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[[Image:StNicodemusOfTheHolyMountain.jpg|160px|thumb|right|Icon of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain]]
 
[[Image:StNicodemusOfTheHolyMountain.jpg|160px|thumb|right|Icon of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain]]
Our venerable and God-bearing Father '''Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain''', also '''Nikodemos the Hagiorite''' and '''Nicodemos the Athonite''', was a great theologian and teacher of the [[Orthodox Church]], reviver of [[hesychasm]], [[Canon Law|canonist]], [[Hagiography|hagiologist]], and writer of liturgical poetry. His life and works helped provide (among other things) an experiential Orthodox response to contemporary Western Enlightenment culture.
+
Our venerable and God-bearing Father '''Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain''', also '''Nikodemos the Hagiorite''' and '''Nicodemos the Athonite''', was a theologian and teacher of the [[Orthodox Church]], reviver of [[hesychasm]], [[Canon Law|canonist]], [[Hagiography|hagiologist]], and writer of liturgical poetry.  
  
 
==Life==
 
==Life==
 
St. Nicodemus was born Nicholas Kallivourtzis c. 1749 in [[Metropolis of Paronaxia|Naxos, Greece]]. According to his biographer, he was possessed of "great acuteness of mind, accurate perception, intellectual brightness, and vast memory", qualities which were readily apparent to those who furthered him along in his learning. He passed from the tutelage of his parish priest to that of Archimandrite Chrysanthos, who was the brother of St. Cosmas Aitolos. From there he made his way to Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), where he studied at the Evangelical School. Here he studied theology, as well as ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. Persecution from the Turks, who ruled the Greek world at the time, cut his schooling short, and he returned to Naxos in 1770. He studied at Smyrna but was forced to abandon his studies during a time of Ottoman persecution.  
 
St. Nicodemus was born Nicholas Kallivourtzis c. 1749 in [[Metropolis of Paronaxia|Naxos, Greece]]. According to his biographer, he was possessed of "great acuteness of mind, accurate perception, intellectual brightness, and vast memory", qualities which were readily apparent to those who furthered him along in his learning. He passed from the tutelage of his parish priest to that of Archimandrite Chrysanthos, who was the brother of St. Cosmas Aitolos. From there he made his way to Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), where he studied at the Evangelical School. Here he studied theology, as well as ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. Persecution from the Turks, who ruled the Greek world at the time, cut his schooling short, and he returned to Naxos in 1770. He studied at Smyrna but was forced to abandon his studies during a time of Ottoman persecution.  
  
In 1775 he became a [[monk]] of [[Dionysiou Monastery (Athos)|Dionysiou]] on [[Mount Athos]]. Upon being tonsured a monk, Nicholas' name was changed, as is the custom for those who had abandoned the world, to Nicodemos. He was initiated into the practice of hesychia, a method of prayer involving inner stillness, controlled breathing, and repetition of the "Jesus Prayer" (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner). Nicodemos aligned himself with the monks known as Kollyvades, who sought a revival of traditional Orthodox practices and patristic literature, and he would spend the remainder of his life at work translating and publishing those works. He would also compose many original books of his own. He labored for restoration of the practice of Saturday commemoration services, for patristic ecclesiology, and generally for a synthesis of akribeia (adherence to traditional principles and canons) and oikonomia in Orthodox practice.
+
In 1775 he became a [[monk]] of [[Dionysiou Monastery (Athos)|Dionysiou]] on [[Mount Athos]]. Upon being tonsured a monk, Nicholas' name was changed, as is the custom for those who had abandoned the world, to Nicodemos. He was initiated into the practice of hesychia, a method of prayer involving inner stillness, controlled breathing, and repetition of the "Jesus Prayer" (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner). Nicodemos aligned himself with the monks known as Kollyvades, who sought a revival of traditional Orthodox practices and patristic literature, and he would spend the remainder of his life at work translating and publishing those works. He would also compose many original books of his own. He labored for restoration of the practice of Saturday commemoration services, for patristic ecclesiology, and generally for a synthesis of [[Economy and Strictness | economy and strictness]] in the application of the canons.
  
 
St. Nicodemus reposed in the Lord on July 14, 1809, and was [[glorification|glorified]] by the Orthodox Church on May 31, 1955. He is a local saint of the [[Metropolis of Paronaxia]] and the [[Mount Athos|Holy Mountain]]. His [[feast day]] is celebrated on [[July 14]].
 
St. Nicodemus reposed in the Lord on July 14, 1809, and was [[glorification|glorified]] by the Orthodox Church on May 31, 1955. He is a local saint of the [[Metropolis of Paronaxia]] and the [[Mount Athos|Holy Mountain]]. His [[feast day]] is celebrated on [[July 14]].
  
 
==Writings==
 
==Writings==
St. Nicodemus was a prolific translator and editor of texts. In 1777, [[Saint]] [[Macarius Notaras of Corinth|Makarius of Corinth]] visited him and gave him three texts to edit and revise: the ''[[Philokalia]]'', a defining work on [[monastic]] spirituality, ''On Frequent Holy Communion'' and the ''Evergetinos,'' a collection drawing on the lives of the desert fathers. He also wrote original works such as ''Lives of the Saints''. He also later compiled the writings of St. [[Symeon the New Theologian]] and the writings of St. [[Gregory Palamas]], although the latter collection was sadly and mistakenly destroyed amid political controversy over Greek revolts.
+
St. Nicodemus was a prolific translator and editor of texts. In addition, he wrote three original works that are commentaries on some of the Church's liturgical books: ''The Eortodromion (or Commentary on the Canons of the Dominical and Marian Feasts)'', the ''New Klimax (or Commentary on the Seventy-FIve Anavathmoi of the Octoechos)'', and ''The Garden of Graces (or an Elegant Interpretation of the Nine Odes of the Stichologia''. 
 +
 
 +
In 1777, [[Saint]] [[Macarius Notaras of Corinth|Makarius of Corinth]] visited him and gave him three texts to edit and revise: the ''[[Philokalia]]'', a defining work on [[monastic]] spirituality, ''On Frequent Holy Communion'' and the ''Evergetinos,'' a collection drawing on the lives of the desert fathers. He also wrote original works such as ''Lives of the Saints''. He also later compiled the writings of St. [[Symeon the New Theologian]] and the writings of St. [[Gregory Palamas]], although the latter collection was sadly and mistakenly destroyed amid political controversy over Greek revolts.
  
 
The Orthodox theological professor Fr. [[Stanley S. Harakas|Stanley Harakas]], in his preface to the 1989 English translation of the saint's "A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel" in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, wrote that "He embodied the best traditions of Orthodox Christianity, which may be characterized as holistic and integrative." And Dr. George Bebis, in a survey of St. Nicodemus' prolific writings in the same volume, describes him as "A man who grasped both the letter and the spirit of the canons of the Church....also a pastor par excellence."
 
The Orthodox theological professor Fr. [[Stanley S. Harakas|Stanley Harakas]], in his preface to the 1989 English translation of the saint's "A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel" in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, wrote that "He embodied the best traditions of Orthodox Christianity, which may be characterized as holistic and integrative." And Dr. George Bebis, in a survey of St. Nicodemus' prolific writings in the same volume, describes him as "A man who grasped both the letter and the spirit of the canons of the Church....also a pastor par excellence."
  
Although some critics have criticized his writings for influence from [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] spirituality, canon law, and theology, his life work clearly focused on reviving traditional Orthodox texts and ascetic practices, while making use of limited materials at hand amid the Turkish occupation of the Greek world, which involved sometimes adapting Catholic materials. Accusations of Catholic and Pietistic influences on his work, a topic of controversy going back to divisions over the Kollyvades ascetic reform movement with which St. Nicodemus was associated in the Greek Church in his day, have been disputed. Archimandrite Chrysostom Maidones, Chancellor of the Metropolis of Hierissos in Greece, in a recent English translation of St Nicodemus' "Concerning Frequent Communion," suggests how past neglect by academic theology of the "Fathers of the Philokalic movement," including St. Nicodemus, contributed to a lack of proper context for the Saint's work among modern scholars.
+
==The Controversy Concerning Western Influence==
  
Recent renewed attention in the West to the primary Orthodox context of the Saint's writings reflects the expanded availability of English translations of his major books in the past decade, as well as greater awareness of the cosmopolitan contexts of Christian sources in the early modern period--through, for example, scholarship on the sequences of translation and adaptation of Roman Catholic texts in the East, and better understanding of the influence of the Orthodox ascetic texts of the Macarian homilies on Pietism. In this light, the main context of St. Nicodemus' works can be appreciated as firmly in the tradition of Orthodox asceticism--exemplified by the sources and influence of "The Philokalia"--applicable in varying ways to monastics, clergy, and laity alike. The legacy of St. Nicodemus' voluminous scholarship can also be understood from a larger perspective as an Orthodox Christian alternative, from Mount Athos, to a variety of eighteenth-century cultural movements in Europe, including not only the Enlightenment, but also the aftermath of the Counter-Reformation, Pietism, and the beginning of Romanticism.
+
An ongoing controversy concerns the extent of Western influence over the writings of St Nicodemus. What is not disputed is that some of his works are adaptations of Roman Catholic works, in particular (1) ''Spiritual Exercises'' of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, using an Italian edition with commentary by Giovanni Pietro Pinamonti (1632-1703); and (2) ''Unseen Warfare'', which was a translation of ''Spiritual Combat'' by the Catholic priest Lorenzo Scupoli, He was not the first Athonite monk to translate a Catholic work as an Orthodox one: in 1641, Agapios Landros (17th c.) published ''The Salvation of Sinners'', but it was simply a translation of ''Dialogus Miraculorum'', written in the early 13th c. by a German Cistercian, Cæsarius of Heisterbach Abbey. Such works were influential at least in part due to the assumption that they were products of the Athonite monks who published them, rather than works by Roman Catholics.
  
==The Controversy Concerning Western Influence==
+
There is continued disagreement about the provenance of Nicodemus' ''Exomologetarion'', his manual for confession. Like most of his writings, and many of those from pre-modern Orthodox authors who saw themselves as writing in a tradition rather than originating new work as with the saint’s work in compiling the Philokalia, it is not an original work. Nicodemus says he compiled the “Exomologetarion” from "various teachers." In his Introduction to the work, Protopresbyter George Metallinos argues that his sources were Eastern, alleging that "he had no direct contact with Western sources” for it. Metropolitan [[Kallistos Ware]] holds that the Exomolgetarion is "mostly a direct translation" of two books on confession by the Italian Jesuit, Paolo Segneri (1624-1694)<ref>In his "St Nikodimos and the Philokalia," in Graham Speake, ''Mount Athos, the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain'', p. 91. The two books by Segneri are ''Il confessore istruito'' and ''Il penitence istruito''.</ref> Bishop Basil of Wichita in his introduction to the “Exomologetarion” (linked under sources below) argues for the edifying value of St. Nicodemus’ work from an Orthodox perspective.
  
An ongoing controversy concerns the extent of Western influence over the writings of St Nicodemus. What is not disputed is that some of his works are translations of Roman Catholic works, in particular (1) ''Spiritual Exercises'' of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, using an Italian edition with commentary by Giovanni Pietro Pinamonti (1632-1703); and (2) ''Unseen Warfare'', which was a translation of ''Spiritual Combat'' by the Catholic priest Lorenzo Scupoli, He was not the first Athonite monk to translate a Catholic work as an Orthodox one: in 1641, Agapios Landros (17th c.) published ''The Salvation of Sinners'', but it was simply a translation of ''Dialogus Miraculorum'', written in the early 13th c. by a German Cistercian, Cæsarius of Heisterbach Abbey. Such works were influential at least in part to the assumption that they were products of the Athonite monks who published them, rather than works by Roman Catholics.
+
The twentieth-century scholar Christos Yannaras is perhaps the severest critic of St Nicodemus' influence, seeing the negative effects of the West not only in his adaptation of Catholic books, but alleging the saint’s use of Roman canon law in ''[[The Rudder]]'' (Πηδάλιον,''Pedalion''), adoption of the Anselmian view of the Atonement, and acceptance of the Catholic practice of indulgences. (There is an extant letter by St. Nicodemus to Bishop Paisios of Stagai that Yannaras construes as requesting an indulgence, and promising financial payment for it.) Yannaras also sees the influence of Western pietistic moralism in Nicodemus; ''Chrestoethia of Christians'' (1803), in which he condemns musical instruments, dancing, (non-liturgical) singing, the telling of jokes, etc., and tells Christians that such conduct will lead not only to their own punishment, but to the death of their unborn children.<ref>See Yannaras, pp. 128-137.</ref>
 +
Yannaras points to both the ''Exomologetarion'' and Nicodemus' other compilation of canons, ''The Rudder'', as imposing a Western, juridical approach to the [[Confession | Mystery of Repentance (Confession)]], saying that "This pastoral approach, however, provoked opposition, contempt or indifference in the laity: one traumatic confession in the new judicial format might make people cut their ties with the Church."<ref>Yannaras, p. 135.</ref> At least one Athonite elder, St. [[Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalivite]], also found using the ''Exomologetarion'' harsh and counter-productive and ceased to use it for that reason.<ref>''Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios'', pp. 43-44.</ref>
  
There is continued disagreement about the provenance of Nicodemus' ''Exomologetarion'', his manual for confession. Like most of his writings, it is not an original work; Nicodemus says he compiled it from "various teachers." Protopresbyter George Metallinos argues that his sources were Eastern, alleging that "he had no direct contact with Western sources," but we know with certainty the Catholic provenance of ''Unseen Warfare'' and ''Spiritual Exercises'', which means he did have such contact. Metropolitan [[Kallistos Ware]] holds that the Exomolgetarion is "mostly a direct translation" of two books on confession by the Italian Jesuit, Paolo Segneri (1624-1694)<ref>In his "St Nikodimos and the Philokalia," in Graham Speake, ''Mount Athos, the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain'', p. 91. The two books by Segneri are ''Il confessore istruito'' and ''Il penitence istruito''.</ref>
+
Metallinos defends the Orthodoxy of Nicodemus' writings, in his introduction to the ''Exomologetarion,” but admits that its language "appears intensely scholastic" and in certain phrases "is repugnant to today's believer." "Admittedly, if these phrases are detached from their context, they immediately take on a cruel, sadistic character, overturning the theology of divine love which permeates the spirit of Orthodox (ecclesiastical) soteriology (see Jn. 3:16, Rom. 5:8, etc.). For this reason, it is necessary to place them in the entire context of St. Nikodemos’ thought and activity.” Metallinos also rejects Yannaras’ allegation that the saint held a Western view of the Atonement overall, while noting that the saint’s canonical collection expressed that “Penances (that is, penitential canons or rules of prayer) are a small punishment whereby the penitent appeases the great wrath that God has towards him.
  
Christos Yannaras is perhaps the severest critic of St Nicodemus' influence, seeing the negative effects of the West not only in his repackaging of Catholic books, but by his use of Roman canon law in ''The Rudder'', his adoption of the Anselmian view of the Atonement, and his acceptance of the Catholic practice of indulgences. (There is an extant letter by St Nicodemus to Bishop Paisios of Stagai requesting an indulgence, and promising financial payment for it.) Yannaras also sees the influence of Western pietistic moralism in Nicodemus; ''Chrestoethia of Christians'' (1803), in which he condemns musical instruments, dancing, (non-liturgical) singing, the telling of jokes, etc., and tells Christians that such conduct will lead not only to their own punishment, but to the death of their unborn children.<ref>See Yannaras, pp. 128-137.</ref>
+
In his introduction to the 2012 edition of ''Chrestoethia of Christians'', publisted under the tile ''Christian Morality'', the commentator remarks on how that handbook on moral behavior reflects Orthodox ascetic tradition and Athonite "monastic propriety of his age," responding at times to "conventions upheld by the civil authorities" for a populace under a [[Muslim]] colonial regime, rather than Catholic or Pietist influence, including for example provisions about dancing.
  
Although Metallinos is keen to defend the Orthodoxy of Nicodemus' writings, in his introduction to the ''Exomologetarion'' he admits that its language "appears intensely scholastic" and "is repugnant to today's believer." He acknowledges that NIcodemus says things about sin, God, and God's wrath that sound quite unorthodox, writing: "Admittedly, if these phrases are detached from their context, they immediately take on a cruel, sadistic character, overturning the theology of divine love which permeates the spirit of Orthodox (ecclesiastical) soteriology (see Jn. 3:16, Rom. 5:8, etc.). For this reason, it is necessary to place them in the entire context of St. Nikodemos’ thought and activity.” Bur his attempt at such placement is unlikely to convince critics.
+
Defenders of Nicodemus' writings have argued that his use of Western sources is a feature of the cosmopolitan context of Christian texts in the early modern period, and that his use of them has been misunderstood due to a lack of proper context for his work among scholars (Maidones). They see Nicodemus' use of the Western sources as an Orthodox alternative, from Mount Athos, to a variety of eighteenth-century cultural movements in Europe, including not only the Enlightenment, but also the aftermath of the Counter-Reformation, Pietism, and the beginning of Romanticism. That the same saint could be a prime compiler of “The Rudder” and “The Philokalia” may seem counter-intuitive to some people in the modern Western world, but the saints’ defenders argue that this is part of the complex yet rich history of Orthodox Christianity, in which any writings need to be considered in the context of the whole tradition.
  
 
==Books==
 
==Books==
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==Sources==
 
==Sources==
*In addition to twentieth-century English editions of "The Philokalia," "Unseen Warfare," and "The Rudder," new twenty-first century English translations of St. Nicodemus' writings (some of them collaborations with St. Makarius of Corinth), often with new prefaces by Orthodox scholars, include the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies' "Christian Morality" or "Chrestoethia of Christians," the Uncut Mountain Press editions of "Exomologetarion--A Manual of Confession," "Concerning Frequent Communion," and "Confession of Faith," and the English translation of "The Synaxarion" adapted by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra.
+
*In addition to twentieth-century English editions of ''Philokalia'', ''Unseen Warfare'', and ''The Rudder'', new twenty-first century English translations of St. Nicodemus' writings (some of them collaborations with St. Makarius of Corinth), often with new prefaces by Orthodox scholars, include the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies' ''Christian Morality'' or ''Chrestoethia of Christians'', the Uncut Mountain Press editions of ''Exomologetarion--A Manual of Confession'', ''Concerning Frequent Communion'', and ''Confession of Faith'', and the English translation of the ''Synaxarion'' adapted by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra.
*The account of St. Nicodemus in the above-mentioned translation of "The Synaxarion," compiled by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra and an adaptation of St. Nicodemus' work, "July 14," pp. 146-153, includes helpful footnotes by the editor. Trans. Mother Maria Rule and Mother Joanna Burton. Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia (Chalkidike), 2008. Vol. 6.
+
*The account of St. Nicodemus in the above-mentioned translation of the ''Synaxarion'', compiled by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra and an adaptation of St. Nicodemus' work, "July 14," pp. 146-153, includes helpful footnotes by the editor. Trans. Mother Maria Rule and Mother Joanna Burton. Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia (Chalkidike), 2008. Vol. 6.
* Preface by Bishop Basil of Wichita to the English translation of the "Exomologetarion" from Uncut Mountain Press, http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/exo_preface.aspx.
+
* Preface by Bishop Basil of Wichita to the English translation of the ''Exomologetarion'' from Uncut Mountain Press, http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/exo_preface.aspx.
 
* ''Modern Orthodox Saints (Vol. 3)'' by Constantine Cavarnos. Published by the Institute for Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, 1994 (ISBN 0914744410)
 
* ''Modern Orthodox Saints (Vol. 3)'' by Constantine Cavarnos. Published by the Institute for Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, 1994 (ISBN 0914744410)
 
*[[Christos Yannaras]], ''Orthodoxy and the West: Hellenic Self-Identity in the Modern Age''. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-1885652812)
 
*[[Christos Yannaras]], ''Orthodoxy and the West: Hellenic Self-Identity in the Modern Age''. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-1885652812)
Line 61: Line 64:
  
 
[[el:Άγιος Νικόδημος ο Αγιορείτης]]
 
[[el:Άγιος Νικόδημος ο Αγιορείτης]]
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[[pt:Nicodemos do Monte Athos]]
 
[[ro:Nicodim Aghioritul]]
 
[[ro:Nicodim Aghioritul]]

Latest revision as of 19:36, March 25, 2023

Icon of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain

Our venerable and God-bearing Father Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, also Nikodemos the Hagiorite and Nicodemos the Athonite, was a theologian and teacher of the Orthodox Church, reviver of hesychasm, canonist, hagiologist, and writer of liturgical poetry.

Life

St. Nicodemus was born Nicholas Kallivourtzis c. 1749 in Naxos, Greece. According to his biographer, he was possessed of "great acuteness of mind, accurate perception, intellectual brightness, and vast memory", qualities which were readily apparent to those who furthered him along in his learning. He passed from the tutelage of his parish priest to that of Archimandrite Chrysanthos, who was the brother of St. Cosmas Aitolos. From there he made his way to Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), where he studied at the Evangelical School. Here he studied theology, as well as ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. Persecution from the Turks, who ruled the Greek world at the time, cut his schooling short, and he returned to Naxos in 1770. He studied at Smyrna but was forced to abandon his studies during a time of Ottoman persecution.

In 1775 he became a monk of Dionysiou on Mount Athos. Upon being tonsured a monk, Nicholas' name was changed, as is the custom for those who had abandoned the world, to Nicodemos. He was initiated into the practice of hesychia, a method of prayer involving inner stillness, controlled breathing, and repetition of the "Jesus Prayer" (Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner). Nicodemos aligned himself with the monks known as Kollyvades, who sought a revival of traditional Orthodox practices and patristic literature, and he would spend the remainder of his life at work translating and publishing those works. He would also compose many original books of his own. He labored for restoration of the practice of Saturday commemoration services, for patristic ecclesiology, and generally for a synthesis of economy and strictness in the application of the canons.

St. Nicodemus reposed in the Lord on July 14, 1809, and was glorified by the Orthodox Church on May 31, 1955. He is a local saint of the Metropolis of Paronaxia and the Holy Mountain. His feast day is celebrated on July 14.

Writings

St. Nicodemus was a prolific translator and editor of texts. In addition, he wrote three original works that are commentaries on some of the Church's liturgical books: The Eortodromion (or Commentary on the Canons of the Dominical and Marian Feasts), the New Klimax (or Commentary on the Seventy-FIve Anavathmoi of the Octoechos), and The Garden of Graces (or an Elegant Interpretation of the Nine Odes of the Stichologia.

In 1777, Saint Makarius of Corinth visited him and gave him three texts to edit and revise: the Philokalia, a defining work on monastic spirituality, On Frequent Holy Communion and the Evergetinos, a collection drawing on the lives of the desert fathers. He also wrote original works such as Lives of the Saints. He also later compiled the writings of St. Symeon the New Theologian and the writings of St. Gregory Palamas, although the latter collection was sadly and mistakenly destroyed amid political controversy over Greek revolts.

The Orthodox theological professor Fr. Stanley Harakas, in his preface to the 1989 English translation of the saint's "A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel" in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, wrote that "He embodied the best traditions of Orthodox Christianity, which may be characterized as holistic and integrative." And Dr. George Bebis, in a survey of St. Nicodemus' prolific writings in the same volume, describes him as "A man who grasped both the letter and the spirit of the canons of the Church....also a pastor par excellence."

The Controversy Concerning Western Influence

An ongoing controversy concerns the extent of Western influence over the writings of St Nicodemus. What is not disputed is that some of his works are adaptations of Roman Catholic works, in particular (1) Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, using an Italian edition with commentary by Giovanni Pietro Pinamonti (1632-1703); and (2) Unseen Warfare, which was a translation of Spiritual Combat by the Catholic priest Lorenzo Scupoli, He was not the first Athonite monk to translate a Catholic work as an Orthodox one: in 1641, Agapios Landros (17th c.) published The Salvation of Sinners, but it was simply a translation of Dialogus Miraculorum, written in the early 13th c. by a German Cistercian, Cæsarius of Heisterbach Abbey. Such works were influential at least in part due to the assumption that they were products of the Athonite monks who published them, rather than works by Roman Catholics.

There is continued disagreement about the provenance of Nicodemus' Exomologetarion, his manual for confession. Like most of his writings, and many of those from pre-modern Orthodox authors who saw themselves as writing in a tradition rather than originating new work as with the saint’s work in compiling the Philokalia, it is not an original work. Nicodemus says he compiled the “Exomologetarion” from "various teachers." In his Introduction to the work, Protopresbyter George Metallinos argues that his sources were Eastern, alleging that "he had no direct contact with Western sources” for it. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware holds that the Exomolgetarion is "mostly a direct translation" of two books on confession by the Italian Jesuit, Paolo Segneri (1624-1694)[1] Bishop Basil of Wichita in his introduction to the “Exomologetarion” (linked under sources below) argues for the edifying value of St. Nicodemus’ work from an Orthodox perspective.

The twentieth-century scholar Christos Yannaras is perhaps the severest critic of St Nicodemus' influence, seeing the negative effects of the West not only in his adaptation of Catholic books, but alleging the saint’s use of Roman canon law in The Rudder (Πηδάλιον,Pedalion), adoption of the Anselmian view of the Atonement, and acceptance of the Catholic practice of indulgences. (There is an extant letter by St. Nicodemus to Bishop Paisios of Stagai that Yannaras construes as requesting an indulgence, and promising financial payment for it.) Yannaras also sees the influence of Western pietistic moralism in Nicodemus; Chrestoethia of Christians (1803), in which he condemns musical instruments, dancing, (non-liturgical) singing, the telling of jokes, etc., and tells Christians that such conduct will lead not only to their own punishment, but to the death of their unborn children.[2] Yannaras points to both the Exomologetarion and Nicodemus' other compilation of canons, The Rudder, as imposing a Western, juridical approach to the Mystery of Repentance (Confession), saying that "This pastoral approach, however, provoked opposition, contempt or indifference in the laity: one traumatic confession in the new judicial format might make people cut their ties with the Church."[3] At least one Athonite elder, St. Porphyrios (Bairaktaris) the Kapsokalivite, also found using the Exomologetarion harsh and counter-productive and ceased to use it for that reason.[4]

Metallinos defends the Orthodoxy of Nicodemus' writings, in his introduction to the Exomologetarion,” but admits that its language "appears intensely scholastic" and in certain phrases "is repugnant to today's believer." "Admittedly, if these phrases are detached from their context, they immediately take on a cruel, sadistic character, overturning the theology of divine love which permeates the spirit of Orthodox (ecclesiastical) soteriology (see Jn. 3:16, Rom. 5:8, etc.). For this reason, it is necessary to place them in the entire context of St. Nikodemos’ thought and activity.” Metallinos also rejects Yannaras’ allegation that the saint held a Western view of the Atonement overall, while noting that the saint’s canonical collection expressed that “Penances (that is, penitential canons or rules of prayer) are a small punishment whereby the penitent appeases the great wrath that God has towards him.”

In his introduction to the 2012 edition of Chrestoethia of Christians, publisted under the tile Christian Morality, the commentator remarks on how that handbook on moral behavior reflects Orthodox ascetic tradition and Athonite "monastic propriety of his age," responding at times to "conventions upheld by the civil authorities" for a populace under a Muslim colonial regime, rather than Catholic or Pietist influence, including for example provisions about dancing.

Defenders of Nicodemus' writings have argued that his use of Western sources is a feature of the cosmopolitan context of Christian texts in the early modern period, and that his use of them has been misunderstood due to a lack of proper context for his work among scholars (Maidones). They see Nicodemus' use of the Western sources as an Orthodox alternative, from Mount Athos, to a variety of eighteenth-century cultural movements in Europe, including not only the Enlightenment, but also the aftermath of the Counter-Reformation, Pietism, and the beginning of Romanticism. That the same saint could be a prime compiler of “The Rudder” and “The Philokalia” may seem counter-intuitive to some people in the modern Western world, but the saints’ defenders argue that this is part of the complex yet rich history of Orthodox Christianity, in which any writings need to be considered in the context of the whole tradition.

Books

  • Christian Morality. With Scholarly Introduction and Commentary by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna. Belmont, MA: Institute for Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, 2012. ISBN 9781884729973
  • Concerning Frequent Communion of the Immaculate Mysteries of Christ (The Works of St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, vol. 2). Uncut Mountain Press, 2006. This Is a popularization of the earlier edition complied by St Makarios of Corinth. Preface by Archimandrite Chrysostom Maidones. ISBN 9789608677852
  • Confession of Faith (The Works of St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, vol. 3). Uncut Mountain Press, 2004. Translated with an Introduction By Fr. George Dokos with a Preface by George S. Bebis. ISBN 9789608677890
  • Exomologetarion: A Manual of Confession (The Works of St Nikodemos the Hagiorite, vol. 1). Uncut Mountain Press, 2006. Preface by Bishop Basil (Essey) of Wichita and Introduction by Protopresbyter George Metallinos. ISBN 9789608677845
  • A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, published as Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain: A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel (Classics of Western Spirituality). Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1988. Translated by Peter a. Chamberas, with Introduction by George S. Bebis and Preface by Stanley S. Harakas. ISBN 9780809130382

Sources

  • In addition to twentieth-century English editions of Philokalia, Unseen Warfare, and The Rudder, new twenty-first century English translations of St. Nicodemus' writings (some of them collaborations with St. Makarius of Corinth), often with new prefaces by Orthodox scholars, include the Institute for Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies' Christian Morality or Chrestoethia of Christians, the Uncut Mountain Press editions of Exomologetarion--A Manual of Confession, Concerning Frequent Communion, and Confession of Faith, and the English translation of the Synaxarion adapted by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra.
  • The account of St. Nicodemus in the above-mentioned translation of the Synaxarion, compiled by Hieromonk Makarios of Simonos Petra and an adaptation of St. Nicodemus' work, "July 14," pp. 146-153, includes helpful footnotes by the editor. Trans. Mother Maria Rule and Mother Joanna Burton. Holy Convent of the Annunciation of Our Lady Ormylia (Chalkidike), 2008. Vol. 6.
  • Preface by Bishop Basil of Wichita to the English translation of the Exomologetarion from Uncut Mountain Press, http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/exo_preface.aspx.
  • Modern Orthodox Saints (Vol. 3) by Constantine Cavarnos. Published by the Institute for Byzantine & Modern Greek Studies, 1994 (ISBN 0914744410)
  • Christos Yannaras, Orthodoxy and the West: Hellenic Self-Identity in the Modern Age. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-1885652812)
  • Kallistos Ware, "St Nikidimos and the Philokalia" in D. Conomos and G. Speake, Mount Athos the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain. Peter Lang, 2005. (ISBN 978-0820468808)
  • "Nicodemus the Hagorite." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicodemus_the_Hagiorite
  • Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain (Roman Catholic)

See also

External link

  • In his "St Nikodimos and the Philokalia," in Graham Speake, Mount Athos, the Sacred Bridge: The Spirituality of the Holy Mountain, p. 91. The two books by Segneri are Il confessore istruito and Il penitence istruito.
  • See Yannaras, pp. 128-137.
  • Yannaras, p. 135.
  • Wounded by Love: The Life and the Wisdom of Elder Porphyrios, pp. 43-44.
  • Retrieved from "https://en.orthodoxwiki.org/index.php?title=Nicodemus_of_the_Holy_Mountain&oldid=130652"