“Combattimento spiritual” Lorenzo Scupoli, “Ὁ Ἀόρατος Πόλεμος” St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain and its translation of St. Feofan the Recluse: comparative analysis

Contents Introduction Sources used Chapter 1. Combattimento spiritual Lorenzo Scupoli 1.1 Biographical information about Lorenzo Scupoli 1.2 History of writing Combattimento spiritual Chapter 2. Translations Combattimento spiritual 2.1 Greek translation 2.2 Russian translation Chapter 3. Combattimento spiritual and ῾Ο ᾽Αόρατος Πόλεµος 3.1 General remarks 3.2 Teaching on guarding the senses 3.2.1 Chapters 21, 22 and 23 3.2.2 Chapter 24 3.2.3 Chapter 25 3.3 Teaching on prayer 3.3.1 Chapter 44 3.3.2 Chapter 45 3.3.3 Chapters on meditation 3.4 About spiritual communion Chapter 4. ῾Ο ᾽Αορατος Πόλεµος and its translation by St. Theophan the Recluse 4.1 General remarks 4.2 Teaching on the preservation of feelings 4.3 Teaching on prayer 4.4 On spiritual communion Conclusion Comparative tables Table A.1: Comparative numbering of chapters ῾Ο ᾽Αόρατος Πόλεμος and Combattimento spiritual Table A.2: Comparative numbering of the chapters of the Invisible War and ῾Ο ᾽Αόρατος Πόλεµος. Table A.3: Comparative number of references to books of Holy Scripture. Literature Invisible abuse, known to the modern Russian reader in the translation of St. Theophan the Recluse, is one of the most popular books for spiritual edification of both monastics and laity. The question of the origin of this book, which is traditionally attributed to St. Nicodemus of the Svyatogorets, for a whole century was the focus of intense debate among researchers of the literary heritage of the saint. To date, it has been unequivocally proven that the prototype of the Invisible War is the book of the Italian Theatine monk Lorenzo Scupoli Combattimento spiritual, which he compiled for his spiritual daughters - the nuns of the Venetian monastery of St. ap. Andrew the First-Called 1. St. Nicodemus, editing the book of a Catholic author, made a fairly large number of changes and additions to its text, designed to adapt Combattimento spiritual for Orthodox perception and, most importantly, to make the book consistent with Orthodox moral and ascetic teaching. As a result of editing Rev. Nicodemus's text ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος doubled in comparison with the text Combattimento spiritual. St. Theophan the Recluse, translating ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος St. Nicodemus into Russian, also edited and corrected the text of the book, the saint speaks about this in the preface and urges the reader to consider his work not so much a translation as a free arrangement. It is interesting that two holy Orthodox authors who lived close to each other, editing a moral and ascetic book of Western Catholic origin for use in the Orthodox environment, made different edits. Consideration of the differences between the text and the teaching, especially on prayer, Combattimento spiritual and ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος will allow us to draw a conclusion about what St. Petersburg considered possible and necessary to offer his readers. Nicodemus, what about St. Feofan. Comparative analysis of the works of Lorenzo Scupoli and St. Nicodemus of the Svyatogorets was completed in the work [Παπουλ ί δης]. A comparison of all three books was done in the middle of the last century by the Oxford professor, Ph.D., H. A. Hodges in his preface [Hodges] to the English translation of The Invisible Warfare published in 1952. This work is entirely within the framework of the traditional Anglican theory of “branches” and is, rather, journalistic rather than scientific in nature. Work on comparing all three books has not been carried out by Orthodox authors, whereas such work could be interesting because of the introduced principles. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain and St. Feofan the Recluse of significant changes. When completing the thesis, the following texts were compared: 1. Combattimento spiritual translated into Russian by Ivan Samoilovich Andreevsky (1787) [Spiritual abuse]. This translation was published in 2009 by the Azbuka-Classics publishing house. 2. ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος translated into Modern Greek by Hieromonk Benedict. The Internet version of the text was used, available at: http://www.oodegr.com/oode/biblia/aor_pol1/perieh.htm 3. The Invisible Warfare translated by St. Theophan the Recluse [Invisible Swearing]. The following publications were used as additional clarifying texts: 1. Combattimento spiritual in English translation from Italian [Scupoli 1868]. 2. ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος in the original St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain [᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος ]. In the text of the work, the titles of the books are given in their original, or abbreviated according to the first letters of the title: • Combattimento spiritual or C.S. – book by Lorenzo Scupoli; • ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος or Α . Π. - book of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain; • Invisible abuse or N.B. – translation of St. Feofan Zavtornik. Chapter 1. Combattimento spiritual Lorenzo Scupoli 1.1 Biographical information about Lorenzo Scupoli Little is known about the life of the author of Combattimento spiritual. The most complete biography of him was found in the introductory article to the recently republished first Russian edition of C.S. 2 and in the article by Professor H. A. Hodges, which preceded the English translation of Invisible Warfare 3 published in the mid-20th century. Lorenzo Scupoli was born in 1529 in the Italian city of Otrant into a noble family 4. At baptism he was named Francis. No information has been preserved about the first forty years of his life. On June 4, 1569, at the age of 39, Scupoli was admitted to the Teatine Order. This is a priestly order founded by Cajetan of Tiena 5 in 1524. Unofficially, the members of the order were called “Theatines”, since its first head was Bishop Caraffa 6 of Theatina (1480–1559). The main tasks of the order were the fight against heresies by peaceful means, preaching and spiritual edification, as well as caring for the sick. The missionary activity of the Theatines extended to almost all of Europe, and later to America, Persia and the Caucasus. The Theatine Order arose from a community of priests which was widely known in Italy under the name of the Oratory of Divine Love. Cajetan of Tienne founded this order for priests who did not take the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience; the monks who joined the order did not leave the world, but continued to perform the duties of parish priests. The Theatine Order is known for its strict ascetic ideals, and members of the order were guided in their lives by the Ladder of St. John Climacus 7. Scupoli took his first steps in monastic life under the guidance of Andrei Avellino 8 . On January 25, 1571, in Naples, he took his final monastic vows with the name Lorenzo. In 1574, on Christmas Day, he was ordained a presbyter 9. In 1578, Scupoli was transferred to Milan, and then, in 1581, to Genoa, where a terrible epidemic raged, during which he devoted himself to caring for the sick 10. 1585 marked the beginning of a difficult and humiliating period in the life of Lorenzo Scupoli. He was accused of serious misconduct. The General Chapter of the Theatines, meeting in Venice, in the course of the process brought against him, sentenced Scupoli to one year in prison, a ban on the priesthood and a ban on conducting spiritual activities. It is not known what charges were brought against him, nor who the accuser was, but Scupoli did not defend himself. According to the custom of that era, the documents of the trial were immediately set on fire 11 . “Many authors who have studied the Scupoli case believe that his conviction was the fruit of slander. Perhaps Scupoli's crime concerned the “integrity of the faith,” in other words, he was accused of heresy. During the trial, Scupoli showed such great humility and obedience that, even despite all the humiliations, he gained the reputation of a man of the highest virtues. He responded to all accusations with silence. And although there were people interceding for him, he himself did not make any efforts to alleviate his lot. According to the testimony of the brothers who lived in the same house with Scupoli, he showed an invariable readiness to perform any simple and most difficult work, loved solitude and silence, and devoted many hours to prayer. He edified his brothers with his own calmness and humility” 12. In May 1588, Scupoli left Genoa and headed for Venice. While the trial was going on, he wrote a book called Combattimento spiritual (Spiritual Warfare). The following year, 1589, the first edition of C.S. was published in Venice, which was anonymous. Only much later, in the year of Scupoli's death, was the book published under the author's name. Scupoli remained in Venice for ten years. In 1598, after a 24-year absence, he returned to Naples, where he spent the last years of his life in community with his spiritual mentor Andrei Avellino. Shortly before his death, Lorenzo Scupoli was completely rehabilitated, restored to the priesthood and received the right to perform divine services. He died in Naples on November 28, 1610. 1.2 History of writing Combattimento spiritual C.S. was not originally written for publication. Lorenzo Scupoli published it at the insistence of his friend, who read the manuscript 13. As already mentioned, the first edition of C.S. was published in Venice in 1589 and it was anonymous. This edition was short and contained only 24 chapters. With each subsequent reprint, the book expanded and by 1599 it had reached its current length - 66 chapters. In 1610 the book received an addition of 37 chapters. The addition is a complete independent work, just like C.S., dedicated to the moral improvement of a Christian, but, of course, does not reveal the issue with the same completeness. In addition, Lorenzo Scupoli wrote the book Sentiero del Paradiso 14, consisting of 15 chapters. This book is often published under the same cover as C.S. 15. The most widespread and authoritative text, consisting of 66 chapters, was published in a Roman edition prepared by the Theatine Carlo de Palma, based on the best previous editions and manuscripts of Scupoli 16 . The first anonymous publication of C.S. caused controversy about authorship. The expanded edition of 1599 was no longer anonymous, Scupoli signed it: “Lorenzo Scupoli, C.R.” 17. Disputes about the authorship of the book continued for a long time among those who had not seen this edition, especially outside Italy, but ultimately, thanks to this first signed edition, Scupoli's authorship was universally accepted 18 . The first - of 24 chapters - edition of C.S. was really a small compact treatise and had a strictly practical purpose. The first chapter, which remains the first in all subsequent editions, talks about the goal of Christian life, which is to achieve perfection and union with God, and lists four means to achieve this goal: self-distrust, hope in God, exploits 19 and prayer. The main part of the treatise is devoted to preserving the mind (feelings, imagination and memory) and strengthening the will (eradicating sinful inclinations and acquiring virtues). The work ends with three chapters on prayer. This book is “ascetic” in the literal sense, because the author pays attention, first of all, to the ability to control oneself. Nine new chapters were added to the second edition in response to requests for clearer instructions on prayer. Seven of these chapters are entirely devoted to the practice of meditation (Scupoli makes no mention of other methods of contemplative prayer, with the exception of a brief chapter on mental prayer). In addition, reference was made to the Eucharist as a fifth means to achieve spiritual perfection. Subsequent additions did not bring anything essentially new, with the exception of chapters on preparation for death. Chapter 2. Translations Combattimento spiritual Combattimento spiritual became popular during the author’s lifetime. This is evidenced by the number of its reprints and translations: until 1610 (i.e., before the death of Scupoli), the book was reprinted 80 20 times in Italian and was translated into Latin (1591), English (1598), French (1595), Spanish, German (1590), Armenian (1723) and two Asian languages 21. In Europe as a whole, there are about 250 of its editions from 1589 to 1750. Currently, more than 600 editions of Combattimento spiritual 22 are known. In 1796 in Venice, St. Nikodim Svyatogorets (1749–1809) published a book entitled ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος. Since the Venerable himself Nicodemus does not attribute to himself the authorship of this work, but at the same time he does not name the true author, then the question arises about the true authorship, the place and purpose of the composition and the degree of participation of the saint. Nicodemus. If he was not the author, then what was his role - co-author, or compiler, or editor, or simply translator of a work that, as has already been unequivocally proven, is based on Lorenzo Scupoli's Combattimento spiritual 23? In his doctoral dissertation, Hierom. Leonty (Kozlov) the assumption is made that St. Nicodemus translated this book from the original language, i.e. from Italian and/or French, and therefore he must have known these languages ​​very well. It was believed that he studied them at the Smyrna school, but there is evidence that there were no suitable conditions for this there 24. Therefore: • prp. Nicodemus had close ties with the Jesuits, Fr. Naxos, who either taught him European languages ​​or themselves helped him translate Combattimento spiritual into Greek; • as a result, he fell under the influence of Catholic ideas, which affected the themes, techniques and language of his books, as well as deviations into the legalism characteristic of the West, intellectualism, moralism, etc. 25. However, the recent (1993) discoveries of the philologist Emmanuel Frankiskos have significantly clarified the question of the origin of St. Nicodemus and his relations with the Western world 26. In the old catalogs of the Patmos Library, this scientist discovered a mention of two books of the same name by St. Nicodemus manuscripts, which disappear in later copies. They are called Γυ µ νάσ µ ατα πνευ µ ατικά (Spiritual Exercises) and Π ό λε µ ος πνευ µ ατικ ό ς (Spiritual Warfare), they are mentioned in catalogs 1769 and 1793 respectively. These books are no longer in the catalogs of 1814. Be lists of relevant works by St. Nicodemus they could not, both in time and in the description in the catalogues, but they could be prototypes of his publications. Following this, as a result of searches in the library, E. Frankiskos found the lost manuscript of Π ό λε μ ος πνευ μ ατικ ό ς, which at some point was re-bound and mistakenly cataloged under the title of one of its chapters. This manuscript, as established by a study of the handwriting, belonged to the pen of an 18th-century scribe. Emmanuel Romanitis. He was from Fr. Crete, had an excellent command of Italian and ancient Greek, and in the first half of the 18th century. for 40 years he served as secretary of the city community. Patmos. In addition to his social activities, he was engaged in translation activities, almost exclusively from Italian into vernacular Greek. Ten of his eleven surviving manuscripts are translations of works by Catholic authors. Five of them - Instruction to the Penitent, Instruction to the Confessor, Unanswered Double Faith, Manna of the Soul and True Wisdom belong to the pen of the very prolific and then famous Jesuit preacher Paolo Segneri, the other three of the works translated by Romanitis - A Broken Heart, Open Hell - a warning to a Christian and Spiritual Exercises were written by Segneri's colleague in missionary and writing activities, Jesuit Gioanni Pietro Pinamonti 27. As for ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος, then a comparative analysis of the text of the Greek manuscript Π ό λε µ ος πνευ µ ατικ ό ς and the work of St. Nicodemus at the linguistic level revealed its direct dependence on the translation of Romanitis 28. Thus, “the fidelity of the text to the Italian original, noted in some places by researchers, is explained by the presence of St. Nicodemus's correct Greek translation, and not because he had the original of Scupoli's book. At the same time, the role of Rev. Nicodemus was quite modest and the idea was to polish a pre-existing Greek manuscript. He might not even know the author of the book if, for example, it was not in the manuscript list given to him, but he was undoubtedly aware of the confessional origin of the original text. However, from the height of his spiritual experience, he also saw the wisdom contained in this book, the rich experience of ascent along the path of internal improvement and an example of active piety. This spiritual wealth, having removed a few dogmatic and ecclesiological differences, should have been conveyed to the Orthodox reader. However, the genre itself, which has a moral and ascetic character, does not involve delving into dogmatic areas where the main differences between Orthodox and Catholic teachings lie. This work is related to issues of morality and spiritual development of a Christian, which are considered from a purely practical side” 29. The first edition of ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος was followed almost unchanged by editions in 1853, 1870, 1899, 1922, 1965, 1989, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999 gg. and others. In addition to the Russian translation, there are also modern Greek, Romanian (first published in 1826) and English (1952, it was made from the Russian translation of St. Theophan). Unlike the first edition, in subsequent editions the compilation of the book was attributed to the Venerable himself. Nicodemus. Its first title sounded like this: “Invisible abuse, previously composed by a certain wise man, now improved and corrected with great care by the most venerable monk Nicodemus...”. However, throughout the 20th century, publishers changed the title of the first edition, saying: “Compiled by Nicodemus the Holy Mountain” 30. The first Russian translation of Combattimento spiritual, in which the original title was preserved, was published in 1787. The title page reads: Spiritual warfare, or the Science of the perfect victory of oneself. The book was translated into Russian by Ivan Samoilovich Andreevsky. Andreevsky was a doctor of medicine, a professor at Moscow University, he was born in the Chernigov province in 1759, where his father was a priest, died in Moscow in November 1809. He studied first at the Kyiv Theological Seminary, then entered the Kyiv Theological Academy, but in 1792 he transferred to the Faculty of Medicine at Moscow University. After completing the course here, in 1796, Andreevsky was appointed prosector at the university anatomical theater. While in this position, over the course of 7 years he managed to publish several independent and translated works and, in addition, discovered outstanding abilities as an anatomist and therapist. In 1803, having been awarded the degree of Doctor of Medicine without an exam, Andreevsky brilliantly defended his dissertation. In 1805 he was confirmed as an associate professor, and two years later - as an extraordinary professor of physiology, pathology and therapy of domestic animals. In addition, he spent some time reading epizoology and zoopharmacology. Andreevsky was also famous as an excellent expert in ancient languages, especially Latin. He owed a thorough knowledge of these languages, as well as his education in general, to His Grace Hilarion (Kondratkovsky), Bishop of Pereyaslavl, and then of Novgorod-Seversky. Under the influence of this spiritual scientist, Andreevsky, already a prosector, did not stop translating works of religious and moral content from Greek and Latin. One of them is dedicated to Bishop Hilarion; in the dedication, by the way, it is said that “feelings of gratitude on the part of the one who worked in the translation have their first culprit in his person (Hilarion).” Andreevsky also owes enormous, in terms of his results, merit in animal medicine and agriculture: he was the first to begin teaching elementary veterinary medicine. To do this, he took serfs from the landowners “for training”; Thus, our first learned farriers appeared. Andreevsky's works are very diverse; they are divided into translated and independent, spiritual and medical in nature. The most famous of his spiritual works are: 1) Reliable Good, 1786, translation from Latin; 2) Spiritual warfare or the science of complete victory over oneself, translation from Latin 31. According to the general opinion of biographers, Andreevsky was one of the most learned and hardworking professors at Moscow University in the early 19th century. In 1793, Andreevsky submitted a petition to the Synod for permission to publish Spiritual Warfare at his own expense. However, immediately after its release the book was confiscated. Nevertheless, in 1794, a book entitled The Feat of a Christian Against Temptations appeared in Moscow, after the editing of Archimandrite Methodius (Smirnov) of the Novo-Spassky Monastery; he removed some “dark passages” and instead chose “decent discussions from the works of the holy fathers” 33. Spiritual warfare in Andreevsky's translation was published by A. Mosin in 1996. in the Parisian magazine of Slavic culture “Symbol” [Bran spiritual 1996]. It was published as a separate book in 2009 by the St. Petersburg publishing house “ABC-Classics” [Spiritual Language]. In 1816, Scupoli’s book was published in Russia for the third time; the translation was made from French by the famous freemason Alexander Fedorovich Labzin, who hid under the pseudonym “U. M.", that is, "Disciple of Wisdom." About his translation he writes: “We are publishing this translation from the French, the Jesuit John Brignon, who translated this book from the Italian language by Don Lawrence Scupoli. In Italian, the writer directs his instructions to a real or fictitious person, whom he calls his beloved daughter in Jesus Christ; in the Russian translation (Andreevsky - I. F.) it is put instead of daughter, dear son; we, following the French translator Fr. Brignon, we address his instructions to all who read this book, thinking, like him, that this will be more fitting for the purpose of the book” 34. But the fate of this translation was also not successful and it did not gain distribution. Subsequently, the book was forgotten until the release of the translation of the Invisible Warfare by St. Feofan the Recluse in 1885 St. Feofan (in the world Georgy Vasilyevich Govorov; 1815–1894) was born into the family of a priest, received a spiritual education and in 1841 took monastic vows. Soon he was ordained to the priesthood and began to work in the educational field, going from the rector of the Kiev-Sofievsky Theological School to the rector of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy. The future saint was a member of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem for several years, which allowed him to improve his knowledge of Greek and French and become familiar with patristic manuscripts. In 1859, he was ordained bishop to the Tambov See, from which four years later he was transferred to the Vladimir See. Three years later, in 1866, St. Feofan, at his own request, was retired with the right to stay in the Vyshenskaya hermitage of the Tambov diocese, where he lived until the end of his days. This is how, in seclusion, he wrote numerous letters concerning various aspects of spiritual life, and there he also worked on translations, including ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος. St. Theophan the Recluse began to translate ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος from Greek and, when the translation was almost completed, he learned that this book was of Western origin. Then he began to boldly rework the Greek text and published it in his own edition. In a letter to N.V. Elagin, the saint wrote: “I see that this is exactly the book that I knew back in the Kyiv Theological Academy, and then in St. Petersburg. This is translated from Latin, in the days of Golitsin. Very good. Many of its provisions were included in my first forties of writing, and even in academic student articles. I don’t translate it, but I freely rearrange it in my own speech... adding and subtracting and changing it from the original” 35. Elsewhere, St. Theophan writes: “That book was written by a Catholic, but Catholics judge us differently about mental prayer and other ascetic things. Elder Nicodemus corrected, but not everything. I have finished editing” 36. As a result, the text of St. Theophanes differs more from the text of St. Nicodemus than the latter's text from Scupoli's text. Thus, the saint removes all expressions that go back to the theological formulations of the Latin tradition. He never talks about meditation as a separate form of mental prayer, completely rewrites entire chapters, changes the structure of other chapters according to his own logic and formulation of the question. These additions are not just corrections to the text of St. Nicodemus. St. Theophan in many places changes the terminology and the very essence of the text, while the Greek translation often preserves the terminology of the Italian original and the insertions of numerous patristic notes in it are, for the most part, secondary in comparison with the content of the original source 37. It is curious that since the time of St. No one has undertaken the translation of Theophanes ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος and there is no exact Russian translation of it. Chapter 3 Greek ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος – translation of two works by Scupoli. Of the 81 chapters of the original, two were omitted, and the rest were translated essentially as Scupoli wrote them. However, the total volume of work has almost doubled due to the addition of a Preface and a significant number of notes. Some changes were made to the text itself. St. Nicodemus, maintaining the division of the book into two parts, however, changed the distribution of chapters into parts - instead of 66 and 15, he got 53 and 27. He omits chapter 61 due to its obvious similarity with chapter 15, and from the short 8th chapter of the second part he uses only the first half, inserting it into the similar 3rd chapter. He also omits the title of the second part - the only place in the manuscript where the translator mentions the name of the author: “Part two of the spiritual works of Father Lawrence Scupoli, the author of Spiritual Warfare” 38. The comparative numbering of the chapters Combattimento spiritual and ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος is given in Table A.1 of Appendix A. The number of notes made by the Venerable is also indicated there. Nicodemus. The preface is written in a somewhat rhetorical style. It speaks of Christian life as a battle with “incorporeal and invisible enemies, which are various passions and lusts of the flesh and evil and man-hating demons, who do not cease to fight against us day and night” 39, the author calls on us to be courageous on the field of this battle. The notes are mainly quotations from Holy Scripture and the Philokalia, intended to illustrate and confirm what was said in the main text. In addition, there are notes setting forth teachings that are not in the original Italian. St. Nicodemus handles the translated text very freely: in many places he moves, expands or, on the contrary, shortens the author’s text. Often these changes are of little consequence and are intended merely to give greater clarity and force to what Scupoli wrote by presenting the text in a more systematic manner. According to the calculations of Constantine Papoulides 40, in ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος St. Nicodemus refers the reader to the Old Testament 36 times: • 4 from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; • 3 quotes each from Genesis, Judges and Proverbs; • one quote each from Deuteronomy, Second Book of Kings, First Book of Chronicles, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom of Solomon, Amos and Joel; 50 times – to the New Testament: • 10 quotes from the Gospel of Matthew; • 8 from 1 Corinthians; • 6 from Romans; • 3 each from the Gospel of John and from the First Epistle of John; • 2 each from the Gospel of Luke, the Second Epistle to the Corinthians and the Epistle of the Apostle James; • one quote each from Acts, Philippians, Colossians, Hebrews, First and Second Timothy, First Epistle of St. Peter, the Second and Third Epistles of John; 109 times – to the patristic works: • 18 quotes from St. Isaac the Syrian; • 15 from St. Basil the Great; • 11 from St. Gregory Palamas; • 8 from St. John Chrysostom; • 7 from prp. Maximus the Confessor; • 6 from St. Theophylact of Bulgaria; • 5 from St. Gregory the Theologian; • 3 from prp. Peter of Damascus, St. John of Damascus and St. John Climacus; • 2 each from schmch. Dionysius the Areopagite, Saints Barsanuphius the Great, Epiphanius, Nile, Gregory of Sinai and Simeon the New Theologian; • one quote from St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Arseny the Great, St. Meletius the Confessor, Abba Macarius, St. Mark of the Ascetic, St. John's disciple St. Barsanuphius, Job from the “Library” of St. Photius, Thalassia, Nikita Stifata, Callista and Ignatius Xanthopoulov, Mark of Ephesus and Blessed. Jerome. Part of the introduced prp. Nicodemus changes intended to adapt the Catholic text to Orthodox perception. Yes, Rev. Nicodemus removes all places in which there is a mention of Purgatory or the cult of the Sacred Heart; replaces "images" with "icons". But at the same time he refers several times to the blzh. Augustine and other Western Fathers, retains the Catholic term "ἀκοντιστικαὶ καὶ σαιτευτικα ί" 41, speaks of the merits of Christ. St. Nicodemus leaves unchanged the place in which Scupoli expounds the doctrine of sufficient grace. When Scupoli calls The reader should pay special attention to the prayer Angelus Domini 42, St. Nicodemus repeats it almost literally, removing only the mention of the three lines of greeting of this prayer. On the other hand, in one of the chapters, St. Nicodemus finds the opportunity to add two brief references to the Jesus Prayer, which, of course, are not in the original. C.S. is written in the form of an address to a spiritual daughter, and therefore the address “sister” is used throughout. St. Nicodemus prepared his book for the Athonite monks and therefore he uses the traditional monastic address “brother”. All of the listed changes arise from the circumstances (and place of residence of the translator) under which the translation was made; they are few in number and are not essential. Much more interesting are the changes in which St. Nicodemus brings something of his own. The most important of them concerned the teaching on the preservation of feelings and the teaching on prayer. These are chapters 21 to 25 and 45 to 53, respectively 43 . 3.2 The doctrine of storing feelings In general, Rev. Nicodemus leaves chapters 21–23 without making any significant changes, he only rearranges some parts of chapter 21 for greater logical consistency. At the end of Chapter 23, he adds a small and perhaps somewhat unnecessary remark about the need to always monitor your feelings: “Be always vigilant and attentive to your feelings and do not allow what you perceive through them to excite and feed your passions...” 44. To Chapter 24 Rev. Nicodemus added the contents of the abbreviated chapters 3–8 of his book Edifying Manual, which talks about guarding feelings, thereby doubling the chapter 45 . If in the previous three chapters we are talking about how you can lift your mind from sensory things to the contemplation of God, to reflect on the incarnation of God the Word and the most holy sacraments of His life, suffering and death, then in its addition 46 St. Nicodemus addresses people who do not have sufficient knowledge, caution and strength of thought to correct their own feelings 47 . Encouraging such people, the monk advises them on another path - rejection of all sensory impressions that can harm the soul, that is, careful preservation of all five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. According to Hodges 48, the insertion of prp. Nicodemus's teaching on the storage of feelings at the end of the chapter on the control of the tongue does not seem entirely appropriate. Obviously, it seemed inappropriate to St. Theophan, who included this teaching in a separate chapter. This is a new chapter that Scupoli does not have - “On the Correction of Imagination and Memory.” It contains the largest number of notes - 17, and this is the only chapter that belongs entirely to St. Nicodemus. In it, he significantly develops chapter 9 of the Edificatory Manual. St. Nicodemus begins by explaining the power and functions of imagination and memory: “We were given imagination and memory so that we could use them. services, when our external feelings are at rest, and we do not have before us those sensory objects that have passed through our senses and imprinted on them (imagination and memory). Not always being able to have in front of us objects that we have seen, heard, tasted, olfactory and touchable, we call them to our consciousness through imagination and memory in which they are imprinted, and thus we look at them and discuss them as if they were externally inherent to us... This imagination of sensory objects bothers a lot and a lot trouble is caused to those who are jealous of always being with God; for it distracts attention from God and directs it to vanity, and between it and to the sinful, and thereby outrages our inner good mood. This We suffer not only in reality, but also during dreams, from which the impression often lasts for more than one day..." 49 He says that as a result of the Fall, man (and before man, part of the angels) fell from a state of pure spirituality and rationality into the slavery of imagination and fantasy: “Know that Lucifer, the first of the angels, was previously above all unreasonable imagination and beyond all form, color and feeling, as a mental, immaterial, formless and incorporeal mind, when he later dreamed and filled his mind with images of equality with God, he fell from that formless, ugly, impassive and simple immateriality of the mind, into this multiform, multi-component and plump imagination, like many theologians believe, and thus from an Angel who was formless, immaterial and impassive, he became a devil, as if material, multiform and passionate...” 50 Therefore, if we want to return to freedom and communication with God, then our mind must first be cleared of mental images: “So, my brother, if you want to easily and conveniently free yourself from such errors and passions, if you seek to avoid various snares and snares of the devil, if you desire to unite with God and gain divine light and truth, courageously enter into battle with your imagination and fight it with all your strength in order to strip your mind of all types, colors and shapes, and in general from all imagination and memory things of the senses, both good and bad. For all this is a stain and darkening of the purity and luminosity of the mind, a whitening of its non-substance and a conductor to the sharpening of the mind: since almost no mental or physical passion can approach the mind otherwise than through the imagination of sensory things corresponding to them” 51 . The first and main way to achieve this goal is unceasing prayer: “But you cannot achieve this otherwise than by returning your mind to yourself, confining it in a narrow place of your heart, and the entire inner man, and teaching it to persistently abide there inside, then in secret prayer, crying out in an inner word: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, then listening to yourself and reasoning with yourself, and especially contemplating God and resting in Him...” 52 The need to insert this chapter follows, according to Professor Hodges 53, from the desire of St. Nicodemus does not stop where Scupoli stops - only on cleansing the feelings from passions. The goal to which the much higher monk leads his reader is pure ugly prayer. Scupoli views prayer as a weapon for spiritual struggle; the purpose of prayer according to Scupoli is getting rid of sin and receiving the gift of a virtuous life. The teaching on prayer in Combattimento spiritual is almost entirely devoted to meditation 54 . He covers various meditation techniques in chapters 46–52 55 . Chapter 44, “On Prayer,” introduces the reader to general remarks regarding prayer. It lists seven conditions, the fulfillment of which is necessary for “so that prayer in this matter (i.e., in spiritual warfare) manifests all its power in you” 56 . This chapter remained with St. Nicodemus (St. Theophan the Recluse does not change it) is unchanged in its essence, he only adds quotations from the Holy Scriptures and the Fathers to it. Chapter 45, “On Mental Prayer,” in which Scupoli briefly outlines his teaching on this subject. He defines this prayer: “To pray mentally is to raise your thought to God when, openly or secretly, we ask for what we want” 57. Next, he talks about explicit prayer (“when we ask through words that depict our thoughts” 58) and gives examples of short prayers out loud, used in different situations. After this, Scupoli writes about secret prayer: “Secret prayer is when, in order to ask for mercy, we burn inwardly to God, depicting and offering our poverty without any words, for example, when we ascend to God with our thoughts and confess before Him our weakness in the fact that we ourselves are not able to get rid of evil and do good, or when we lift up our mental eyes to heaven, sighing incessantly, longingly If only for help, then such a desire can be as strong as the prayer itself” 59. At the end of the chapter, Scupoli mentions another - “shortest” - way of mental prayer: ".. . it consists in a single lifting of thoughts to God so that He sent us a helping hand. Such a thought will be nothing more than a secret our desire and request” 60. Hodges 61 sees in such an ascension of thoughts nothing more than µ ονολ ό γιςτος εὐχ ή 62 - that “embryo” from which the theory and practice of the Jesus Prayer grew. Although such a conclusion is nothing more than an assumption, since Scupoli does not have an extensive teaching on this issue, he touches on it only in a brief mention. Here the English researcher’s desire to reconcile and combine together the Orthodox and Catholic teachings on mental prayer is obvious. St. Nicodemus uses what Scupoli wrote, expands it, and the result of his work is a systematized brief Orthodox teaching on mental prayer. He reveals the topic based on the teachings of the Greek hesychasts. St. Nicodemus defines mental prayer (or prayer of the mind and heart) as bringing the mind to the heart while saying the words of the Jesus Prayer and controlling the breath. In the first footnote to this chapter, Rev. Nicodemus suggests that the Jesus Prayer is the only way we can fulfill the first commandment - to love the Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our strength and with all our mind (see Luke 10:27). In this prayer, the three parts of the soul - the sovereign (νοῦς), the rational (λ ό γος) and the volitional (θέλησις, πνεῦ µ α) - are united in a single act of aspiration towards God. In this place St. Nicodemus refers to the decisions of the Council of Constantinople in 1351, which condemned the teachings of Barlaam. Moving on to the description of the chapters on meditation, it is necessary to make some introductory remarks and cite the definition of meditation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Meditation is, first of all, a search. The Spirit seeks an understanding of the Christian life, its “why?” and her “how?” - to partake of what the Lord asks and answer His requests. Meditation requires attention, which is not easily disciplined. Usually meditation is carried out with the help of a book... Meditation can be facilitated by the Holy Scriptures, and especially the Gospel, holy icons, liturgical texts of the day or season, the works of spiritual Fathers, works on spiritual life, the great book of creation and the equally great book of history... Meditation leads to the fact that we assimilate what we read and try it on ourselves. Here another book opens: the book of life. From thoughts we move to reality. To the extent of humility and faith, we discover in it the movements that excite the heart and learn to recognize them. It's about acting in truth in order to come to the Light: “Lord, what do you want me to do?” Meditation methods are as varied as spiritual guides are varied. A Christian must feel the need for constant meditation, otherwise he is like the soil in the first three cases of the parable of the sower. But any method is only a guide; it is important to move forward, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the only way of prayer; this way is Christ Jesus. Meditation stimulates thought, imagination, emotions and desires. Such mobilization is necessary to deepen the conviction of faith, to convert the heart and strengthen the determination to follow Christ. Christian prayer gives preference to meditation on the “mysteries of Christ”..." 63 Scupoli, in his chapters on meditation, fully corresponds to this definition of the Catechism. He sees the goal of meditation as obtaining one or another virtue; for this he advises adding reflection to prayer: “You can add to this prayer a reflection on the suffering of Jesus Christ, in accordance with His deeds and merits, the virtue for which you care. For example, if you are looking for the virtue of patience, then take for yourself the mystery of Christ’s suffering for reflection...” 64 But he does not stop at remembering the sufferings of Christ with the subsequent prayer for the sending down of virtues to us, for example, patience, he recommends thinking in such a way “so that you can feel such illnesses and sufferings in yourself” 65. St. Nicodemus removes in his text all recommendations that advise feeling the suffering of the Savior within oneself. At the same time, he adds his own to Scupoli’s reflections, sometimes being overly carried away by naturalism, for example, in one of the notes to chapter 47 “On prayer through reflection and contemplation” 66 St. Nicodemus, referring to documentary evidence, describes the process of scourging the Savior; he talks about what tools were used for this (sticks with ox sinews tied to them and sixty hooks), how during the scourging the skin was completely torn off, rivers of blood flowed and bones were exposed so that they could be counted. St. Nicodemus writes that at the same time the words of the Psalter were fulfilled; all my bones could be counted (Ps 21:18). Leaving St. Nicodemus in his chapters on meditation, gave the opportunity to Met. Callist (Ware) in the article [Kallistos] concludes that thereby St. Nicodemus makes condescension towards those people for whom the ugly prayer of the Evagrievsky tradition was difficult 67. At the same time, Rev. Nicodemus refers to St. Isaac the Syrian 68, who wrote about meditation (reflection) as one of the types of prayer: “We must also know, beloved, that every conversation carried out in secret, every care of a good mind about God, every meditation on the spiritual is established by prayer, and is called the name of prayer, and under this name is brought together, whether you mean various readings, or the voice of the mouth in praise to God, or caring sorrow for the Lord, or bodily bowing, or psalmody in poetry, or everything else that makes up the entire rite of genuine prayer, from which the love of God is born...” 69. It is curious that meditation as a means of preparing for the celebration of the liturgy is recommended by such a popular source in the Russian Orthodox Church as the Teaching News: 70... Of course, the Teaching News is far from both the sensuality of Scupoli and the naturalism of St. Nicodemus. But in itself, adding to prayer reflections on the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ so that the soul comes in tenderness and contrition for its sins is accepted by the Russian Church and is not something unacceptable. 