Послесловие к русскому изданию

The biography of St. Nicodemus the Svyatogorets is the first book published in Russian by the famous Greek church writer monk Theoclitus of Dionysiata, and probably the most significant of his works. This book has already gone through four editions to this day, despite the appearance of other biographies and lives of St. Nicodemus, new studies of his works and publications of previously unpublished texts, remains the most complete set of biographical information about this saint - undoubtedly the greatest of the Greek theologians of the era of Turkish rule. Monk Theoclitus is one of the oldest inhabitants of the Holy Mountain, a talented church writer, who created many books during his long life. The most famous, in addition to the biography of St. Nicodemus, are his works such as “Between Heaven and Earth”, “Athos Dialogues”, as well as a number of books about the great saints and ascetics of piety of past centuries and our time: about St. Gregory Palamas, St. Nektarios of Aegina, St. Anthema of Chios, about the revered elders of Svyatogorsk - the abbot Gabriel of Dionysiata, hymn writer Gerasimos Mikragiannite, Athanasius Ivirite, about Elder Philotheos Zervakos from the island of Paros. This series also includes books about the “monk in the world” - the great Greek writer Alexandros Papadiamandis and the icon painter Fotis Kondoglu. One of the last books about. Theoclitus – his spiritual biography “The Christocentric Experiences of a Hermit.” Now the monk Theoclitus lives in solitude in hesychastiria near his monastery - Dionysiatus, but, as before, he keenly responds to the burning problems of modern church life. The life and works of the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain have long become one of the main themes of the work of the monk Theoclitus. He compiled an anthology of the saint's texts and wrote a number of articles devoted to various aspects of the life and teaching of St. Nicodemus. Speaking against the dogmatic deviations of the so-called “neo-Orthodox”, and mainly against some theological positions of the famous Greek theologian Christos Yannaras, Fr. Theoclitus paid a lot of attention to refuting their criticism of the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountain. Let us recall that in the book “Orthodoxy and the West in New Greece” published in 1992 1992) X. Yannaras accused St. Nicodemus of allegedly instilling in the Orthodox people a Western “moralistic spirituality” that was alien to them and thereby contributing to the secularization and loss of Orthodox traditions in Greece in the 19th–20th centuries. We are talking mainly about the books “Invisible Warfare” and “Spiritual Exercises”. The Holy Kinot of Holy Mount Athos responded to these statements with a memorandum, which refuted the attacks of Yannaras and proved that the Monk Nicodemus was a true Orthodox teacher of the Church. The books of the monk Theoclitus were written in the same vein. Recently, a lot of new data has appeared about the origin of the books “Invisible Warfare” and “Spiritual Exercises”. Let us try to briefly outline their results. Thanks to the research of the Greek scholar Emmanuel Franciskos, it became clear that St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain never read these books in the original (i.e., in Italian), but dealt only with translations made in the mid-18th century. on Patmos by Emmanuel Romaniti. It is possible that he did not know who their authors were, since there is every reason to believe that the manuscripts brought by St. Macarius of Corinth from Patmos and handed over to the Holy Mountain for correction were anonymous. At least, in the catalog of the Patmos Library, which was compiled by Macarius Notara himself in 1793, only the title “Spiritual Exercises” is indicated without the name of the author. It is important to keep in mind that St. Nicodemus, unlike, say, St. Theophan the Recluse, quite rarely resorted to a comprehensive reworking of the works of other authors that fell into his hands. He preferred to correct and highlight passages that did not suit him in some way through notes in which he cited patristic quotations (including from the Fathers of the 14th century, exponents of a tradition in many respects opposite to that represented by the compilers of the named books - Lorenzo Scupoli and Giovanni Pietro Pinamonti). Therefore, it is the notes and two inserted chapters in “The Invisible Warfare” that represent the own position of the Monk Nicodemus, and otherwise the text of Scupoli in the Romaniti translation has undergone mainly only stylistic editing. The “Spiritual Exercises” have undergone much greater revision; there are also additions and new chapters: perhaps the Monk Nicodemus saw here more significant deviations from Orthodox ascetic teaching. However, in general, his method remains the same: he supplements the text with notes of a patristic nature. In connection with the above, it becomes clear that the accusations of St. Nicodemus the Holy Mountain of introducing a “Western stream” into Orthodox piety are unfair. Firstly, he worked with the finished material, acting as an editor; secondly, the manuscripts were handed over to the monk by a person extremely authoritative for him - Saint Macarius of Corinth, and he actually carried out his order. But, despite this, questions remain: how acceptable was the result of the implemented prp. Nicodemus processing, if, say, St. Did Theophan the Recluse have to continue the correction? Prot. Valentin Asmus suggested that the Monk Nikodim Svyatogorets “valued these manuals as help to people who are “spiritual” and just beginning the Christian feat...” 895 and the “spiritual” asceticism of Catholicism could really provide help here... However, this is only one of the possible solutions to the problem. One thing is certain: the works of St. Nicodemus, and especially those of them that can be called the most “original” (“Exhortatory Manual”, individual chapters “Eorthodrome”, “Garden of Grace”, “New Ladder”) clearly prove that their compiler was a true bearer of patristic tradition, and the scale and depth of the themes revealed in them allows us to say with confidence about St. Nicodemus what was once said about St. Gregory Palame: in the age of Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the Holy Mountain was truly “the mouth and seal of the Fathers.” The Russian edition is timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the glorification of St. Nicodemus in 1955. The translation differs from the Greek original in the following: numerous quotes from the Holy Scriptures, the Fathers of the Church, liturgical texts, from the first Life of the St., compiled by Euthymius, ancient and modern authors, for the most part in the translation are provided with references indicating the place of the quote, verified and sometimes corrected to the exact quotation. The monk Theoclitus himself indicated the source only for some quotes from the works of Nicodemus the Holy Mountain according to old editions (mainly the “Exhortatory Manual”). Sometimes he quotes contemporary publications, but without specifying the pages. Therefore, of the author’s few references, only a few were used and included in the general numbering, which were corrected, supplemented and formatted by the translator in accordance with modern standards. As for quotations from the Fathers of the Church, in the case when the translation was made from the original Greek quotation, the note indicated its place in the edition: Patrologiae cursus completes. Series graeca/Ed. J. P. Migne. P., 1875–1966. 161t. (abbreviated: PG). If the translator took into account a previously published translation, the note indicates: in the Russian translation cf. Geographical names, proper names, etc. are given in accordance with the rules developed at the Church Scientific Center "Orthodox Encyclopedia". Valentin Asmus, prot. How the books of Protopresbyter John Meyendorff should not be published // ZhMP. No. 11. 2002