Глава 10. 1793–1799
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1. Fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul
In all matters I continually resort to this holy soul... since it is not Paul who speaks, but Christ, who moves his soul 565.
The Monk Nicodemus, as a rule, states in his works that the purpose of their writing was the desire to benefit the brothers. So it was this time: the monk saw that “his brothers” were deprived of the interpretation of the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle in languages, and he took up this work. He began to look among the manuscripts of the Holy Mountain for the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, because, as he writes in his preface, “John Chrysostom, having seen how many great heavenly treasures of the Spirit are full of these Epistles of the chosen vessel, and being amazed at the many and great benefits contained in them, moved by Divine grace, he himself for the first time interpreted them all with the most beautiful and highest way... after all, the great Paul himself stood next to him and, leaning towards his ear, dictated to him and secretly guided him in the interpretation of his Epistles...
The same divine John, holding in his hands the book of the Apostle that he interpreted and looking at the image of Paul, said: “Receive, Paul, my labors as a most precious gift, and if he is worthy of your greatness and grace, praise be to God and you, and if he is not worthy, forgive those enslaved by human weakness,” and this was said by the divine Chrysostom, oh miracle! And so that same teacher Paul, who was worthy to hear ineffable verbs, appeared to him in bodily form, saying: “Brother John, do not at all doubt the interpretation of my, or rather, the messages written by the Spirit, but be sure that you have comprehended them as accurately and revealed their meaning, as I myself have known and as the same Spirit has imparted to us both.” Having said this,” writes the Monk Nicodemus, “and having said goodbye to him, he immediately disappeared.”
Nicodemus was well aware that all subsequent interpreters drew precisely from the work of Chrysostom, “as if from some deep spring”: blessed Theodoret, John of Damascus, Theophylact of Bulgaria, Icumenius, the most judicious Photius 566 and the most learned George Coresius 567. And therefore the monk decided to use Theophylact’s interpretation, attracted by the “clarity of thought and brevity of presentation.” However, since “the interpretation, so necessary and filled with great benefit for the family of Orthodox Greeks,” was written in an archaic dialect and thereby became similar to a captive city and a sealed source 568, the holy father, out of love for his brothers, wanted to open the garden and remove the seal from the coveted source.
“Why, I, the least of all, seeing that my brothers are deprived of benefit from reading this interpretation, and also being prompted by certain spiritual brothers who have an ardent zeal for the common benefit and good of the People, for this sake, trusting in the prayers and supplications of the great Paul, Chrysostom and Theophylact, as well as in the prayers of those of my brothers in Christ who will read this book, I translated this interpretation...”
And so he in some way makes interpretation upon interpretation, expanding the compressed comments of Theophylact, shortening something, clarifying something, setting out something more at length, somewhere explaining the meaning and pointing out that “clarity and great brevity are two opposite things, and blessed Theophylact in many parts of his interpretation shows precisely great brevity, the consequence of which is the impossibility of understanding the exact meaning, especially in translation into simple Greek; Therefore, having found the meaning unclear in some places, I opened the shutter a little and expanded the abbreviation through additions, deletions and changes, but only in order to make the meaning of the interpretation clear to my simpleton brothers.”
But where St. Nicodemus truly reveals the sources of his great learning is in the notes, which make up almost half of three large-format volumes totaling 1,350 pages! Moreover, many of these notes are given from memory. This is how the monk himself speaks about this: “And along with the translation that I made for the sake of my simple brothers, I also placed numerous notes, for the sake of the learned people of my people, and especially for the sake of novice preachers, in order to give them material for teaching the people of God.
And despite the fact that my main goal was to bring benefit to my simple brothers with my insignificant and simple labor, my other goal was also to partially benefit the learned, if, of course, the learned can benefit from the ignorant; for the debt of my brotherly love extends to them too...” And as if jokingly and at the same time expressing the spirit of humility that possessed him, as if he were not worthy to teach scientists, the saint writes such beautiful lines: “For it is not for the birds that I straighten the paths and clear the roads from stones, thorns and other obstacles, as they say, that is, it is not for important and skillful people that I work on what I work on, because the highest air serves as their road and the upper firmament - but for wingless animals, that is, for the unlearned and simple Christians.”
Plunging into the boundless depths of spiritual beauty, wisdom and holiness of the Epistles of the great Paul, the monk writes: “Of course, I should have Chrysostom’s language so that I could properly praise the inspired Epistles of blessed Paul. For only this beautiful, euphonious and melodious voice of the Golden-speaking John, a voice that surpasses all ancient and modern orations, a voice that adorned the Church of Christ with his speeches - only he alone, I say, was capable of interpreting the Epistles of Paul with his golden-speaking explanations, and only he alone was able to duly praise these Epistles with his golden-speaking teachings.
Beautiful are the names and definitions with which the holy hermit endows his Epistles, thereby expressing his inspiration and spiritual love and revealing the highest measure of his life.
The monk writes: “The epistles of the divine Paul are the solid foundations of the Christian Faith, the beginnings of Christian piety, the fundamental principles of the entire One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church stretching from East to West, books that complete the New Testament. For just as fourteen propositions make up the universal art of rhetoric, and just as fourteen voices make up the art of music that pleases the world, so these fourteen Epistles of the heavenly Paul make up and contain the entire Christ-named fullness of Christ’s Universal Church. They are the accuracy of high Theology, the inviolability of natural philosophy, the most correct moral teaching, they are the measure of right dogmas and false wisdom, denunciation, the foundation fabric for theologians, both ancient and new, weaving into which their own thread, they have woven and are weaving the tunic of Orthodoxy woven from above and dressing the Church of Christ in it. They are the material necessary for all teachers...”
Continuing his praises of the Epistles, the Monk Nicodemus ascends from strength to strength to high and majestic thoughts and contemplations in order to calm the heat of his love, pouring out his reflections that flooded his great mind, and weaving a worthy hymn to the holy Apostle: “... where else did we, who are on earth, learn about the Heavenly army of the blessed Angels, or where did we take the names of Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Principalities and other orders of disembodied Angels, if not from these Epistles? Where did we get the confidence that the supermundane Principalities and Powers knew through the Church the manifold Wisdom of God, or where did we learn that all Angels “are ministering spirits sent to serve for those who are to inherit salvation” 569 if not from these Epistles?
For one, or one of the few, Paul, not by a human dreamy thought, but by the ineffable and supernatural power of the Spirit, was raised from the earth during his lifetime and, not knowing whether in the body or outside the body, swam across the boundless ocean stretching between heaven and earth and, raptured to the third heaven, revealed in his Epistles the intelligent and worldly Peace he saw there to us who exist on earth...”
Saint Nicodemus, having studied the fourteen Epistles of the Apostle Paul, describes their merits, their benefits, the revelation of supernatural mysteries contained in them, and, amazed and inspired by the ineffable gifts of God sent down to people, communing with them and, as it were, experiencing the blissful suffering of a wounded heart for the sake of those mysteries of the Church of Christ, into which angels wish to delve, the monk concludes: “Shall I say even more? Paul’s epistles contain thoughts and sacraments greater than those contained in the Gospel,” and St. Nicodemus calls upon what the Lord Himself said to confirm his words: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will also do, and greater works than these will he do, for I go to My Father.” “So,” writes the holy father, “and through the mouth of Blessed Paul, the Lord spoke mysteries greater than those that He Himself spoke about directly in the Gospel.
And this is not my own opinion, but the thought of a golden mind, and the inner word of a golden heart, and the spoken word of a golden tongue, and the writing of the golden-fingered hand of the all-gold and whole-gold John: for thus praising all the sacred members of the divine body of blessed Paul, he also speaks of his God-speaking lips: “I would like to see the dust of these lips, through which Christ spoke great and ineffable mysteries even greater than those which He Himself announced. For just as He accomplished more through His disciples, He also spoke more—the dust of those lips with which the Spirit gave His wondrous prophecies to the universe. What did not the good lips of Paul accomplish?” 571".
Then the holy father turns his word to “his beloved brothers in Christ,” for whose sake he began the real feat of publishing a work of enormous volume and dignity. He writes with great love: “Therefore, accept, my beloved brothers in Christ, this translation of the honest Epistles of God by the preacher Paul, accept also the simple, and with them the learned, and the patriarchs, and the bishops, and the priests, and men, and wives, and parents, and children, of every generation, and of every age, without any exception, for blessed Paul, even during his lifetime, was all things, that he might benefit many, with his unwritten words, and now, after his death, he teaches everyone together and uses his Epistles for everyone...”