3.4 About spiritual communion Lorenzo Scupoli discusses this topic in chapter 56 71, and St. Nicodemus (and St. Theophan) in chapter 4 of the second part of the book. Scupoli does not give a precise definition of “spiritual communion.” In his interpretation, this phrase is ambiguous. In the broadest sense, it can mean the entire inner life of a Christian, in the sense that the life of a Christian is collaboration with God and communion with Him in Christ. A Christian is always united with God while he is in a state of grace and, according to Scupoli, this union becomes spiritual communion when the Christian is aware of it. In modern Western usage, the expression "spiritual communion" refers to a certain type of spiritual exercise that a Christian can use in cases where he would like to receive sacramental communion, but is unable to do so. These are exercises consisting of remembering the gracious gifts of holy communion and praying that they be given to us now. Spiritual communion in this sense differs, on the one hand, from sacramental communion, because in it a person does not partake of the Body and Blood, and on the other hand, from spiritual communion in the broad sense, because it is a spiritual exercise of a certain type, associated with the thought of sacramental communion and designed to some extent to replace it when it is not possible to proceed to the Chalice 72. Scupoli views spiritual communion as a way of “receiving” the Eucharistic Gifts. He contrasts sacramental communion, which cannot be more frequent than once a day, and spiritual communion, which can occur “at any time”: “Although we do not deserve to receive the Lord in the Sacraments more than once per day, but we can receive spiritual communion with it at any time” 73 . St. Nicodemus translates this chapter almost literally, slightly changing its title: “On spiritual and mental communion, in particular on how to commune mentally and spiritually with Christ” 74 . The monk adds that we can commune with Christ spiritually and mentally at any time by fulfilling the commandments and prayer, first of all, mental prayer, since the Lord is hidden in the virtues and His holy commandments, and the one who fulfills one virtue or commandment receives the Lord into his soul together with His Father and the Holy Spirit, that is, he receives the entire Holy Trinity into himself, becomes Her dwelling place. St. Nicodemus also notes that although virtues make us like God and make us ready for unity with Him, unity is achieved not through good deeds, but through mental prayer. Chapter 4. ῾ Ο ᾽ Αορατος Π ό λε µ ος and its translation by St. Feofan the Recluse Changes made by St. Theophan the Recluse, differ both in degree of importance and in appearance. In a note to the preface, translated from Greek, St. Feofan says that “when translating this book, it was considered more suitable to introduce notes and paternal testimonies into the text, and because of this, it was sometimes necessary to change the words of the book to regulate the flow of speech, which was sometimes allowed without this. Therefore, the proposed book should be read not so much as a translation, but as a free arrangement” 75. These words of the saint do not accurately convey the essence of the changes he made and the nature of the work. His translation is generally quite accurate and close to the original, but some chapters are simply rewritten. The number of references to Holy Scripture has been increased by St. Theophan more than doubled (see Table A.3 of Appendix A): 221 (110 references to the Old Testament and 111 to the New) versus 86 (36 and 50, respectively) in St. Nicodemus. The number of references to patristic literature, on the contrary, is reduced (64 versus 106 for St. Nicodemus). St. Theophan refers and quotes the following Fathers: • 8 times St. Basil the Great; • 7 times prp. John Climacus; • 6 times blzh. Hesychius, presbyter of Jerusalem, etc. Gregory of Sinaita; • 4 times St. John Chrysostom and St. Maximus the Confessor; • 3 times Saints Barsanuphius and John, • 2 times Saints Ignatius and Callistus Xanthopoulos; • 1 time prp. Peter of Damascus, Blessed. Theodorit, blessed Augustine, Job from the “Library” of St. Photius, Diadoche, St. Gregory the Theologian, St. John Cassian the Roman, Ioannicia, St. Ephraim the Syrian, St. Simeon the New Theologian, Nicephorus the monk, St. Macarius of Egypt, St. John Kolov, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Nila, St. Arseny the Great. If St. Nicodemus, as stated above, leaves some Catholic expressions in his work, then St. Feofan approaches this issue more carefully and leaves no room for them: • omits all expressions saved by prp. Nicodemus, which mentions the doctrine of “sufficient grace”; • instead of satisfaction for the sins of St. Theophanes writes about cleansing through repentance; • removes mention of the merits of Christ and the saints; • removes all but one (St. Augustine) quotations from the Latin Fathers. The following chapters are completely rewritten by St. Theophan, but despite this there is nothing in them that contradicts the teaching that St. Petersburg offers us. Nicodemus 76: • chapter 13 (first part) “On how one must fight against the wordless sensual will, and on the activities that the will must undergo in order to acquire skill in virtues”; • chapter 14 (first part) “What to do when the highest rational will seems completely defeated by the lower will and enemies”; • chapter 27 (first part) “The warrior of Christ must avoid anxiety and heartbreak in every possible way if he wishes to overcome his enemies well” and chapter 28 “What to do when we are wounded in battle”; • chapter 32 “On the machinations of the enemy against those who have embarked on the good path” and chapter 33 “How the enemy diverts from good deeds and spoils them” St. Theophan, rewrites, paying special attention to the temptations that monks and hermits face, while the original, left unchanged by St. Nicodemus, says nothing about specific monastic temptations; • chapter 34 “How the enemy turns the very virtues to harm the doers.” 4.2 Doctrine of storing feelings St. Feofan makes changes to chapter 21 “On the management and vigorous use of external senses”, adding to its beginning a brief summary of the traditional teaching about the external five senses and their impact on the soul. Next the saint follows St. Nicodemus until the end of chapter 23, “How to move from sensory impressions to moral and edifying lessons.” Additions made by Rev. Nicodemus to the chapter on the management of the tongue, St. Feofan singles out a separate chapter of the Invisible Warfare - Chapter 24, “General Lessons on the Use of the Senses.” Accordingly, chapter 24 ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος becomes chapter 25 N.B., and entirely belonging to St. Nicodemus chapter 25 becomes chapter 26 in the Russian text (“How to correct imagination and memory”). At the end of chapter 26 77 in St. Nicodemus has a warning regarding the vision of light or angels, which is removed in the translation of St. Feofan. A similar warning is found, for example, in Diadochos: “That our mind, when the divine light begins to tangibly act in it, becomes completely bright, so that it itself richly sees this light existing in it, there should be no doubt about this. This always happens, as long as the soul strongly dominates the passions. But it happens that something similar appears ghostly in the mind and from the enemy’s malice, sometimes like light, sometimes like fire, as the divine Paul taught, saying that Satan is sometimes transformed into an Angel of light. Why shouldn’t one, in such hope (i.e., in the hope of seeing the light in oneself), begin to undergo an ascetic life, so that Satan does not therefore find a soul prepared for its rapture into delusion and does not actually delight it” 78 . The most noticeable changes, both in volume and in meaning, were made by St. Theophan in the doctrine of prayer. He retained the first chapter of this section (chapter 46 “On Prayer” 79), but omitted the eight subsequent chapters, replacing them with seven of his own. Then at St. Feofan, following the original, there is a short chapter (47) dedicated to mental prayer, “What is mental, or internal, prayer and what types does it come in?” To this chapter C. S. Rev. Nicodemus made additions that St. Feofan includes in his work. He defines mental prayer as follows: “Mental, or internal, prayer is when the person praying, having gathered his mind inside the heart, from there, silently, in a silent word, sends up his prayer to God, praising Him and thanking Him, contritely confessing his sins to Him and asking Him for the spiritual and physical benefits he needs.” 