Глава 5. 1777–1779

1. First writings ...The sower went out to sow the seed... 215 In 1777, that is, exactly two years after the arrival of St. Nicodemus on the Holy Mountain, St. Macarius arrived from the island of Hydra. He wanted to venerate the relics of the saints of our immaculate Faith, reverently preserved in the monasteries of the Holy Mountain, and also to get to know Athos better, with the treasures of art that these beloved villages of the Lord conceal, but above all, to meet his friend, Saint Nicodemus. He visited Karea and, of course, saw all those collivads, which he learned about from Sylvester, who was on Hydra, and the fathers who lived on Naxos. Saint Macarius, the guardian and admirer of the Traditions of the Church, did not stand aside from the dispute about commemorations, in which he happened to become one of the protagonists. He had every reason to sympathize with the fathers who fought for the preservation of the Sacred Traditions. Subsequently, he came to the cell “St. Anthony”, in which his compatriot, Elder David, lived. On the site of this cell now stands the magnificent structure of the Russian monastery of the Apostle Andrew, “Serai”, the holy church of which is probably the largest in the Balkans 216. From this cell Macarius informed Saint Nicodemus to come to him. This day marked the beginning of their fruitful writing collaboration. The monk received permission from his monastery and went to Kareya. These spirit-bearing men greeted each other with love, rejoicing in spirit at the new meeting. Saint Macarius at that time was 47 years old, and Saint Nicodemus was 28. Their great friendship, despite the difference in age, is extremely important for an attentive student of the life of the saint, especially if we take into account that Macarius of Corinth, striving for the Divine, would never have chosen a person unlike himself as a companion of his desires and love. In addition, Saint Macarius was a great ascetic, capable of appreciating worthy ascetics, people with whom he could be in like-mindedness and collaboration. They stayed in this cell for a short time, talking about what interested them, and about the main subject of their concerns - the publication of books for the benefit of the fullness of the Church and the Greek people. A few days later, Saint Macarius handed over the handwritten “Philokalia” to the Monk Nicodemus so that he would save him from mistakes and prepare a preface and short lives of the holy writers of this book. He also entrusted the monk with the correction of the handwritten “Evergetin” and the treatise “On Constant Divine Communion”, so that Nicodemus expanded and prepared it for publication. “And thus the blessed one began - but what did he begin? – I’m perplexed: I don’t know what to say; Should I say spiritual exploits or immeasurable toils of my flesh? My mind is not enough to explain this,” 217 says Euthymius, who visited Nicodemus in the cell where he worked and which was not far from his own. The extent to which the former Metropolitan of Corinth Macarius valued the virtue, art and wisdom of St. Nicodemus, which manifested itself during his labors on the highest spiritual creations of patristic writing, is also evident from the fact that he entrusted him with the correction and preparation for publication of the manuscripts of the Philokalia, and this book represents the deepest expression of the holiness and wisdom of the Fathers of our Eastern Church. Saint Macarius himself had a good education, therefore, as we will see later, the Patriarchate sent him “Pidalion” for consideration. Not devoid of writing talent, filled with holiness, he also had enough time to work on these spiritual books during his stay in the cell “St. Panteleimon”, which is in the Skete of the Baptist. However, he commissioned the 28-year-old monk Nicodemus to complete this great work. The first edition was published in 1782 in Venice, and the second in Athens in 1893. The third edition 218 was carried out in Athens by the publishing house Al. and E. Papadimitriou. Its title read: “The Philokalia of sacred sobriety, collected by our holy and God-bearing Fathers, by whom, through practical and contemplative moral philosophy, the mind is purified, enlightened and becomes perfect.” The first time it was published as a large format book, in quarto, with a volume of 1200 pages, and contained the teaching of the Fathers, called contemplative or sober. At the beginning there is a detailed index, brief lives of each of the Holy Fathers and their names. The publication is divided into two books and is preceded by an extensive preface by St. Nicodemus, not signed by him. This preface testifies to the early maturity of Nicodemus the Holy Mountain, deep knowledge of patristic wisdom and the fact that his soul was filled with the Holy Spirit. Everything that is most holy in spirituality, everything that is highest in theological thought, everything that is undoubtedly Orthodox, and everything that serves as teaching for a great life for those who have rejected this life for the sake of the future life - all this is contained in this book. It is life-giving that, despite his relatively young age, Saint Nicodemus knows all the degrees of spiritual life, the ladder of ascent through mental prayer and “keeping the mind,” and speaks not as a cold critic and a person alien to what he describes, but as one who has tasted the divine cup of spiritual sacraments, as an initiate into the life of the Fathers and a participant in the illuminations and mysterious actions performed in the heart by the Holy Spirit. And the most amazing thing is that his monastic life was only two years! But then where does such wisdom come from, the acquisition of which would take someone else whole years full of tears and sweat? The development of events convinces us that Saint Nicodemus performed mental prayer from the time he graduated from the Evangelical school and met the Holy Mountain fathers. Such amazing spiritual knowledge became possible thanks to the exceptional spiritual nature of the saint combined with extreme moral purity of life. And the deep observations in the preface to the Philokalia lead us even more to the conclusion that his precise statements about “smart prayer”, his conviction in its necessity, his justification that due to the neglect of this sacred work pious people do not become spiritual, and especially his thoughts about prayer - all this is undoubtedly the fruit of personal and many years of experience. But why should we engage in such research when we know that God enlightens those who call upon Him, reveals to them the ineffable secrets of theology, and makes created people partakers of His uncreated and divine energies? The more you learn the thoughts of St. Nicodemus, the more you plunge into the depths of his soul and the more you are amazed and amazed. At such an early age he mastered the highest moral philosophy of the Fathers! What a miracle! But the wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceful, modest, obedient, full of mercy and good fruits... 