Since St. Nicodemus expected Christians to understand how accessible the Epistles are, he emphasizes that they should read them often and be confirmed in the right faith with the help of these interpretations. At the same time, he tells how to read the Holy Scriptures correctly and piously. Then the monk speaks of the duties of the faithful towards the Church, and this wonderful teaching brings to mind ancient Christian morals, redolent of Orthodox piety, so precious to modern Christian society. The monk assures believers that if they follow his advice, they will in a short time begin to excel in virtue and see a wondrous divine transformation in themselves. And at the end of his preface, Nicodemus lists the gifts that will be received by those who carefully read the Epistles of Paul and strive, to the best of their ability, applying their teaching to themselves. Concluding his word, the saint asks that those who will benefit from his work pray for those who worked on the publication.
Nicodemus the Holy Mountainer expresses similar requests in all his writings, asking for prayers instead of any other reward. The preface is signed - “the most humble servant of your brotherly love in Christ, Nicodemus the translator.”
The love for his brothers in Christ that burned in the heart of the saint is also visible in the expressions that he so often uses in the preface: “all-desired,” “beloved,” “my brothers in Christ,” “your love.” Love for his Christian brothers and the edification of the Church always guided the saint in his many years of hard work. He was not looking for anything for himself. No one except his closest circle knew that he, in addition to his other writings, had accomplished the great feat of interpreting the fourteen Epistles of St. Paul, which was published exactly ten years after his departure to the Lord.
It is worth paying attention to the following detail characteristic of his humility: the monk calls himself simply a “translator.” The creator and publisher of such a marvelous work, who contributed so much personal work to it - after all, he wrote interpretations, expanded many passages, analyzed them, explained them, and ultimately created an excellent creation - calls himself a “translator”! The interpretations of Theophylact, Icumenius, Photius and Theodoret do not even make up a third of the three volumes of St. Nicodemus. And despite this, he refuses to acknowledge his authorship. Then what should we call modern authors, and especially those who create “scientific works” by collecting flowers in other people’s gardens and weaving a wreath for themselves, on which they write their name in huge letters?!
The Monk Nicodemus knew that all virtues, as he writes, being the natural energies of God, the gifts and grace of the Holy Spirit, are beginningless and incomplete, as the Monk Maximus the Confessor says; limitless in size and innumerable in quantity, according to Basil the Great. “So,” the monk continues, “how can you be arrogant, as if you have acquired virtues, when you know that virtues have no beginning, no end, no number? And how can you not descend into the depths of humility, reasoning that no matter how many virtues you have created, you still have not even come close to their beginning, but have become familiar with them as if they were one single drop of the boundless sea? And won’t this prompt you to constantly repeat this prayer of the Great Arseny: “My God! do not leave me; I have done nothing good before You, but grant me, by the grace of Your mercy, to make a beginning for this” 572.”
Oh, what a difficult thing is humility! The spirit of conceit, as someone who sits on the throne of thought said, does not allow us to see our insignificance - and to confess it.
...The lives of blessed men, presented in writing, like some animated pictures of life according to God, are offered to us to imitate good deeds 573.
Saint Basil the Great
At the same time, the Monk Nicodemus began to collect the unpublished lives of the Holy Fathers from various manuscripts in order to show Christians examples of a godly life, so that they would strengthen and temper their weak will, sanctify their hearts and enlighten their minds darkened by passions.
“The New Izbornik,” as the monk called this book, contains the lives of our shining Fathers in the exploits, starting from the 1st century. and ending with the 18th century. This is about 400 pages of large format, in quarto, which tells about the lives and miracles of fifty selected saints - husbands and wives. Saint Nicodemus himself translated many of the lives into simple language so that even illiterate Christians could benefit: these were ancient texts, such as the lives of St. Gorgonin and St. Macrina, written by their brothers Gregory the Theologian and Gregory of Nyssa. About the benefits that stem from reading the lives of the saints, the Monk Nicodemus writes in the verses that open the book:
“If you want, oh dear one, to sanctify your character,
Read this book with great love,
It contains numerous lives of the divine Saints,
Having remained unpublished since ancient times..."
Reading the lives of saints, according to St. Basil the Great 574, is like a general hospital. Therefore, the Monk Nicodemus took care “not only to collect from various books the lives of many and different saints, both husbands and wives, but also to translate them... and publish them in a typographical way... For we could not bear the fact that the ancient sacred writers, blessed ones, put so much work into compiling the lives of these saints, for the glory of God and His saints and for the common benefit of subsequent generations of Christians, and we despised so much of their work... so that They became food for worms and prey for corruption” 575.
However, giving the people spiritual reading, such as the touching lives of the saints of the Orthodox Church, was also for St. Nicodemus a certain means by which he tried to divert the attention of Christians from vain and corrupting books and shows. In addition, it was unbearable for the monk to see that wicked people who spent their lives in evil deeds are surrounded with honor, and those who pleased the Holy Fathers are consigned to oblivion, as St. Gregory the Theologian says: “For it would not be pious and safe to honor by remembering the lives of the wicked, and to pass over in silence men who are famous for their piety...” 576.
The saint, wanting the New Izbornik to benefit all classes of Christian society, included in this book,
so to speak, the lives of the most representative saints: their example and the virtues inherent in each of them appear as a silent, but very effective teaching, addressed to bishops, to priests, to monks, to those in marriage, as well as to those who are forced to move among heretics. Let us cite several excerpts from the preface of St. Nicodemus to the “New Izbornik”: they not only bring spiritual pleasure to the readers and provide an example of wonderful true Orthodox teaching, but also serve as an expression of the ideas of the saint himself:
“...From the lives of Saints Epiphanius, Cyril 577 and others, bishops comprehend the apostolic life, which the most divine episcopal office certainly requires, they learn spiritual shepherding, nourishing souls and everything that constitutes the duties of their office. From the lives of Maximus, Paisius 578 and others, monks learn how to observe everything that befits the angelic title; and the novice monks learn pilgrimage, renunciation of the world, submission and obedience, the fear of God and the other virtues that are characteristic of them, while the average and successful ones learn purification from passions, reasoning, consideration, unparalleled prayer, reasonable silence and other virtues that constitute their degree, and, finally, the perfect ones learn from these lives true and highly creative humility, divine love, illumination of the mind, enlightenment of the heart, insight into the future, admiration of the mind towards God and revelation of the hidden mysteries 579.
From the life of St. Cyril Phileos, all married laymen, husbands and wives, understand what chastity they should maintain, what impartiality they should have towards their children and each other, as if husbands did not have wives, and wives did not have husbands, in other words, encouraging one another to maintain chastity and, by mutual agreement, leave worldly life and become monks, similarly encouraging their children to prefer the angelic virgin life to a corruptible and earthly marriage..." for, as the Apostle says, "the time is already short... so those who have wives should be as if they had none... and those who use this world as if they do not use them" 580.
The Holy Father, from personal experience acquired in forced communication with the Jesuits in Naxos, knew what danger the Orthodox were exposed to from their proselytism, and therefore wrote the following: “... those Orthodox who have to communicate with the Latins and listen to their false teachings and other crafty words of theirs can receive great benefit in faith and piety itself, the main thing of blessings, from the life of the divine Meletius the Confessor contained in this book, since They will learn from it how hateful and blasphemous the Latin heresy is, since God Himself revealed great and irrefutable miracles to expose and condemn it, about which the pious reader must read in order to know the light of our own Orthodoxy and the darkness of the slanderous heresy of the Latins...”
St. Nicodemus, continuing to instruct “his beloved brothers” about the benefits of reading the lives of the saints, writes: “Accept and read this book with pleasure: leave the vain and soul-harming stories of crazy and reckless people and read these stories, soul-saving and saving. After all, these stories belong to truly famous men, wise men, men who have received testimony from God in deeds and words; it is common for those who are reasonable and want to be saved not to despise these stories and not to forget the stories of such men... So Saint Isaac encourages Christians to have zeal in their souls against the devil and his servants, saying: “Let there be in our souls as much zeal against the devil and his followers as there was... the venerable and righteous who established the Divine laws and commandments of the Spirit in terrible places, in the most difficult temptations, and peace and body They threw them down behind them, and stood firm in their righteousness, not yielding victory over themselves to the dangers that surrounded their bodies along with their souls, but defeating them courageously.
Their names are written in the book of life even before the coming of Christ, and their teaching, by God’s command, is observed for our instruction and strengthening... so that we become wise and know the ways of God, and have before our eyes stories about them and their lives, like animate and living images, take them as a model, walk in their path and become like them. Oh, how sweet are Divine words to the thoughtful soul! They are the same for the soul as food is for the body, strengthening it. “Tales about the righteous are as desirable to the ears of the meek as constant watering to a newly planted plant” 581. And to say briefly, those who want to acquire the wondrous acquisitions and perfection of these saints in this life, and the crowns and rewards they received after death, who want to be numbered among them, let them not only read their lives, but also learn from their works their faith, and the deeds and labors that they endured for the sake of virtue. As St. Mark says: “Read the words of Divine Scripture by deeds; and do not spread words widely, inflated with mere naked mental ideas” 582.
“For how,” says Basil the Great, “will I be with Job if I did not accept the sorrows that came with thanksgiving?.. How will I end up with Daniel if I did not seek God with constant abstinence and laborious prayer? How can I be worthy of being with each of the saints if I have not walked in their footsteps? So, who is such a reckless judge that he will award the crown to both the winner and the one who has not fought? Those who have fruit have fruit; honors and crowns belong to the victorious" 583 ". St. Nicodemus attaches special importance to the teaching of the saints, since it forms the basis of his own life, which is why he insists that Christians should read the lives of the saints and study their teaching. As a certain sage said: “I believe only those stories whose witnesses give themselves up to slaughter.”
Therefore, we, having such a cloud of witnesses around us, will lay aside every burden and the sin that besets us... 584
All the talent of St. Nicodemus as a writer was aimed at expounding the foundations of Christian life, Christian thinking and worship. But, besides this, another concern troubled the loving soul of this teacher and faithful child of the Church - concern for apostates. The Monk Nicodemus became a mentor for those who, under pain of torture, out of ignorance, or for some other reason, rejected the faith of Christ. The saint kindled the desire for martyrdom in those who renounced Christ. The “New Martyrology” of the saint that we are talking about was compiled precisely for this purpose: using the example of the exploits of the eighty-five new martyrs of 1492–1794. (and Nicodemus published his work in 1794) to kindle jealousy in the unfortunate brothers, so that they would desire to wash away the sin of apostasy with their blood. And who knows how many new martyrs unknown to us were revealed by the “Martyrology” of the holy father!
From the lengthy preface to the book it is clear that the reverend’s main desire was not simply to tell about the exploits of the holy martyrs, but to awaken with the story of them jealousy in those who had fallen from the faith, since their salvation without the shedding of blood would remain extremely doubtful. On the other hand, the teaching of St. Nicodemus was supposed to outline a new path for all brothers in slavery. This profound theologian, firmly knowing that everything that happens in the world is connected with the Divine Providence that controls its destinies - either His favor or permission - accurately indicates the meaning of the long-term slavery of his people. It is obvious that this slavery was allowed by God for punishment, and that the Lord Himself would strengthen His chosen people for the return of freedom. But since favorable conditions had not yet developed for throwing off the yoke, slavery had to remain, and the slaves had to submit, accepting their manifold sorrows with thanksgiving. However, it was necessary that even among the torment and lamentations of the slaves some light of hope should glimmer.
After all, although God allowed the collapse of the Empire to take place, betraying the people into the hands of the infidels, nevertheless He did not cease to be the God of Christians and did not consider the patience of His faithful slaves unworthy of reward. For this reason, in order for the unfortunate Greek Orthodox people to understand that the Almighty God, “the looser of the bound,” looks upon His suffering people and heeds their groans, Saint Nicodemus collected seventy-five unpublished lives of martyrdom, some of which were written by Fr. Jonah Kavsokalivit 585 - and published them in 1794, composing a beautiful prologue to them on 20 pages and introducing it with appropriate iambic epigrams.
It can be assumed that the teacher, who worked for the sake of the people groaning under the yoke of an unfaithful barbarian and tyrant, felt triumph in his heart when he wrote the following words in the prologue: “Be blessed and glorified forever, our Lord Jesus Christ, who testified to the good confession under Pontius Pilate, and therefore truly became and is called the First Martyr and the First of all passion-bearers, for in these In recent times You have deigned to be martyrs for Your Name. Such a doxology of thanks should be offered from the heart by the one who picks up and begins to read this newly printed book - and he should offer this doxology not once, or twice, or three, but as many times as there are martyrs mentioned here. Wouldn’t it be righteous to glorify the Lord thousands of times for someone who sees from this book that even now, in our times, they have shone from different parts of the world on the mental firmament of the Church, like newly appeared stars and comets, new passion-bearers of Christ and invincible warriors?
And that they illuminate all Orthodox Christians with the sweet rays of their martyrdom and their miracles? How can one not thank God who sees, under the heavy yoke and captivity, under the heel of those now in power, so many passion-bearers who, wanting to preserve the freedom and nobility of our Christian faith, despised wealth, fame, pleasure and any other bodily consolation and willingly gave themselves up to death?..”
All the Holy Fathers see meaning in the freedom of an individual or a people only when the good use of this freedom leads to piety and the salvation of the soul. When the good gift of freedom is used only as a “cover for evil deeds,” such freedom has no value. On the contrary: if slavery leads to the salvation of the soul, then deprivation of freedom does not seem like some great evil, especially for those whose gaze is directed beyond the boundaries of earthly life. So for St. Nicodemus, the horrors of slavery in which the people found themselves, as soon as they turned into a bridge leading the Orthodox to endless pleasure in the Kingdom of Heaven, were only the means by which the Good God brings about the salvation of His Orthodox people.
Therefore, the holy father answers possible questions about the enslavement of his Orthodox brothers and about the new martyrs this way: “If someone asks for what purpose God deigned to appear these new martyrs in our times, I answer that there are five reasons for this: 1) so that there is a renewal of the entire Orthodox faith; 2) so that the Gentiles will not have justification on the Day of Judgment; 3) for the sake of the glory and praise of the Eastern Church and the reproof and shame of the heterodox; 4) to set an example for all Orthodox Christians oppressed under the heavy yoke of slavery; 5) and finally, so that all Christians who are forced by circumstances to testify, and especially those who have previously renounced the Orthodox Faith, have the courage and motivation to imitate in practice their martyrdom. And that all this is necessary, I will prove in this preface...” The monk, rejoicing at the appearance of many new martyrs, writes that the Holy Eastern Church of Christ “enjoys and nourishes wisely not only the fruits of the ancient martyrs, but also the offerings of the new passion-bearers.
And she sees those who were spiritually born by her, and her first sons, that is, the ancient martyrs, and the sons of her sons, that is, their successors, the new passion-bearers, whose sacred relics she joyfully embraces and with whose holy blood she is decorated, as if with a wedding attire, and as if bordered and speckled with purple, and fine linen, and hyacinth, and crimson, and transparent Laconian garments, and jewels, and braided hair, and earrings, and pendants, and bracelets, and rings, and wristlets, and flowing teristria, 586 and rings, and necklaces, and torcs, and glorious garments, and all the rest studded with precious stones, pearls and gold, wedding ornaments, of which the Divine tells us Scripture."
In such a sublime tone, in a spirit of joy and praise, St. Nicodemus concludes his extensive preface, so important for understanding his soul.
4. Seven Council Epistles
May there be for all of you, clergy and laity, honest and holy books... Peter, two Epistles, three John, three James, one James, one Jude.
85th Canon of the Holy Apostles
Despite the fact that the Monk Nicodemus worked incessantly to educate the people and build the Church, he always had to face the problem of publishing his books: since he himself was poor, dressed in shabby clothes and received food from others. His works were usually voluminous, so printing them cost considerable money, which is why the saint did not manage to see even half of his works published during his lifetime. Of course, many sought to publish the books of the monk, and among them was his cousin Hierotheos, who at that time became Metropolitan of Ioannina. From one letter from Nicodemus addressed to Hierotheus, we learn that he promised to bear the costs of publishing the interpretation of the seven Council Epistles, to work on which he was persuaded by the former Patriarch of Constantinople Neophytos 7, who paid for the rewriting of the manuscripts from his own funds.
Hierotheus, following his promise, took care of the publication of this interpretation, which was printed in 1806 in Venice. The book is 370 pages in quarto format and also contains the canon to St. James, written by St. Nicodemus.
Paying tribute of gratitude to Metropolitan Hierotheos, who undertook the work of publishing the book, Nicodemus composed a wonderful prayer for him to the holy Apostles, whose Epistles he interpreted. It is written in hexameter, and we present it here for the beauty of its verse and meaning, believing that it will give pleasure to lovers of literature.
O Christ the All-Tsar, Apostles and Messengers,
About the incomprehensible and heavenly Wisdom, disciples,
O catchers and deliverers of human souls,
Be Hierotheus's salvation from all sorts of troubles,
Release his bonds from all sorts of sins,
Put the desire in your chest to obey God’s advice,
Deliver him from the mighty hand of his enemies,
Lighten every burden on his lost flesh,
Be a healer of mental burdens and passions.
With your wisdom guide the shepherd of the nations,
So that he always feeds God's flock in the flowering pastures.
Having delivered the ever-wandering life from the mundane,
Place his feet in beautiful silence.
Merciful, merciful to him, create the immortal God quickly,
Speak a powerful word to the man-killing demon:
“Perish in Tartarus, hide in the depths of hell forever,
Run away from our servant, you evil one,
Do not touch the one called Hierotheus,
For having printed our Epistles at your own expense,
He was the best of our friends."
What follows is a preface in which the monk calls the seven Council Epistles wells in which, “as if in some containers,” the life-giving and sweet moisture of the divine rain poured out from the spiritual apostolic clouds was collected. The saint, explaining the reason that prompted him to interpret the seven Council Epistles, writes: “Since these wells of the Council Epistles were deep, both in their thought and in the antiquity of the language, it was necessary to draw a long rope, that is, teaching the ancient Greek language, in order to draw them out. For the God-bearing Maxim said: “Jacob’s well is Scripture, water is the knowledge contained in Scripture, depth is the intractability of the meaning of Scripture, and the source is the study of the divine word through reading” 587 . From which it follows that only one who had a drawer and a long rope, and who was experienced in the ancient Greek language, could draw from this well and quench his thirst.
And the one who, on the contrary, did not have a drawer and such a rope and was not taught the ancient Greek language, burned with ardent desire, but could not cool it down at all, as if hearing the well-known words spoken by the Samaritan woman: “Master! You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: where do you get living water from?” 588. That is why these wells with the spiritual moisture hidden in them became almost useless for the unwise and simple brothers. But now, by the grace of Christ, with the advent of this interpretation, the wells have been drawn up, and in their depths the living water that remained, poured into reservoirs and cisterns, is offered ready for drinking to all Orthodox, wise and unwise, both to those who have drawn and to those who do not have it.”
“But God’s Providence deigned that the interpretation of the Council Epistles, the creation of the wise hierarch Mitrofan, would be found in the sacred, royal and truly ascetic monastery of Saint Dionysius, which alone of all the revered and blessed monasteries of the Holy Mountain has and displays for veneration the divine and honorable relics of the Svyatogorsk saint, I mean equal to the angels and the most reverend among monks, the most holy and glorious among the Ecumenical Patriarchs, Saint Niphon. And the only one of all she had this book, which was in her library like some kind of valuable treasure... And the same Divine Providence, touching the heart of the Most Holy former Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Neophytos, who was always ardently zealous for the good of the Greek people, moved his sacred mind, and he commanded my thinness and in encouraging words deigned me to undertake this work, for the glory of God and for the benefit of everything people.
I obeyed his most holy command, as completely reasonable, and fair, and generally beneficial, and at the same time coming from my benefactor and after God the ruler, who often showed himself to be the defender of my insignificance in many circumstances. So, having trusted in the intercession of the holy Apostles and strengthened by the prayers of His Holiness and all pious Christians, but many earlier having called for the help of God, who said: “I will open your mouth and teach you what to say” (Ex. 4:12) and without Whom no one could do anything good, as He Himself rightly said... so, strengthened by this, I compiled this interpretation from the works of three writers: for the most part and almost everywhere - on the basis of the work of the Right Reverend Mitrofan, often borrowing something from the writings of Blessed Theophylact, and very little - from the interpretation of Ikumen. However, I was not content with just these interpretations, but, like a bee, I tried, as far as I could, to collect from other Fathers what they said somewhere about the sayings of the Council Epistles...
I have also added notes to this in order to satisfy the inquisitiveness of my learned readers, while translating almost everything into simple language so that my simple brothers in Christ could understand.”
Showing humility in this offering to the Church of his new composition, the monk writes that he, too, is trying “to be something useful to the Holy Church of God, the image of which is that ancient and legal Mosaic Tabernacle. And just as during the construction of it some brought precious stones and pearls, others - gold, and silver, and copper, others - yarn of woolen hyacinth, purple and crimson and fine linen, others - rotting wood, others - red ram skins, and, finally, the rest - goat's wool, each according to his strength... so let some bring to this new Tabernacle of Christ valuable stones, pearls and precious materials, that is, high and great theological writings, and for me, unworthy, it is enough that I bring wool and leather into it, that is, insignificant, modest and thick-skinned little books, however, useful for simple brothers, as stained with the honest Blood of the Incarnate Word, who sanctified human nature by the shedding of His all-holy Blood - in other words, decorated Orthodox Confession of Christ's Sacrament."
At the end of the preface, the Monk Nicodemus lists the merits of the book: “So, accept with joy these seven Council Epistles, now revealed in great detail and interpreted in simple language, my fathers and brothers, both those numbered among the sacred clergy and those belonging to the secular order. For I inform your love that you will receive many and great benefits from these Epistles. They are the exposition of right dogmas, the height of theology, the depth of the House of the Incarnation, the breadth of contemplation and the length of action, which are the beginning and the end of true and real philosophy. These Epistles are a treasury of God’s promises, a repository of formidable warnings, a treasury of life-giving commandments, a golden-woven and interconnected chain of god-created virtues and a pillory for the evil deeds opposite them, teaching of faith, guidance of good deeds, the broadest law on love for God and neighbor. These messages are truly the purest mirrors of the economic descent into hell of the Lord Christ, the destruction of this world and its change and transformation for the better.
They are the clearest warning about heretics and false apostles and the abolition of their evil dogmas. They are necessary material for all teachers, for these writings included in the New Testament and supplementing it are the authentic and true works and labors of the four glorious and all-praised Lord's Apostles... And, finally, they are that life-giving water that raises the dead, and the sweetest rain, and God-sent moisture, about which we said above that it flowed from the apostolic clouds and watered the entire universe. Now this water has been drawn out and, poured into the present interpretation, as if into a reservoir, is ready to quench the thirst of everyone.”
Regarding the work of St. Nicodemus in interpreting the Council Epistles, we would like to note that, despite his humble statement that he brought into this interpretation only “goats’ hair and skins,” in fact his offerings are “precious stones, pearls, gold and silver,” namely, the outstanding qualities of the interpreter, great learning, and manifold wisdom. After all, interpretation
Mitrofan, which Icumenius and Theophylact follow almost verbatim, is too overview and brief, and therefore requires additional clarification. This interpretation was carried out by our teacher, giving the Orthodox Greek people a complete explanation of the difficult-to-understand Council Epistles, with many notes, comments, references and indexes. And therefore we pray that our Orthodox people will again find this book, for which it must be published in thousands of copies, even in separate volumes, each of which would contain an interpretation of one Epistle 589.
5. Singer of the Lady of the Virgin
What worthy song will our infirmity bring to You?
Just the joyful one that Gabriel secretly taught us to eat: Rejoice, Virgin Mother of God, Mother of the Bride 590.
All the holy Fathers experienced love and deep reverence for the Mother of the Lord, and like them, the soul of St. Nicodemus burned with fiery love for the Most Holy Theotokos. In all his spiritual labors, he always finds a reason to sing the praises of the Most Holy One, and at the same time he is literally “beyond himself,” “all in divine delight, all in a frenzy, dedicated to God,” as Dionysius the Areopagite says about the Apostle Paul in the story of the Dormition of the Theotokos. And even more than that, the Monk Nicodemus, like every saint of the Holy Mountain, felt endless gratitude to the Most Holy Virgin (after all, almighty prayer served as the guarantee of salvation for him
The Mother of God to Her Son, according to the promise She made to Peter of Athos 591), amounted to fourteen - and these are only those known to us! - canons in Her honor. Here he pours out all his gratitude, his joy and his worship in tender prayers and invocations, in subtle theological thoughts, in high poetic stanzas, in exclamations of the divinely inspired soul.
We have devoted several pages elsewhere in this book to the special love of the monk for the Guardian and Patroness of our holy place and the Svyatogorsk monks. Here we will limit ourselves to pointing out one episode from the life of the holy father, which very clearly characterizes both his psychology and the malice of his opponents, who, indignant at heart, wanted at any cost to find a reason to accuse St. Nicodemus. And finally we found it! As soon as “The Invisible Warfare” was published, these darkened theologians, instead of receiving spiritual benefit, hastened to discover some erroneous judgment, something supposedly contrary to Orthodoxy in a book that, from the Orthodox point of view, was more transparent than crystal! In the 49th chapter of this work, the monk placed the following note: “Before the ages, the Holy Trinity rejoiced with every righteous person, and rejoiced greatly, foreseeing with Her God-initiated thought the appearance of the Ever-Virgin Mariam.
For, according to some theologians, even if we assume that all nine orders of angels would fall from heaven and become demons; that all people from eternity would become evil and all would go into torment, so that no one could be saved; that all creation - the sky, luminaries, stars, elements, plants, animals - would retreat from God, fall away from their rank and turn into nothing - all this, all these evil deeds of creation, in comparison with the fullness of the holiness of the Mother of God, could not sadden God. For the Lady Theotokos alone could thank Him “for all and for everything” ... because She alone loved Him incomparably more than anything, because She alone was most obedient to His will, and because She alone contained and accepted all those natural, arbitrary and supernatural gifts that God divided among all creation” 592. It was this passage that the said heavenly monks considered tempting. In vain he tried for considerable time in oral conversations to prove the correctness of his judgments.
And therefore, subsequently, when the turmoil began due to the above note, Nicodemus the Holy Mountain was forced to draw up a written justification, in which, with the help of irrefutable arguments, he proved that his views did not disagree with the opinion of the Holy Fathers, although “what we expressed in the mentioned note, we did not express definitely and dogmatically, but conditionally and as an assumption” 593. “And since some scholars, and especially those involved in sacred theology, having read the note in the newly published book “The Invisible War” in which I speak about the Lady Theotokos, were perplexed... I answer them that this opinion is given in expanded form by the great theologian Archbishop Gregory Palamas of Thessaloniki...” 594.
After pointing out the opinion of Palamas, the monk gives his commentary, ending with the following conclusion: “How much more, and incomparably more, was the Lady Theotokos worthy to please God, incomparably superior to all those who are being saved, both angels and people, in her incomparable holiness - than all the angels and people taken together, who presumably could become evil and perish?” 595. “...And now the Lady Theotokos, as the Mother of God, existing immediately after God and incomparably superior not only to people, but also to the first and highest ranks of angels themselves, Cherubim and Seraphim, She Herself distributes the wealth of all the gifts of God and divine radiance to all angels and people, as the whole Church of Christ philosophizes in agreement...” 596.
Next, the Monk Nicodemus discusses the necessity of the Divine Economy and the completely unique position occupied in it by the Mother of God, who granted immutability 597 to all creations that “through union with God became involved in the immutability” 598 - and concludes his “Apology” like this: “I believe that this little is enough for my justification by the favorable judges and readers of the said notes about Our Lady, and I ask them not to slander me unreasonably. For I wrote this not according to my own understanding and opinion, but following the opinion of the theologians who have spoken before. If others, perhaps, accuse me under the influence of passion (which will not happen!), let them know that they rather accuse the God-bearing Maximus 599, Gregory of Thessaloniki, the great Andrew 600 and the rest from whom I borrowed this opinion” 601.
As we will see, the monk was in constant conversation with the Most Holy Virgin and, one might say, lived in Her name. Unfortunately, we do not know how and with what revelations the Mother of the Lord rewarded her fiery singer. Only one legend, passed from mouth to mouth by monks, escaped his humble silence: the Lady Theotokos, appearing to him at the time when he was writing about Her, said: “I bless you, My child Nicodemus, and I give you strength to write.”
The Theotokos theology of the Holy Father is not a scholastic and presumptuous critical analysis, but the fruit of deep reverence and grateful love for the Mother of God, this theology is constantly rising, spreading and moving into endless spaces and never ceasing, thanks to the action of grace in the heart of one who piously theologizes and extols the Most Holy One forever.
The Monk Nicodemus, in his “Apology,” sets forth judgments about the Lady Theotokos filled with the highest theology, in which one can see a deep theologian who always hid himself with artless words of love and edification addressed to ordinary Christians. “I’ll also say something higher and deeper 602. In God there are Essence, Hypostases and energy (action). Energy is more external, Hypostasis is more internal, and, finally, Essence is the most intimate. For Basil the Great said that “the energies of God descend to us, and His Essence remains unapproachable” 603. According to these three, God from all eternity has three types of universal relationships: the Father is connected with the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are Consubstantial with Him, by a community in Essence: from eternity giving birth to the Son, from eternity bringing forth the Holy Spirit. For if God had remained completely independent and detached, then He would have neither the Son, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the communion of His very Essence, but the Three (Persons of the Most Holy Trinity) are essentially One.
The Son is bound by a community of Hypostasis with humanity, for the sake of which connection (from eternity) he foresaw and predetermined the unity with humanity that was to occur in time. For humanity, which did not have its own hypostasis, partook of the Hypostasis of the Son, receiving existence in It. (And finally), God, and especially the Holy Spirit, by whom all the common energy of the blessed Trinity is communicated (according to Coresius 604 and other theologians), is eternally connected by communication in energy with the rest of creation, for the sake of which connection he foresaw and predetermined the existence of all intelligent and sensory creatures. For the creations participated only in the energy and power of God, but not in any way in the Hypostasis or Essence and Nature, for they received being in the Divine power and energy. So, although all this was foreseen in this way, however, since the Hypostasis is deeper than energy, the connection according to the Hypostasis is deeper than the connection according to energy; and if this is so, then, consequently, the foreknowledge and predestination of the humanity of God the Word according to the hypostatic connection is deeper than the foreknowledge and predestination of other creatures according to the energetic connection.
And if the foreknowledge of the Lord’s humanity is deeper, it is clear that it precedes in order the foreknowledge of the rest of creation and is its cause, for the divine Hypostasis, on which the connection with humanity and the foreknowledge of it are based, is undoubtedly the cause of divine energy, as all theologians say, - and the connection (of God) with all creations and the foreknowledge of them are based on energy...” 605.
With these arguments, the saint seeks to prove the unique position of the Virgin and Mother in comparison with all other creations, angels and people who partake only of divine energy, while our Lady Theotokos accepted into Herself the hypostatic Second Person of the Holy Trinity, becoming in the full sense of the word and truly the Mother of God. Thus, the monk proves, in accordance with the meaning of the foreknowledge of God, that the Mother of God was truly the “ultimate and final goal” - which seduced the monks “engaged in sacred theology”, who were forced after the appearance of the “Apology” of St. Nicodemus to recognize his theology as impeccably Orthodox.
And where were those “looking for a reason” to know that in “Eorthodrome,” which was published only 24 years after the blessed dormition of the saint, he wrote the following in his interpretation of the canon of Pentecost: “So, pay attention that the hymnist did not say that the Virgin “gave” or “gave” or any other similar word, but that She “loaned the flesh to the Holy Word of the Father” 606, so that to show that the Mother of God, by this mutual giving, made the Son of God Her debtor. For She lent Him not something external, not something of money or property - after all, just as they take something for a while, so they give it back over time, for all this is external to those who received the loan. However, the Lord took an internal “loan,” from nature itself, that is, from the very natural and pure blood of the Mother of God: why, being a natural “loan,” it is permanent: and, therefore, the Son of God becomes an eternal debtor to His Mother.
What conclusion do we come to? Since the Son of God became a debtor to His Mother, He, firstly, out of duty, had to glorify Her with all the divine glory and honors with which He had never glorified any of the creations. Secondly, again out of duty, He should listen to the prayers and petitions sent by His Mother, which is why George of Nicomedia 607 in his Homily for the Presentation addresses the Mother of God like this: “For the Creator, considering Your Son to be His glory, perhaps, paying the debt, fulfills (Your) petitions.” Do you see the glory, beloved? Do you see the greatness of the Virgin? So, run to Her with reverence and faith, and through Her you will receive from God the fulfillment of all your requests for salvation 608.”
The inspired and reverent praises of the Mother of God by the great hesychast and songwriter Nicodemus could fill a whole volume. He was constantly overwhelmed by such spiritual joy during his solitude in Kapsala, and therefore did not feel any burden in his ascetic monastic life. So he spent his entire life, sacrificed for the benefit of his neighbor. When he writes about the “blessed Sepulcher” of Christ, he rejoices and is glad. Unable to satiate his soul with hymns to the Most Holy Theotokos, no matter how much he writes about Her, he feels surges of joy, which makes him recall the famous words of Chrysostom from his festive conversations: “I am going mad.” The Fathers say that anyone who does not taste a part of the future heavenly and endless joy in this life will not enter into this joy even after leaving this world. Truly, Nicodemus’s love for the Mother of God was great, and this shows the measure of his deepest theological knowledge of the Virgin Mary, the measure of the nobility of his soul and the measure of the love and reverence he felt for the Mother of Light.
To the eternal glory of St. Nicodemus, it must be said that his works on the Lady Theotokos constitute the largest part of his enormous legacy. Perhaps the reason for this is the Protestant threat, which was very serious in those days when the boar and the solitary divius 609 unhindered ravaged the vineyard of Orthodoxy. But has this danger disappeared - the danger emanating from Protestants and crypto-Protestants 610, for whom She who became “God after God” is simply “Mary”?
Let us cite here a wonderful statement by St. Augustine about the Motherly glory of the Lady Theotokos, related to our topic. The saint writes that “God could not have created three things more perfectly than He did, with all His omnipotence: the Incarnation of His Son, the Mother of God majesty of the Virgin Mary and the glory of the righteous in the future life” 611. And Saint Chrysostom writes such astonishing words: “... there is nothing in this life like the Mother of God Mary; go around, man, all creation with your thoughts and see if there is anything equal or greater than the Most Holy Theotokos, the Virgin? Go out all over the earth; examine the sea, search the air, search the heavens with your thoughts; Bring all the invisible Powers to your memory, and see if there is another such miracle in all creation? Oh, how right our father, the Monk Nicodemus, was in feeling such love and reverence for the Most Pure Mother of our God! What should we say, or what should we talk about?
