Ascetic text in the ancient Russian tradition: the teachings of St. Isaac the Syrian and autocommunication

The history of the text of the teachings of St. Isaac the Syrian in Russian culture goes back more than 600 years. The earliest manuscript of the “East Slavic edition”, containing the full text of the first volume of the teachings of St. Isaac, dates back to the turn of the 14th–15th centuries. This is a list kept in the Manuscripts Department of the Russian National Library in the collection of M. P. Pogodin (Weather. 1028) 1. The Russian list of “Pandects” of Nikon the Montenegrin of 1381 from the Synodal Collection of the State Historical Museum also contains extensive extracts from the “Lentent Words” - this is how the works of the Syrian elder are usually called in the Slavic manuscript tradition. A huge time distance separates the modern reader from the first Russian monks who became acquainted with the translation into the Slavic language. What do we know about the early Slavic and, in fact, Russian reception of the teachings of St. Isaac? Thanks to source research by A. v. Gorsky and K.I. Nevostruev 2 Archimandrite Leonid (Kavelin) 3 back in the 19th century, I.S. Maslov 4 at the beginning of the 20th century. and E.E. Granstrem and N.B. Tikhomirova 5 in the 80s. XX century the early history of the Slavic version of the monument turned out to be sufficiently comprehended and described. All researchers unanimously associate the appearance of a Slavic translation of the teachings of St. Isaac with the revival of ancient monastic practices in Byzantium at the turn of the XIII-XIV centuries. The spread of the ideas of hesychasm among the Slavs led to increased interest in the works of such holy fathers as Gregory of Sinai, John Climacus, Abba Dorotheos, Nikita Stiphatus, Athanasius of Alexandria, Diadochos of Photiki, Hesychius, Philotheus of Sinai, Basil the Great, Simeon the New Theologian, Dionysius the Areopagite (Pseudodionysia). Particularly active at the beginning of the 14th century in the multilingual book-writing workshops of the monasteries of Constantinople and Athos were old Slavic translations of ascetic texts being edited and new ones being created. Terminus ante quem for the works of St. Isaac the Syrian in Slavic reception is the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century, when, possibly in Bulgaria, the earliest translation from Greek into Slavic of the first volume of the works of the Syrian elder appears. A little later, around the 30s. In the 14th century, in one of the monasteries of Athos (most likely in the Lavra of St. Athanasius), a new translation of the “Fasting Words”, independent of the original one, was created, containing a more complete text of Isaac’s teachings, also from the 1st volume 6. The composition of the first volume differs in both translations and does not find a direct correspondence in the Greek manuscript tradition, as can be judged on the basis of the latest study of Greek copies carried out by M. Pirard 7 . In the next century, the texts of the Syrian ascetic became widespread among the southern Slavs, as evidenced by the mass of Bulgarian and Serbian lists of that time. In Rus', the works of St. Isaac in the second – “Athos” – translation appears, as already mentioned, no earlier than the end of the 14th century. This article is not devoted to source study and textual problems associated with the Russian reception of the works of St. Isaac, but to the much more unexplored question of the perception by Russian medieval writing of the “Fasting Words” as a text of a special type - as an ascetic text 8. Having entered Russian Christian culture along with the significant works of other ascetic fathers, the teachings of Isaac the Syrian revealed to the Russian medieval reader one of the examples of a special type of literature - literature associated with the idea of ​​verbalization and self-understanding of spiritual experience. The concept of “ascetic text,” at first glance known to Russian philological medieval studies, nevertheless has not yet received a precise definition. The criterion for distinguishing texts from this circle into a special area at the moment remains their specifically ascetic themes. However, there is a long overdue need to formulate their key categorical features, explore the features of the structure, and identify the specifics of functioning and interaction with other types of texts. It seems to me that it is precisely this approach, using the methods of modern philology, primarily “text theory,” that will make it possible to draw conclusions about how and in what status the Syriac text of the 7th century. entered the necessary circle of reading Russian monasticism. Indeed, over the course of two centuries - the 15th and 16th centuries. – “The Words of Fasting” were not only necessarily included in monastery libraries, but were also copied en masse, literally replicated in the largest Russian scriptoria - in the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, in the Joseph-Volokolamsk and Solovetsky monasteries, or, for example, in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery. In this large North Russian monastery in the first half of the 16th century. Eight completely identical lists of the works of St. Petersburg were created. Isaac, clearly intended for the internal needs of the monastery. Source study conclusions about the popularity of ascetic texts in certain periods of medieval Russian history, on the one hand, and historical and philological research about the influence of Isaac’s ideas on certain representatives of Russian hesychasm, on the other, will remain superficial until the “ascetic text” is understood from a scientific point of view as a special genre, as a special type of text. S. S. Khoruzhy in his monograph “On the Phenomenology of Ascesis” called “its experienced character” the main defining feature of this genre. The ascetic genre serves the spiritual process, the sphere of a certain experience, and serves it comprehensively, delivering: detailed analytical descriptions of the process at all its stages; instructions and directions for participation in the process; necessary additional information - about possible difficulties and dangers, about the model of man and the world within the framework of which the process is interpreted" 9 . Interiorization of personal spiritual experience, various ways of its verbalization and interpretation in line with the patristic tradition are perhaps the main categorical features of an ascetic text. The teachings of Isaac the Syrian served for the Russian medieval reader both as a source of information and as an example of a special type of discourse, the characteristic features of which have yet to be determined. The ancient Russian monks, who copied the works of Isaac in the Constantinople, Athos, and Russian monasteries, not only were in the same doctrinal space with the ascetic holy fathers, but also mastered a single code for describing and interpreting spiritual experience. Thanks to a single code and common goals, living, sacramental communication between the author and the reader through the text became possible, as well as the special “action” of the text outside the virtual verbal element in the real experience of the reader. It is important to take into account that the Russian written tradition has not brought to us original ascetic writings that “ripened” in the bosom of Russian Christianity itself. A rare exception against this background are the short, anonymous “Words” (teachings) that are Russian in origin, regulating the monastic routine in a laconic form, part of the monastic charters, partially in contact with ascetic texts, and the “Charter” in 11 chapters of St. Nila Sorsky 10. The last text offers the researcher perhaps the only example of a holistic, structurally complex Russian ascetic work. The “Charter” is built on an organic fusion of the original text and constant intertextual references to authoritative ascetic fathers, including the “Fasting Words” of St. Isaac. Thus, we are faced with a situation where, upon reception of a translated ascetic text, the local tradition masters a special code, but does not feel the need to generate original texts in this code. On the other hand, an obvious response to the entry of the works of St. Isaac into the current cultural space are numerous extracts from them in Russian manuscripts, extracts that often form entire compilations, unsystematic collections of scattered quotations from Isaac’s teachings. Similar compilations are found in Slavic lists throughout the late Middle Ages, starting with the translation of the Lenten Words at the beginning of the 14th century, and their purpose is by no means obvious 11 . In a short article, of course, it is impossible to touch upon and cover in detail all the problems associated with the perception by Russian medieval culture of the teachings of St. Isaac. I will allow myself to focus on only one aspect, within the framework of which it is possible to present in sufficient detail the peculiarities of the reception in Rus' of the works of the Syrian ascetic. This is an aspect of autocommunication. The concept of “autocommunication” was introduced in 1973 by Yu. M. Lotman in his work “Autocommunication: “I” and “Other” as addressees” 12. In his article, the outstanding historian and literary theorist identified two multidirectional channels of information transmission in the mechanism of culture: in the “I – ​​he” direction and in the “I – ​​I” direction. “In the “I – ​​HE” system, the framing elements of the model turn out to be variable (the addressee is replaced by the addressee), and the constants are the code and the message. The message and the information it contains are constant, but the information carrier changes. In the “I – ​​I” system, the