Russian hesychasm. Spirituality of Nil Sorsky

(Fragments) 1 Contents Purity of heart and “nepsis” of Nile of Sora 1. Loneliness and silence 2. Expulsion of thoughts: Apostasis Noimaton 3. Hesychia 4. Vigilance and sobriety (nepsis), and observance of the commandments 5. Preparation for “inspired contemplation” Evaluation of Nile as a hesychast PURITY OF HEART AND “NEPSY” BY NEIL SORSKY In those scattered writings that remain at our disposal, Nil Sorsky too strenuously (as G. Levitsky finds 2) insists that spiritual life is a battle, an internal war waged by the integrity of God. This means that the role of the means to achieve the goal seems to be exaggerated here; the reason is that without the continuous and successful use of these means throughout the life of the monk, it is impossible, according to Neil, to achieve the final goal - the salvation of the soul, as well as the immediate goal - unity with God through grace and prayer. This allows us to understand why, in his two systematic treatises on the spiritual life, Neil especially emphasizes solitude, silence, control of thoughts, peace or hesychia, vigilance or sobriety (nepsis), achieved especially through the observance of the “commandments.” All these means are designed to purify the soul, mind or heart, which is necessary for a monk to achieve the only true God-like freedom of the sons of God. Only this purity of heart can ensure love for God for His own sake. Thus, the following components can be distinguished in the spirituality of the Nile: (1) loneliness and silence; (2) expulsion of thoughts (apostasis noimaton); (3) hesychia; (4) nepsis through keeping God's commandments. 1. Loneliness and silence Appealing to his disciples to follow him in the practice of solitude and silence, Neil mentions Arsenius the Great, in whom he sees an example of a perfect hesychast (silent 3, one who is inaccessible to any vanity). Here he refers to the authority of Isaac the Syrian: “Saint Isaac praised silence most of all and calls Arsenius the Great a perfect silencer, [however] he also had a minister and disciples. Also, Nile of Sinai and Daniel of Scete had disciples, as the scriptures tell about them, and many others; and throughout the holy Scriptures there are praises of silence with one or two.” 4 Nile perceives from Arseny his love for solitude and silence, but still in combination with some minimal human surroundings, for “solitude (absolute, hermit - Author’s note) requires angelic strength.” 5 We find the ideal of the Nile in the famous story cited in Apophthegmata Patrum: 6 “Abba Arseny, while still at the royal court, prayed to God like this: Lord! teach me how to be saved? And a voice came to him: Arseny! run from people and you will be saved. Having retired into solitude, he again prayed to God with the same words, and heard a voice saying to him: Arseny! run, be silent, remain silent; for this is the root of sinlessness.” This is a simple program that Neil repeats many times: Isaac says to those who want to truly remain silent and purify the mind in prayer: “Remove from the vision of the world, and cut off conversations, and do not want to accept friends into your cell as is customary, even under a good pretext, except those only who are of the same equal with you, and of the same will, and [your] co-secretaries; and be afraid of mental confusion from conversations, which usually involuntarily acts even after external communication ceases and is suppressed. And this, he says, we know from experience. For when we stop such conversations, even if they seem good, immediately after the end of the conversations our souls are confused; even if we didn’t want to, they involuntarily turn to us and stay with us for a considerable time. 7 There must be an escape from the world, from the society of people, into the “desert,” which in Nile’s patristic vocabulary usually means monastic life. In a letter to Elder Herman, he recalls his own escape from the world, from all worldly temptations in order to devote himself entirely to “life according to the Divine Scriptures.” 8 In a letter to Gury, he says that in order to cut himself off from the world, a monk must cut himself off from what especially strongly binds him to the world; a monk must sacrifice all his habits and completely, irreversibly cut himself off from the past, otherwise old impressions will again arise in his soul. Separated from the world, he should have only one goal, one desire: the desire for moral perfection. 9 He advises Vassian to completely remove himself from conversations, from listening and contemplating unnecessary things that can cause mental disorder. “Separate yourself from everyone who does not live according to the writings of the Fathers.” 10 A monk separated from the world does not receive the necessary purity of heart ipso facto - complete silence of the heart is necessary, both external and internal. “These wonderful works that we have spoken about certainly require... exercise in [only] the work of God and attention [only to it]... And Basil the Great says: “The beginning of the purity of the soul is silence.” And John Climacus said: “The work of silence is carelessness about blessed and impermissible things, and prayer without laziness, and, thirdly, the work of the heart that is not stolen.” 11 The monk, therefore, should avoid all unnecessary external conversations and even those conversations that the Climacus classifies as “necessary things.” Neil says about this: “that which happens well and seems to be saving for the soul is conversations, after all, these should be conducted at the appropriate time and in moderation, with spiritual and reverent fathers and brothers. For if [we] lead them without protecting [ourselves], then we will certainly and unwittingly fall into the second, [impermissible] one.” 12 Stirring of the soul comes from “things that displease God.” Consequently, in order to maintain external and internal silence, we need to “abide in His commandments... and unite with God with the inner man.” 13 Developing the theme of inner silence, which grows out of loneliness, refusal of all unnecessary conversations, control over stimulating thoughts and images, Neil makes an important warning: one should not drive out inner silence and hesychia from the soul, turning away from God, who is present in the soul, in order to offer prayers to God outside the soul through singing. When, by the grace of God, prayer delights and begins to act in the heart, he commands us to be especially diligent with it. “If,” he said, “you see that prayer is working in your heart and does not stop happening, never leave it and do not get up to sing, unless, by God’s will, she does not leave you. Because, leaving God inside, you will begin to call on Him from the outside, bowing from the high to the low, thereby scattering your prayer and confusing your mind, [breaking] its silence. For silence - according to the meaning of its name - in peace and silence means being in peace, because [and] God is peace, turmoil and outcry above... Do not accept any visual dreams and images of visions, lest you be deceived. After all, the soaring of thoughts also happens [then] when the mind stands in the heart and makes a prayer, for it is not subject to anyone, except those perfect in the Holy Spirit, who have achieved soaring in Christ Jesus. 