And what worthy song “will our weakness bring”, other than that incomparable song that came from Her lips and was inspired by the Divine Word Himself, which She then already carried in her womb - the song that sounds in our Church, a song that is impossible to listen to without touching emotion? “My soul magnifies the Lord...”
...We praised you, thanking God, who gave you through the prayers of Chrysostom from his grace...
In the kaliva of St. Basil, the Monk Nicodemus wrote “Christian Goodness.” We are talking about a new, very serious work, which reflects the wisdom, holiness and great learning of this man. The book consists of 333 pages of large format “in quarter” and includes “the most soul-helping words, thirteen in number, correcting the bad morals of Christians for the better.” It has already been published four times 612. The Monk Nicodemus sent it to Patriarch Gregory 5, who at that time was in exile on the Holy Mountain and was staying in the sacred monastery of Iviron, so that he would express his judgment about it and take care of its publication. The Patriarch, having read the book, was inspired by its truly spiritual content and the benefits contained in it and sent the following letter to the saint:
“Most reverend and learned man, Mr. Nicodemus, child of the Lord, beloved of our Dimension; May there be grace for your learning and peace from God. We received notebooks sent to us, in which you wrote a treatise on the benefit of Christ's fullness, in thirteen extensive conversations. So, we read them with the greatest attention, and while reading, we praised you, thanking God, who gave you through the prayers of Chrysostom from his grace. For truly it has been given to you to shine with the gold of sayings, just as you worked so hard on the writings of Chrysostom 613; Do not doubt that all this was written by you, O beloved, very well, and rhetorically impeccable, and entirely in imitation of the zeal of the divine Father, so that readers will receive great benefit from the book. So, if there is hope of printing it with the help of His Eminence Ioannina 614, good. If not, let others do it, for all this is necessary for the faithful in the present age. May God's grace, through the prayers of Chrysostom, be with your learning.
Former Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory."
What is "Blagonravie"? - A hymn to pure Christian morals and an unmerciful scourge of everything corrupt, all prejudices, superstitions, bad customs, magic and all sorts of demonic inventions. When you read “Blessings,” it seems as if some deep river of knowledge, wisdom and grace is passing through this book. Everything that the monk learned in schools, or read himself, or acquired in the higher school of desert life as wisdom coming from above 615, as self-wisdom - all this was used with wonderful grace and accuracy in this spiritual work. Imitating Basil the Great, he gives many examples from the life of the people, generously uses teachings, stories, sayings from the Old and New Testaments, from Greek and Latin philosophy, sometimes refers to Hellenic errors for teaching by contradiction, sometimes reveals the wealth of his knowledge in patristic writing, and sometimes offers statements of Greek and Latin philosophers and poets whom he knows perfectly.
Modern Christians and theologians could draw from the Blagonravy many teachings concerning both Orthodox spirituality and moral and dogmatic character, and understand the nature of many strange phenomena that, under the name of “psychic phenomena,” now confuse the souls of faithful and wavering brothers.
In “Blagonraviya” the monk appears as a great expert on society, studying all aspects of moral and spiritual life from a Christian point of view. When he writes about the origin of good and evil, he presents his ideas with great simplicity and in this way recalls the teachings of the holy martyr Cosmas of Aetolia 616. However, the simplicity of his teaching conceals great Christian truths, while in the pomp of the sages of this age lies a worthless emptiness. Here is one such passage from “Blagonraviya”: “Two things have enmity and opposition among themselves, blessed Christians: virtue and goodness - sin and evil. Virtue and goodness come from God, Who is the beginning and root of all virtue and all good; sin and evil come not from God, but from the devil, the original and cause of all sin and all evil. Virtue and goodness are reality and existence, but sin and evil are not reality and existence, but the absence of reality and existence, just as darkness is the absence of light.
St. Gregory of Nyssa says that “just as the non-existent differs from the existing, and it cannot be said that in fact the non-existent is opposite to the existing, but we say that non-existence differs from being, in the same way ... (evil) does not exist in itself, but by the implied absence of the best” 617. Virtue and goodness are a natural phenomenon and are written down in all the unwritten laws of nature, therefore they constitute and contain all nature and natural phenomena, heavenly and earthly. Sin and evil are not natural, but are contrary to nature, and all the laws of nature fight with them and drive them out, because they do not strengthen, but corrupt and destroy nature and all natural phenomena. Virtue and goodness are also written down in all the written laws of God, both the Old Testament and the New, Gospel, and are testified and confirmed by them. Sin and evil are not written in any law of God, old or new, and are not confirmed by them, but, on the contrary, they are refuted, overthrown and destroyed by all the laws of God...”
Exploring the way in which evil takes over the world, our teacher, Nicodemus the Svyatogorets, writes the following: “Where did evil gain power over the world and why does it still dominate unfortunate people? I will tell you, my brothers: for no other reason does sin dry out in the world and does not increase, except because of the evil customs of insane and depraved people; from the senseless prejudices of some unlearned people, and from the lawless and unreasonable traditions that people invented in ancient times, and the blind followed them and were preserved by their descendants. So, for example, someone’s great-grandfather invented evil and did it; His grandfather imitated this evil, then his father inherited it, and then his son imitated it; Thus, one inherited evil from the other, and, following it, they strengthened it and confirmed it with frequent and long-standing custom.
The custom, in turn, turned into a habit, became, as it were, law and nature, as Solomon says, on the one hand: “Then, over time, an ungodly custom, like the law, we keep quickly” 618, on the other hand, the Great Basil: “A custom, confirmed by a long time, accepts the power of nature” 619. And the wise Neil: “For skill comes from custom, and from skill comes nature; but nature is difficult to move and change” 620. What follows from this? Let unfortunate people consider the lawless to be lawful, the unblessed to be blessed, the dissimilar to be proper, the harmful to be beneficial, and, in short, let them consider evil as good and sin as virtue? Oh, pitiful human error! O lamentable disaster! Oh, soul-harming misfortune! And is it possible to find greater blindness than this? And it would be even more tolerable if pagans, Jews, Ottomans and other infidel peoples were embraced by it; because they, being blind and darkened in faith and religion, as a result of this became blind and darkened also in life and evil customs.
But for such blindness and darkness of evil customs to dominate Orthodox Christians - Christians who are children of light, who see the truth, who have faith brighter than the sun? This is truly intolerable and intolerable...”
The saint's style, for all its simplicity, is exemplary. His teaching is edifying, original and revealed very convincingly, using a calm and logical connection of ideas. From one unpublished letter of St. Nicodemus to Gregory 5 (we quote him in another chapter) one can see the enthusiastic reception with which the Blagonravie met the enslaved Greek people upon its first publication: “Since I already entirely belong to him (His Holiness, the Patriarch), and became a debtor of his love, and are forced by it, therefore, having one single book of the newly printed Blagonraviya, I could not to own it, although I needed it, I send it to my beloved, longed for, and all-loving Master, and let him own it for the benefit of his flock. And if it seems to him pleasing and generally useful, I ask, I really ask him to encourage some Christ-lover in his diocese to publish it a second time, without loss to himself. For the demand for this book, due to its rarity, is such that many would gladly give eight or ten pennies just to get it.
The Reverend Ioannina printed a thousand books, but he only had ten of them left, as he wrote to me - those that were bound; and others snatched it right out of his hands. Many people have written to me to send them, but I have nothing.”
We must especially note that the reverend, using the works of classical philosophers, does not attach outstanding importance to philosophy. Viewing worldly wisdom as the fruit of the “all-abundant logos” and addressing spiritual babes (in Christian education and life), he collected the harmless flowers of human thought for purely pedagogical purposes. Besides this, he did not give any honor to the wisdom of this world, as can be seen from all his works, and especially from the prologue to “Evergetin”.
“Blessings” has already been published for the fourth time by the publisher from the city of Volos 621, Mr. Schinas. We hope that this book will become the favorite reading of all Orthodox Christians.
7. “Extract from the Psalms of the Prophet and King David”
Remembering God is more necessary than breathing; and, if one can put it this way, one should not do anything else besides this 622.
Saint Gregory the Theologian
“Since divine and sacred prayer is so necessary for man and is the cause of so many great benefits and gifts, the wisest Ecumenical Patriarch, Mr. Neophytos, now sitting at the helm of the universal ship of Christ’s Church... while staying on the holy Mount Athos and reading the sacred books, having found real prayers and prayers in various books scattered everywhere and marveling at them... entrusted me, the least of all, with the obedience of collecting and correcting them. Having read the Contemplative Prayers... of Blessed Augustine and being stung by the sweet arrow of the divine desire and love contained in them, he ordered me to rewrite and correct them. An abbreviation from the psalms of the prophet and king David... Mr. Gennady, Patriarch of Constantinople, Scholarius 623 also seemed to be a necessary work for prayer.
