Orthodox Monasticism Past and Present

Description

This collection of scholarly essays on Eastern Orthodox ascetic life derived from an international conference on the theme held in 2013. The book reviews Orthodox monastic praxis and theoria from a variety of ancient and modern standpoints. It brings together cutting-edge studies of history and patristic interpretation, with psychological and spiritual reflection from engaged experts writing out of years of lived experience. This is a study which is surely destined to become a classic in its field. TABLE OF CONTENTS EDITORIAL FOREWORD PART ONE: ANCIENT CHRISTIAN ASCETICAL THEOLOGY EMBODYING TRADITION, SEEKING TRANSFORMATION: GLIMPSING ASCETICISM(S) IN THE NEW TESTAMENT MONASTICISM IN THE CHRISTIAN EAST: AN INTRODUCTION ‘TAKING UPON THE LIKENESS OF ANGELS’: ASCETICISM AS THE ANGELICAL LIFE IN APHRAHAT’S DEMONSTRATIONS THE RECITATION OF THE PSALMS AMONG EARLY CHRISTIAN ASCETICS THE VIRGINS SING ORTHODOXY: EPHREM’S CHOIRS & THE DISSEMINATION OF NICENE THOUGHT IN SYRIA THE POWER TO CURSE AND THE POWER TO SAVE: THE MONK, THE PROPHET & THE STORY OF ELISHA’S CURSE OF THE SHE BEARS (2 KINGS 2:23–24) RHETORIC AND THE MONASTIC RULE IN BYZANTIUM: FROM ANCHORITISM TO COENOBITISM THE DEVIL IN THE DESERT AN ANCIENT ASCETICAL DRAMA OF WOMAN AND THE DRAGON: PERPETUA’S RISE INTO THE ANIMUSWORLD THE PURE ‘EYE OF HER SOUL’: THE ASCETICISM OF THE DEACONESS OLYMPIAS AS REFLECTED IN THE WRITINGS OF THE FATHERS EVAGRIUS PONTICUS, THE ORIGENIAN ASCETIC (AND NOT THE ORIGENISTIC ‘HERETIC’) ASCETICISM THROUGH THE LENS OF ANTHROPOLOGY: THE GREEK FATHERS FROM JUSTIN TO GREGORY NAZIANZEN ON THE SOUL AND THE HOLY SPIRIT ST. SHENOUTE OF ATRIPE AND HIS MONASTIC ORDER HAGIOGRAPHIC TRADITIONS OF ETHIOPIAN MONASTICISM THE EVOLUTION OF FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTOLOGICAL ELEMENTS IN THE WORKS OF ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA HUMANITY’S RECONCILIATION WITH THE DIVINE THROUGH THE MYSTERY OF THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD IN THE THOUGHT OF ST. ISIDORE OF PELUSIUM & ST. CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA THE MONK AS MOURNER: ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN & MONASTIC IDENTITY IN THE 7TH C. & BEYOND THE DYING CHURCH: HIERARCHY AS SELF-SACRIFICE IN PSEUDODIONYSIUS PLOTINUS AND THE ESSENCE – ENERGEIA DISTINCTION: A NEOPLATONIC INFLUENCE ON DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITA MAXIMOS AND NEUROBIOLOGY: A NEUROTHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF ASCETICISM AS EROSION OF THE PASSIONS & THE GNOMIC WILL CONVERTING THE USE OF DEATH: THE ASCETIC THEOLOGY OF ST MAXIMUS THE CONFESSOR IN AD THALASSIUM 61 THE MONK PHILOSOPHER IN YAḤYĀ IBN ‘ADĪ (D. 974) AND SEVERUS IBN ALMUQAFFA’ (D. C. 987) WHAT IS THE ‘BREATH OF GOD’? – BIBLIOGRAPHIC THEOLOGY IN ARMENIAN HISTORY FROM ASTVACASHUNTCH TO ST. GRIGOR NAREKATSI’S THE BOOK OF SADNESS A ROYAL FAMILY: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SAINT SAVA AND HIS PARENTS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SERBIAN MONASTICISM AND THE SERBIAN CHURCH THE 15TH CENTURY TYPIKON OF NEILOS DAMILAS FOR THE CONVENT OF THE MOTHER OF GOD ON VENETIANCRETE PART TWO: MONASTIC REFLECTION AND MODERNITY CONTEMPORARY MONASTICISM: WHY JOIN A MONASTERY? A TRIPTYCH OF CONTEMPORARY ROMANIAN SPIRITUAL ELDERS THE BEAUTY OF SILENCE IN CHRISTIAN MONASTIC TRADITION THE ‘MYSTICAL MUNDANE’ IN FR. NIKON OF KAROULIA’S LETTERS TO GERALD PALMER PURIFYING THE HEART IN ORDER TO SEE: PRAXIS AND PERCEPTION IN DOSTOEVSKY’S BROTHERS KARAMAZOV THE CENTRALITY OF ST. ISAAC THE SYRIAN’S ASCETICAL THEOLOGY IN DOSTOEVSKY’S THE BROTHERS KARAMAZOV ENGAGED MONASTICISM: MOTHER MARIA SKOBTSOVA AND TWENTYFIRST CENTURY AMERICAN ORTHODOX MONASTICISM PSYCHIC CRISIS IN MONASTIC COMMUNITIES: THE ASCETICAL WRITINGS OF EVAGRIUS OF PONTUS IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN UNDERSTANDINGS MARKETS AND MONASTICISM: A SURVEY & APPRAISAL OF EASTERN CHRISTIAN MONASTIC ENTERPRISE SPIRITUAL WARFARE AND THE STRUGGLE FOR APATHEIA THE CONCEPTS OF TIME AS APPLIED TO MONASTICISM & ASCETICISM NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS