The Cult of Mary s1

Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain

Introduction

It would not have been inappropriate to have stayed with another Romantic figure today as this is the theme of so much of this lecture, but I occasionally like to go off on a tangent and bring in a person you may not have ever heard of before. We have covered many amazing philosophers in the past few weeks and so today I chose Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain. The Holy Mountain is Mount Athos in Greece and today’s lecture is going to be about the Orthodox tradition. I have given a lecture of two about the Orthodox in the past when we cover the Byzantine Empire, but nothing more modern. And since Nicodemos lived during the years we are no w covering I hope it will be interesting to learn another perspective on this tradition.

One of the things we have been studying in philosophy is the nature of knowledge itself, that is, what we can know. We have looked at the British Empiricists and the Continental Rationalists. The Orthodox tradition teaches there are two kinds of knowledge. The first knowledge is the knowledge of the mind and the second knowledge is the knowledge of the heart. Under knowledge of the mind comes all ordinary learning, including both rational and empirical perspectives. Under knowledge of the heart comes true wisdom, which is not so much learned as received by those who through spiritual practice achieve purity of heart and thus are directly informed by the Divine. This is a nonverbal wisdom, akin to what in Zen is called the “direct seeing,” beyond words and ideas. Another way of looking at this is to notice the difference between conceptual knowledge and direct knowledge. You can read all about a place like Greece, or you can actually go there and experience it for yourself, or you can do both. As we will see, Nicodemos is a person who did both.

1 Background

Nicodemos (1749-1809) lived during the Ottoman Empire when many Orthodox people lived under Muslim rule. While the Muslims allowed the Orthodox to practice their faith, they were definitely second-class citizens and the glory days of the Byzantine Empire was behind them. “Though some modest institutions of learning existed for the Greek-speaking Christians, learning was not extensive, much ignorance prevailed, and much of the Church’s life was routine and formal, and subject to manipulation by the Turkish overlord. In such an environment the need for renewal and fresh inspiration was great” (Nicodemos, p. 1). Fortunately, during dark times there usually seem to appear a few bright lights to remind people of the best in their tradition and to encourage them to not give up, but rather reach their potential. Nicodemos was one of these people. Famous in the Eastern Orthodox tradition, he is hardly known in the West (unless you are fortunate enough to be taking the Gentrain course!).

Nicodemos drew for strength on the best of the orthodox tradition, which had never had the same break with philosophy and culture and science as had the Western Church. He was a man of immense learning and interests and a broad openness to the world. Having said that, we must also acknowledge that he was a man of his times and we cannot expect 21st century ideas from someone born in 1749. But he was a model and cutting edge personality of much that we still hold as important today, especially in regards to a holistic understanding of life. It seems so important today to not only be a specialist at something, but to also have that wide context and deep view that allows us to see things in their proper perspective. Nicodemos is famous for a couple of different works, although he wrote over a hundred of which only three have been translated into English. He is probably most famous for his compiling and editing the Philokalia, the five-volume collection of orthodox writings on prayer and meditation that gave rise to the

2 tradition relayed in the now famous book The Way of the Pilgrim. Nicodemos is also recognized for his important efforts to get the work of Saint Symeon the New Theologian recognized again and published. I gave a lecture of Symeon last fall.

Nicodemos

Nicodemos was born on the beautiful island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. His parents were both pious people and his mother would eventually become a nun. He was early recognized as a prodigy. He had a great love of learning, both secular and religious, and he also had the great gift that all scholars must yearn for to some extent, at least I do, of a photographic memory. He only had to read a book once to have it forever at his command and this is one of the reasons he was able to write so much even though he only lived to be sixty. He was eventually sent to Smyrna for further studies where he mastered French and Italian and became so distinguished in all of his academic studies that he was soon teaching his fellow students and was eventually asked to become the director of the school. When he was 21, in 1770 the Russians burned a Turkish fleet and the Greeks, being caught in the middle were persecuted severely. Nicodemos returned to his home island where he continued to study and lead a life of remarkable holiness. It was at this time that he was introduced to the way of life of the monks of Mount Athos, and especially to their form of prayer and meditation that has become known as hesychasm, which comes from the Greek term hesychia and means “quietness or tranquility of heart.” It is a long and difficult process that leads toward spiritual perfection” (Nicodemos, p. 57). Nicodemos was convinced that he wanted “to follow the life of the Spirit, the life of unceasing prayer, the life of hesychasm, poverty, humility and absolute devotion to Christ” (Nicodemos, p. 11). So in 1775, when he was twenty-six, he left for Mount Athos to renounce the world and become a monk.

3 A note might here be made about Mount Athos. Athos is a peninsula sticking out of Northern Greece that is dedicated entirely to monasticism. It is like a monastic nation, in which thousands of monks live in hundreds of monasteries. There is nothing like in the West and the only comparison I can think of is some of the great monastic communities in Tibet. While today there are far fewer monks then in the past, there are still many there and the peninsula is a very restricted place. Due to the nature of this community, Nicodemos did not stay in one monastery but traveled all over to visit and study in the different libraries and all the while seeking a spiritual father, that is a holy person advanced in wisdom and knowledge who could provide guidance in the spiritual life. The position is found more often in Buddhism and Hinduism than it is in the Western, although there has recently been a revival of interest in Western churches in what is now called spiritual direction. He spent at least one year of this early monastic time in strict solitude. He slowly became renown for his strict ascetical life. He had no possessions and he lived on a very frugal diet.