80 There, the saint speaks about the division of prayer into verbal, mental and heartfelt, while “full and real prayer exists when a prayerful feeling is combined with the prayerful word and prayerful thought.” It is noteworthy that St. Theophan in this chapter does not say anything about the Jesus Prayer (he devotes Chapter 51 to its consideration), while a similar chapter by A.P. speaks of mental prayer specifically as the Jesus Prayer and quite carefully sets out the patristic teaching on this issue with references to the Philokalia, St. Gregory Palamas and the decisions of the Council of Constantinople in 1351 Priest Georgy Chistyakov believed 81 that St. Theophan had an extremely negative attitude towards the psychophysical aspect of the Jesus Prayer and denied any connection between prayer and breathing, prayer and heartbeat, etc. He did not attach any importance to the position in which the person praying was located. At the same time, the Greek hesychasts believed, for example, that one should pray while sitting on a low stool and pressing his knees to his chest so as to feel the beating of the heart. St. Feofan considered, in the opinion of Father George, ridiculous and contemptuously called them “arts”. Therefore, when translating ascetic texts from Greek into Russian, he excluded from them all such advice for those praying. It is difficult to say what guided Father Georgy when he made such a categorical conclusion. The teaching about the Jesus Prayer, expounded by St. Feofan in chapter 51 of the Invisible War, says the opposite. An example is the following quote: “Note also: you need to pay attention to the heart or inside the chest, as some fathers say, namely, a little above the left nipple, and repeat the Jesus Prayer there. When your heart begins to ache from tension, then do as monk Nicephorus advises, namely, rise from that place and stand with attention and a prayerful word where we usually conduct a conversation with ourselves, under the Adam’s apple at the top of the chest. Then you will go down again over the left nipple. Do not disdain this remark, no matter how it may seem to you too simple and little spiritual” 82. The saint also mentions patristic instructions on a special prayer position and head position. These instructions from St. Feofan calls them not essentially necessary and not suitable for everyone, since they are only external adaptations 83. Lorenzo Scupoli speaks of two types of mental prayer. Its first type is explicit prayer, “when we ask through words that depict our thoughts” 84 (Chistyakov in his article writes in this place about domanda attuale, which consists in the fact that the words of prayer are pronounced, but mentally). The second type of mental prayer is called secret prayer by Scupoli. It consists in the fact that we, “in order to ask for mercy, burn inwardly towards God, depicting and offering our poverty without any words, for example, when we ascend with our thoughts to God and confess before Him our weakness in that we ourselves are not able to get rid of evil and do good, or when we lift up our mental eyes to heaven, sighing incessantly, hoping for help, then such a desire can be as strong as the prayer itself” 85. St. Nicodemus here renders Scupoli's text in Greek quite accurately. St. Feofan, transmitting this text, says the following: “Never limit your prayer to prayer alone, but pray together with both your mind and your heart: with your mind, understanding and realizing everything that is said in prayer, with your heart, feeling everything. Above all, pray with your heart." 86 The following remark by St. Georgiy Chistyakov: the Italian word la mente, like the Latin mens, mentis, is not just “mind”, “thought” or reason, it is, rather, a spiritual principle, something similar to my entire insides from the first verse of the 102nd psalm or the expression of the depth of the heart from the Latin hymn Jam lucis orto sidere, which is located in the old Breviary at the beginning of the 1st hour. Therefore, when Scupoli uses the expression secret prayer or says with our thoughts we ascend to God, he means not only the mind, but also what Russian writers refer to the region of the heart - the depths of the heart, as they say in the Ambrosian hymn. As for St. Theophan the Recluse, he greatly simplifies this text, reducing mental-heart prayer only to the realm of feeling. On the other hand, in the next paragraph, St. Feofan makes an extremely important point: “It happens, by the grace of God, that there is only one prayer from the heart, and this is spiritual prayer, moved in the heart by the Holy Spirit; the one who prays is aware of it, but does not create it, but it itself is created in him” 87. It is clear that this statement is based on the words of St. ap. Paul from the Epistle to the Romans (8:26), which says: Likewise the Spirit also helps us in our weaknesses; for we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspeakable groanings, and such self-motivated prayer is the pinnacle of all teaching about the practice of the Jesus Prayer. Here we can already talk about serious differences between Scupoli and the Eastern tradition of heartfelt prayer. Scupoli knows nothing about self-propelled prayer. For him, the highest level of prayer of the heart is “in a single lifting of thoughts to God” 88 . In further chapters of St. Theophan expounds the patristic teaching on prayer. These are his author's chapters, they do not intersect with the text in any way. 4.4 About spiritual communion If St. Nicodemus makes additions to this chapter (4 of the second part of the book), then St. Feofan completely rewrites it. Unlike Scupoli and others. Nicodemus, he gives a clear explanation of what spiritual communion is: “You can partake of the Lord in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood only at certain times, depending on how you can and how diligently you are, but no more than once a day. Internally, in the spirit, we can be worthy of communion with Him every hour and every moment, i.e. to be, by His grace, in constant communion with Him and, when He is pleased, to feel this communion with your heart. Having partaken of the Body and Blood of the Lord, Himself, according to His promise, we are acceptable, and He dwells in us with all His graces, giving the heart, ready for it, to feel this. True communicants are always in a tactile state of grace after communion. The heart then tastes the Lord spiritually...” 89 Thus, St. Theophan understands spiritual communion in the broadest sense, as the gracious presence of Christ in the soul of the believer. The Lord is always present in us until such time as “until, unfortunately, some sin arises, upsetting the state of grace” 90. But due to our lack of attention, due to the bustle of life, we are not always able to feel within ourselves the blessed state of communion with God. Spiritual communion “is a gift of grace given to those who work on the path of the Lord, who are diligent and merciless to themselves” 91 . In the same chapter, St. Theophanes adds a warning that neither Scupoli nor St. Nicodemus: “Spiritual communion of the Lord should not be confused with the mental remembrance of His communion in the Sacraments of the Body and Blood, even if this is accompanied by strong spiritual sensations and thirsty impulses for His actual communion in the Mysteries of the Saints...” 92 Conclusion A comparison of Combattimento spiritual,῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος and Invisible Warfare shows, on the one hand, the close relationship of these three books, on the other, the fundamental difference in the teachings presented in some places. The edits made by Orthodox editors change the very purpose of invisible warfare. If for the author of Combattimento spiritual such a goal is to cleanse the soul from sin, then for St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain and St. Theophan the Recluse's goal is much higher - pure, ugly prayer, elevating the soul of a Christian to God and connecting it with Him. At the same time, the purity of soul that Scupoli strives for is only a preparatory stage. In a number of places in his book, Scupoli teaches to stimulate the imagination, emotions and fantasy in order to achieve success in cleansing from sin. It is clear that this is unacceptable for Orthodox authors and following this path it is impossible to achieve pure prayer. St. Nicodemus not only removes all such passages when editing, but also adds an entire chapter “On the correction of imagination and memory” (chapter 25 ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος), in which he says that “many-formed, multi-component and burly imagination” 93 is a consequence of the Fall and for the In order to return to freedom of communication with God, we need to clear our minds of mental images. There he also shows the reader the means by which this can be achieved. Elsewhere, St. Nicodemus adds a teaching on the control of the senses, which Scupoli does not have (addition to chapter 24 “On how to control the tongue”). In a similar way, St. Nicodemus also works when working on editing the chapters on prayer. He leaves the chapters on meditation essentially unchanged, but he changes the very meaning of meditation. In his presentation, meditation (or reflection) is needed not in order to “stimulate thought, imagination, emotions and desires to work” 94, but for heartfelt contrition for one’s sins and tenderness. St. Feofan goes further in his work. He completely clears the text ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος from those places that may seem not entirely correct from the point of view of Orthodox moral and ascetic teaching. Therefore, in the Invisible War there is no mention of meditation, and yet it was in these chapters that Scupoli most of all showed himself as “a child of his time and his country” 95. St. Theophan, replacing the chapters on prayer with his own, managed to convey with utmost clarity the patristic teaching about pure, ugly prayer. On the other hand, from the teaching on prayer proposed by St. Nicodemus and St. Feofan can draw a conclusion about the difference in types of piety in Russia in the 19th century 96 and in Greece at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. St. Nicodemus offers the reader his edition of the Ignatian prayer tradition. And this edition of it does not cause rejection in the Greek Orthodox community, while Russian Orthodoxy does not accept the Ignatian tradition in any form. For a number of reasons, the consideration of which is not within the scope of this work, in Russia only Evagrievskaya spirituality in its Makarievsky edition turns out to be organic and the only possible one. Table A.1: Comparative numbering of chapters ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος and Combattimento spiritual Table A.2: Comparative numbering of chapters of the Invisible Warfare and ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος. Table A.3: Comparative number of references to books of Holy Scripture. [Spiritual abuse] Lorenzo Scupoli. Spiritual warfare, or the science of perfection self-victory. – St. Petersburg: Publishing House “Azbuka- [Spiritual abuse 1996] Lorenzo Scupoli. Spiritual warfare, or the science of perfection self-victory // Symbol. – 1996. – No. 35. – P. 15–117. [Ganstrem] Ganstrem E. E., Tikhomirov N. B. Works of Isaac the Syrian in Slavic-Russian writing // Church Bulletin history. – 2007. – No. 1. – P. 134–196. http://www.sedmitza.ru/data/495/992/1234/134_196.pdf. Diadochos, bl. The ascetic word, divided into one hundred chapters active, full of knowledge and spiritual reasoning. http://pagez.ru/lsn/0149.php. Ershov S. Experience of spiritual warfare in the Christian East and West // Scupoli L. Spiritual warfare, or the Science of perfect self-victory. – St. Petersburg: Publishing House “ABC classic”, 2009. [Isaac the Syrian] Isaac the Syrian, St. Ascetic words. http://www.hesychasm.ru/library/isaaksr/. Leonty (Kozlov), priest. Venerable Nicodemus the Holy Mountain (1749–1809). Life and creative heritage.: Dissertation on competition for the academic degree of candidate of theology / MDA. – [Meyendorff] Meyendorff John, prot. Byzantine theology. Historical trends and doctrinal themes. – Minsk: “The Rays of Sofia”, 2001. http://ksana-k.narod.ru/Book/mejendorf/01. [Mosin] Mosin A. “Spiritual warfare” in Russia // Symbol. – 1996. – No. [Invisible language] Nicodemus the Holy Mountain, St. Invisible abuse. – Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 2007. Missal. – M.: Synodal Printing House, 1896. http://www.orthlib.info/Sluzhebnik/19_izvestie.pdf. [Theophan 1900] Theophan the Recluse, St. Collection of letters. – M., 1900. – T. 7. Chistyakov Georgy, priest. Jesus Prayer. http://damian.ru/Actualn_tema/Chistakov/jesuspray.html. [Hodges] Hodges H. A. Introduction // Unseen Warfare. – New York: St. Vladimir’s seminary press, 1987. – Pp. 13–67. [Kallistos] Kallistos (Ware), Bishop of Diokleia. The inner unity of the philokalia and its influence in east and west. – 2004. http://www.myriobiblos.gr/texts/english/wear_innerunity2.html. [Scupoli 1868] Lorenco Scupoli. The Spiritual Combat. – London, Oxford, 1868 [᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος ] Νικ ό δη µ ος Αγιορε ί της . ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος . – Αθ ή ναι: "Φ Ω Σ", 1993. [ Παπουλ ί δης ] Παπουλ ί δης Κ . Η συγγένεια του βιβλ ί ου " Α ό ρατος π ό λε µ ος " του Αγ ί ου Νικοδ ήµ ου του Αγιορε ί του µ ε το "Combattimento Spirituale" του Lorenzo Scupoli // Μακεδονικά .–1970.– Τ . 10.Σ. 23–26. Cajetan of Tien (1480–1547) - was born in Bicenza, into the family of an ancient noble family. Studying a lot and hardworking in his youth, he then went to Rome, where he was accepted by Pope Julius II as a prothonotary of the apostolic see. But he was not satisfied with this half-secular position and took monastic vows in 1516. In 1519, he became close friends with some priests and prelates of the Roman Curia, who, sincerely grieved by the turmoil that reigned in the Church and the emergence of the Lutheran heresy, formed a small community in order to jointly indulge in reflection and prayer and thus prepare for preaching and converting all wavering and non-believers. Future Pope Paul IV. Before the papacy, he was also known as the founder of the Papal Inquisition. The four years of his pontificate went down in history as an example of extreme absolutism. Andrei Avellino (1521–1608) - was a mentor to novices and the head of the Theatine order, wrote several books. He was buried in Naples, in the Church of Paolo Maggiore. When Avellino’s body was opened for farewell, his admirers cut off a strand of hair as a souvenir and, apparently, touched the skin - bleeding scratches appeared on the face. Doctors were called, who made several incisions, and for three days the blood did not stop oozing. It was collected and kept, claiming that on the anniversary of Avellino’s death it boils in the same way as the blood of St., revered in Naples. Iannuaria. Canonized by the Catholic Church in 1712 Chierico Regolare. This indicates that the author belongs to the Congregation of Regular Clerics of Divine Providence (Theatines). Based on the translation by M. S. Andreevsky. In the English text at this point the expression “spiritual exercises” is used, i.e. “spiritual exercises”. St. Theophan the Recluse uses the expression “continuously strive” Another source [Mosin, p. 9] speaks of sixty lifetime editions [Hodges, p. 38], from [Mosin, p. 9] it is clear that one of these Asian languages was Arabic (translation published in 1775) Other sources report that the translation was made from Polish Russian biographical dictionary: In 25 volumes / A.A. Polovtsov, M., 1896–1918, volume “Aleksinsky - Bestuzhev-Ryumin”, p. 114, Cited. according to [Ershov]. "Ejaculatory prayers" in English translation. St. Theophan translates in this place as follows: “Such short prayers are rightly called with the prophet ascensions, placed in the heart (Ps. 83: 6), which, erupting from a heart full of faith and hope, ascend to heaven and enter the ears of God. These are appeals that are always heeded and understood (Ps. 5: 2) by the multi-compassionate Lord” [Invisible Warfare, p. 170–171]. Andreevsky, in his translation of Combattimento spiritual, calls these prayers “penetrating.” In the Catholic world they have become widespread and you can find entire collections of such prayers. 5Catholic prayer, named after its initial words. Consists of three short texts describing the mystery of the Incarnation, interspersed with the greeting Hail Mary, as well as concluding prayerful addresses to the Mother of God and God the Father Numbering of chapters in ῾ Ο ᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε μ ος. They correspond to chapters 21–25 and 44–52 of Combattimento spiritual. [Invisible Swearing, p. 104] Translated by St. Feofan, this addition is included in a separate chapter, “General Lessons on the Use of the Senses,” standing before the chapter on language management. ...ἤ τοι τ ό νά ἀνεβα ί ν ῃ κανε ί ς ἀπ ό τά αἰσθητά εἰς τ ή ν θεωρὶαν ?? ? ἐκεῖνοι, πού ἔχουν γνῶσιν, διάκρισιν καὶ δύνα µ ιν εἰς τὸν λογισ µό ν, διὰ νὰ διορθ ώ νουν τὰς αἰσθ ή σεις τῶν µ ὲ αὐτούς. › ἄλλον τρ ό πον ἠµ ποροῦν νὰ διορθ ώ νουν τὰς αἰσθ ή γεις των δηλ . µ ὲ ὅ λην τους τὴν δύνα µ ιν ἀπὸ ὅ λα ἐκεῖνα τὰ αἰσθητά , πού ἠµ ποροῦν νὰ βλάπτουν τὴν ψυχ ή ν των. [᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος, Σ. 94] [Invisible Swearing, p. 118] [Invisible Swearing, p. 119–120] [Invisible Swearing, p. 122] [Invisible Swearing, p. 122–123] From Latin meditatio, onis f. - thinking, thinking. [Invisible Swearing, p. 197] Catechism of the Catholic Church, articles 2705–2708. ? ί ας The first goal of the monastic exercise, according to Evagrius, is to subdue the passions and achieve a state of dispassion - detachment from feelings and thoughts, which makes it possible to restore the true original relationship between the mind and God. It was Evagrius who first used the term “mental prayer,” which became common in Byzantine hesychasm [Meyendorff]. St. Nicodemus gives a reference to word 35, which corresponds to word 39 in the Russian translation [Ganstrem, p. 193]. Word 39 “On why spiritual people see through knowledge into other spiritual things, in proportion to bodily debility, how the mind can rise above it, what is the reason for not being freed from it, when and to what extent can the mind remain without dreaming at the hour of prayer” [Isaac the Syrian] Chapter 57 on [Spiritual Warfare]. Περὶ Πνευ µ ατικῆς καὶ νοερ ᾶ ς Κοινων ί ας , ἤ τοι πῶς κοινωνεῖται νοερῶς καὶ πνευ µ ατικῶς ὁ Χριστὸς . [᾽ Α ό ρατος Π ό λε µ ος, Σ. 206] [Invisible Swearing, p. 3] Numbering of chapters and their titles according to the Russian edition by N.B. Numbering according to Russian text. It complies with Chapter 44 C.S. and Chapter 45 A.P. [Invisible Swearing, p. 205] [Invisible Swearing, p. 222–223] [Invisible Swearing, p. 222] [Invisible Swearing, p. 206] [Invisible Swearing, p. 249] [Invisible Swearing, p. 250] [Invisible Swearing, p. 119] Catechism of the Catholic Church, article 2708. In the concept of St. Macarius “mental prayer” becomes “heartfelt prayer”; the center of a person’s psychosomatic life, the heart, is “the tablet on which the grace of God inscribes the laws of the Spirit” [Meyendorff].