Description
Book SynopsisThe Authentic Writings
Trade Review[A]n exemplary edition and translation.The Catholic Historical Review
Sorsky’s natural gifts as a teacher and writer in this profound primary reference highly recommended especially for college library collections and Russian religious history shelves.Midwest Book Review
Table of ContentsTable of ContentsAuthor’s Preface xi
Table of Bibliographic Abbreviations xvii
Transliteration from Cyrillic Letters xx
Technical Abbreviations in the Footnotes xxiPart I: Toward a Study of Nil Sorsky
I. The Little We Know 3 Omega as Alpha 3
The Shadows of the Kremlin 4
The Northern Beacon 8
The Holy Mount 13
The Quiet Kelliot 18
A Busy ‘Abode of Stillness’ 20
Publish Lest They Peris h 23
Four and Twenty Saints Lives 24
The Church at Large 30
II. A Tentative Top Ten 33
The Maybe Mentor 33
The Congenital Connection 36
The Compatible Companion 37
The Best of the Bookmen 39
The Loose Cannon 42
The Man in the Middle 44
The Ardent Ascetic 46
The Unexpected Bedfellow 48
The Colonizing Coenobite 55
Once a Boyar . . . 58
III. The Written Legacy 62
Texts and Structures 62
Centrality of Sources 68
The Acolyte as Adapter 80
Literary Devices 83
Technical Terms 86
A Bit on Nil’s Hesychasm 95
Further on Nil’s Non-Possession 97
Nil’s Nil in a Nutshell 100
Epilogue: Win Some, Lose Some 101
Love’s Labors Lost? 101
Making It 102
Preface to the Translations 105
Part II: Nil Sorsky’s Original Texts The
Predanie 113
The
Ustav 124
Exposition of the Chapters 125
Foreword 126
1. On the Differences of the Mental Campaigns 131
2. On Our Combat . . . Prayer and Stillness 137
3. On How to Fortify Oneself 154
4. On Control of Every Activity 158
5. On the . . . Eight Principle . . . Urges 162
1.
On Gluttony 163
2.
On Fornication 167
3.
On Avarice 172
4.
On Wrath 173
5.
On Sadness 175
6.
On Despondency 177
7.
On Vainglory 182
8.
On Pride 184
6. In General, Against All Urges 189
7. On Remembrance of Death 191
8. On Tears 202
9. On the Guarding of These Things 210
10. On Detachment and True Carefreeness 213
11. On Appropriate Measures 219
The Three Epistles 229
To Vassian Patrikeev 231
To Gurii Tushin 238
To German Podol’nyi 245
A Little Epistle 250
The
Sobornik Apologiai 251
Foreword 251
Postscript 253
The Testament 255
AppendicesAppendix I. The Nil Polev / Nil Sorsky Codex 259
Appendix II. The Predanie Addenda 270
Appendix III. The Zave˚t of Innokentii Okhliabinin 273
Appendix IV. Index of Biblical Citations 277
Bibliography 281
Index 324