...At the beginning of all this, it was considered worthy to place a certain word “On repentance,” very useful and soul-helping 624 ... and at the end - another word, praiseworthy, about the rank of bishop, depicting how high this rank is ... "625.
Speaking about the nature and dignity of prayer, the Monk Nicodemus, as a man of prayer, the sweetness of which he tasted, among other things, places in his preface the following edifying reasoning: “There is no other virtue higher or more necessary than sacred prayer, because all the other virtues, namely fasting, vigil, loneliness 626, asceticism, virginity, almsgiving and all the subsequent golden generation, and the consonant face, and the unwoven chain of God-like virtues, although they are an imitation of God, although they represent inalienable acquisitions and the immortal garment of souls, for all that, they do not unite a person with God, not at all, but only make a person capable of such unity. But sacred prayer, and only it, unites, only it connects man with God and, conversely, God with man, and makes the two into one spirit...” 627.
“From this unity of man with God, to which sacred prayer leads, what high gifts, and even more than that, what source of gifts does not pour out on a person united with God? From here arises the distinction between truth and falsehood; vision of the hidden secrets of nature, insight and foreknowledge of the future, divine illumination and hypostatic, as it is called, enlightenment in the heart. Love for God that leads to admiration and frenzy of all spiritual powers; admiration to the Lord, revelation of the untold mysteries of God. In a word, from this unity is born the most amazing, and sought by all, and desired by all, the deification of man, which, however, few, and very rare, and hardly any from generation to generation, have been granted, as Saint Isaac says 628. This inconceivable, inconceivable, and inconceivable thing - deification... is the ultimate fulfillment... and the first and highest goal of God...” 629.
Further, the holy father, speaking about the need for prayer, which is a unique means by which we become capable of fulfilling the honest commandments of the Lord, writes the following: “There is no other virtue more necessary than divine prayer, for whatever benefit a person receives from God’s help, such is the need he has for sacred prayer, which attracts God’s help. And just as without God’s help a person cannot do anything good—without Me you cannot do anything 630—so without sacred prayer, through which God’s help is given, a person is not able to create a single good thing.”631
The holy practitioner of prayer discusses its urgent need: “... a person receives from one sacred prayer the same benefit that he receives from all the virtues. Why is it impossible not only to perform, but even to begin to perform any other virtue without first falling to God in prayer and asking for help from
Him, the Giver and Distributor of all virtues... Sacred prayer is absolutely necessary with almost every breath of a person. After all, since the mind is constantly in motion, being incorporeal, therefore, at every moment and with almost every breath, the excuses of evil thoughts can come, and with their help, the enemy of the human race, the devil, fights against the mind and wounds it. That is why it is very necessary for a person to have the weapon of divine prayer ready with almost every breath, in order to fight with it against the warrior and destroy his plots and intrigues, fearing that the enemy might catch him unarmed and wound him with combinations and combinations of thoughts, and kill him” 632.
Relying his statements on the Fathers of the Church, the Monk Nicodemus writes that “that is why the divine Apostle commands all Christians in general, clergy, monks and laity, to pray constantly and unceasingly, saying: “Pray without ceasing” 633. And the Theologian Gregory says: “Remembering God is more necessary than breathing; and, if I may say so, one should not do anything else besides this. And I am one of those who approve of the law, which commands us to study day and night 634 and evening and morning and noon to tell 635 and to bless the Lord at all times 636. And if it is necessary to add what Moses said, then lying down, and standing up, and walking the path 637, and doing anything else, must remember God and by this remembering raise oneself to purity” 638. And the Great Basil said: “A beautiful prayer is one that clarifies the thought of God in the soul. And through remembrance, the thought of God planted in us is the infusion of God Himself into us.
Thus we become the church of God when unceasing remembrance (of Him) is not interrupted by earthly concerns, and the mind is not disturbed by sudden passionate movements, but, having escaped everything, the lover of God retires to God” 639. And Saint Isaac says: “Without unceasing prayer it is impossible to get closer to God...” 640. In conclusion, the Monk Nicodemus writes that not only monks, but also all Christians found in the world should constantly pray, which was confirmed by the angel of the Lord who appeared to a certain ascetic, as can be seen from the life of St. Gregory Palamas 641. This is also confirmed by the divine Chrysostom, who commands all laymen to pray during their work: “Are you a craftsman? Sing psalms while sitting; If you don’t want to sing with your lips, do it with your mind: a great interlocutor is a psalm. From this you will not suffer any harm, but you will be able to sit as if in a monastery. For it is not the suitability of places, but the correctness of morals that gives us silence” 642.
Concluding his wonderful preface, the Monk Nicodemus turns to his brothers in Christ, calling on them to graciously accept these theological, petitionary and touching prayers and supplications, “this flower-bearing meal offered to your love by our Ecumenical Shepherd and Master, who cares about the salvation of all; enjoy them, rejoice and be satisfied insatiably, as if on plains strewn with flowers, as if in grassy meadows, as if in dewy pastures, as if on soul-nourishing pastures and life-giving herbs... Oh, what lofty theological thoughts you will find here, how many arrows and stings of divine love will pierce your souls! What tenderness you will find in your hearts! For these prayers are filled with divine wisdom, filled with divine love, filled with sacred tenderness.
And therefore, the one who reads them with due attention and is wounded by the divine love boiling in them, will not only find himself outside of all sensory creations, and not only outside of intelligent creatures, but also outside of himself and will cleave and be one with his beloved and longed for God; for, as the bird of heaven, the Areopagite Dionysius, says, “divine love is directed outward: it encourages those who love to belong not to themselves, but to their beloved” 643 » 644.
St. Nicodemus can rightfully be called a “man of prayer.” And not only because he religiously prayed on the seventh day of the day 645. This is possible and even obligatory for any hermit living in a monastic environment. But because prayer was incessantly performed in his heart. Those who study mystical theology know that as a result of many years of asceticism, the action of “mental prayer” in the heart becomes a kind of sweet and natural activity, during which in the depths of the heart, with unspeakable sighs, 646 the much-coveted Name of Jesus is pronounced, increasingly kindling the sacred flame of love. This divine and mysterious work is not interrupted by external concerns for those who have acquired skill in prayer. Such was the Monk Nicodemus. In addition to other clear evidence confirming that he performed “mental prayer”, like the Hesychast fathers of the past, we also have the story of Euthymius, according to which the saint “loved day and night to practice divine and mental prayer.
For he was constantly engaged in it, devoting all hours of the day to these two activities: either he explained some thought of the Holy Scripture, or he bowed his head on the left side of his chest and immersed his mind in his heart and exclaimed intelligently: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on me.”647 Because of the sweetness, peace and love it generated, mental prayer became such an inseparable companion of the saint that before his death, when his mind was exhausted, he proclaimed the prayer out loud in order to commit his spirit into the hand of God with the sweetest prayer, the gift of which he kept throughout his life.
This episode is also very expressive. Returning after studying in the library of the Iviron monastery, the saint spent the night in one of the cells that belonged to this monastery. It was the eve of a holiday with a vigil. “Welcome, teacher, let's celebrate together,” the monks greeted him. When the hour of vigil arrived and the chanting books were prepared, the teacher said: “Fathers, rosaries are much better than singing, for, according to the divine Basil, “psalmody was established for the sake of the dead by morals.” - “Okay, teacher, then we’ll start the rosary vigil.” And the morning found them doing this. When the vigil ended, the teacher told the brethren of this cell that “I have never felt such joy from prayer as that night, with the rosary and the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us.” And the holy father was undoubtedly right, for the Angels also worship God by singing one word: Alleluia.
The Monk Nicodemus, defending mental prayer in the book “Invisible Warfare,” where the entire 46th chapter is devoted to it, cites the definition of the Council of Constantinople of 1351 648, which reads: “So, Barlaam was revealed and exposed as speaking blasphemously and slanderously about the divine Light that shone on Mount Tabor, on the basis of what he wrote against monks about the sacred prayer they perform and say; the monks are declared free from his accusation, as those who reverence the interpretations and writings of the Holy Fathers (on the named subjects) and are faithful to them... Therefore... if Barlaam himself... as well as anyone else again reveals anything that he said or wrote blasphemously and slanderously against the monks, or better yet, against the Church itself, denouncing the monks, or generally attacking them on this occasion, then, subject to the same condemnation from our side measure 649, may this one also be excommunicated and cut off from the Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ and the assembly of Orthodox Christians” 650. We have given this definition here in order to remind you of the importance of the topic of mental prayer and its fruits.
“Extracts from the Psalms of the Prophet and King David” has already been published twice.