14 2. Expulsion of thoughts: Apostasis Noimaton In achieving hesychia, the ascetic Nile follows the tradition founded by Evagrius and continued by the Sinai fathers and other teachers of Palestinian monasticism. According to this tradition, to achieve true contemplation, the mind must begin by expelling all thoughts, be they good or bad. 15 “It is appropriate during prayer to strive to keep the mind deaf and dumb, as Nil of Sinai said 16, and to have a heart, says Hesychius of Jerusalem 17, silent from every thought, even if it seems completely good... Passionate thoughts will be followed by passionate ones, as has been learned by experience, and the entry of the former is the reason [for the entry] of the latter. And since it is said that, following good thoughts, the evil ones enter into us, then it is appropriate to force ourselves to be silent in thought even in relation to thoughts that seem right.” 18 Thus, the process of purifying the inner vessel and worshiping God in spirit and truth is a difficult struggle. You should immediately discard the first impulse to think. “For... he who resists the first, that is, the impulse of thought, at once cuts off everything that follows.” 19 Those who have passed the initial stage of struggling with useless thoughts (especially bad ones, attracting the opposite ones to help them), those who are in “advancement” and in a state of enlightenment, do not have to read the psalms. “These do not require the singing of psalms, but silence, unceasing prayer and contemplation. After all, they are united with God and there is no need for them to tear their minds away from Him and plunge them into confusion. For the mind of such commits adultery if it departs from the memory of God and zealously takes up worse things.” 20 The last instruction undoubtedly refers to the words of Simeon the New Theologian: “In the eyes of God, who sees our hearts, such people (monks who dedicated themselves to God, but seek human praise - Author's note) are similar to those who commit adultery. For the one who passionately desires to have his life, name and deeds on the tongues of men commits adultery in the eyes of God, as the ancient inhabitants of Judah committed it, according to David.” 21 The application of the concept of adultery to a monk who is occupied with thoughts other than God (though not necessarily impure ones) goes back to Evagrius’s teaching about the monk’s complete absorption in God alone, or in other words, in continuous prayer. 22 This same idea is further developed by Climacus in his concept of “expelling thoughts from the mind” 23 or, closer to the New Testament vocabulary, amerimnia. 24 And among Evagrius, and among Climacus, among other Sinai hesychasts and among Nile of Sora, the need for the “extermination of all thoughts” is always born from the omnipotence of love for God alone. This ascetic desire to banish from the mind any thought that might divert the human faculties of knowledge and love away from their only object, God, may perhaps be considered as negative, but it must not be overlooked that it is a necessary precondition of a certain positive striving. Man banishes all worries for the sake of one great concern, for the sake of the search for perfection or love and service to God alone. To fully understand the teaching of Nilus of Sora about the need to expel from the mind all thoughts and worries that could interfere with the mind in continuous prayer and union with God, one should turn to his teacher, Climacus. When describing the 27th stage, Climacus defines loneliness or hesychia as a lack of worries. “A little hair bothers the eye; and a little care destroys silence: because silence is the putting aside of thoughts and the renunciation of even plausible concerns.” 25 Father Irenaeus Oserre beautifully translates this last phrase: “La grande affaire pour les hésychastes, c'est d'avoir a priori une parfaite indifférence pour toutes les choses humaines, si raisonnables qúelles paraîssent.” 26 [The most important thing for a hesychast is to acquire a priori and complete indifference to all worldly things, no matter how reasonable they may seem (Fr.)] For Nile, as for Climacus and for the entire Evagrian tradition, the elimination of all thoughts, especially worries and worries (whether sinful or necessary or even justified and praiseworthy), is the result of a certain degree of indifference or detachment that arises in the heart of the monk in relation to all created things. In all likelihood, he was strongly influenced by the Second Step of the Ladder, which deals with detachment. A person who truly loves the Lord, who has made great efforts to seek the coming Kingdom, who is concerned about his sinfulness, who is fully aware of eternal torment and judgment, who lives in fear of death, will not love, be interested in, or worry about money, things, parents, worldly fame, friends, brothers, or anything else earthly. But, having rid himself of all connections with earthly things and destroying all worries in himself, hating even his own flesh and cutting himself off from everything, he will follow Christ without worry or hesitation, always looking at grief and expecting help from there... 27 In a letter to Gury, Nil answers his third question: what is true renunciation of the world? We see here a very thoughtful summary of the Second Step of the Ladder, which was the subject of much thought for Neil. The letter breathes with a deeply personal conviction of the need for complete detachment of the heart from all worldly creatures and complete surrender of oneself to the service of God. A monk who has left the world must also leave all his former habits, all connections with his former attachments. He must now focus only on his moral perfection. He should not look at his brothers, listen to their actions, their secrets, since this ...will empty your soul of all good things and establish in your heart an internal judgment over all the mistakes of your neighbor. This will lead to the fact that you will stop mourning your own sins... Do not engage in pleasant, friendly conversations, which are common between worldly people who occupy themselves with absurd questions and concerns, such as about various monastic customs, about acquiring wealth and possessions... There is no need to interfere in such, even to instruct and correct; leave this to God, whose power extends to this too. 28 Nothing can drive away this constant concern, especially with legal things, such as health and food, shelter, clothing, like deep faith in Divine Providence. Neil gives a brief but very clear instruction on this in connection with the means of overcoming the thought or sin of sadness. Without His will, nothing can happen to us... God sends everything for our benefit and for the salvation of our souls; even if at the present time it does not seem useful to us, but later it will be revealed that it is useful as God arranges, and not as we want... He sends this to us by His mercy, so that we, having been tested in this and having endured, would be crowned by Him. After all, no one has ever been crowned without temptation. Therefore, it is fitting to give thanks to the Lord for all this, as the Giver of blessings and our Savior. 29 Purity of spirit or heart requires, according to Neil, “not only not to have possessions, but also not to desire to acquire them.” 30 Thus, for Nile, as for all the hesychasts - his predecessors, the mind expels thoughts, good or bad, when the passion for the objects of these thoughts not only disappears in him, but he is completely absorbed by a greater passion, will be occupied with love only for one God. This term, which literally means “serenity, anxietylessness,” is usually translated by Nile as silence, preserving for it all the fullness of meaning that was invested in it by his predecessors. 31 This is a general term indicating not so much external actions as the internal state of the soul, which is achieved through ascetic labors, especially through loneliness, silence and expulsion from the heart and mind not only of all thoughts that can disturb the soul during continuous prayer, but also of all aspirations towards anyone and anything other than God Himself. This is a necessary condition for continuous prayer and true connection with God. It is death to the world and the flesh, “the resurrection of the soul before the body,” 32 through contemplative prayer. Oserre says very well: “hesychasm exists only for prayer and through prayer.” 33 Neal's instructions are consistent with this. If you cannot pray in the silence of your heart, without thoughts, but you see them multiplying in your mind, do not be faint-hearted about it, but still continue to pray. Blessed Gregory of Sinaite, knowing for certain that it is impossible for us to overcome evil thoughts as we are passionate, said that none of the beginners will retain their mind and drive away their thoughts unless God [Himself] restrains him and drives away his thoughts. For to hold the mind and drive away thoughts is [the work of] the strong. But they do not drive them away on their own, but struggle with God in battle against them, as those clothed with grace and all His weapons... 34 Thus, for Nile, as well as for Evagrius, Climacus and other early hesychasts, hesychia or apathy differs from the apathy of the Stoics or natural ataraxia, since, contemplating the Holy Scriptures, the Christian never forgets about the real nature of man, in which original sin, purified by baptism, nevertheless leaves its stamp on the passionate nature. This seal cannot be completely eradicated, but it can be controlled. A Christian must constantly make an effort of his good will, but always under the auspices and with the assistance of God's grace. Neil very successfully characterizes the overall role of all ascetic labors in the spiritual aspiration towards the final goal, the acquisition of the glory of God: ... God will give us... to remain in good deeds, preserved by the grace of the Lord God and our Savior Jesus Christ, through the prayers of our Most Pure Lady Theotokos and all the saints who shone forth in the practice of virtues. “Let us also understand that it is not for the sake of fulfilling great rules that we choose silent places in order to fulfill them,” as Saint Isaac said ... but in order to retreat from rebellion, and unhelpful cares, and other things that are displeasing to God and to abide in His commandments ... doing things pleasing to God: singing, prayer, reading and teaching in the spiritual, handicrafts and doing any work - and uniting with God with the inner man, as much as possible. strength, in good deeds let us send glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit - the One God in the Trinity, now and ever, and unto ages of ages. Amen. 35 This ultimate dependence on God’s help to achieve, with our own assistance, a state of serene peace, is always in the foreground in Nile’s consciousness. When a monk reaches this state, “when the mind stands in the heart and makes a prayer,” 36 even then a “soaring of thoughts” arises, “for it is not subject to anyone, except those who are perfect in the Holy Spirit, who have achieved non-vapority in Christ Jesus.” 37 Neil describes some of the divine properties of the gift of hesychia with the same strength of feeling and specificity of detail that are characteristic of Isaac, whose words are quoted here. The fathers call [this] prayer, since this ineffable gift comes from prayer and is given to the saints during prayer, and they call the phenomenon as they wish, in order to confirm spiritual thoughts; no one knows his name for sure. After all, when the soul is moved by spiritual action towards that Divine, through an incomprehensible union it becomes similar to the Divine and is illuminated by a ray of high light in its movements, and when the mind is worthy to feel future bliss, then it forgets itself and everything here, and no longer has movement towards anything... A certain sweetness incessantly boils from the heart and imperceptibly draws the whole being of a person from everything for time and time; and a certain pleasure and joy attack the whole body, which the carnal tongue cannot [and] express, until [man] counts everything earthly as ashes and rubbish in remembrance of that. And when, he said, that sweetness comes upon a person, boiling throughout his whole body, then it seems to him at that hour as if nothing other than the Kingdom of Heaven, as soon as this... He who has found joy in God will not only not pay attention to suffering, but will also not look back at his life. For the love of God is sweeter than life, and the knowledge of God, from whom love is born, is sweeter than honey and honeycomb. 38 4. Vigilance and sobriety (nepsis), and keeping the commandments Having described this state of serene rest as a necessary condition for the stability of prayer, which in prayer is born and maintained through continuous prayer, Neal further follows the patristic tradition of his beloved Fathers, developing his doctrine of vigilance. Through vigilance, the mind maintains readiness at any moment to repel any threat to the inner unity achieved in the soul through constant prayer, and to cooperate fully, immediately with the slightest influx of the Holy Spirit in raising the soul to greater perfection. In the early Fathers who wrote about this type of asceticism, we find descriptions rather than definitions of nepsis. 39 The author who wrote about nepsis in the most detail and had the greatest influence on Nile on this topic is Hesychius of Sinai. Moreover, Nile himself mistakenly calls him Hesychius of Jerusalem 40. The definition given by Hesychius is classic: Sobriety is a spiritual art, which, if practiced for a long time and with constant diligence, with God’s help completely delivers a person from passionate thoughts, words, and bad deeds; grants to the one who goes through it this way, the true knowledge of the Incomprehensible God, as far as this is possible for us, and the secret resolution of the hidden Divine Mysteries; and is the creator of every commandment of the Old and New Testaments and the giver of every good of the future age. - This itself is actually purity of the heart;... Christ pleases her, saying: blessed ones, purify your heart: for they will see God (Matthew 5:8). ... Sobriety, if it constantly abides in a person, becomes for him a guide to a right and godly life. It is also a ladder to contemplation; it also teaches us the right to control the movements of the tripartite soul... and to firmly preserve feelings - and in its communicant it daily increases the four main virtues (i.e. wisdom, courage, temperance and justice). 41 Neil Hesychius quotes further when he speaks of the need for the virtue of sobriety: Blessed Hesychius of Jerusalem also says: “Just as it is impossible to live in this life without food and drink, so it is impossible for the soul to achieve anything spiritual without keeping the mind, which is called sobriety, if someone forces himself out of fear of torment, so as not to sin.” 42 On the very first page of the Rule, Neil speaks of this “sobriety,” using various general terms found in the Fathers. “Monastic Rule: from the writings of the Holy Fathers about “mental work”: why it is necessary and how one should try to do it.” 43 This is the title of the Charter, and from it we can judge the importance that Neil intends to attach to this virtue, so fundamental to Eastern spirituality. After this title he writes: Many of the holy fathers spoke about working with the heart, keeping thoughts and keeping the mind in different words, as each of them was taught by God’s grace, but equally in meaning, having first received the word of the Lord Himself, who said: From the heart come evil thoughts and defile a person (see Matt. 15:19-20), and who taught to cleanse the inside of a vessel (see Matt. 23:26), and said, that it is fitting to worship the Father in spirit and truth (see John 4:24). 44 Throughout the Rule and other works of Neil, we constantly encounter two expressions: “mental doing” (or similar expressions), as well as “keeping the commandments of God” or “living according to the commandments of God.” Discussing this “mental activity,” he again quotes Hesychius, and we see that the nepsis of the Nile should be understood in a broader sense from those in which it is used by Hesychius. In this meaning, nepsis is synonymous with the praxis of Evagrius, cf.: “Work is a spiritual method that purifies the passionate part of the soul.” 45 Blessed Hesychius of Jerusalem distinguishes four ways in this mental activity: either to watch for excuses, or to have a deeply silent heart from every thought and pray, or to call on the Lord Jesus Christ for help, or to have mortal memory. “All of them,” he said, “resist evil thoughts,” and no matter which of them one turns to, all this is called sobriety, that is, mental activity. Having examined them all, let each of us strive in the manner appropriate to him. 46 Often Neil speaks of this “mental doing” as “spiritual exercise,” “spiritual action,” “the prayer of the heart or mind,” “keeping the mind within the heart, free from all imagination,” “keeping the mind silent.” But at the same time, he always means the same thing: “this is a life-giving exercise” of keeping the mind in the heart, so that not a single thought could capture the heart unprotected and, having penetrated it, multiply thoughts and tear the soul away from union with God. This is the “science of sciences and the art of arts,” 47 which, like a gatekeeper, checks all thoughts and allows only “friends” through, detaining all others as “enemies.” 48 If the virtue of nepsis is the gatekeeper, then prudence and moderation are the gates into which entrance is open only to godly thoughts. But what is the standard on the basis of which thoughts, words, and deeds must be judged with moderation and prudence? Again and again Neil insists on uniting our will with the will of God, on striving to do only what pleases God. We must maintain in our life that we always and in everything, in every undertaking, soul and body, word, deed and thought, remain in the work of God to the best of our ability. “For, as before, living in the world, in its vanity, with all our minds and feelings we were enslaved to sinful deception,” says Blessed Philotheus, “so, again, it behooves us, who have begun to live according to God, to work with all our minds and feelings for the Living and True God, and God’s truth, and will, and to do His holy commandments, and from everything displeasing to God in every possible way.” depart, according to the Scripture, which says: I was guided by all Your commandments, and I hated every way of unrighteousness. 49 The spirit of sobriety and vigilance is maintained by living in the presence of God and doing everything possible for His glory. We must always have a mind in great reverence and confirmed in the hope of God and do everything to please Him, and not out of vanity, not out of man-pleasing, knowing firmly that He is always with us, present everywhere and fulfilling everything; since he who planted the ear hears everything, and he who created the eye (see Ps. 93:9) looks everywhere. And if a conversation happens, lead it according to God... And with all this, always have God before your eyes, according to what David said: I have always seen the Lord before me, for He is at my right hand; let me not be shaken. 50 And again Neil clearly indicates as a standard for all sobriety: “...at all times it is fitting for us to examine ourselves carefully, [our] feelings and thoughts, so that our work may be done for the sake of God.” 51 With the same conciseness that is inherent in the definitions of the Fathers, Nile defines his nepsis as follows: “mental [doing], that is, having the mind in reverence and hope for God and adhering to His love.” 52 Long before this, Evagrius made his praxis synonymous with keeping the commandments of God; this praxis was protected by the fear of God and generated love for God. 53 To understand why Nile insists so much on keeping the commandments of God and on the necessity of this observance in order to achieve union with God, one should turn to Philotheus of Sinai, who, in turn, largely followed Evagrius and Nile of Sinai. Explaining why the devil attacks us and wages mental battle against us, he writes: For what purpose and for what purpose is this agitation and struggle being raised against us? For this reason, may God’s will not be fulfilled by us, for which we pray, saying: Thy will be done in us (Luke 11:2), that is, the commandments of God. And if anyone, having established his mind from wandering in perfect sobriety in the Lord, begins to carefully observe their (invisible enemies) intrusions (into the heart) and entanglements (fights with a sober mind) occurring in the dreams of the imagination, he will learn this from experience. Therefore, the Lord, directing His goal against evil demons, and, like God, foreseeing their plans, in opposition to their goal, decreed His commandments, threatening those who violate them. 54 Neale must have assumed that this text was familiar to his readers, or at least that these arguments were familiar to them. Indeed, despite the fact that the need to live according to the commandments of God is constantly emphasized in his writings, he never clearly defines what he calls “commandments”, and never explains why keeping the commandments entails hesychia and the possibility of a deeper union with God through contemplation. He simply points out: “those who ardently repent... who with much love and fear seek the Lord, and look to the One and do His commandments... the Lord has mercy on everyone... let us try... to guard our hearts from evil thoughts, thereby fulfilling the commandments; and let us always pray with guarded hearts.” 55 Long before this, Hesychius defined nepsis as keeping all the commandments of the Old and New Testaments. In itself, it represents purity of heart and is what Christ calls blessed: “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). ... Sobriety ... becomes a guide to a right and godly life.” 56 Since God came to this earth and spoke to us, revealing His Divine Will, then man’s first duty is to fulfill this Will as perfectly as possible. This is why Nile's spirituality is predominantly evangelical. While emphasizing the need to live according to the Fathers and the Holy Scriptures (including the writings of the Fathers), he always appeals to the same argument: one must follow the Fathers because they lived according to the teachings of Christ completely, in all their personal lives, and wrote like the apostles, being inspired by the Holy Spirit. But where Evagrius makes a clear distinction between keeping the commandments of the Law and abandoning them in order to follow what the more exalted "disposition established by Him" calls for, 57 - Nilus, following Philotheus and Hesychius of Sinai, uses the term "commandments" in a more general sense, which includes the expression of the will of God, whether it is contained in the Old and New Testaments or in the natural law or in more subtly perceived inspirations of the Holy Spirit, making it possible to know the will of God on the paths to the highest perfection and holiness. 58 For Neil, who follows Philotheus, keeping God's commandments is proof of true love for God. “Whoever loves Me will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” 59 Neil's special emphasis on the internal fulfillment of God's commandments and his later protest against the “dead formalism” of his contemporaries, which went down in history, can only be understood if we understand Philotheus’s teaching about the “commandments.” According to Philotheus, God endowed the human soul with three forces, in modern psychological terminology, the drives of anger (irritable force), lust (desirable force) and intellect (thinking force 60). In order that these powers may remain in full "health" and achieve the proper purposes for which God created them, He gives commandments for each of them. The devil, in order to destroy this health and take the soul away from God, attacks the soul with temptations that violate the commandments given by God. 61 However, some of the commandments concern only external actions, such as bodily acts of mercy. Other commandments are more internal, spiritual; they are more extensive, including many external commandments. For this reason, the fulfillment of internal commandments also ensures the fulfillment of all external ones. Christ came to give us a new Decalogue, the eight Beatitudes, which are the commandments of God for everyone and which are gathered around two internal, spiritual commandments: Christ's commandment to be pure in heart and to be meek in heart. All virtues are contained in these two, which are further compressed into one comprehensive commandment: “love God with all your soul, with all your heart and with all your strength.” 62 As has already been said, Neil does not develop his teaching about the commandments with complete clarity, but this does not weaken his insistence that only in keeping the commandments of God can true mercy of God lie. The main virtue for him consists not so much in the development of meekness or purity of heart, but in efforts to conform his will with the will of God, always doing everything that may please God. 63 He saw so clearly the teaching of his Giver of the New Law that to love Him meant for him to do His will. Therefore, throughout the Rule of the Nile we find short phrases “keep the commandments” or “live according to His commandments,” which serve as short formulas for the path of perfection. His insistence on reading, meditating and studying the Holy Scriptures in conjunction with the commentaries of the Holy Fathers indicates the importance they placed on knowing every commandment of Christ. His special emphasis on nepsis and on the control of all thoughts to achieve continuous prayer shows his earnest desire to know the will of God and always be led by it - a will that is known through the subtle suggestions of the Holy Spirit guiding the purified soul. [………………………………………………………………………………….] 5. Preparation for “inspired contemplation” Neal's coverage of the highest stages of contemplation and mystical states is a compilation collected from the texts of his three favorite authors: Isaac the Syrian, Simeon the New Theologian and Gregory the Sinaite. We are left to wonder: Is Neil's lack of references to his own prayer experience a consequence of the fact that he was not given these higher prayer gifts (as I. Kologrivov suggests 64)? Or was this his great humility, the spirit of kenosis that he inherited from his teachers of hesychasm, the Desert Fathers and the Sinai hesychasts? The nearer they advanced to God in contemplation and uninterrupted union, the more humble and self-deprecating they became, and the less disposed they were to speak of the hidden workings of grace in their souls. But we must also remember what Neal’s purpose was in writing his “Charter”. He repeats many times that he does not present his own ideas, to which he does not attach value, but strives to convey what the holy and Divinely inspired Fathers wrote about “mental doing.” 65 The choice of these three Fathers distinguishes Nile’s teaching about the highest stages of contemplation, but also characterizes his personal ideal, which he hoped to achieve by God’s grace. These Fathers can be called "Doctors" of hesychast mysticism in its most mature form, for they carried out a synthesis of the intellectual mysticism of Evagrius and the conscious sentimentalism of Macarius and Diadochos. In particular, Isaac was and continues to be revered in the East as a great teacher of mystical prayer. 66 Neil gives a brief description of mystical contemplation from the writings of Isaac, where the influence of the intellectual "nakedness" of Evagrius can be traced, and this influence turns out to be very productive: when that indescribable joy occurs to them, he cuts off the prayer from his lips, for then, he said, the lips, and the tongue, and the heart - the keeper of thoughts, and the mind - the pilot of feelings, and thought - a fast-flying and shameless bird; and the thought no longer has prayer, or movement, or power over itself, but is directed by another force, and does not [itself] direct, and is kept in captivity at that hour, and is in incomprehensible things, but does not know where. 67 Neil continues to follow the teaching of Isaac, continuing to describe this contemplation, but no longer as prayer, for prayer was abandoned for the sake of the highest good. The mind is in ecstasy, as St. described it. Paul: “I don’t know whether in the body or out of the body: God knows.” 68 Not a single person knows what to call this state, which cannot be described in our human concepts. When the soul is moved by spiritual action towards that Divine, through an incomprehensible union it becomes similar to the Divine and is illuminated by a ray of high light in its movements and when the mind is worthy to feel the future bliss... when, he [St. Isaac the Syrian] said, that sweetness comes upon a person, boiling in his whole body, then it seems to him at that hour as if nothing else is the Kingdom of Heaven, as soon as this... [And how he then feels] love God is sweeter than life and the knowledge of God, from whom love is born, is sweeter than honey... 