations of St. Fathers, especially Basil the Great, and was a strict executor of his monastic rules. Out of obedience to his uncle, Pr. Plato, he accepted the presbytery in the 25th year from birth (784), and in the 35th year, by the will of the same Plato and at the request of all the brethren, he accepted the abbotship of his monastery, and at the same time he intensified his exploits, teaching all his spiritual children in word and deed. He spoke to the brethren from the church pulpit three times a week; and throughout his life, in all unfavorable circumstances, he never ceased to teach his instructions, in writing or orally, full of spiritual wisdom and strength, to those seeking spiritual benefit. During his abbotship, Pr. Theodore, among all the saints contemporary to him. His fathers were distinguished by zeal and firmness in the right faith and piety. He boldly denounced wickedness and unbelief not only in ordinary people, but also in the kings themselves, for which he was exiled three times. The first time he was exiled to Thessaloniki for denouncing the lawless marriage of Emperor Constantine the Younger with Theodotia (795); but during the reign of Irina (797) he was returned to his monastery, and soon, on the occasion of the Saracen invasion, he moved for safety to Constantinople, to the Studian monastery 1. Here, when the number of his disciples greatly increased (up to 1000 people), Pr. Theodore established special types of monastic positions: steward, sub-economist, etc., and wrote for his monastery a charter for church services and monastic deanery: for everyone in the monastery, from the abbot to the cook, he laid out in detail the rules of what should be done and what not to do, and determined the punishments for all sorts of offenses, even small ones, the Charter of Pr. Theodore the Studite is all the more remarkable for us because even during the time of Theodosius of Pechersk it was introduced into use in all Orthodox Russian monasteries; what is in the life of Pr. Theodosius is written like this: “gave him (Prov. Theodosius) God learned the charter of Studian, his blessed Ephraim the eunuch, who was then visiting this holy place, wrote it down in a row, bring it to him: our Reverend Father Theodosius accepted the writing, and began to build everything in his Pechersk monastery according to the charter of the holy Studian monastery. And then all Russian monasteries began to maintain a perfect order (which had never been done before in Russia), looking in everything to the beginning of the Pechersk Monastery, and honoring it with primacy” 2. For the second time Pr. Theodore was exiled to prison (809) near Constantinople for opposing the intention of Emperor Pikifor to introduce into church communion the presbyter Joseph, who had committed an illegal marriage over Constantine the Younger; but in 811 he was again returned to his monastery. The third time he was exiled by the iconoclast Leo the Armenian for his zeal and firmness in confessing the dogma of the veneration of St. icons, first to the Metopes fortress, near Constantinople (814), and then transferred to Bonitus, in Anatolia (815), and finally to the Smyrna prison (819). During this last exile, Pr. Theodore suffered so much beating and great suffering from hunger and thirst, from cold and heat, cruel torture and from always being in a stuffy and cramped room that he almost died. But even in such extreme circumstances, he did not cease to strengthen with his God-inspired teaching the fathers and brothers and spiritual children kept in different places of the dioceses, exhorting, admonishing and begging them not to deviate from the confession of Christ, and not to lose heart in suffering for the truth. After the death of Leo (820), Pr. Theodore was returned from captivity. And since the iconoclastic heresy did not stop in Constantinople, due to the indifference to the Orthodoxy of Michael Travlius, the Reverend, not wanting to be a witness to the people’s misfortune, did not remain in the city, but retired to the so-called Criscentian places, and then moved to the peninsula of St. Tryphon (823 g). There, among his spiritual children, St. Theodore rested peacefully in the Lord in 826, in the 68th year of his life. Among the incessant labors and deeds of monks, abbots and confessors, St. Theodore wrote many books. The main of his creations are the following: A charter setting out the order of church services for the entire year. Canons and tripongs with stichera included in the Lenten triodion. A dogmatic word about the veneration of St. icons; Message to Emperor Theophilus and Letter to Pr. Plato, about the same thing. (Printed in Volume 99 of Minya Patrolology). Three words, seven chapters, and other polemical arguments written in refutation of the iconoclastic heresy. (Printed there) Words for the feasts of the Lord, the Mother of God, in honor of the Forerunner and other Saints. (Some of them are printed there). Four chapters on ascetic life; Interpretation on the ascetic rule of Basil the Great. (Ibid.). Five Books of Letters. (Two books containing 278 Letters were published by Migne in his Patrology, and in Russian translation were published in St. Petersburg in 1867. The same number of letters remain unpublished). The rank order of the Studio monastery; Rules on confession of sins and penance. (Printed in Minya Patrolology). And finally, the Announcements, or Monastic Teachings, and the Testament. Two collections of these teachings have reached us: the Large Collection of Teachings (ἡ Μεγάλη Κατηχητική), consisting of 254 teachings, and the Small Collection (ἡ Μικρὰ Κατήχησις) from 135 teachings. Their Hellenic original remains unpublished to this day, 3 with the exception of four teachings printed by Minya in Hellenic. Other teachings of Prov. Theodore are known only from translations: Latin (in the Patrology of Minya) and modern Greek, published in Venice in 1770. The ninety-five teachings contained in this latest edition and the testament of Pr. Theodore the Studite from the modern Greek language was translated into the Slavic language by the famous elder, archimandrite of the Moldavian German monastery, Paisius Velichkovsky 4. These same ninety-five teachings are now published in Russian translation; in which the translators, in the absence of a Greek original, stuck to the modern Greek translation, adopted in the East, in Greek monasteries for general use. We carefully compared the modern Greek translation with the Slavic translation of Elder Paisius; We used the Latin translation cautiously, in a few cases where the modern Greek translation seemed to us obscure and not entirely satisfactory. The will of Pr. Theodore and those teachings that Minya published in the Greek original (according to our edition, the 13th, 57th, 69th and 95th) were translated from this original by us. In the Slavic translation, at the beginning of the book, before the first teaching it is said: “The catechumens are read after the dismissal of Matins, at the end of the first hour, after saying the prayer: True Light of Christ. The troparion of the saint also says: Mentor of Orthodoxy. Also: To the elected Voivode, and dismissal. The honor begins on November 15, which is the first day of the Holy Pentecostal Nativity of Christ.” And before the seventy-fourth teaching it is said: “At the beginning of the indictment, announcements of honor begin for every day, until the Honest and Life-Giving Cross, except for the feast of the Theotokos. According to the Honest Cross, until November 14, by weeks. And having been completed before the Holy Testament, the book begins again from the 15th of November.” According to this rite of teaching, St. Theodore is read in the Athos monasteries to this day. The image attached to our publication is Pr. Theodore the Studite, borrowed from the publication: Christian East. Views and essays on the travels of A. Porfiry. Petersburg. 1857 Memory Ave. Theodore the Studite is celebrated by St. Church of November 11th. Optina Pustyn. January 19th day, 1872. In Slav. God comforts, in Greek. θεοπαρἀκλητα. According to the meaning of the patristic writings, a slanderer is one who, while expressing what is real, expresses the shortcomings and infirmities of his neighbor out of partiality, or out of envy and memory, or simply unnecessarily, who should not. In Slav. let us ascend to the main and not doubtful (in hand, not doubtful) virtue. In Greek εὶς τὴν ὁμαλην´ (smooth, even) καὶ ἀτάραχονἀρετὴν. Plato, maternal uncle of Theodore the Studite. He tonsured St. Theodore into monasticism, and convinced him to accept the abbotship of the Sakkudion monastery. You might be interested in: