To Be Transformed by a Vision of Uncreated Light:
A Survey on the Influence of the Existential Spirituality of Hesychasm on Eastern Orthodox History
(Footnotes)
[1] As quoted in Valentine Zander, St. Seraphim of Sarov, Gariel Anne, trans. (London: SPCK, 1975), pp. 90, 93.
[2] The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1976), p. 8.
[3] As quoted in Vladimir Lossky, The Vision of God, Asheleigh Moorhouse, trans. (London: The Faith Press, 1963), p. 35.
[4] "The Nicene Creed," in Readings in the History of Christian Theology: Vol. 1 - From its Beginnings to the Eve of the Reformation, William C. Placher, ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1988), p. 53.
[5] Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert a City: An Introduction to the Study of Egyptian and Palestinian Monasticism under the Christian Empire (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1966), p. 7.
[6] St. Athanasius the Great, The Life of Antony and the Letter to Marcellinus, Robert C. Gregg, trans. (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1980), pp. 30-2.
[7] Ibid., p. 32.
[8] Ibid., p. 39.
[9] For a description of the activities of Pachomius, a monk generally credited with the development of the cenobitic life, see Derwas J. Chitty, The Desert a City, pp. 7-11, 20-24.
[10] G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware, "Introduction," in The Philokalia, Vol. 1 (London: Faber & Faber, 1979), p. 14.
[11] John Meyendorff, St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, Adele Fiske, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1974), p. 21.
[12] Evagrius the Solitary, "On Prayer: One Hundred and Fifty-Three Texts," in The Philokalia, Vol. 1, p. 60.
[13] Vladimir Lossky, The Vision of God, p. 95.
[14] Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 201.
[15] St. Diadochus of Photiki, "On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts," in The Philokalia, Vol. 1, p. 259.
[16] Vladimir Lossky, The Vision of God, p. 97.
[17] See St. Symeon the New Theologian, The Discourses, C.J. deCatanzaro, trans. (Toronto: Paulist Press, 1980), pp. 245-6 [XXI.4].
[18] Ibid., p. 246.
[19] St. John Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascent, Colm Luibheid and Norman Russell, trans. (Toronto: Paulist Press, 1982), p. 270.
[20] Kallistos Ware, "The Origins of the Jesus Prayer: Diadochus, Gaza, Sinai," in The Study of Spirituality, Cheslyn Jones, et al., eds. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 182.
[21] Nikiphoros the Monk, "On Watchfulness and the Guarding of the Heart," in The Philokalia, Vol. IV, p. 206.
[22] Kallistos Ware, "The Hesychasts: Gregory of Sinai, Gregory Palamas, Nicolas Cabasilas," in The Study of Spirituality, p. 246.
[23] St. Gregory of Sinai, "On Stillness: Fifteen Texts," in The Philokalia, Vol. IV, p. 264.
[24] Ibid., pp. 264-5.
[25] Ibid., p. 263.
[26] "On Prayer: Seven Texts," pp. 285-6.
[27] As quoted in Kallistos Ware, "The Jesus Prayer in St. Gregory of Sinai," in Eastern Churches Review, Vol. 4, 1972, p. 6.
[28] Indeed, Irenee Hausherr, an eminent scholar of hesychasm, writes, Gregory of Sinai "is the one directly responsible for the great popularity of hesychasm and its method." See The Name of Jesus, Charles Cummings, trans. (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1978), p. 317.
[29] Ihor Sevcenko, "The Decline of Byzantium Seen through the Eyes of its Intellectuals," in Society and Intellectual Life in Late Byzantium (London: Variorum Reprints, 1981), p. 171.
[30] The Vision of God, p. 126.
[31] John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas, George Lawrence, trans. (London: The Faith Press, 1964), p. 42.
[32] See Ibid.
[33] Ibid., p. 28.
[34] See David Balfour, "Was St. Gregory Palamas St. Gregory the Sinaite's Pupil?" in St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly, 28.2, 1984, pp. 115-130.
[35] See Robert E. Sinkewicz, "The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God in the Early Writings of Barlaam the Calabrian," in Mediaeval Studies, Vol. 44, 1982, pp. 189-90.
[36] John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 43.
[37] See Robert E. Sinkewicz, op cit., p. 201; and John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 44.