information carrier remains the same, but the message in the process of communication is reformulated and acquires a new meaning. This occurs as a result of the fact that an additional - second - code is introduced and the original message is recoded in the units of its structure, receiving the features of a new message... If the communicative system I - HE provides only the transfer of a certain constant volume of information, then in the channel “I - I” its qualitative transformation occurs, which leads to the restructuring of this “I” itself,” noted Yu. M. Lotman 13. It is precisely this “restructuring of the Self”, as a result of the transmission of a message in which the addressee coincides with the addressee, that makes the secondary texts of compilations of quotations from St. Isaac in Russian lists similar to his original text. It is in this “perestroika”, carried out with the help of a verbal text, that it is necessary to see one of the most important results of the reception of the “Lentent Words” by the ancient Russian tradition along with other ascetic writings. Let me explain. The fasting words of Isaac the Syrian in their Slavic “version” represent an extremely flexible collection of teachings and conversations, not connected in their internal composition. Individual teachings within the collection can move freely, forming new sequences of texts, which is noticeable in the example of Greek copies and two Slavic translations. There are no strict logical connections between the teachings, with the exception of a few thematic “blocks”, which creates the impression of self-sufficiency, self-closure of individual texts and, accordingly, the overall fragmentary, unsystematic composition of the book. Without dwelling in detail on the issue of the structure of the collection, we especially note that the discreteness of the macro-composition is easily projected onto the level of individual teachings. At this level we find not just signs of different subgenres of ascetic literature, such as question-answers, epistles, patericon stories, prayers, and fragments of a confessional nature. The structure of some chapters is also characterized by pronounced discreteness. Many of them look like chains of maxims, often not even thematically related to each other. What is behind this discreteness - the combination into a coherent text of different-time “notes on the occasion,” as some researchers believed, or a special element of mystical “insights,” according to G.V. Florovsky characteristic of Isaac 14? I would like to demonstrate one of these fragments, which is located in a rather important context - in the context of the first, initial chapter of “Words of Fasting.” The text is quoted from the manuscript of the Kirillo-Belozersky collection (RNB No. 67/192) (XV century): I. “The beginning of the truth of life for man is the fear of God. And this one, with the soaring of some souls, does not obey; For fear the heart will scatter from the sweetness of God into the service of feelings. Fearfully, speech connects the hedgehog inside the thoughts into their feelings, into the feelings that serve those. II. Taking away the heart causes fear to the soul. Faith, even in the cutting off of pleasure, can strengthen will. Carnal love greatly prevails in you, // you cannot be generous and fearless due to the many resistances that exist near your beloved. III. Although he desires honor, he cannot help but be deprived of the wines of sorrow. There is no man who is capable of changing things, who does not acquire in his thoughts a change towards the thing before him. If there is desire, speech, the birth of feelings, let them keep silent about the rest, even those who profess to preserve the humility of thought with care. IV. He is chaste, who is not in labor and during battle and heroic deeds, I say that evil thoughts cease from him, but who with the truth of his heart is chaste in the vision of his meaning, so that he does not endlessly entertain evil thoughts...” 15. What stands out in this passage? A lot of semantic gaps between statements. The sequence of sentences does not form any superphrasal unity. Each sentence introduces a new topic. Even with the presence of formal means of communication (such as conjunctions, pronouns, particles), paragraph I still breaks down into at least three semantic segments. The boundary between two of them runs right along the sentence, for example: “And this one, with the soaring of some souls, does not obey, / for fear the heart will scatter from the sweetness of God into the service of feelings.” How do the concepts of “soul”, “heart”, “soaring”, “service of feelings”, “sweetness of God” introduced in this statement by the author relate to each other? The connection between them is information from the area of ​​presupposition (the knowledge from which the author proceeds), but it is not expressed verbally in the text. Such ellipticity can be caused by the orientation of the text from “I” to “I,” i.e., its autocommunicativeness. Paragraphs II and III basically offer the same outline: – they look completely unrelated to the previous text, – they contain only rare lexical repetitions, – there are semantic and syntactic breaks within paragraphs, – the sentences are completely isolated thematically and structurally. Thus, we have before us a text, the semantic connections between the elements of which are subject to ellipsis, which gives rise to a feeling of dissonance. However, implicit semantic connections are still present in this passage - at the level of subtext. All statements are variations on one common theme - the theme of the variability of the “visible thing”, the dependence of human feelings and mind on it and, therefore, the need to leave, renounce the “rumor of the world” for those who seek “drunkness in the faith of God.” This is how the main theme of Isaac’s entire first teaching is realized in the passage: “On the renunciation of the world and monastic life.” The presence of gaps and compression of meaning creates the impression of a special power of the text, a kind of textual energy. Here we should return to the concept of autocommunication. Such laconicism, fragmentation, semantic and formal compression are characteristic of “inner speech”, which can serve as a relative analogue of the text created in the “I - I” direction. In such fragments the text of St. Isaac is introspective. It is in such cases that we can talk about ways of internalizing spiritual experience. In passages of precisely this nature, we are faced with the fact of objectification of internal experience with the help of words, with the fact of self-regulation and self-understanding of this experience, with the fact of “restructuring the “I” itself.” The process of reflection does not necessarily have to be reflected in all details in the ascetic text: we see that St. Isaac rather presents the conclusions of this reflection. The text itself, with all the energy of transformation hidden in it, acts as an instrument of “action”, the result of which is the transformation of the consciousness generating this text. In my opinion, in quite numerous fragments of this kind, scientific hermeneutics should see the text being conditioned precisely by its autocommunicativeness. When perceiving such a text, the reader is required not only to master the code and have common knowledge with the author, but also to have individual spiritual experience - to be more precise, actual spiritual experience that needs verbalization. The teachings of Isaac the Syrian have in their structure various types of discourse, including a whole gradation between two conventional poles - the text in the direction “I - I” and in the direction “I - he”. A whole series of teachings are detailed, logically connected, consistent texts in which there are no semantic gaps of any kind. However, it is precisely the fragments of the type of discourse described here that are most easily broken down into separate “sentences,” and it was they that became the material for numerous and extensive compilations of quotations from St. Isaac in Russian manuscripts. Let us consider one of these compilations as part of a 16th-century manuscript. from the collection of the Solovetsky Monastery, stored in the National Library. We see that the compiler used quotes from the 56th, 71st, 41st, 5th, 57th, 85th, 30th and 38th teachings of Isaac the Syrian. It involves disparate material in a single context, generated not so much by the unity of the topic as by the unity of purpose and the autocommunicative “movement” of the text from “I” to “I”. Despite the natural semantic closure, self-sufficiency, isolation of statements taken out of the original context, quotes, coming into contact with each other, give rise to a new integral context. The logical connections between the quotes are hidden, but a certain internal motive can be traced quite clearly: it is built on the opposition of two semantic spheres - “world” and “desert”. Each of them finds verbal embodiment in a number of related concepts: world - “every external union”, “to be freed from things”, “from the world and its darkness”, “the creeping world”, “mingling with the worldly”, “evil knowledge”, “from the wines of the passions”, “from sin will be taken away”, “in a lot of conversation”, “despondency from the soaring of meaning ...”, “entrance ... by a demon”, “will obey the opponent”, “teaching the weak mind”, etc. d. The second circle of meanings is opposite to the first in connotative coloring: desert - “a soul that loves God”, “rest in God alone”, “connect with God”, “blessed is he who retires from the world”, “into the first purity of thought”, “preparing... for the fear of God”, “a thing of prayer”, “enlighten the soul”, “pray without laziness and in silence”, “blessed... abide in silence”, etc. A detailed linguistic