John Chrysostom, St. Conversation about how it is dangerous to speak to the people with obsequiousness // aka. Complete collection of works: In 12 volumes: In Russian. lane Ed. SPbDA. St. Petersburg, 1895–1906 [reprint: M., 1991–2004]. T. 2. 1896. Book. 2. P. 702.
Patriarch Photius of Constantinople, author of brief interpretations of the Epistles of St. Pavel.
George Koressiy (1554–1631), scientist, physician and theologian with Fr. Chios.
John Chrysostom, St. Discourses on the Epistle to the Romans. 32. 3 // aka. Complete collection of creations. T. 9. Book. 2.1903. P. 857.
This prayer is given in the “Philokalia”, in the “Active Chapters” (chapter 100) of St. Theodora, bishop Edessa (9th century), see: Philokalia. T. 3. P. 345.
Basil the Great, St. Creations. T. 3. P. 6.
From the preface of Rev. Nicodemus of the Svyatogorets to the “New Izbornik”.
St. Gregory the Theologian. Word 21, commendable to Athanasius the Great, Archbishop of Alexandria: PG. 35. Col. 1088. Translation (with a slight amendment to the Greek original) is given according to the edition: Gregory the Theologian, St. Collection of creations. T. 1. P. 307.
We are talking about Saints Epiphanius of Cyprus and Cyril of Alexandria.
St. Nicodemus speaks about St. Maximus the Confessor and Paisius the Great.
The virtues of beginners, intermediate and perfect are listed in accordance with the “Ladder” of St. John of Sinai.
Like the saints of our father Abba Isaac the Syrian, ascetic words. P. 32.
Mark the Ascetic, St. 200 chapters on spiritual law. 85 // Philokalia. T. 1. P. 527.
St. Basil the Great. The rules are laid out at length. Prologue. 4: PG. 31. Col. 897. In the Russian translation, see: Basil the Great, St. Creations. T. 2. P. 329.
Heb 12.1. “Witness” (see quotation) and “martyr” (martyrology means “martyrdom”) are expressed in one word in Greek: μάϱτυς.
“Martyrology”, written by Hieromonk Jonah Kavsokalivit, student and biographer of St. Akakiy of the New, was reworked by St. Nicodemus, mainly stylistically.
A type of ancient Greek summer clothing.
St. Maxim the Confessor. Various theological and economic chapters. 4. 29: Φιλοκαλία. T. 2. Ἀϑῆναι, 1984. Σ. 114.
Russian translation of the first part of this work by St. Nicodemus - “Interpretation of the Council Epistle of the Holy Apostle James, Brother of the Lord” - should be published by the Feofaniya publishing house in 2005 - Note. ed.
In the week of the morning, the canon of the Theotokos of the 1st tone, and also the Theotokos of the 1st hymn of the canon of St. Herman, Patriarch of Constantinople (May 12).
This is stated in the Life of St. Peter of Athos, written by St. Gregory Palamas.
Ἀόϱατος Πόλεμος. Σ. 195. Σημ. 91.
Ἀπολογία ὑπὲϱ τοῦ ἐν τῷ βιβλίῳ τοῦ Ἀοϱάτου Πολέμου κειμένου σημειώματος πεϱὶ τῆς Κυϱίας ἡμῶν Θεοτόκου // Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 315–316.
Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 314.
Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 315.
Immutability means inflexibility to sin, the impossibility of change, the fall that the creature will acquire in the next century thanks to deification, which became possible only as a result of the Incarnation of God the Word.
here St. Nicodemus quotes the scholia to the works of St. Maximus the Confessor. See: Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 327.
In the works of St. Maximus the Confessor contains an opinion about the “predestination” of the Incarnation of God the Word, regardless of the fall of Adam. This problem is discussed in the article by Metropolitan Hierotheos (Vlahos) “The Unconditionality of the Divine Incarnation,” one section of which is devoted to the theological views on this topic of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, see: Hierotheus (Vlachos), Met. Lord's Holidays. Simferopol, 2001. pp. 412–423.
St. Andrei Kritsky wrote a number of conversations on the Mother of God holidays.
Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 328.
Below is the patristic teaching about the difference in God's Essence, Hypostases and Energy, which received its most perfect formulation in the Palamite disputes in the middle. 14th century in Byzantium. The words in brackets have been added by the translator to clarify this difficult-to-understand text. By “humanity” below we mean human nature as perceived by God the Word in the Incarnation.
St. Basil the Great. Letter 234. 1; in Russian translation, see Letter 226 // Basil the Great, St. Creations. T. 3. P. 283
The theological thought of George Coresius was sometimes clothed in forms inherent in Latin scholasticism (a tradition dating back to Gennadius 2 Scholarius and even to earlier authors, for example, a supporter of St. Gregory Palamas Theophanes of Nicea and others), but nevertheless Coresius is considered one of the outstanding apologists of Orthodoxy of that time. St. Nicodemus the Svyatogorets often refers to George Koressius, including in his latest work, “The New Ladder.” The traditions of “scholastic palamism” are also reflected in the excerpt from the “Apology” of St. Nicodemus.
Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 322–324.
Irmos of the 9th song of the 1st canon of Pentecost: “Who gave birth not to corruption through temptation, and who gave birth to the Word of all, Unartful Mother, Virgin Mother of God, companion of the Intolerable One, village of the Inconceivable Creator, We magnify Thee.”
George of Nicomedia, archbishop (9th century), creator of canons and sermons for holidays.
Ἑοϱτοδϱόμιον. T. 3. Σ. 160. Σημ. 64.
Wed: Ps.79:14. The solitary diviy is a lonely boar.
The problem of crypto-Protestantism is relevant for the church life of Greece to this day, since some brotherhoods and even hierarchs tend to “downplay” the importance of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
See: Συμβουλευτικὸν Ἐγχειϱίδιον. Σ. 266. (Metropolitan Theoclitus took this quotation from the “Admonitory Manual” of St. Nicodemus. – Ed.)
The book currently has seven editions.
This refers to the works of St. Nicodemus on the publication of the interpretation of the 14 Epistles of the Apostle Paul.
We are talking about the cousin of St. Nicodemus - Metropolitan Hierotheos.
Wonderful “Catechetical Words” sschmch. The Aetolian Cosmas were written in the simple colloquial language of his time (second half of the 18th century).
St. Gregory of Nyssa. A big announcement. 6; in Russian translation cf.: Like the saints of our father Gregory of Nyssa, a great catechetical word. Kiev, 2003. P. 84.
St. Basil the Great. The rules are set out at length in the questions and answers. 6: PG. 31. Col. 925.
Rev. Neil of Sinai. The ascetic word: Φιλοκαλία. T. 1. Ἀϑῆναι, 1982. Σ. 221.
In 1957, the fifth edition was published in Volos.
Gregory the Theologian, St. Collection of creations. T. 1. P. 387. This passage from “Homily 27, against the Eunomians” is often quoted by the Holy Fathers, who wrote about prayer in general and especially about mental prayer.
St. Gennady 2 Scholarius, Patriarch of Constantinople (1454–1456, 1463 and 1464–1465) was born between 1400 and 1405 in Constantinople, died after 1472 in the monastery of John the Baptist ca. city of Serra. He participated in the Ferraro-Florence Council (1438–1439), taking the pro-Uniat side, but later became an active opponent of the church union and heir to the ideas of St. Mark of Ephesus (d. 1444). OK. In 1450 he became a monk; after the capture of Constantinople by the Ottomans, he became Patriarch of Constantinople three times. In the intervals between patriarchates he retired to a monastery, where he died and was buried.
The same word was placed in the “Exomologitaria” ed. 1804
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν. Θήϱα, 2000 [reprint ed. 1799]. Σ. 11–14.
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν. Σ. 7.
Avva Isaac the Syrian. Sermon 16 // Like the saints of our father Abba Isaac the Syrian, ascetic words. P. 62.
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν . Σ. 7–8.
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν . Σ. 8.
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν . Σ. 9–10.
St. Gregory the Theologian. Homily 27, against the Eunomians // Gregory the Theologian, St. Collection of creations. T. 1. P. 387 (translation quoted with minor changes).
St. Basil the Great. Letter 2. 4 // Basil the Great, St. Creations. T. 3. P. 8 (translation quoted with minor changes).
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν . Σ. 10.
See this excerpt from the life of St. Gregory: Philokalia. T. 5. P. 477.
St. John Chrysostom. Catechetical words for those preparing for enlightenment. 2: PG. 49. Col. 237.
Dionysius the Areopagite. About Divine names. 4.13 // aka. About Divine names. About mystical theology. pp. 126–127.
Ἐπιτομὴ ἐκ τῶν Πϱοφητανακτοδαβιτικῶν Ψαλμῶν . Σ. 15–17.
At this Council the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas.
Those. on the part of Patriarch Callistus 1, under whom this Council took place.
Ἀόϱατος Πόλεμος. Σ. 187–188. Σημ. 87.