219 Saint Nicodemus, in the preface to the Philokalia, placed a dithyramb praising God as the blessed Nature, super-perfect perfection, all that is good and beautiful, the Creative Principle, most good and super-beautiful, just as in his “Exhortatory Manual” he later writes that God is above every name. According to the God-primary idea, God, having predestined man from eternity to deification and having given him a goal in Himself, creates him at the time in which he was pleased. Next, the monk follows the revelation about the creation of man, according to which God took the body from matter, and from Himself put the soul through inspiration, and, as if making man a kind of great world, by the multitude of powers and properties and preeminently, in this small world he made him “a spectator of the sensual creation and a secret man of the intelligent” (the monk borrows this expression from Gregory the Theologian 220). He calls man “a statue and image of God, filled with all gifts” 221, and says that God gave him the law of the Commandment, the keeping of which he left to the good use of man’s moral freedom, worthy of him with the grace of deification, creating, so to speak, man as God by grace, illuminated by the brightest light forever. Further, St. Nicodemus, continuing his theological explanation of the fall of man, says that the founder of evil, the devil, out of envy, unable to bear such great glory that awaited man, deceived him with cunning speeches, in the hope that in this way he would make God’s original plan futile. However, he was deceived, for this plan was still to be realized, as the words of the divine prophets announced. That is why in recent times, in His goodness, the Most Divine Word of the Father deigned to become incarnate from the Virgin Mary, taking on our entire nature in order to deify it. Then He gave us the saving and god-creating commandments and the perfect grace of the All-Holy Spirit, through Holy Baptism, as if sowing some divine seed in our hearts, so that we, passing from one spiritual age to another and living in the keeping of unquenchable grace by doing the commandments, would become children of God, growing into a man perfect to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ. This was the meaning of all Divine Housebuilding, according to St. Nicodemus. Therefore, he weeps, thinking about how grace, shining more than the sun, was darkened and buried by shameful passions, so that its flame was almost completely extinguished in us: so extinguished that we no longer know about its very existence, and having heard how grace acts in someone, immediately, filled with envy, slander, claiming that it is impossible for action to be found in our age grace. According to the Monk Nicodemus, the Holy Spirit Himself enlightened the Holy Fathers, teaching how a person can most conveniently achieve ascent to the state of deification. In order to ascend to our ancient dignity, we need to maintain complete sobriety, attention and guarding our minds, and the constant occupation of our mind should be the truly artistic method of single-word prayer 222: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.” And it is necessary to repeat it not just with the mind and lips, because every pious Christian can easily do this, but with the whole mind, immersed inside the heart. Here special attention is required so that we do not accept any other thoughts or images or visions of any objects during this activity. The Monk Nicodemus, who felt the need to prove that this work does not at all represent some kind of unauthorized invention of ascetics, but the application of the words of the Lord: “The Kingdom of God is within you” 223 and similar passages from the Gospel and the epistles of the Apostle Paul, writes like this: “The reasons for this work and, so to speak, the matter were taken from the teaching of the Lord, who says: “The Kingdom of God is within you,” and in another place: “Hypocrite, cleanse first the inside of the cup and dish, and then their outside will be clean,” which should be understood not sensually, but in relation to our inner man. And the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians: “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ... that He may grant you... with power to be strengthened by His Spirit, so that Christ may dwell in the inner man through the Spirit in your hearts...” 224. What is clearer than this testimony? And in another place he says: “...singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” 225. Do you hear? He says: in the heart. And not only he, but also the Supreme One (Apostle Peter), in agreement with him, says: “...until the day begins to dawn and the morning star rises in your hearts... 226” 227. This work, says the monk, combined with the fulfillment of other commandments, attracts the grace of the All-Holy Spirit and the warmth that kindles in the heart, ignites passions - and so little by little both the mind and the heart are cleansed, which makes it easier to fulfill the commandments of God. Then the fruits of the Spirit follow, and every good increases in such a soul, ascending to a state filled with the grace of Holy Baptism: thus a person approaches deification. And so, until the very end of the preface, the Monk Nicodemus does not tire of asserting that by using the indicated method a person achieves purification in the shortest possible time. “And to put it briefly, from here, as soon as possible, we can return to the beginning of the perfect grace of the Spirit, given to us in Baptism, existing in us, but like a spark buried in the ashes of the passions, and see it shining clearly, and be enlightened intelligently, and subsequently become perfect and achieve deification...” 228 Then he emphasizes that many Holy Fathers mention mental prayer throughout their works. And some of them, foreseeing the negligence of subsequent generations towards this work, left detailed instructions about the image and methods of mental prayer. “And from the study of books that talk about this truly cleansing, enlightening, and perfecting, according to the Areopagite, work, as well as others, everything that concerns prayer and sobriety was chosen. And all this, like some necessary means and tools, is applied to one and the same object and has a single goal - the deification of man" 229. Thanks to his work on correcting the Philokalia, the Monk Nicodemus was able to become the greatest hesychast of his era and subsequent times. He knew all the Fathers and was enriched by their thoughts. He knew the special spiritual gift of each of the Fathers: the asceticism of Evagrius, the wisdom of Mark the Ascetic, the spiritual sweetness of Theoliptus, the majestic contemplation of Callistus Katafighiot, the depth of Macarius - and all the Fathers. This proves that Orthodox spirituality continues as Tradition, since it is not a free movement of the mind, but a spiritual path, subordinated to the identity of the life of the creators of Tradition themselves. This also proves that the internal unity observed between the Fathers is the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is known for sure about the time when the works of our God-bearing Fathers were collected. Apparently, the collection was compiled by scientists and spiritual monks of the Holy Mountain on the basis of its book collections around the second half of the 14th century, after the end of the famous hesychast disputes and the triumphant justification at the Councils of the Svyatogorsk Fathers. The obvious purpose of creating such a collection was to preserve the teaching of the Holy Fathers on mental prayer, which the Calabrian monk Varlaam tried to ridicule. In the short lives that precede the works of the Fathers of the Philokalia, we encounter the following phrase: “For those who wish to preserve their minds, it was decided to place in this book as a very useful thing...” - from which we draw the assumption that in the Philokalia there are additions by St. Nicodemus, the purpose of which was to reveal the Orthodox and patristic spirit of mental prayer, as well as to encourage, through extensive teaching, Christians, monks and laity, to so that they kindle in themselves a love for unceasing (as the great Paul commands) prayer and receive the valuable gift of deification. Arguing in the preface that lay people should also perform mental prayer, the monk expands on this topic and, as if emphasizing the need for this work for the laity, cites the following terrible and trembling words: “From this I conclude that the reason why those who were adorned with holiness during life and after death have become impoverished, and there are so few who are saved at the present time, is none other than the following: namely, that we they neglected this matter leading to deification; and without the deification of the mind, as someone said, it is impossible for a person to achieve holiness or even be saved: which is terrible to hear! for salvation and deification are one and the same, according to the teaching of the wise Fathers” 230. And indeed, this opinion of the monk is difficult to dispute. For if we constantly resort to the Lord Jesus, like that widow in the Gospel parable 231, it becomes possible, on the one hand, to overcome our internal discord and contradiction, the “unification of mental forces together” is achieved, and on the other hand, it becomes easy to fulfill the divine commandments, which make us partakers of heavenly illumination and never-falling holy love 232. Of course, the spirit of mystical theology diffused in the works of the Holy Fathers and their teaching, formed in a monastic environment, reinforce the opinion that they were written exclusively for the benefit of monks who chose a carefree and wise life in the Lord and renounced the world. Meanwhile, many pages of the Philokalia confirm that in a turbulent worldly environment it is possible to some extent to practice mental prayer and, as a result, to “keep the mind.” This is especially clearly shown in the passage from the life of St. Gregory Palamas at the end of the book, where it is said that a heavenly angel appeared to a certain old ascetic named Job and refuted his error. Having worked so hard on the publication of this very voluminous volume filled with the highest contemplations, the monk hid under a shroud of anonymity, and to this day would have remained unknown if his biographer and associate, as well as his two other life writers, had not discovered the invisible worker, who turned out to be none other than the one renowned for his experience and great works in the field of Orthodox mystical theology Nicodemus - so the praise for the Philokalia rightly belongs to him. Immediately after the publication of the Greek edition of the Philokalia, the Russian cinematographer Paisius Velichkovsky, known for his wisdom and holiness of life (probably a friend of St. Nicodemus: he was his contemporary and labored in the monastery of the Prophet Elijah, located not far from Kapsala; Nicodemus remembers him with praise in one of his letters) began to translate this book into the Slavic language 233. This translation has become a true spiritual pleasure and a valuable asset for the Orthodox Slavic peoples. And in recent years, the Western world, returning to the spiritual sources of the East, withered from rationalism, has been enriched by translations of the Philokalia into French, English and German 234 . In a truly hesychast environment, amid vigils, fasts, prayers and sacred contemplations, the Monk Nicodemus completed his difficult work on the Philokalia. Thus, he laid the most important spiritual foundation for his further ascetic life and mystical teaching, for Nicodemus was primarily of a mystical nature. Saint Macarius looked with deep respect at the amazing success of his young monk friend in the field of mystical theology. It would not be an exaggeration to assume that Nicodemus recalled with marvelous clarity everything that he read in the Philokalia. This is also clear from the book “Admonitory Guide,” written four years later, in which various quotations from the “Philokalia” are often cited from memory, which the monk himself admitted. ...You found the deed, inspired by God, in the vision of the sunrise... 235 Immediately after finishing work on the “Philokalia,” the Monk Nicodemus began to correct the manuscripts of “Evergetinus,” which he found in the holy monastery of Kutlumush. This book consists of four volumes with a total volume of 650 large format pages (in quarto), and is “a collection of the divine sayings and teachings of the God-bearing and Holy Fathers, collected from all God-inspired Scripture, appropriately and conveniently presented by Paul, the most reverend monk and creator of the monastery of the Most Holy Theotokos Evergetis 236, nicknamed Evergetinus.” The book was first published in Venice, following the Philokalia, in the printing house of Antonio Bortoli in 1783, the support of the noblest citizen of Smyrna, John Canna. It was published for the second time in Constantinople in 1861 by K. and D. Fokai, at the request of the Svyatogorsk fathers. This book, once eaten by worms in the libraries of the Holy Mountain and almost completely unknown to anyone “due to the difficulty and expense of copying it and accessible to very few,” Saint Nicodemus freed from the errors of copyists, prefacing it with an excellent and spiritually significant preface, excerpts from which we present for the sake of the exceptional beauty of his style, as well as for the sake of those high spiritual thoughts that attract our attention and cause admiration, confirming that before us is - reflection of a mature soul. The book is extremely useful for people of every rank - monks, laymen, theologians, priests, bishops - for it analyzes in great detail the passions, as well as the active and contemplative virtues. And at the same time, the Venerable Nicodemus, who worked on the preparation of the publication, seems to be completely absent - after all, “Evergetin” was published anonymously. In the prologue he writes: “The Eternal and Essential Mind, which surpasses all understanding of those who have reason [intelligible] and incomprehensible by reason [Unintelligible], but in Whose existence they believe on the basis of what is comprehensible by reason [intelligible], being Profound and by nature Beneficent, having created the universe [absolutely everything] from complete non-existence, having filled with the Word and completed with His life-giving Spirit, wished to limit it to certain limits and regulations. And He rules the higher, spiritual beings according to certain supermundane laws, according to which they move in divine harmony and proportionality: those who are above enjoy the illumination available to them, while the lower ones, in turn, receive light from the higher ones. And He placed certain essential forces in the bodies that are in this material world - they are also called natural laws. According to these laws and in accordance with them, they must move and develop, performing those actions that are assigned to them, so that the world can serve as a prototype of the truth. In man He sowed a certain rational and independent ability to judge, and to help him gave a commandment called the moral Law. Accordingly, with it and according to it, as by the most precise standard, a person must straighten himself: with all his might, distance himself from all evil, for it is a deviation from the directness of the moral Law, and strive with reason for everything that is good and virtuous, for in it, in this good, is the goal of moral Philosophy. But what does the world-creating Mind expect and what does it seek for itself in this? Is it not so that in a universal movement - harmonious, proportionate and according to established laws - to gain His glory? And all other creatures, with some exceptions, obeying the command of the Creator, remained within the limits set by him, as it is said: “Put a limit, and it will not pass by” 237. With their polyphonic choir, inexpressible voices, as many as anyone was given, they glorified God. And man, man – oh, how can I talk about this without tears!” 238 The Holy Father develops the teaching of the Church about the fall of human nature and its restoration by God the Word to its ancient dignity through the Divine Economy. He also speaks about the moral teaching of the Gospel, accepting, together with the Fathers, two paths of Christian morality, for in this life there are two paths, one more moderate and everyday, namely the path of marriage, and the other angelic and incomparable, the path of virginity. “For the majority, He commanded to firmly preserve this moral law and become as if they themselves were a part of it. And for those who are able to go further and are ready to do more, He allowed everything that they are jealous of for the love of God. And in a hidden way He Himself pointed out this. Firstly, when he spoke about the mysterious accumulation of virginity: “He who can contain it, let him contain it” 239. And secondly, when he mentioned two denarii, that is, the old and the new: “If you spend anything more, when I return, I will give it to you” 240.” But some, as St. Nicodemus writes, study other types of philosophy, mathematics, physics, metaphysics and other sciences, wasting their entire lives, and completely forget about moral philosophy, although it is more necessary. “They examine heaven, earth and everything else: how consistent and orderly it is, but very few of them think about putting themselves in order and decorating themselves with purity of morals. They do not seem to know that it is much more important to take care of themselves than to take care of anything extraneous, that mere knowledge in the absence of action is meaningless and is nothing more than a ghost. But Saint Maximus says: “Think what good it is for me to philosophize about everything else, if my soul is confused by passions in the most unworthy and unphilosophical way. At least, I don’t see this benefit.” Therefore, we should also take care of moral philosophy so that we are not defective in the most important things. But let's leave them as they are. And those who preferred the sacred teaching of the Reverend Fathers and saw with a sharper vision of the mind how useful this kind of philosophy is, those who mastered it could easily master everything else. If, moreover, they realized that ethics is the same age as the human race and, in its antiquity, stands above all other types of philosophy, they completely neglected everything else and were concerned only with it. Having exiled themselves, according to Paul, into deserts and mountains, into caves and gorges of the earth 241 and choosing complete silence, they set themselves the most useful goal - to accurately discover the original causes of passions and completely cut them off. In addition, they sought not only to achieve an inclination towards virtues and their relative knowledge (this can be achieved by chance), but their goal was to experience and be filled with virtues, as if by a second nature, to make them their confidantes and together, through many works and many years of exploits, to reach old age” 242. The blessed Fathers, says further the divine Nicodemus, studying day and night the laws of the Gospel, struggled to apply them to themselves, through inexplicable temptations from demons and people, through abstinence and all kinds of bodily suffering, and with many labors and deeds they fulfilled all the virtues. And they fulfilled the commandments of the Lord, loving their neighbor more than themselves, and thus left us an example of perfect love. These holy men “in thousands of trials and practical experiences, over many years (it happened that they studied one single word for fifty years), under the guidance of the enlightening Spirit, discovered the depths of moral philosophy. They purified each of the virtues from excesses and shortcomings, and therefore they purely teach about four kinds of dispassion, about obedience leading to perfection, about humility filled with virtue, about all-enlightening reasoning, about grateful patience, about God-imitating mercy, about contrite repentance, about true confession, about shameless conscience, about divine love and others. links of the golden chain of virtues. In addition, they discuss which of these virtues relate to the body, which to the soul, and which to the mind. And how, and how much; and what reasons contribute to their acquisition and what do not. They also explain which passions are general and which are their particular manifestations, and, again, which of them relate to the body, which to the soul, and which to the mind, and how you can easily get rid of them. In short, they carefully examine everything that perfects a person in Christ. And what is truly marvelous is that the words of these blessed Elders, although composed simply and artlessly, are at the same time so strong and effective that they convince almost everyone...” At the end of the prologue, St. Nicodemus, as if inspired by the wisdom in Christ and the virtue of these holy Fathers, concludes: “Now this most accurate measure of virtues is coming to light, this school of dispassion, this experienced prudence of the wise Fathers, this pious presentation of the elders’ advice, in a word, this unique treasury of all moral goods. Let the Solons be silent, let the Lycurgus be scattered, let the Socrates fade, let the Aristotle and Plato, and all the other external sages who have ever written about moral virtues, disappear! Let all of them together yield precedence to this book. They have strayed far from the goal of ethics - I have true good. The goal of their philosophy is not God (Who alone is the Highest of all goods, and by turning to Whom every virtue finds its value), but natural and temporary good. And if they were mistaken in their goal, then it is clear that they do not teach true virtues, in any case, if, according to them, every state of a thing is determined by its goal. All of you who are called to be partakers of Heaven and Orthodoxy, who look to the one God and want to adorn your soul with all kinds of virtues, stretch out your hands like golden pillars and with deep joy accept this book into holy arms, as the sacred firstfruits and light of the law. And when you read it, and re-read it, and pluck the ripe fruits of spiritual benefit, do not refuse, I ask you - pray to the Lord for the one on whose money these fruits were grown, and, of course, for the one who watered them with his labor. For if you thus show a grateful disposition, loving these Fathers (because the Lord was pleased to love them) and asking them every day, then you will correct, according to their elder and godly advice, as a kind of rules, everything that concerns our life according to the commandment, which prescribes: “Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will tell you” 243. By correcting, you will appear as doers of moral virtues, and by fulfilling them, glorify our Father in heaven, with His only begotten Son and His life-giving Spirit, the one God of all. To Him belongs all glory, honor and worship forever and ever. Amen!" 244. Thus, St. Nicodemus concludes his theological introduction to Ewergetinus by glorifying God, the Author of all good things. Thus, he gave the Church of Christ a completely unknown book containing the life and teaching of the holy Fathers of the Desert, who, by the grace of the Lord, carried out the moral preaching of the Gospel in all its fullness. “Evergetin” has since become a delight and an indelible measure of the spiritual life of entire generations, not only of monks of the Eastern Church, but also of clergy and laity, and has turned into a ladder leading the God-loving souls of our brothers to heaven. For these saints, the preservation of fatherly wisdom - the fruit of the Holy Spirit - was the highest duty and work for which they were responsible before God and the Church. For Saint Nicodemus, the wisdom obtained by the blood and sweat of the Holy Fathers became the greatest honor and joy. It is no small task to try to impart spiritual light to brothers who need it. Therefore, he began his work with enthusiasm, strengthened by the support and prayers of his friend, the Metropolitan (Makariy of Corinth). The souls of saints experience a certain majestic awe of creativity and labor in the spiritual field. They do not work for perishable gain, human glory or worldly pleasure. They strive in an atmosphere of love for God and neighbor and therefore do not defile the soul, do not enslave the will, do not limit thought, and do not look down. Free, inspired, contemplative, humble, as co-workers with God and as inextricable slaves, they bring their work out of love and for the sake of love, and deeply believe that they did what they had to create 245. To work only for the sake of God and people, without expecting any reward, is the property of great souls. These two books (“Philokalia” and “Evergetin”) brought innumerable benefits to the world. How to evaluate this work? It is enough just to note that no one from the moment of the invention of printing until the time when they were published, that is, for more than three centuries, considered it necessary to present these works to the Orthodox people. 4. “On Constant Divine Communion” He who walks on My Flesh and drinks My Blood abides in Me, and I in him 246. There were and still are doubts regarding the authorship of this book, since many are inclined to believe that it belongs to Saint Macarius Notara. Athanasius of Paros mentions it in the biography of this holy man and attributes this book to him. However, this is a mistake that has escaped the attention of both St. Athanasius and many scientists. The first edition of this book, published anonymously, was published in 1777 in Venice 247. The preface proclaims the opinion of the Church, expressed in the Holy Gospel, in the Apostles and in the Council Rules. The author attacks the bad habit of receiving communion twice or thrice a year, “as a new custom, introduced into the Church and representing a stifling innovation that alienates the Church. That’s why silencing the truth is condemned as treason.” The writer himself hides himself because the truth is not connected with the persons who express it. “Do not be curious,” he says, about the author of this manual, who he is and what he is, but, carefully comprehending the purity and clarity of what was said, shining like gold refined by fire, choose the good part, and those words that in any way bring you closer to God, even if they belonged to someone unknown, you, without a doubt, accept as divine, and those that, under the pretext of imaginary reverence, remove you from God, even if a heavenly angel spoke them, as if they were strangled, abhor and turn away” 248. The views of the unknown writer are as follows: at every festive liturgy, Christians should receive communion, except for those who are under penance; as proof, he cites evidence: the 8th and 9th Apostolic Canons, the 2nd canon of the Antioch Council, as well as the canons of the 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils, which prohibit those who, at the Divine Liturgy, abstain from communion of the Divine Mysteries without blessed guilt. He also says that the goal, beginning and ending of the prayers of the Divine Liturgy is Communion. He then cites the rules of Timothy of Alexandria, approved at the 6th and 7th Ecumenical Councils. In addition, he harshly denounces those who pervert the paternal decrees and says that the liturgy is celebrated on Saturday and Sunday and the faithful must receive communion at it. He then says that Communion warms the coldness of the soul, and dialectically reveals the place of the Sacrament, doing this with great fervor and force of argument. Mainly he opposes the idea that one should receive communion twice or thrice a year. The unknown author defends the Sacred Traditions especially ardently, and here one can already find the main points of polemic against those who violate the honor of Sunday - the author condemns genuflection during the period of Pentecost: this is a purely Kollywad theme. He cruelly takes up arms against the “pseudo-pious” who say that frequent Divine Communion is for the perfect, while, on the contrary, it is necessary for the imperfect, for their strengthening in spiritual achievement. He writes that “the Church has made pastors judges of what is done contrary to the Gospel and the laws.” The main distinguishing feature that points to the writer of this book and leads us to the resolution of this issue are the words that we find at the end of the named work: “Many people reproached me because of the hieromonk who served in Corona, the Transylvanian city in which I currently live.” He received communion twice a week, or even more often... “They asked us when we were sitting in one corner of Brasov...” 249. Clearly, here we are talking about Hierodeacon Neophyte Kavsokalivite 250, who lived in the above cities for a decade, from the Jews, who was also a “kollivad” and who was the first to begin to object to commemorations on Sunday. In this regard, no doubt remains, despite the contrary opinions expressed by V. Grumel, L. Petit, Athanasius of Paros, Ezekiel, Veritis, Kolitsaras and others, 251 who either did not know the above fragment, due to the rarity of the book in question in the 1777 edition, or did not pay attention to it. The merits of this book were highly appreciated by Saint Nicodemus, who, while considering “the grace-filled custom of the faithful receiving communion more often,” decided to publish it, and, as Euthymius put it, 252 “corrected and expanded the precious work on Divine and sacred constant Communion.” In addition, the Monk Nicodemus, in his “Confession of Faith,” written thirty years after the composition of the essay “On Constant Divine Communion,” defending the correctness of his view, says, among other things, the following: “... those who claim that for this reason we wrote in the book about constant Communion...” 253. Thus, it becomes clear not only that this book was written by the Monk Nicodemus, but also that this fact was not a secret to the Holy Mountain residents, who accused him of allegedly heretical wisdom, of course, because of the contents of this book. Saint Nicodemus, taking the 1777 edition as a basis, introduced significant changes in content and form 254. Familiar with the polemics against collivades with the arguments of opponents, instead of the dialectic used by Neophytos, he cites the original texts of St. Basil the Great, John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, Gregory of Nyssa, Athanasius the Great, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodore the Studite, Nilus, Nicholas Cabasilas and other holy Fathers. The monk translates these texts into modern Greek to make them understandable to illiterate people. Commenting on them, he draws conclusions that make it possible to present his own views as invulnerable to the criticism of opponents. By means of dialectic, he would only introduce confusion among prejudiced people, who would consider that he was expressing his own ideas. Therefore, we usually find in this little book the following phrase, with which the monk reminds us that the entire teaching about Divine Communion given here belongs to the Holy Fathers: “We have nothing to say from ourselves, so as not to cause confusion and confusion among some...” The “war” against the collivades was so fierce that this book alone is able to show in sufficient measure what attacks the unfortunate Christians, who lived in holiness and cared about their own, withstood improvement through constant Divine Communion. The book of the 1777 edition, which consisted of 173 pages, reached a revised volume of 343 pages, and if Euthymius had not informed us that the saint “corrected and enlarged the precious work,” we would not easily recognize the similarity between the two books. Nicodemus wrote two prefaces, one as if from the publisher and the other from the author. In the first, he draws a comparison between the manna and water that flowed from the uncut stone to the Jews, and “the Immaculate Body of the God-Man Jesus and the Life-Giving and All-Holy Blood of the One God.” “And what was that manna,” he asks, “in comparison with this All-Holy Body? What was that water compared to this Life-giving Blood? It was one shadow; and the Holy Mysteries are the truth.” And those who ate and drank from those (manna and water), he says, subsequently died. But whoever eats and drinks from the Body and Blood of the Lord “becomes incorruptible, is worthy of deification, does not die, but lives forever.” And, citing the word of the Lord: “Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness and died... whoever eats this Bread will live forever,” he adds that there is no comparison between what happened then and what is happening to us: the only similarity between manna and the Body, water and Blood, is that they were intended for the Israelites to constantly eat and drink from them, and the Body and Blood for us to eat and drink constantly... 256 In the same spirit, the Holy Father wrote the entire first preface and most of the second. He then gives an 80-page interpretation of the Lord's Prayer as related to the theme of constant Divine Communion. The book under review is divided into three parts. The first consists of nine chapters, in which, as already mentioned, the meaning of the Lord's Prayer is revealed. The second part, on pages 94–183 257, contains three chapters, the first of which tells, “that the Orthodox need to frequently partake of the Divine Body and Blood of our Lord,” the second, “that constant communion of the Holy Mysteries is useful and saving,” and the third, “that if anyone refrains from communion, this causes him great harm.” The third part of the book, on pages 196–327 258 , consists of thirteen “objections” and a conclusion. “Objections” are the opinions that were expressed by opponents of permanent Divine Communion, as well as the arguments that were put forward against collivads. Saint Nicodemus uses them in his argumentation, since the opposing wisdom was based on them, and tears them apart like a web, with the help of texts from the Fathers of the Church, quotations from the Gospel and the Apostle and the Holy Apostolic and Council Rules. This is a great feat - to show the greatest benefit of frequent Divine Communion in an era that, out of prejudice, has become entrenched in anti-spiritual and anti-evangelical habits. As we will see, the book “On Constant Divine Communion,” as soon as it appeared among the Holy Mountain residents, caused great temptation. Mournful quarrels began between the monks, which lasted fifty years! So deep-rooted was the evil... It was not easy to convince people, shackled by the long habit of receiving Communion twice, or three times a year, or every forty days, that it was in their power to begin Communion once and twice a week, with appropriate preparation and “fasting as much as possible,” as the Reverend Father repeatedly writes. The “objections” to which St. Nicodemus responds with the help of texts from Holy Scripture and the Holy Fathers, as well as his own apt comments, reveal to us the spiritual appearance of the arguing monks. The monk writes the following: 1) When they saw that some Christian was frequently receiving communion, they reviled him, saying that only priests could do this, and “if you want to receive communion often, become a priest.” 2) One should partake no more often than once every forty days. 3) They reinterpreted the admonition of the Fathers, calling on Christians to take communion often, claiming that “the Fathers said this so that we would not turn away at all from the Communion of the Divine Mysteries,” and that “if some, out of great reverence and fear, partake rarely, with the greatest reverence they approach the Mysteries and receive communion.” 4) Others said that “the Venerable Mary of Egypt and many other hermits and ascetics partook of the Holy Mysteries only once in their lives and that this did not prevent them from becoming saints.” 5) They said that “Holy Communion, as a great and terrible thing, also requires a perfect, holy and angelic life.” 6) Others, in order to prevent constant Divine Communion, cited a saying from the Book of Proverbs: “You have eaten honey in moderation, but do not become so full that you vomit” 259, which they distorted for their own purpose. 7) Others, “having lost the fear of God, call it heresy that some receive communion often, saying that just as those who are baptized not according to the Tradition of the Church are heretics, so those who receive communion constantly are also heretics.” 8) Others use as an excuse the complacency of those who constantly partake of venial sins in order to forbid them from constant Divine Communion. 9) This objection contains some strange sophisms that the opponents of Divine Communion use to confirm their views, saying: “Since at that time the majority was communing, and the minority was not communing, the Divine Fathers excommunicated the minority so that the majority would not be offended. However, now, since the majority do not receive communion, but only a few, these few should not receive communion, lest they bring disorder into the Church and seduce many.” 10) They cite the “Tomos of Unity” in their defense and say that “there is a rule, written in the Book of Hours and in the synopses, which determines to receive communion three times a year.” 11) Others said that “taking communion often is not a dogma of faith that must be preserved immutably.” 12) Some are tempted because we (that is, St. Nicodemus and his supporters. - Note. Transl.) do not listen to them in what they tell us, and especially when they forbid us from constant Communion, and express three certain arguments in their defense. First: the canons and commandments are in the power of the bishops. Second: it is not appropriate for us to test bishops, teachers and clergy in what they tell us, but only to obey them in everything with simplicity. And third: they present to us the apostolic saying, which says: “Obey your leaders and be submissive” 260 . 13) “Some say: in order to fulfill the commandment of the Lord, we receive communion two and three times a year, and this is enough for our justification.” The Monk Nicodemus with great ease and calm refutes these empty arguments. In his conclusion, he places an amazing appeal to Christians and to the enemies of the collivads, full of love and condescension. As in the whole book under review, although it is an objection and addressed mainly to his enemies and their associates, the spirit of gentleness and tolerance prevails here. The saint even advises that, for the sake of the fathers, priests and bishops who resist out of ignorance, “we had better ask them with tears to allow us to receive communion often. If others forbid us and do not allow us, we must, as our spiritual fathers, pray to them with hot tears in our eyes until we convince them in any way to allow us in, so that we may be worthy to receive the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts with perfect notification...” 261 . What influence the book “On Constant Divine Communion” had and how much it contributed to the destruction of the described harmful customs and the assimilation of “the gracious custom of frequent Christian communion” is clear from modern knowledge about the Sacrament. The books of K. Dialismas, Timothy Kalavrit and Mr. Panagopoulos, devoted to this topic, are based on the book under consideration and on other ideas of the saint related to this topic, which he expressed in the “Pidalion”, in the “Invisible Warfare”, in the “Spiritual Exercises” and in other works, although the above-mentioned authors of works on Divine Communion do not correctly follow St. Nicodemus in everything. Later we will turn to a more detailed analysis of the views of Saint Nicodemus, starting with a general view of the topic of constant Divine Communion, as well as the issue of abuses that are still noted by zealots of the life of the first Christians, who desire a revival of the heyday of the spiritual and liturgical life of the Orthodox Church. ...What was written before was written for your instruction... 262 After the Monk Nicodemus finished his work on the three books discussed above, St. Macarius took them to Smyrna to arrange publication with the help of his influential friends. As is clear from the first editions of these books, “Philokalia” was published in 1782 with the help of Prince John Mavrokordat, “Evergetin” - in 1783 with the help of I. Kanna, and “On Permanent Divine Communion” - in 1783, with the help of an unknown benefactor. All these books were published in Venice, in the printing house of Antonio Bortoli. The monk withdrew from the cell “St. Anthony,” which lay east of Karei, where he had worked so hard to present to the Church three monumental books that had a decisive influence on the spiritual history of Orthodox peoples. He went down to Kapsala and settled in the silent cell of his fellow monk and biographer, Hieromonk Euthymius, where he carefully began to correct and prepare for publication the book “The Alphabet of Alphabets,” or “Paradise,” by Saint Meletius the Confessor, who labored on Mount Galicia in the mid-13th century. This work is written in fifteen syllables and has 13,824 verses, impeccable in meaning and style and written with great freedom. This work deals with theological, ascetic, ecclesiastical, spiritual and, above all, dogmatic issues that especially occupied Meletius the Confessor and his era - let us recall that the Monk Meletius was tortured for his Orthodox beliefs by the Latin Emperor Michael 8th Palaiologos and Patriarch John 11th Century. The book is called “The Alphabet of Alphabets” not only because its text is arranged according to the 24 letters of the Greek alphabet, but also because each “letter” is divided into 24 small sections starting with the same letter. And each of them in turn has 24 verses. So, "A" consists of 24 "A", each of which makes up 24 verses, so that in total there are 576 lines beginning with the letter "A". And other sections corresponding to other letters of the alphabet are arranged in exactly the same way. The Monk Nicodemus used four manuscripts, which he carefully compared, to eliminate errors that had crept into the text of this book. The monk himself tells us about this in one of the notes to the book we are considering. The book, according to the testimony of the saint’s biographers, Euthymius and Onufry 263, was prepared for publication in 1778–1779, and the prologue was written later. Until 1815, as Hieromonk Cyril Castanofilli, who served as a copyist for Nicodemus for seven years, says, the book was not published by anyone. It is curious that in the prologue (the only thing, with the exception of the notes, that belongs to Nicodemus in this creation, so we will cite excerpts from it for the sake of the beauty of the style and high thoughts), the monk writes that “having met this prosperous and multi-colored paradise, the most pious... living in Moldavia, did not spare silver and gold, although a lot of them were required, and generously contributed with amazing care to this seal...” The saint wrote this on October 28, 1804. Probably, after his work on the “Alphabet of Alphabets,” he did not find anyone willing to bear the costs of publication, and prayed that “brothers living in Moldova” be found who, 25 years later, took up this work. The monk was on good terms with the Orthodox of Ugro-Vlahia and Moldo-Vlahia, and this explains that he knew of their readiness to publish the said book. But some obstacle met in the way of these brothers’ good readiness, and the book remained unpublished. As a result, for the first time, the “Alphabet of Alphabets” was published by the physician Spyridon Kambanaos, who labored in the Svyatogorsk Great Lavra, in the journal “Athos” he published, in 1928, together with the life of the Monk Meletios, written by Macarius Chrysocephalus and translated into modern Greek by Nicodemus the Svyatogorets, who also compiled a service to the Monk Meletios. Blake made a photocopy of the life of the service of St. Meletius and the entire “Alphabet of Alphabets”, even before the publication of Cambanaos. That is why the doctor expresses deep sorrow that there was no Greek scientist or publisher who would publish this book, “on which the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain worked so hard, who wrote as much as any Athonite.” He fervently prays “so that the laborious work of the Greek monk will be published in a Greek magazine, and the sacred shadow of the glorious Nicodemus will rejoice at this.” This amazing book is filled with the Holy Spirit, and we must pray that it will be published again, even more carefully. What especially surprises us when considering the “Alphabet of Alphabets” is the deep knowledge of St. Nicodemus in theology and canon law, and yet he was still a relatively young man. It is also visible in his notes: everywhere the saint finds reason to defend the traditions, teachings and sacred canons of the Orthodox Church. In addition, in the comments to this book and in the prologue, the anti-Latin mood of his soul is visible. The Monk Nicodemus was a harsh denouncer of the innovations of papism. ABOUT! If only we had Nicodemus today! Let us present here several excerpts from the prologue so that the reader can appreciate the extremely early maturity of the saint in spiritual matters and the nobility of his soul. “Who has seen a man shining with virtues, but to people he seems insignificant; bright in life, wise in knowledge and humble in wisdom? - So St. Isaac the Syrian, my God-bearing philosopher, exclaimed in bewilderment, showing with his bewilderment how rare and difficult such a man is to find. For there is hardly one single person from generation to generation in whom such God-like beauty would shine, like a certain goal in the desert, or a banner on a hill, or a ripe berry in an unripe bunch, according to the word of the Prophet. I will also say that (such a husband) is like an Arabian phoenix among the birds, everything about him is unique. And especially now, when a great and endless stream of evils floods the universe, and goodness is in terrible oblivion, virtue is much rarer than the gold of Sufira 264. However, the fulfillment of this perplexed word of the God-bearing father became the truly God-bearing and Christ-bearing and spirit-bearing, wondrous, I say, and the great confessor Meletius: the branch of the Euxine Pontus, the pet of the Galician mountain, Byzantium 265 statement, the glorious adornment of the venerables, the confessors of beauty, the saint, glorified by many miracles from God both during life and after death, Western slander, condemnation and tangible and living proof of the right dogmas of the Eastern Church. It is no less fair to describe this man by means of those signs about which the divine Isaac speaks than to call angels minds, and people - rational beings. Simply put, this will be as true as if they were describing the characteristic properties of each living creature. For this saint shone like the sun with the beautiful rays of his virtues in the firmament of asceticism, so that even those who asceticized at that time could not compare with his sun-like radiance, and his life sparkled from the brilliance of his deeds. He was so content with external insignificance that all his life he had no other goal than to evade human glory, for it is the cause of disgrace and destroys true glory. Protecting from everyone his inconspicuousness and obscurity, according to the wise advice of Biant 266 “live unnoticed,” he made efforts to conceal and cover with insignificance, as if with a wisp or some cloud, the shining sun of his life and the bright virtues, or to carry secretly, in an inglorious vessel and under a cover, a pearl of great value for supernatural deeds. Especially - let us remember the apostolic word here - he tried to keep the treasure of the Spirit in clay vessels, and the unceasing concern of this blessed Meletius was the hidden life in Christ, although diligence and care, on the contrary, led him to glory. For neither a city can hide, as the God-bearing Nile says, nor a virtue moving towards a right goal, although those who practice it piously always strive to remain unrecognized. For it shines even when hidden and fills everything with a great and bright light, before the future glory, even in the present age, exalting the one who creates it. The divine Isaac said that “he who runs after honor runs from what is before him; and he who avoids it will be overtaken by it and will become a preacher of his humility to all people.” How can I briefly describe the abundance of wisdom and knowledge contained in this book? The Vatican of old Rome understood this well from a long time ago and was surprised. I recognized the new Rome, Constantinople, and admired it. And now, until the end of this century, this book, like a sonorous trumpet, silently resounds to the whole world, and will continue to resound, for it is the true product of the wisdom of that man (Reverend Meletius - Note). Who will worthily express a word about his humiliated and humble wisdom? For as great and high in virtue as this noble man was, he humbled himself so much that he ranked himself among the last, following the wise word of Sirach 268. For he learned from the answers of the great father Barsanuphius 269 that “humility consists in considering oneself earth and ashes, in deed, and not in words only, and in order to say: who am I? And who counts me for anything? I don't deal with anyone" 270 ". This is how the Monk Nicodemus concludes his marvelous prologue, in which he demonstrated rare Hellenic education. Modern view of the Dionysiates monastery on the Holy Torah Athos, in which the Monk Nicodemus the Svyatogorets took monastic vows This church is the largest church on Mount Athos, and in the Balkans the Cathedral of St. Sava in Belgrade is now considered the largest church. Euph.8. (Greek quote inaccurate). – Note. ed. See: PG 36. Col. 324. In the Russian translation, see: Homily 38, on Epiphany or on the Nativity of the Savior. 11 // Gregory the Theologian, St. Collection of creations. T. 1. P. 527. The creation of man is also described according to St. Gregory the Theologian (see: Ibid. p. 527). Φιλοκαλία. T. 1. Ἀϑῆναι, 1982. Σ. ιϑ΄. This is what is commonly called the Jesus Prayer, in Greek: μονολόγιστος πϱοσευχή. Compare: Eph.3:14,16–17. In the Gospel: so that... Christ may dwell in faith... Φιλοκαλία. T. 1. Σ. κα΄. As is clear from the letters of St. Paisius (Velichkovsky) and from the manuscripts of his translations that have reached us, the activity of translating the patristic works into Church Slavonic was begun by Elder Paisius much earlier than the publication of the Greek “Philokalia”. But the appearance of the printed publication was used by St. Paisiy for a new verification of his translations, and, most likely, some texts were translated anew. Not all of the texts included in the Greek “Philokalia” and translated by Paisiy Velichkovsky were published as part of the text published in 1793–1794. Slavic "Philokalia". See about the history of the “Philokalia” and its translations into other languages: Govorun S. From the history of the “Philokalia” // Sretensky almanac. History and culture. Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2001. P. 61. – Note. ed. See the general troparion to the holy martyr: “And having been a communicant in character, and a vicar of the throne, having been an Apostle, you gained your deed, inspired by God, in a vision: for this reason, correcting the word of truth, and for the sake of faith, you suffered even to the point of blood, holy martyr (name), pray to Christ God to save our souls.” The prologue of “Evergetina” is quoted here in F. Shulga’s translation (the translation of “Evergetina” is being prepared for publication) with minor changes; in square brackets there are translation options closer to the Greek original, because the beginning of the prologue is based on Greek. the words “mind, reason” and words of the same root. – Note. ed. Translated by F. Shulga (with minor changes). This is the first edition of 1777 - a translation (the author of which remained unknown) into modern Greek of the work of Neophytos Kavsokalivitis, written in classical ancient Greek, compiled by him in 1772 and bearing the original title: Πεϱὶ τοῦ δεῖν τοὺς πιστοὺσ διὰ δῆϑεν εὐλάβειαν ἀποστϱεφομένους ἐν τῇ ϑείᾳ συνάξει τὴν τῶν μυστηϱίων μετάληψιν (“That the faithful should often partake of the Divine Mysteries, and to those who, for the sake of imaginary piety, turn away from the communion of the Mysteries during the Divine Assembly”). The publication of the original book of Neophytos, based on manuscripts stored in Bucharest, was carried out only in 1976 (republished in 1992). See: Ἱεϱοδ. Νεόφυτος Καυσοκαλυβίτης. καὶ. Εἰσαγωγή – κείμενον – σχόλια θεοδωϱήτου μοναχοῦ. 2 ἔκδ. Ἀϑῆναι: Τῆνος, 1992. Ἱεϱοδ. Νεόφυτος Καυσοκαλυβίτης. καὶ. Σ. 119. Hieromonk Theodoret, the publisher of the named work “On Frequent Communion,” notes in the preface that Fr. Theoclitus in his book incorrectly quotes the text of the 1777 edition, which in fact reads like this: “... but also because of me, some of those who neglected [Communion] blamed the hieromonk who served in Corona, the Transylvanian city in which I currently reside, accusing him in some way for allowing me to partake of the Mysteries once or twice a week, and sometimes more often.” See: Ἱεϱοδ. Νεόφυτος Καυσοκαλυβίτης. καὶ. Σ. 12–13. (Unfortunately, later some Greek researchers, without double-checking the quotation of M. Theoclitus, used it in such an inaccurate version in their studies, see, for example: Papoulidis K.K. The Kollivad movement. Ch. 3. 2. b // History of the Kollivad movement (in press). - Ed.) Hierodeacon Neophytos of the Peloponnese (c. 1690 or, according to other sources, c. 1713 - c. 1784), was born in Patras into a family of baptized Jews. He received his education at the Patriarchal Academy in Constantinople and at the Patmos School, where Gerasim the Byzantine (d. 1740) was the didaskal at that time, as well as in Ioannina, where Eugene Bulgaris taught. Neophyte was the first head of the Afoniada when it was formed in 1749, but he left his post and retired to silence in the Kavsokalyvia monastery, where he had labored before. Neophyte was the first to raise the issue of commemorating the dead on Sunday (in 1755) and is therefore considered the first of the collivades. He later ran schools in Chios and Adrianople in the early 1770s. lived in Bucharest and Brasov, then taught in Bucharest, where he died. See, for example: Grumel V. Nicodeme ΙἈgiorite // Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique. 1931.11. P. 486–490; Petit L. La grande controverse des colybes // Echos d’Orient. 1898–1899. 2. P. 321–331; Βεϱίτης G. Tό ἀναμοϱφωτικὸ κίνημα τῶν κολλυβάδων καὶ οἱ δύο Ἀλέξανδϱοι τῆς Σκιάϑου // Ἀκτῖνες. 1943. 6. Σ. 99–110; Κολιτσάϱας Ἰ. Νικόδημος ὁ Ἁγιοϱείτης (1749–1809) // Ἀκτῖνες. 1953. 16. Σ. 400–407, 450–454, 511–515; 1954. 17. Σ. 30–35; 1955. 18. Σ. 327–329. Ὁμολογία Πίστεως. Σ. 173. As for the book of St. Macarius, etc. Nicodemus, which is being discussed here, some modern scholars, in particular S. Papadopoulos, consider it an independent work of St. Macarius Notara, edited and supplemented by St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain, despite the undoubted fact of using the book of Herod. Neophyte Kavsokalivita (see: Παπαδόπουλος Στ. Ἅγιος Μακάϱιος Κοϱίνϑου, Ὁ Γενάϱχης τοῦ Φιλοκαλισμοῦ . Νέα Σμύϱνη: Ἀκϱίτας, 2000. Σ. 57–79), others, however, believe that the question of the specific contribution of each of the two saints (Macarius and Nicodemus) to the creation of this book is not yet solved Μακάϱιος Νοταϱᾶς, Nικόδημος Ἁγιοϱείτης. Πεϱὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς Мεταλήψεως τῶν ἀχϱάντων τοῦ Xϱιστοῦ Mυστηϱίων. Ἀϑῆναι, 2001. Σ. 5–6. Πεϱὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς Μεταλήψεως. Σ. 59–111. Πεϱὶ τῆς συνεχοῦς Μεταλήψεως. Σ. 189. Rom.15:4 (by the Apostle Paul: for our instruction). Onuphrius Ivirit, the second of the early biographers of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, who left valuable information about the life of the saint. Sufir (the more common name is Ophir), a rich gold-bearing ancient country. From there, the Jews under David and Solomon brought gold, precious stones and sandalwood. The location has not yet been precisely established: the Somali coast of East Africa, South Arabia, India. Sufir is often mentioned in the Old Testament (see: Is.13:12; Sir.7:18; 1 Kings 10:11, etc.). – Note. ed. One of the Seven Wise Men of Ancient Greece. Those. bearing a name derived from the Greek. the words “μελέτη”, which is translated as “care, care, instruction, occupation.” In the church tradition it is customary to translate it as “teaching” (i.e. “meditation, saying, repetition”), but in this case, because the meaning of the name “Meletius” is played on (i.e. “caring, caring”) and the quality of Meletius the Confessor as diligence (diligence, diligence) is emphasized all the time; μελέτη is translated as “care” to convey a similar quality. – Note. ed. Compare: And I was the last to labor vigilantly, as one who gleaned the grape gatherers behind (Sir.33:15). This means St. Barsanuphius the Great, whose answers to the monks’ questions about spiritual life were included in the book, which St. Petersburg later worked on publishing. Nicodemus (see chapter 11). Rev. Fathers Barsanuphius the Great and John Guide to spiritual life in answers to questions from students / Trans. [MDA] from Greek, preface. St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain. St. Petersburg, 1905 [reprint: M., 1993]. P. 145.