[38] Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, "The Divine Names," in The Complete Works, Colm Luibheid, trans. (New York: Paulist Press, 1987), p. 108.
[39] As quoted in St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, Nicholas Gendle, trans. (Toronto: Paulist Press, 1983), I.i, p. 25.
[40] See Georgios I. Mantzaridis, The Deification of Man: St. Gregory Palamas and the Orthodox Tradition, Liandain Sherrard, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984), pp. 98-9; and Daniel Rogich, "Homily 34 of Saint Gregory Palamas," in Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 33.2, 1988, p. 142.
[41] As quoted in Ibid., I.i, p. 26.
[42] See John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 127; and Robert E. Sinkewicz, op. cit., p. 231.
[43] John Meyendorff, "Introduction," in St. Gregory Palamas, The Triads, p. 8.
[44] See Kallistos Ware, "God Hidden and Revealed: The Apophatic Way and the Essence-Energies Distinction," in Eastern Churches Review, 7.2, 1975, pp. 125-36 for a discussion on apophatic theology through the eyes of various Greek Fathers.
[45] The Discourses, p. 365 [XXXV.9]. Italics mine.
[46] From a dialogue entitled Theophanes. As quoted in Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 69.
[47] For further discussion on how these earlier Fathers utilised this terminology see Vladimir Lossky, The Vision of God, pp. 65, 68, 71, 77, 101, 107-8, &112.
[48] St. Gregory Palamas, "Topics of Natural and Theological Science on the Moral and Ascetic Life: One Hundred and Fifty Texts," in The Philokalia, Vol. IV, p. 397.
[49] Triads, III.ii.7, pp. 95-6.
[50] St. Gregory Palamas, The One Hundred and Fifty Chapters, Robert E. Sinkewicz, trans. (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1988), p. 163.
[51] Triads, III.iii.8, p. 105.
[52] Ibid., III.iii.6, p. 104; and Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 77.
[53] St. Gregory Palamas, "The Declaration of the Holy Mountain in Defence of Those who Devoutly Practise a Life of Stillness," in The Philokalia, Vol. IV, p. 422.
[54] Ibid., pp. 423, 424.
[55] See John Meyendorff, A Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 98; and Kallistos Ware, "God Hidden and revealed: the Apophatic Way and the Essence-Energies Distinction," in Eastern Churches Review, 7.2, 1975, p. 130 for a summary of the decisions of the 1351 Council of Constantinople.
[56] A Study of Gregory Palamas, p. 133. Italics mine.
[57] "The Jesus Prayer in St. Gregory of Sinai," p. 7.
[58] John Meyendorff, St. Gregory Palamas and Orthodox Spirituality, p. 148.
[59] George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind (II): The Middle Ages - 13th to the 15th Centuries, John Meyendorff, ed. (Belmont, Mass.: Nordland Publishing Co., 1975), p. 24.
[60] See Francis J. Thomson, "Slavonic Translations Available in Muscovy: The Cause of Old Russia's Intellectual Silence and a Contributory Factor to Muscovite Cultural Autarky," in Christianity and the Eastern Slavs (Vol. I): Slavic Cultures in the Middle Ages, Boris Gasparov and Olga Raevsky-Hughes, eds. (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 184-5.
[61] See George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, p. 24.
[62] As quoted in Pierre Kovalevsky, Saint Sergius and Russian Spirituality, W. Elias Jones, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1976), p. 57.
[63] Ibid., p. 121. The main source for studying St. Sergius is a biography by Epiphanius the Wise, a contemporary of Sergius', entitled "The Life, Acts and Miracles of Our Revered and Holy Father Abbot Sergius," in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, George P. Fedotov, ed. (Gloucester, Mass: Peter Smith, 1969), pp. 54-84. Apart from manuscripts copied by Sergius, no original writings by him are currently in existence.
[64] See Ibid., pp. 196-8. As Fedotov writes, while St. Sergius was not the only monk endeavouring to live the eremitic life in the fourteenth century, he was the movement's "guiding spirit." It should also be pointed out that this "monasticism of the desert" was largely located in the northern forests of Russia around the Volga River - The Northern Thebaid.
[65] "The Life, Acts and Miracles of our Revered and Holy Father Abbot Sergius," pp. 72-3. Italics mine.
[66] George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, p. 218.
[67] See George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, p. 221. See also Leonid Ouspensky, Theology of the Icon: Volume II, Anthony Gythiel, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1992), p. 260 for a description of the relationship between Sergius and Patriarchs Kallistos and Philotheus.
[68] See George P. Fedotov, "St. Sergius: The First Hermit and Mystic," p. 52.
[69] See Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics (Kalamazoo, Mich: Cistercian Publications, 1976), p. 15.
[70] We are fortunate to possess a number of Nil's writings. Some of his letters to those seeking spiritual guidance have been translated and are provided in Appendix I of George A. Maloney's study of Nil entitled Russian Hesychasm: The Spirituality of Nil Sorskij (Paris: Mouton, 1973), pp. 245-268. However, his monastic rule ("Ustav") is of great importance to this study. It can be found in "The Tradition to the Disciples," in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, pp. 90-133.
[71] George A. Maloney, Russian Hesychasm, p. 35.
[72] See St. Nilus' "Ascetic Discourse" in The Philokalia, Vol. I, pp. 200-250.
[73] George A. Maloney, Russian Hesychasm, p. 37.
[74] Ibid., p. 39.
[75] Ibid., p. 30.
[76] See "Appendix I" in Ibid., p. 254.
[77] See Kallistos Ware, "The Jesus Prayer in St. Gregory of Sinai," p. 6.
[78] Ware described the situation this way: "Alike in the 14th and the 18th centuries, and also in our own day, the Hesychast tradition on Athos has flourished in the sketes rather than the 'ruling monasteries.'"
[79] George P. Fedotov, The Russian Religious Mind, p. 269.
[80] George A. Maloney, Russian Hesychasm, p. 175. The number of Fathers that Nil quotes is based upon a calculation from both his Ustav, and an earlier smaller rule called the Predanie.
[81] Ibid., 174.
[82] St. Nil Sorskij, "The Tradition to the Disciples," p. 100.
[83] Ibid., p. 104. Italics mine.
[84] Ibid., p. 128.
[85] A Source Book for Russian History from Early Times to 1917 - Vol. 1: Early Times to the Late Seventeenth Century, George Vernadsky, ed. (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972), p. 154.
[86] Ways of Russian Theology: Part One, Vol. V of The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, Richard S. Haugh, ed., Robert L. Nichols, trans. (Belmont, Mass: Nordland, 1979), p. 24.
[87] Ibid., p. 22.
[88] Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics, p. 45.
[89] This point has been made by John Meyendorff. See George A. 90). Maloney, Russian Hesychasm, p. 233.
[90] Ibid., p. 159.
[91] Ibid., p. 233. See also George P. Fedotov, A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, p. 85.
[92] Steven Runciman, The Greek Church in Captivity, p. 168.
[93] See George S. Bebis, "Introduction," in Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, A Handbook of Spiritual Council, Peter A. Chamberas, trans. (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), p. 6. See also Charles A. Frazee, The Orthodox Church and Independent Greece: 1821-1852 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969), p. 4.
[94] Steven Runciman, The Greek Church in Captivity, pp. 171, 187, 198, & 208. See also Charles Frazee, The Orthodox Church and Independent Greece, p. 3.
[95] The degree of instability in the Patriarchate is most evident in the period between 1595-1695 where there were sixty-one changes on the Patriarchal throne largely due to Turkish intervention. See Steven Runciman, The Greek Church in Captivity, p. 201. See also p. 203 where Runciman writes, "With such a situation in the Patriarchate it was difficult for the Church to maintain its constitutional rights against its Turkish masters."
[96] Ibid., p. 205.
[97] Kallistos Ware, Eustratios Argenti: A Study of the Greek Church under Turkish Rule (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), p. 7. See also George A. Maloney, A History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453 (Belmont, Mass: Nordland, 1976), p. 100.
[98] As quoted in Steven Runciman, The Greek Church in Captivity, p. 205. The quote is from a book written by Ricaut entitled The Present State of the Greek and Armenian Churches, Anno Christi 1678.
[99] See George A. Maloney, A History of Orthodox Theology since 1453, pp. 125-35 for more on Lucaris' theology.