69 What does the soul think while in this rapture and union with God? Here Nile resorts to the help of Simeon the New Theologian, a master of mystical descriptions. Let us quote the classic description of hesychast mysticism: Symeon the New Theologian says: “... Sitting on a bed in the middle of the cell, I see a light that the world does not have; I see within myself the Creator of the world, and I converse with Him, and I love Him, and I taste Him, feeding sweetly on the one [God]vision, and, having united with Him, I surpass the heavens; and I know this for sure and truly. Where is the body then, I don’t know.” And speaking about the Lord, he said: “He loves me, and takes me into Himself, and hides me in His arms, being in heaven, He is in my heart, here and there, visible to me.” And immediately to the Lord, before His face, he says: “This, Master, shows that I am equal to the angels, and makes me better than them, for for them You are essentially invisible, but by nature you are unapproachable - but to me you are completely visible and my being is mixed with Your nature.” Describing this, [the apostle] says that eye did not see, and ear did not hear, and [it] did not enter into the heart of the flesh 70 . And having been there, not only does [the person] not want to leave the cell, but also wants to hide in a ditch dug in the ground, “so that there,” says [Simeon the New Theologian], “alone, outside the whole world, I can contemplate my immortal Lord and Creator.” 71 Neil exhorts those who have not received such mystical gifts not to be discouraged by hearing of such sublime experiences of the great mystics. The fact that we didn't get them shouldn't make us discouraged, says Neil. We must place all our trust in God's grace and fill ourselves with the desire for greater unity with God, keeping in our minds the words of the Holy Scriptures and reflecting on them. In this way we will become convinced of our own fall, of our unworthiness in which we are mired. But he also warns that we will be doomed if we forget the highest dignity of our souls and become absorbed in worldly things. Many people think that this path of contemplation is now impossible for souls; it was just right for the saints of antiquity, but today finding it is an impossible task. 72 Neil very much insists that a monk must collaborate with God's grace, and grace will always be present where there is a will obedient to it. The main occupation of a monk should be liberation from the vanities of this world, efforts to rid oneself of passions, vigilant guarding of the heart from evil temptations and constant fulfillment of the commandments of God in the fullness that knowledge allows. The most important means for “guarding the heart” should be constant prayer. And when God decides this in His plans, the monk who is faithful to God’s commandment to constantly pray will be granted by grace the highest form of prayer. But it’s not like that, not like that! It is impossible for those who, of their own free will, indulge in passions, do not want to truly repent and be zealous for the work of God, and love the unhelpful cares of this world. And those who ardently repent - the Lord has mercy on everyone, and does good, and glorifies - those who with much love and fear seek the Lord, and look to the One and do His commandments. 73 As we have seen, Neal's purpose is to present the teaching of the Fathers on "mental work." However, Neil is extremely far from being a simple compiler of an anthology, merely collecting what was said on this topic by one or another teacher of hesychasm. He reveals a truly synthesizing mind, based on a perfect knowledge of the creations of these Fathers, and, more importantly, a personal conviction, nourished from his own inner experience, of the possibility and necessity of acquiring all that he writes about. So, being convinced that these Fathers wrote under the special guidance of the Holy Spirit and that their saints' lives are the best evidence of the value of their creations, 74 Neil felt it was unnecessary to put forward any new theory besides the traditional teaching that came down from the Fathers. His humility also resisted any such ambition on his part. Therefore, we must consider Neil a hesychast, true to the best tradition of this type of spirituality. It should be noted that Neil was the first major hesychast author in Russia. Others, such as Dositheus, Archimandrite of Kiev, and Athanasius Rusin, long before Nile, learned hesychast asceticism and the Jesus Prayer from their stay on Athos, 75 however, as A. Orlov states, “it is well known that Nile more accurately follows in his Rule the tradition of the Byzantine hesychasts, which is manifested even in the details of expressions.” 76 It was Nilus who reworked into the form of a systematic and synthesizing treatise what would otherwise have remained scattered among the various florilegias of the Fathers. Due to this, he not only left a solid experience of asceticism as a legacy to Russian spirituality and monasticism, but with rare balance and insight managed to unite two leading lines of spirituality, the influence of which in his era covered the entire Byzantine world: the spirituality of Evagrius and the spirituality of Macarius, Diadochos and Simeon the New Theologian. Evagrius and his faithful followers, Isaac the Syrian and Climacus, emphasized pure intellectual contemplation. The feat was entirely aimed at freeing the monk from the shackles of passions, in order to achieve apathy, in which the soul could return to the “original state” of Adam before the fall, and the ascetic could find and contemplate God in his soul in purity, without any images or thoughts. The position of the followers of Macarius retained the strict asceticism of Evagrius with his focus on solitude and silence, on the expulsion of any thoughts from the mind and the desire for hesychia, but at the same time added an element of “heartfelt feeling.” The heart became the place where the mind contemplated God. To the external asceticism was added an internal one, consisting of “crying” at thoughts of death, the Last Judgment and sins committed, and this internal mood of contrition (pentos) had to be preserved as a means of cleansing the heart from the influence of passions. When the mind is brought down to the inner chambers of the heart, the mature fruit of asceticism, or practice, as Evagrius calls it, is found in the unceasing contemplation of God in the heart. This is achieved through the Jesus Prayer, which here acts both as a means for increasing the purity of the heart and as preparation for the highest stages of contemplation. Neil's presentation reveals two of his outstanding features: accuracy in following the leading Hesychast Fathers, whom he quotes in abundance, and a sense of proportion. This presentation moves with that combination of complexity and unity that is found in great works of symphonic music. We will not find any harsh, exaggerated notes that attract attention to themselves, destroying the effect of harmonic unity. Neil never forgets the goal of all internal struggles, all asceticism: union with God. And every step is judged by him in the light of the process of achieving this goal. The process of ever greater progress towards union with God is depicted by him as a constant battle; the priceless soul, which is capable of the closest union with God, is subject to constant attacks by devils. The heart must be cleansed of all passionate thoughts through solitude, silence, constant vigilance and sobriety (nepsis), and through observance of God's commandments. Thoughts about death and the Last Judgment, the gift of tears cleanse the soul, and the constant creation of the Jesus Prayer allows the soul to always live in the presence of God. If the enemies are conquered and the soul has achieved union with God, God’s grace finally reigns in the soul, “for standing in virtues does not depend on you, but is [the work of] grace, which carries you in the palms of its hands, protecting you from everything that opposes you.” 77 At the same time, he constantly exhorts with untiring diligence to overcome idleness and cowardice, to always maintain a thirst for spiritual advancement and not to miss anything that human effort by the grace of God is capable of doing. In this way, he maintains a perfect balance between man’s collaboration with God’s grace and the fundamental gratuitousness of the gifts of grace, which manifests itself not only in extraordinary mystical phenomena, but also in all ordinary godly acts of the daily life of a monk. In describing the aids to prayer, Neil gives balanced, restrained judgments, especially regarding breathing techniques, but even regarding the Jesus Prayer. He never draws special attention to these means, he does not have such phrases as we hear from the lips of Nicephorus the Holy Mountain or Pseudo-Simeon: “Sit in the corner and do as I tell you ...”, 78 and followed by detailed mechanical instructions. In the foreground, the Nile has strong ascetic foundations, equally obligatory for everyone; however, after the stages of purification, he seems to allow considerable freedom in the actions of grace, depending on the personal characteristics of the ascetic. He ends his second chapter on prayer as a means of combating temptations with a quote from Hesychius of Sinaiti that in order to curb the imagination one can consciously take up arms against unwanted thoughts, or keep the heart in silence, free from all images, and pray, or call on the Name of Jesus as a weapon of defense, or, finally, reflect on the hour of death. 79 Neil concludes that all these methods are good; all this constitutes what he taught, that is, “mental doing.” “Having considered them all, let each of us strive in the manner appropriate to him.” 80 We have seen that he describes the Jesus Prayer as “containing all blessings, the source of all virtues,” but he allows other methods to be used if they can bring greater benefit to the monk. In one case, even at a moment of extreme fatigue, a monk is especially recommended to repeat the Jesus Prayer; in another case, when the mind wanders, Neil talks about the need to switch to reading. “When your mind is distracted, be more diligent in reading or doing handicrafts than prayer...” 81 Thus, we see in Nile flexibility and freedom in choosing the means that are best able to help the monk achieve his goal. The main principle of his hesychast spirituality, which we have cited repeatedly and with which he concludes his Charter, always stands out clearly before the student’s gaze, like a beacon that promises protection and shows the way to how to maintain the hierarchy of values ​​and balance the desired goal and the means of achieving the goal. Neil briefly formulates it this way: “By doing things pleasing to God: singing, praying, reading and teaching in the spiritual, handicrafts and doing some kind of work - and uniting with God with the inner man, as much as we can, in good deeds, let us send glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit - the One God in the Trinity, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen". 82 What we have said about the type of hesychasm of Nile, and, first of all, about his exact following of the Sinai Fathers, allows us to confidently assert that Nile, as the first serious hesychast in Russia, brought the best in the hesychast tradition to Russia. As Fary von Lilienfeld has rightly pointed out, Nile cannot in any sense be associated with “Palamite” hesychasm, as many “neo-hesychasts” sought to do in Russia in the nineteenth century. Compare: “So haben sich die russischen Neo-Palamiten des 19 und 20. Jahrhunderts auch immer auf die angeblich schon mit Nil Sorskij begonnene Tradition des Palamismus in Russland berufen! In einem gewissen Widerspruch zu diesem Bild Nils steht das Streben derselben Forscher, schon vor Nil die Wirkung des so verstandenen athonitischen 'Hesychasmus' in Russland aufzuspiiren" 83 . [So Russian neo-Palamites of the 19th and 20th centuries constantly associated themselves with the tradition of Palamism in Russia, supposedly dating back to Nil Sorsky! This image of the Nile is definitely contradicted by the desire of the same researchers to trace in Russia the influence of the so-understood Athonite “hesychasm” already before the Nile. (German)] Translation from English S. Khoruzhego, 2007 Rev. George Maloney. Russian Hesychasm. The Spirituality of Nil Sorsky. The Hague 1973. pp.110–124, 141–147. Levitsky G. “On the moral teaching of St. Nil of Sorsky”, Christian Reading. 1895. T.2–3. pp. 338–339. In the original in Russian (editor's note). Charter, p. 88–89 (363). [The author quotes the “Charter” of Rev. Nile according to the first scientific edition of M.A. Borovkova-Maikova: Nile of Sorsky Tradition and Charter. St. Petersburg, 1912. In accordance with the general style of his book, he translates quotations in a very modern language; so we considered it most adequate to give these quotes in a new translation into Russian, made in the community of the Novo-Tikhvin Convent: The Charter of St. Nil of Sorsky // Key of Understanding. Russian devotees of piety about the Jesus Prayer. M., 2003, 306–364. Pages for this publication. are indicated in brackets after the pages cited by the author according to the publication. 1912. Let us also note that the author’s citations are very often inaccurate, combining together parts from different places in the “Charter”. – Approx. ed. ]. Cf. Climacus, Scalae, PG 88, Gradus 27, 1112D. Also I. Hausherr. L'hésychasme. Etude de spiritualité // Or. Chr. Per. 1956. T.5. P. 25. PG 65, de Abbate Arsenio (1–2), 88. [Rus. Transl.: Memorable tales about the asceticism of the holy and blessed Fathers. M..1846. P.15. The triple instruction heard by Arseny, Fr. J. Maloney also gives in Latin: fuge, tace, quiesce. – Approx. Ed. ] Charter, p. 82–83 (358). Isaac the Syrian, Homily 23, ed. cit., p. 142. Letter to German [Podolny], fol. 105A. [RSL, Dept. manuscripts, Troitsk.188, sheet 104–108. Quotes from unpublished texts by Rev. Nila are given in reverse translation from English. Note ed. ] Letter to Gury [Tushin], fol. 101A-B. [RSL, Dept. manuscripts, Troitsk.188, sheet 99–103. Note ed. ] Letter to Vassian [Patrikeev], fol. 97A. [RSL, Dept. manuscripts, Troitsk.188, sheet 93–98. Note ed. ] Charter, p. 81 (356–357. The author’s citation is not accurate. – Ed.). Cf. Climacus, op. cit., Gradus 27 1108C-D. Vasily Vel., PG 31, 136B-C. Ibid. (357).Cf. Isaac the Syrian, PG 86A, 854C-D. Also Vasily Vel., Reg. Fus. Tract., PG 31, 917 A. Ibid., p. 25–26 (317, 316). Nile (Evagrius), De Oratione, PG 79, (62) 1179C, (55) 1177D; Cassian, Conferences IC, 3, ed. cit., pp. 41–43. Climacus, op. cit., Gradus 28, 1136D. Hesychius Sinait, PG 93, Centuria I, (5) 1481D, (14) 1485B, (21) 1487A, (44) 1496B; Centuria II, (3) 1512D, (61) 1532B, Gregory of Sinaite, PG 150, 1316, 1329, 1332. In fact, it is Evagrius, De Oratione, PG 79, (11), 1169C. [Russian translation: Strive to ensure that during prayer your mind becomes deaf and dumb. Avva Evagrius. A Word about Prayer // Same. Creations. Per. A.I.Sidorova. M., 1994, p. 