Questions and answers

The essay “Questions and Answers” ​​is the most voluminous creation of St. Anastasia Sinaita. The treatise is addressed to a wide range of readers: it examines dogmatic, exegetical, ascetic issues with an emphasis on moral theology (sin and repentance, the possibility of salvation for pious Jews or unbelievers, what is good, etc.). A sign of the perfection of a Christian is the presence of Christ in his soul. The work also deals with the Church Sacraments (Baptism, Eucharist, Marriage), and eschatological issues (the problem of death, the afterlife, the fate of the righteous and sinners) occupy an important place. The publication presents 103 questions from the original essay of St. Anastasia Sinaita and an addition of 27 questions, which are a later compilation of the 11th century. Contents Life of Rev. Anastasia Rev. Anastasius as a church writer As his essay “Soulful Stories” shows, the reverend father was a Cypriot from the city of Amafunta. The exact date of his birth is impossible to determine, but most likely he was born around 630. Already in his youth, Sinait took monastic vows, and possibly even the priesthood. Having spent all his childhood and youth in Amathunta, he witnessed the first Arab raids on the island of Cyprus (649–650). In the 50s of the 7th century, Rev. Anastassy was probably in the close circle of Bishop Philip, the bishop of his hometown. Then, together with his friend Stephen the Cypriot, young Anastasius was forced, due to the devastation caused by the Arab invasion, to leave Cyprus forever (c. 660) and direct his steps first to the Holy Land, and from there to Sinai. Here he, together with Stefan Cypriot, became a student of the outstanding ascetic - Venerable. Stephen the Recluse, about whom he speaks in his essay “Various stories about the holy fathers [laboring] in the desert of Mount Sinai.” True, it is very likely that the first two years of the Rev. Anastasius spent time in the monastery of St. Catherine. Having then passed obedience to Rev. Stephen the Recluse and other Sinai fathers (for example, Cosmas the Armenian), he most likely came again to the indicated monastery, where at one time he served as the head of the monastery hospital. There is no doubt that Rev. Anastasia had medical knowledge and practice (which, by the way, is revealed in “Questions and Answers”), although it remains unclear when and how he acquired it: it is possible that this began in Cyprus. Great influence on Rev. Anastasia was supported by the spirit-bearing abbot of Sinai - the famous Venerable. John Climacus, whom he mentions more than once in "Various Narratives". Unfortunately, we are poorly informed about the details of their relationship, especially since the chronology of Ladder's life still remains largely a dark spot. 3 But there was also a significant difference between these outstanding exponents of the patristic Tradition: if the great abbot of Sinai was a purely singer of monastic life, entirely concentrated on the internal process of spiritual life, then Ven. Anastasius, having a rich experience of ascetic life (both cenovic and hermit), vividly responded to that chaotic, restless and contradictory life of the world, which seethed and seethed around the quiet harbor of the monastic ark, with its muddy waves and dirty foam, throwing people like splinters, and often swallowing them into the hopeless depths of its abyss. Rev. Anastasius, always remaining a monk and not turning away from the narrow and sorrowful path of monastic feat, boldly set out on a dangerous voyage on this treacherous worldly sea, completely subordinating his will to the will of God and trusting in the omnipotence and mercy of the Lord. He traveled extensively throughout Syria, Palestine and Egypt, and his travels were connected not only with the need to combat various heresies (especially Monophysitism and Monotheliteism), but also with pastoral care for Christians suffering under Muslim rule. As a priest, judging by his writings, he also ministered to prisons; in particular, he probably carried out such service in Egyptian Babylon. Already before 690 the Rev. Anastasius became a respected elder and had students. The date and place of his death are unknown. We can only say with certainty that the venerable father departed to the Lord after the year 700, most likely in the first decade of the 8th century. The unity of the prayerful-contemplative (vita contemplativa) and the active principle (vita practica) in the life and personality of St. Anastasia was also reflected in his work, although the emphasis on any of these principles fluctuated at different periods of his life. From his creations several main groups of works can be distinguished. First of all, these are dogmatic and polemical works, among which the main place is occupied by a massive work called “Guide”. Without repeating what has already been said, 4 we can only note that this work summarizes the experience of ideological struggle with various trends in Monophysitism, which the reverend father acquired during his trips to various regions of the East. The work itself is quite variegated in its composition, combining separate treatises written by Sinaite at different times and brought together around 686–689. One of the main parts of the work is the defense of the teacher. Anastasius Christology of St. Cyril and harmonization with the dogmatic “oros” of the Council of Chalcedon. 5 The second facet of his polemic activity is the fight against monothelitism. Peru Rev. Anastasia owns three anti-Monothelitian works. In them, he, following in the footsteps of the outstanding fighters against monothelitism, St. Sophronius of Jerusalem and St. Maximus the Confessor, develops the doctrine of three types of will: natural, unnatural and supernatural, which seriously enriched Orthodox theology, especially soteriology. The second aspect of the Rev.’s creativity. Anastasia are his exegetical works. Actually, there are only two of them, and the most problematic of them for scientists for a long time remained a rather extensive work called “The Sixth Day,” or “Spiritual-Anagogical Interpretation of the Sixth Day,” which researchers recognized as either inauthentic or, at best, related to the dubious creations (dubia) of the reverend father. Of the twelve books of this work, only the last one was known in the Greek original until very recently, and the rest have reached us only in Latin translation. However, the entire Greek text of the work was recently published, and its publishers consider it possible to talk about the authorship of St. Anastasia. 6 In the preface to the first book, the author, after the obligatory derogatory discussions about his insignificance for Byzantine Christian writers, says that he is not going to study forms, distances, cycles and other natural science details, for if the Church studies (μάθη) every movement of the sun, moon, sky, earth, winds and stars, then what benefit will it gain from this? Sinai sees the main task of the church’s understanding of the exposition of the creation of the world in the Holy Scriptures in comprehending the main thing. And this main thing comes down, in his opinion, to the following: from God there came two creations (δημιουργίαι διτταί): the first is simply the being (ἡ τοῦ ε ἶ ναι παραγωγὴ) of man and every creature, and the second – their well-being (τοῦ ε ὖ ε ἶ ναι), which arose thanks to the Incarnation of God. In His Wisdom, He prepared all things in heaven and on earth for such a rebirth into goodness through Christ in certain dark prototypes and allegories, hinting at a new existence in Christ. 7 What is meant here, naturally, are those prototypes that were imprinted primarily in the Old Testament. It is also implied that the task of the interpreter is primarily to clarify such dark allegories and “types.” It can be stated that already in this initial approach of the author of the work in question to the hermeneutics of Holy Scripture, the tradition of Alexandrian (or rather, New Alexandrian) exegesis, presented by St. Athanasius of Alexandria and St. Cyril of Alexandria. The main feature of this exegesis lies, in the words of the outstanding Greek scientist, “in the organic combination of biblical hermeneutics with Orthodox Christology.” 8 Such a Christological interpretation, organically and inextricably combined with the spiritual-anagogical explanation of Scripture, is also characteristic of the named work of St. Anastasia Sinaita. It is noteworthy that in “The Sixth Day” a very modest place is devoted to the interpretation of the creation of man. It is likely that this is not accidental, for such an interpretation is given in the “Three Words about the creation of man in the image and likeness of God.” 9 More precisely, we can talk mainly about the first two “Words,” since the third “Word” is an anti-Monothelitian treatise. In the first two homilies, Sinait highlights the idea of ​​man as a “microworld”, consisting of an immortal and incorruptible soul on the one hand and a material body on the other 10. Touching upon the actual theme of “image and likeness,” he emphasizes the presence in man of the image of the Holy Trinity, and this presence is accentuated in the soul alone of this image of the Trinity. It is very important that Rev. Anastasius clearly expresses the idea that man in general and his soul in particular are superior, as the image of God, even to the Angels. For “the latter are serving and bonded spirits, but the souls of the saints, who [were worthy to be] in the image of God, are ruling spirits.” This is especially due to the fact that God the Word became incarnate, that is, became man, and did not “become an angel” 11. From this follows the Christological interpretation of the image of God: in the creation of Adam, God, as it were, destined “the image and imprint of His Incarnation, Nativity and Incarnation.” 12 The idea of ​​deification is closely linked with the Christological interpretation of the image of God: thanks to Christ, human nature, “having ascended to the throne of the Cherubim, is glorified by all the angelic hosts who worship him.” 13 To summarize, we can say that the two “Words” under consideration represent a remarkable example of patristic anthropology, which in principle cannot but be theocentric and Christocentric. The third facet of the literary activity of the Rev. Anastasia are his sermons. In addition to the above-mentioned “Three Words on the Constitution of Man,” he owns several more homilies, some of which have not yet been published. 14 In them, Sinait reveals himself not only as a talented preacher, sometimes reaching the heights of poetic creativity, but also as a truly humble ascetic, who acquired heavenly wisdom by constant and strengthened by repentance. Indicative in this regard is one place from his “Word on the sixth Psalm”, where he says, turning to God: “I do not dare and do not dare to ask You, Master, for complete forgiveness of my sins, for my sin is greater than can be forgiven me. I have sinned before You more than any man, I have angered Your holy name beyond measure. I, the prodigal, lived a life worse than the prodigal son; Moreover, whoever owed You ten thousand talents, I turned out to be Your debtor. Stronger than the publican, the enemy [of the human race] robbed me of everything; More mercilessly than a robber, the original murderer viciously killed me. Further than a harlot, I, a fornicator, fell away from God, giving myself over to fornication.” 15 The Reverend Father, with all the deepest strings of his soul, sensitively responds to that sad state, both his personal and that of all humanity, into which his ancestral sin plunged him, imposing unbearable burdens on all of us. In “The Sermon on the Holy Assembly” he says with bitterness: “Great is our blindness, great is our frivolity, great is our carelessness. We have no tenderness, no fear of God, no correction, no repentance, but our whole mind remains in vice, laziness and intoxication. We often spend the whole day at shows, in empty conversations and other demonic activities, not getting bored, but even forgetting about food, home and other necessary matters; but in the Church of God, in prayer and reading, we do not want to be before God for even one single hour, but we hasten to run away from the Church of God as if from fire” 16 . A similar accusatory spirit in the sermons of Rev. Anastasia (naturally, inconceivable without hope in the mercy of God) brings them closer to the homilies of St. John Chrysostom and allows Sinait to take its rightful place in the history of Christian homiletics. “Soulful Teachings” occupy a special place in his creative heritage. In the manuscript tradition, three collections of such “Teachings” have come down to us, usually designated as A, B and C, as well as in Latin numerals. The first collection, called “Various stories about the holy fathers [laboring] in the desert of Mount Sinai,” contains 39 fairly short stories (10 in the first edition); the second, called “Soulful and Spiritually Strengthening (στηρικτικά) Stories,” contains 28 stories, more extensive in volume. These two collections were published at the beginning of the 20th century by the famous Catholic publisher of Christian texts, Abbot F. No. 17 But now this once very useful publication has become outdated, because a critical edition of these collections has appeared, based on a thorough analysis of the entire manuscript tradition: this edition was carried out by A. Binggeli in the already mentioned doctoral dissertation. 18 The third collection, bearing the same name as the second, published (with a parallel translation into German) one Vatican manuscript of the 11th century by S. Hyde; 19 this collection contains 18 stories. In terms of their genre, these collections belong to the Patericon, that is, to that type of Christian writing that arose along with the advent of monasticism and was (and remains) one of the most widespread and readable types of patristic literature. 20 Now, preparing the Russian translation of these collections, I can say with confidence that they represent the best fruits of the literary activity of the Rev. Anastasia. Summarizing the rich spiritual experience of the great ascetics of the Christian East and refracting it through the prism of his own ascetic life, he was able to convey in simple and unartificial language the most valuable thing in this experience - a clear and precise answer to the most important question of human life: how to be saved and how should every Christian be personally saved? Therefore, “Soulful Teachings” by Rev. Anastasia can be compared with such masterpieces of patristic writing as “Lavsaik” by St. Palladius of Elenopolis, “The Life of the Desert Fathers” (“History of the Monks”) by Presbyter Rufinus of Aquileia and “The Spiritual Meadow” by Bl. John Moschus. To date, this life has been most fully illuminated in the doctoral dissertation: Binggeli A. Anastase Sinaïte. Récits sur le Sinaï et Récits utiles à l’âme // Edition, traduction, commentaries. Paris, 2001, pp. 344–362. We will primarily focus on this work. As B. Flusen notes, during the first raid on Cyprus in 649, the Arabs captured 100 thousand prisoners here, and during the second raid the following year - 50 thousand. See: Flusin V. Demons et sarrasins. L’auteur et le propos des Diègèmaia srèriktika d’Anastase le Sinaïte // Travaux et mémoires. T. 11. Paris, 1991. P. 401. See: Volker W. Scala Paradisi. Eine St udie zu Johannes Climacus und zugleich eine Vorstudie zu Symcon den Neuen Theologen. Wiesbaden, 1968. S. 1. See: Sidorov A.I. Venerable Anastasius of Sinaite and his creations. pp. 7–11. See: Patrology. The Eastern Fathers... P. 315–326. See: Anastasius of Sinai. Hexaemeron // Ed. and translated by C.A. Kuehn and J.D. Baggarly Roma, 2007. P. XIII – XXIII. Anastasius of Sinai. Hehaemeron. P. 4 – 6. Panagopoulos I. Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures by the Fathers of the Church. T. 1. M., 2013. P. 556. See our translation: Venerable Anastasius of Sinaite. Selected creations. pp. 27 – 189. An idea that, by the way, can be seen in some other fathers. See, for example, Rev. Nikita Stifat, who says that God created man “kindly, behaving correctly, carefree, carefree, carefree, shining with every virtue and every blessing, as if by some kind of world, different from the world, better and higher, visible and imaginable, mortal and immortal, located between greatness and insignificance” (Rev. Nikita Stifat. Creations. T. 1: Theological works. Sergiev Posad, 2011. P. 20). Venerable Anastasius Sinaite. Selected creations. pp. 78–80. Venerable Anastasius Sinaite. Selected creations. P. 90. For a review of them, see: Geerard M. Clavis Patniin Ggaecorum. Vol. III. Turnhout, 1979, pp. 455–457 Venerable Anastasius Sinaite. Selected creations. P. 278. Venerable Anastasius Sinaite. Selected creations. P. 305. We focus on the reprint of them: Le texte gré des récits du moine Anastase sur les saints pères du Sinai. N.Y.: Gorgias Press, 2009; Les textes gree des récits utiles à ľȃme d'Anastase (le Sinaïte). N.Y.: Gorgias Press, 2009. Binggeli A. Op. cit. P 170–261, 181–577. Heid S. Die C-Reihe erbaulicher Erzälungen des Anastasios vom Sinai im Codex Vaticanus Graecus 2592 // Orientalin Christiana Periodica. 2008. N 1. P. 71–114. See: Sidorov A.I. Patristic heritage and church antiquities. T. 4: Ancient monasticism and the emergence of monastic writing. M., 2014. pp. 545–556.