[100] See Elizabeth A. Zachariadou, "'A safe and holy mountain': early Ottoman Athos," in Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism: Papers from the Twenty-eighth Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Birmingham, March 1994, Anthony Bryer and Mary Cunningham, eds. (Brookfield, Vermont: Variorum, 1994), p. 132.
[101] The Typikon is found in Emmanuel Amand De Mendieta, Mount Athos: The Garden of the Panaghia, Michael R. Bruce, trans. (Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert, 1972), p. 109.
[102] Ibid., p. 115.
[103] Steven Runciman, The Greek Church in Captivity, p. 220.
[104] George A. Maloney, A History of Orthodox Theology since 1453, p. 32. For more on Artemii, see Georges Florovsky, Ways of Russian Theology: Part I, pp. 38-9.
[105] Georges Florovsky, Ways of Russian Theology, p. 76.
Georges Florovsky, "Western Influences in Russian Theology," in Aspects of Church History, Vol. IV of The Collected Works of Georges Florovsky (Belmont, Mass.: Nordland, 1975), p. 165.
[106] Emmanuel Amand De Mendieta, Mount Athos: The Garden of the Panaghia, p. 119.
[107] See Paschalis M. Kitromilides, "Athos and the Enlightenment," in Mount Athos and Byzantine Monasticism, p. 259.
[108] Ibid., p. 269.
[109] On the Kollyvades movement see Ibid., pp. 121-5, and Constantine Cavernos, St. Macarios of Corinth, Vol. 2 in Modern Orthodox Saints (Belmont, Mass: The Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Inc., 1972), p. 15-22.
[110] Constantine Cavarnos, St. Macarios of Corinth, pp. 19-20.
[111] See George S. Bebis, "Introduction," in St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain, A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, Peter A. Chamberas, trans. (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), p. 12.
[112] See Constantine Cavarnos, St. Macarios of Corinth, p. 27.
[113] Gerasimos Micragiannanitis of Mount Athos, "The Life of St. Nicodemos," in Constantine Cavarnos, St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite, p. 77-8.
[114] See G.E.H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, Kallistos Ware, "Introduction," in The Philokalia, Vol. I, p. 13.
[115] George S. Bebis, "Introduction," in A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, p. 21.
[116] Ibid., p. 17. Nicodemos authored, corrected, or published more than one hundred works.
[117] From "Selected Passages from the Introduction of the Philokalia," in Constantine Cavarnos, St. Macarios of Corinth, p. 101. Italics mine.
[118] Ibid., p. 99.
[119] See Nomikos Vaporis, "The Price of Faith: Some Reflections on Nicodemos Hagiorites and His Struggle against Islam, Together with a Translation of the 'Introduction' to His "New Martyrologion,'" in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 23.3 and 4, 1978, p. 186.
[120] "The 'Neomartyrs' as Evidence for Methods and Motives Leading to Conversion and Martyrdom in the Ottoman Empire," in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 23.3 and 4, p. 226.
[121] "Nikodemos Hagiorites' Introduction to the New Martyrologion," Nomikos Michael Vaporis, trans., in The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 23.3 and 4, 1978, p. 202 and 208.
[122] See Nomikos Vaporis in "The Price of Faith: Some Reflections on Nikodemos Hagiorites and His Struggle Against Islam," pp. 186-7.
[123] Ibid., p. 187. Vaporis makes the point that the eighteenth century had witnessed a number of voluntary and involuntary mass conversions to Islam. As well, the economic and social pressures to convert to Islam were ever present.
[124] Ibid.
[125] Georges Florovsky, Ways of Russian Theology, p. 117.
[126] See ibid., pp. 131-4 for more on the ecclesiastical schools.
[127] Ibid., p. 136.
[128] As quoted in ibid.
[129] Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics, p. 58.
[130] See "The Autobiography of Paisij Velyckovs'kyj," in The Life of Paisij Velyckovs'kyj, J.M.E. Featherstone, trans. (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1989). See also a biography written by a contemporary of Paisii's, Mytrofan, which is contained within this same book.
[131] "The Biography by Mytrofan," in The Life of Paisij Velyckovs'kyj, pp. 95-6.
[132] "The Biography by Mytrofan," p. 97.
[133] See Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics, p. 90.
[134] George A. Maloney, Russian Hesychasm, p. 235.