78. – Approx. ed. ]. On the Pseudo-Nile problem see I. Hausherr, S. J. Les leçons d'un contemplatif. Le Traité de l'oraison d'Evagre le Pontique (Paris, 1960), Introduction, pp. 5–8. See also M. Viller, op. cit., p. 94: "Le problème de Nil". Hesychius, Centuria I, PG 93, (43) 1493D. Charter, p. 21 (313). Cf. Hesychius, ibid., Centuria II, (61) l532B. [Russian translation: Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem. On sobriety and prayer, Ch. 163, 103 // Philokalia. T.2. STSL 1992. P.193,179]. Simeon the New Theologian. Capita Moralia, PG 120, (92) 653C. Evagrius, De Oratione, PG 79, (34) 1173D, (44) 1175D, (49) 1177B, (53) 1177D, (54) 1177D, (62) 1179C, (118) 1193B, (120) 1193B. The Greek formula "apothesis noimaton", which Nilus of Sora translates as "silent from every thought" is used here in a quotation from Hesychius of Sinaiti: Centuria I, PG 93, 1485B. Hesychius undoubtedly quotes Climacus, op. cit., Gradus 27, 112A, which uses the same formula "apothesis noimaton". O. I. Oserr interprets this formula, correlating it with “hesychia”. Wed. "L'hésychasme...", op. cit., p. 263. I. Hausherr, op. cit., p. 263. Gradus 27, 1112A. [Russian translation: Rev. John Climacus. Ladder. 27, 51. Serg. Posad 1894. P. 239.] I. Hausherr, op. cit., p. 269. Charter, p. 50 (335,334,335). Cf. Philotheus of Sinai, Philokalia, op. cit., (20) p. 453. Cf. Macarius, PG 34, 905, 938 ff; Neil of Sinai; De Malignis Cogitationibus, PG 79, cap. 3, 1204A-C; Cassian, Conferences, I, ch. 6 and 7, pp. 83–85; IX, ch. 2, pp. 40–41; Climacus, Gradus 2 9 (complete), 1148B-1152C. Climacus, Gradus 29, 1148C. [Russian translation: Rev. John Climacus. Ladder 29.4. Quote ed. P.255.] I. Hausherr. L'hésychasme..., op. cit., p. 270. Ibid., p. 90 (363, 364). Ibid., p. 28 (318–319. Quote – a collage of several close places in the text). Isaac the Syrian, Homily 31, ed. cit., p. 197. For the history of the term and various patristic descriptions relating to it, see I. Hausherr, op.cit., pp. 273–279. We have already noted this above (with reference to M.Viller, S.J. La spiritualité des premiers siècles chrétiens. Paris, 1930, p.93). Hesychius of Jerusalem died in 432–433, and the Hesychius whom Nile quotes obviously lived after Climacus (d. c. 649), since he often quotes him and is very dependent on him. Hesychius, Centuria I, PG, 93, 1480D. [Russian translation: Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem. Quote cit., 1. P.157.] Charter, p. 13 (308). Cf. Hesychius, op. cit., Centuria II, 1513B (7). Evagrius, Practica, PG 40, cap. 50, 1233B. [Russian translation: Avva Evagrius. A Word on Spiritual Work, or Monk, 78 // Works of Abba Evagrius. Per. A.I.Sidorova. M., 1994. P. 108.] O. Oserre notes: “Concluons que le terme de nepsis a deux sens: un sens étroit, selon lequel il désigne cette partie de la praxis qui consiste en la surveillance des pensées dès leur première suggestion, et un sens large qui le fait synonyme de praxis. Il faut évidemment éviter de passer de l'un à l'autre", op. cit. , p. 285. [The conclusion is that the term nepsis has two meanings: a narrow one, according to which it denotes the part of praxis, consisting in the supervision of thoughts, starting from their early inception, and a broad one, in which it is a synonym for praxis. Obviously, jumping from one value to another should be avoided. (French)] Charter, p. 33 (322). Cf. Hesychius, op. cit., 1485B-C. Hesychius, Centuria II, op. cit., 1517B(19). [Russian translation: Rev. Hesychius of Jerusalem. Quote cit., 121. P. 183.] Ibid., Centuria I,1509B (96). Wed. also: Anthony, “On the Holy Life”, no. 20. Philokalia, vol. I, p. 26. Charter, p. 36 (324–325); Ps. 118, 128. Philotheus, Philokalia, vol. II, p. 285, ch. 33. Charter, ibid. (325). Ps. 15, 8. Evagrius, Practica, PG 40, cap. 53, 1233C? Wed. also Hesychius, Centuria I, 1480D-1481A (1). Hesychius in this matter follows Evagrius and combines nepsis with the observance of all the commandments of God in the Old and New Testaments. Philotheus, Philokalia, op. cit., (7), p. 446. [Russian translation: Rev. Philotheus of Sinai. Forty chapters about sobriety. Chapter 7. // Philokalia. T.3. P.404.] Charter, p. 32 (321; in the English text – a free combination of two different phrases of the “Charter”). Hesychius, Centuria I, 1481A (1). Evagrius, Practica, PG 40, 1232C (42). Philotheus, Philokalia, op. cit., (16–18), p. 449–452. Wed. his De mandatis, PG 154, 731B ff, and especially 735B-D (7), 739B (12), 742A-C. Although Ming placed this work under the name of Patriarch Philotheus of Constantinople, Pierre Poussin, who first published this treatise, insisted that it was written by a certain Philotheus, who lived earlier, perhaps in the 6th century. Wed. PG 154, col. 717, no. 22. Comparison of the treatise with Philotheus's texts on sobriety, found in the Greek and Russian Philokalia, makes it obvious that he is the author of all these texts. Wed. also about the “Commandments” in Hesychius: Centuria I, op. cit., 1505D (84); Centuria II, 1513D (10), 1516A (11), 1532C (62), 1540D-1514A (89). John 14:23–24. Wed. Philotheus, De mandatis, PG 154, 730B; also Charter, p. 37. Terms given in italics are in Russian in the original (Editor's note). Philotheus, Philokalia, op. cit., (16–18), p. 450–452. Philotheus, De Mandatis, op. cit., 73IB et seq. Charter, p. 55, 90 (338, 364). Essai sur la sainteté en Russie (Paris, 1953), p. 202. [Russian translation: Hieromonk John Kologrivov. Essays on the history of Russian holiness. Ed. Life with God. Brussels. 1961. P. 182.] Charter, p. 14–15 (307 and esp. 309). Wed. M.Viller, op. cit., p. 139. See also “Contemplation chez les Orientaux Chrétiens,” in Dic., de Sp. Asc. et Myst., T. II, p. 1762–1911. Also M.Viller, H.Rahner. Aszese und Mystik in der Väterzeit (Freiburg i. Br., 1939), S. 161. [In orig. wrong K.Rahner – Approx. ed. ] Charter, p. 27 (318). Wed. Isaac, PG 86a, 873C-874B, 880C. Charter, p. 28 (318–319; Maloney's citation here is again very free). Wed. Isaac, ibid., 864C-D. Also Symeon the New Theologian in the Philokalia, op. cit., p. 52. See 1 Cor 2:9. – Approx. ed. Charter, p. 28–29 (319). Symeon the New Theologian, Divinorum amorum Liber, Hymn. 13, PG 120, 526C-D. Charter, page 31 (321). It seems that the author directly quotes Simeon, from whom we read: “Whoever is not worthy to achieve such a measure of perfection and penetrate to such blessings, let him blame himself alone, and not say in apology that this is impossible, or that there is perfection in us, however, of which we do not even know. Being confirmed by the Divine Scripture, let him know that this is possible... but due to non-fulfillment and violation of the commandments of God, everyone deprives himself of such benefits, according to his own malfunction.” Rev. Simeon the New Theologian. Active and theological chapters, Chapter 150 // Philokalia, vol.5.P.49. Wed. the texts we cited above about the authority of the Holy Fathers and the importance of their creations. A. Orlov, op. cit., p. 2–3. I. Hausherr. La Méthode d'oraison hésychaste // Orientalia Christiana 1927. 9(36), pp. 164–165. Nikephoros, “De cordis custodia”, PG 147, 963B-965A. Charter, p. 33 (322). Hesychius of Sinaiti, Centuria I, PG 93, 1485B-C. F.v. Lilienfeld. Der athonitische Hesychasmus des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts im Lichte der zeitgenössiscnen russischen Quellen // Jahrbuch für die Geschichte Osteuropas, 1958, Neufolge 6, 5:4. pp. 438–439.