analysis of the fragment shows that the selection of quotes is not random. These are not scattered notes “for memory”. The integrity and internal coherence of the text is ensured not so much by explicit bonds, but by a single compiler setting. I dare to suggest that in such compilations the phenomenon of communication in experience is embodied, for the sake of which, in fact, the reader picks up an ascetic text. In other words, generating a new secondary text from the details of the authoritative patristic text, the ancient Russian scribe pursued the same goal as the Monk Isaac in the 7th century. – he created the text “for himself” in order to interpret his own, largely mysterious and non-verbalizable inner spiritual experience. Such compilations are most often unique in the composition and order of extracts from St. Isaac and are no longer repeated in other manuscripts. Consequently, they reflect individual reading practice: the reader, who takes an active position in the perception of the text, simultaneously acts as the author of a new ascetic text. Such compilations cannot gain a stable foothold in tradition or independent functioning in the textual space of Old Russian book literature. They have a pronounced autocommunicative nature. Their main task is the autohermeneutics of individual spiritual experience in the “space of communication” (the term of S. S. Khoruzhy), which is “constituted by tradition,” in particular the spiritual heritage of St. Isaac the Syrian. Autocommunication is just one aspect of considering the “Words of the Fast” by Isaac the Syrian as a text of a special type, namely an ascetic text. I hope that the above illustrations and considerations clearly prove the need, finally, for philological science itself to pay attention to the specifics of this special genre of medieval literature. In this area we find more questions than answers. And traditional source study, textual and historical-literary methods, which are quite fruitful in other areas, in the case of Christian “mystical-ascetic literature” turn out to be insufficient. The teachings of Isaac the Syrian as mystical-ascetic texts are a kind of “standing-at-the-exit into Genesis,” to use the expression of Protodeacon Andrei Kuraev. For the teachings of St. Isaac, as well as the works of other ascetic fathers, is characterized by an internal antinomy generated by the constant tension between what is said and what cannot be expressed in human words, that is, between the “said” and the “unsaid.” In both the 1st and 2nd volumes of Isaac’s works, there are quite often references to “languagelessness,” that is, to the inability of attempts to express the realities of revelation in human words. Nevertheless, Rev. Isaac, creating a text, as noted above, verbalizes his inner mystical experience, thereby comprehending and objectifying it. “Fasting words” by St. Isaac is the space where two worlds meet, the visible and the invisible, the human world and the world of “the life of the future century.” “Ineffable verbs,” as the Apostle Paul put it, without finding any verbal expression, are energetically present in his text. ...living, transforming and realizing someone else’s experience in one’s own feat prepares a person to perceive “ineffable verbs.” It seems to me that it was precisely this essentially teleological motive that was leading in the reception by ancient Russian book culture of the translation of the “Fasting Words” of St. Isaac. For the dating of the list, see Ivanova Kl. Bulgarian, Serbian and Moldavian Cyrillic manuscripts in the collection of M. P. Pogodin. Sofia, 1981. P. 467. Gorsky A.V., Nevostruev K.I. Description of Slavic manuscripts of the Moscow Synodal Library. M., 1859. Dept. II. Part 2. pp. 156–185. Leonid Kavelin, archimandrite. Systematic description of the handwritten collection of Count A. S. Uvarov. M., 1893. Part 1. P. 166. Maslov S.I. Lenten words of Isaac the Syrian according to a manuscript belonging to the library of the University of St. Vladimir // University news. 1912. Issue. 3. P. IX. Granstrem E. E., Tikhomirov N. B. Works of Isaac the Syrian in Slavic Russian writing // Bulletin of Church History. 2007. No. 1. P. 134–197. For more details about the two Slavic translations, including a bibliography of the issue, see M. S. Fedotova. On the issue of the Slavic translation of the fasting words of Isaac the Syrian (based on manuscripts of the 14th - early 16th century St. Petersburg collections) // Proceedings of the Department of Old Russian Literature. St. Petersburg, 2001. T. 52, pp. 498–512. See Μάρκελλος Πιράρ. Ἱστορία τοῦ ἑλληνικοῦ κειμένου // Ἀββᾶ Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ Σύρου Λόγοι Ἀσκητικοί. Κριτικὴ ἔκδοση. Ἱερὰ Μονὴ Ἰβήρων, Ἅγιον Ὄρος, 2012. Σ 101–195. About the concept of “ascetic text” and its specifics, see M. S. Egorova. Ascetic text as a type of text: Based on the material of the Slavic translation of the teachings of St. Isaac the Syrian based on manuscripts of the 14th–16th centuries. // Beginning: Journal of the Institute of Theology and Philosophy. 2009. No. 20. pp. 28–53. Khoruzhy S.S. On the phenomenology of asceticism // Khoruzhy S.S. Research on the hesychast tradition. St. Petersburg, 2012. T. 1. P. 231. For publication of the text and research, see Borovkova-Maikova M.S. Nil Sorsky Tradition and Charter. St. Petersburg, 1912 (PDPI. T. 179). On the specifics of ascetic collections, see Egorova M. S. Russian ascetic collections of the XIV–XVI centuries. as a type of collection // Proceedings of the department of ancient Russian literature. St. Petersburg, 2004. T. 56, pp. 181–235. See reprint: Lotman Yu. M. Automatic communication: “I” and “Other” as addressees: On two models of communication in the cultural system // Lotman Yu. M. Inside thinking worlds. Man – text – semiosphere – history. M., 1996. pp. 23–46. Lotman Yu. M. Autocommunication... P. 25. See Florovsky G.V. Eastern fathers of the V–VIII centuries. M., 1992. P. 186. “The beginning of true life in man is the fear of God. But he does not tolerate being in someone’s soul along with the soaring of the mind; because when serving the senses, the heart is distracted from the delight of God, for internal thoughts by their sensation, as they say, are connected in the very senses that serve them. Doubt in the heart brings fear into the soul. And faith can make the will firm even when members are cut off. To the extent that love for the flesh prevails in you, to such an extent you cannot be courageous and fearless in the many confrontations surrounding what you love. He who desires honor for himself cannot lack reasons for sorrow. There is no person who, with a change in circumstances, would not feel in his mind a change in attitude towards the task at hand. If lust, as they say, is a product of feelings, then let those who assert about themselves that they maintain peace of mind even during entertainment be silent. Chaste is not the one who, in work, during struggle and achievement, says about himself that then shameful thoughts cease in him, but who, with the truth of his heart, makes the contemplation of his mind chaste, so that he does not shamelessly listen to obscene thoughts” (in Russian translation. Word 1 // Abba Isaac the Syrian Ascetic Words / Edited by S. I. Sobolevsky. M., 1993 pp. 3–4) The numbering of the teachings is given according to the same manuscript (Solov. 831/941), the order of the chapters in which fully corresponds to the usual order of the chapters in the second, most widespread in Rus', Slavic translation of the 1st volume of Isaac's works. The “painting” of the chapters and the “key” of the correspondence between the Syriac text according to the edition of Bejan, the Greek text according to the edition of Nikephoros Theotokis and two Slavic translations, see, in particular: Mar Ishak from Mount Matut (Reverend Isaac the Syrian), 7th century. Ignition of the mind in the spiritual desert / Trans. with sir. A. V. Muravyova. Holy Mount Athos; M., 2008. S. 149–169, 111–117; Fedotova M. S. On the issue... P. 505. Russian translation of quotes is given according to the edition: Abba Isaac the Syrian Words of Asceticism / Ed. S.I. Sobolevsky. M., 1993. Word 56: “The soul that loves God has its rest in God and Him alone. First renounce all external union, and then you will be able to be in union with God with your heart, because union with God is preceded by renunciation from substance” (p. 276). Word 71: “Blessed is he who has withdrawn from the world and its darkness and pays attention to himself alone” (p. 364). Word 41: “He who spends one hour sighing for his soul is better than he who brings benefit to the whole world through his vision” (p. 175). Word 5: “Therefore, those who live in the world, in close ties with worldly people, cannot cleanse their minds, for the reason that they have known much evil. Few are able to return to the original purity of mind” (p. 25). Word 57: “Whoever does not voluntarily remove himself from the causes of passions is involuntarily drawn into sin” (p. 292). Word 85: “...and with darkness upon darkness there are gathering places for conversation” (p. 408). Word 85: “The soul is damaged by many long conversations, even if they had in mind the fear of God (p. 409). Word 30: “Despondency comes from a soaring mind, and a soaring mind comes from idleness, reading and vain conversations, or from a satiated belly” (p. 137). Word 71: “On that day God will judge us not for the psalms, not for our abandonment of prayer, but because by omitting this we are given entrance to demons” (p. 362). Word 71: “Whoever does not submit his will to God will submit to His adversary...” (p. 362). Word 38: “The thoughts of a weak mind make the strength of patience weak; and a strong mind even imparts strength to the one who follows his thoughts, which nature does not have” (p. 163).