[135] See Sergii Chetverikov, Starets Paisii Velichkovskii: His Life, Teachings, and Influence on Orthodox Monasticism, Vasily Likwar and Alexander J. Lisenko, trans. (Belmont: Mass: Nordland, 1980), pp. 316-320.
[136] See Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics, pp. 100-1.
[137] Sergii Chetverikov, Starets Paisii Velichkovskii, p. 289.
[138] See The Jesus Prayer (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997), p. 77.
[139] "St. Seraphim of Sarov: An Icon of Orthodox Spirituality," in Ecumenical Review, 15.3, 1963, p. 264.
[140] George Fedotov, "St. Seraphim: Mystic and Prophet," in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, p. 245.
[141] Motavilov's entire conversation with Seraphim is found in Valentine Zander, St. Seraphim of Sarov, pp. 83-95. The above quotation is from p. 90. Italics mine.
[142] Ibid., p. 93.
[143] See Macarius, Starets of Optino, Russian Letters of Direction: 1834-1860, Iulia De Beausobre, trans. (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1975) for a collection of letters of spiritual direction by Macarius.
[144] See Sergius Bolshakoff, Russian Mystics, p 184.
[145] See The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Helen Bacovcin, trans. (Toronto: Image Books, 1978).
[146] Ibid., p. 74.
[147] See "The Pilgrim on Mental Prayer," in A Treasury of Russian Spirituality, pp. 281-2.
[148] See George Fedotov, "John of Cronstadt: A Genius of Prayer," in Ibid., p. 346.
[149] The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, E. Kadloubovsky and E.M. Palmer, trans. (Boston: Faber and Faber, 1966), p. 53.
[150] Emmanuel Amand De Mendieta, Mount Athos, p. 142-4.
[151] Ibid., p. 148.
[152] See George I. Mantzaridis, "New Statistical Data Concerning the Monks of Mount Athos," in Social Compass, 22.1, 1975, pp. 98-9.
[153] See Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church (Toronto: Penguin Books, 1993), p. 131.
[154] See George I. Mantzaridis, "New Statistical Data Concerning the Monks of Mount Athos," pp. 102-3. See also Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church, p. 131.
[155] See Kallistos Ware, "Wolves and Monks: Life on the Holy Mountain Today," in Sobornost, 5.2, 1983, pp. 58 and 65. See also George Mantzaridis, "Mount Athos and Today's Society," in Greek Orthodox Theological Review, 26.3, 1981, pp. 232-3.
[156] See Kallistos Ware, "Wolves and Monks," pp. 57-8.
[157] "The Paths of Athos," in Eastern Churches Review, 9.1-2, 1977, p. 100.
[158] Hierotheos Vlachos, "Prologue for the English Edition," in Elder Ephraim, Counsels from the Holy Mountain (Florence, AZ: St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Monastery, 1999), p. xii. Italics mine.
[159] Elder Ephraim, Counsels from the Holy Mountain, p. 301.
[160] See John Meyendorff, The Orthodox Church,
[161] Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Church, p. 162.
[162] See Nicolas Zernov, The Russian Religious Renaissance of the Twentieth Century (New York: Harper & Row, 1963), pp. 322, 329. See also Nicholas Lossky, "Theology and Spirituality in the Work of Vladimir Lossky," in Ecumenical Review, 51, 1999, p. 289.
[163] George A. Maloney, A History of Orthodox Theology Since 1453, p. 77.
[164] Nicolas Lossky, "The Fruitfulness and Contradictions of the Russian Emigration," in The Holy Russian Church and Western Christianity, Giuseppe Alberigo, Oscar Beozzo, and Georgy Zyablitsev, eds. (London: SCM Press, 1996), p. 69.
[165] The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, p. 8.
[166] The Jesus Prayer, p. 86.
[167] Ibid.
[168] This was written by E. Kadloubovsky and G.E.H. Palmer. As quoted in "Introduction," The Philokalia, Vol. I, p. 13.
[169] Ibid., p. 88. Gillet mentions that the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius allowed Evelyn Underhill, as well as many other English Christians, to Orthodox spirituality.
[170] "The Declaration of the Holy Mountain in Defence of Those who Devoutly Practise a Life of Stillness," in The Philokalia, Vol. IV, p. 422.