His shortcomings are mentioned as being too much of a conservative and traditionalist and perhaps too strong-willed and uncompromising. Some felt he traveled too much and this showed an inability to settle down in one monastery as most monks did. He was even ridiculed for being unclean and unbecoming in appearance. But to whatever extent he demonstrated a subjection to the human condition; he was early recognized for his great holiness and as a great saint of the Orthodox tradition.

Writings

As mentioned earlier, Nicodemos was a very prolific author, especially considering he died when he was only sixty. He wrote a great deal of original work, but he also worked as a translator and editor. For example, he was asked to write a lives of the saints book and so he collected information from various books, put it

4 into a more modern Greek, added notes and clarifications, and then published it so that it would be readable by the common lay people of his time.

Nicodemos is most famous for his publication of the Philokalia. “It is a work of profound spiritual magnitude and great edifying power. The term derives from the two Greek words philos and kalos, and means “the love and attraction toward the spiritually beautiful and the virtuous.” By extension, it means dedication to the ultimate Truth, the source of life and all sustenance, that is, the love of God himself, the only Way who can provide purification, illumination, salvation, and deification” (Nicodemos, p. 20). Those of you who remember my lecture on the Orthodox from the past will not be surprised by this word deification. One of the things that really stand out about Orthodox spirituality is the teaching that the full union of God seen as the end of the spiritual journey brings about identification with God. One of their sayings is “God became man so that man could become God.” Jesus prayed in the Gospel of John that all would be one with him as he was with God and the Orthodox take this literally. The Philokalia is an anthology of spiritual writings dating back to the their century and extending more than a thousand years until the fifteenth century. Many consider it to be the single best and greatest source collection of writings on the spiritual life in the history of Christianity. It certainly is one of the most popular books in Orthodox history.

Nicodemos states in his prologue to the Philokalia his perspective that the whole of Orthodox theology is built around the idea that “the ultimate purpose of creation and the redemptive work of Christ aimed at making humanity “god,” by divinizing humankind and thus defeating once and for all the deceiving power of Satan over human beings and nature” (Nicodemos, p. 22). According to Nicodemos, everyone who is baptized has this potentiality seeded in them but the ordinary demands and distractions of life confuse and mislead people and like a seed that never takes root, so the

5 person does not actualize their divine potential. But the Philokalia offers a way to guard the heart and turn within and nurture these seeds of divinity through constant prayer and recollection. This cleanses the heart and prepares it to receive contemplative knowledge, that is, the knowledge that is not so much learned as it is received, directly infused into the soul who is ready by God himself.

Besides the collection of writings in the Philokalia, Nicodemos also compiles sayings of the early church fathers and fathers of the desert that contain some of our earliest understanding of desert monasticism that I have talked about in the past and also early moral teachings. These books have been more popular with those living the monastic life than with lay people. In another book called Unseen Warfare, Nicodemos takes a Western work by the same name and completely edits and reworks it, adding much of his own material, especially emphasizing the importance of the Jesus Prayer. “This mental prayer, recited while controlling the breath, is composed of the words “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me.” Saint Nicodemos makes clear that in this prayer the three parts of the soul [showing the Greek connection going all the way back to Plato], the intuitive (nous), the discursive reason (logos), and the will or spirit (pneumatic) are united in a single act, and the soul thus united within herself is made fit for union with God” (Nicodemos, p. 27). Anyone can practice this prayer in one sense, but in another sense you need special training under a spiritual director who has been trained before you to know how to combine certain postures and breathing exercises with the repetition of this prayer. Sometimes it is even referred to as a Christian yoga for its similarities with Hindu yogic practices. The goal is to bring the body, motions, and mind together into a single act of attention and mindfulness.

In another work called the Spiritual Exercises, but not to be confused with the book of the same title written by Ignatius of

6 Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, Nicodemos wrote about the importance of meditation and spiritual discipline: “Thus man has been created by God, not to remain unoccupied and immobile, but always to move forward, so that he may exercise, and through this exercise receive formation and perfection, which is--in this present life--the acquiring of the divine grace, and in the future life acquiring of the divine glory” (Nicodemos, p. 29). Nicodemos also wrote extensively on the bible. He apparently knew Hebrew and his goal was to make the scriptures accessible for lay people as well as monks and to help people discover the spiritual nourishment that sometimes lies beneath the surface of so many scriptures.

In his works directly related to the Orthodox faith we can see how he stressed certain aspects of theology that differ from those found in the Western Christian world. In the West, theologians receive a great deal of intellectual formation. This is true of the East as well. But in the East there is an emphasis on personal experience as well. The true theologian is also supposed to be a mystic of sorts. That is, they are to know what they are writing about from the inside as well as the outside. In describing the theological work of Saint Symeon, “Nicodemos makes the point that as the love became warmer in [Symeon’s] heart, his theology increased, and as his theology increased, his love also increased; thus love and theology became the two basic characteristics of his spiritual perfection” (Nicodemos, p. 39). This is one of the reasons why I have enjoyed monastic literature so much. It is not that all monks can write with authenticity, but I have found that monastic works tend to make a lot more sense because the monks are not simply scholars, but are those who actively pursue an experiential relationship with whatever it is that they call ultimate reality. It will obviously be different depending if you are reading a Buddhist or Christian or some other tradition, but the authenticity remains.

7 You see a different emphasis as well in the idea of the motherhood of God. Nicodemos takes a verse like Galatians 4:9 where Paul writes that he is anxious until “Christ is formed in you.” He writes: “As a pregnant woman realizes her condition because of the movements of the fetus, in the same way those who have formed Christ in themselves know his inner movements, that is, his radiance and enlightenment, and they realize that Christ lives in them” (Nicodemos, p. 39). Usually in Christianity Mary is help up as a model of the mother of Jesus, but Nicodemos wants all Christians to become mothers as well. It is an interesting concept and one you do not see so much!

The book I read in preparation for this lecture, A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel, is classed among Nicodemos’ pastoral books. This is a term that comes from the role of a pastor, that is, someone whose position it is to help guide other people on their spiritual journeys. Nicodemos was a renowned guide. People traveled for long distances to be with him and seek his counsel, and these people included both monks and lay people. He was referred to as a physician of the soul, someone who was a great psychologist; someone who could listen deeply, but also help people articulate what it was they were trying to say. He could be gentle, but he was also known for being very strict. He apparently was not someone you could go to and waste his time by beating around the bush or playing games! In urging people to repent, he used this word in its original meaning: “to turn around.” the goal of repentance is not to feel bad, but to change the direction of one’s life. About repentance he wrote: “that the inner sorrow and pain of the heart are substantial and necessary components of the sacrament of confession and repentance” (Nicodemos, p. 43). These rituals of the Church can become rote and meaningless and Nicodemos wanted people to use these sacraments to seek fundamental change rather than a magical cure.

8 A Handbook of Spiritual Counsel was written in this spirit of being a pastor. Even its origin is pastoral in that a bishop wrote to him asking for his help and for something he could use in his work. And what is kind of amazing to me as a person who depends on resources in order to write, Nicodemos wrote this book while spending time in solitude on a little island off of Athos where he had no books. Everything he quotes he is able to quote from memory demonstrating his photographic memory. An idea that goes back to ancient philosophy is that humans are a microcosm of the universe, which is the macrocosm. But Nicodemos turns this around a calls human a macrocosm within a small universe. Obviously he is not talking about a physical resemblance, but what does he mean? He seems to be pointing out that one of the unique features of being human is that we are, in Orthodox understanding, both material and spiritual beings. That is, we participate in two worlds. In the material world we are limited and conditioned, but our freedom and glory lie in the mind and spirit. This is where we can experience freedom. According to this same theology the physical things in this world, including plants and animals are all material and visible. But there is also an invisible world, the world of angels and other spiritual beings. But only humans bridge both of these worlds and that is what makes us a macrocosm.

Conclusion

What causes us our grief, and Plato would agree with him here, is that the relationship between the mind and the body is out of order. In a proper relationship the mind would control the body and the body would serve the mind. But as it works out the body and its desires are usually the driving force in a person’s life. He refers to the enslavement of the mind to the body as a dreadful bondage. In this case he writes about guarding the senses, which means to have the senses trained, disciplined and orderly. Buddhists also talk about this need to be as careful about what we put into our minds as we are about what we put into our bodies. The book is full of

9 practical exhortations about training the mind and body and bringing prayer into the heart through the practice of meditation and breathing exercises. He essentially is asking all Orthodox Christians, not just monks, to live a very disciplined life. This makes sense to me not for moralistic reasons, but for more practical reasons. It seems to me that people often resist many spiritual practices because they have been presented in a “fire and brimstone way.” People get tired of being told what to do and then being made to feel guilty if they do not live up the standards that have been set out. I don’t like that either. But it does make sense to me that if you want to be good at anything then you must practice. People who are excellent at sports and music and other such things are very dedicated people. You don’t become a great dancer by practicing for an hour or two. The great dancers of the world practice many hours everyday. So do the great musicians and artists and writers. Why should spiritual excellence be any different? Nicodemos is saying that if you want the full Orthodox understanding, which ultimately includes what they call deification, then you must be as serious about your practice as other people are about theirs.

Nicodemos taught: “because God transcends all beings both visible and invisible, the human mind seeking to be united with him through prayer, must go out of all things that are perceptible or intelligible in order to achieve divine union” (Nicodemos, p. 53). The good news is that humans have a certain kind of persuasive power over God, even though we are finite and God is infinite. And that power is the knowledge that God cannot refuse a soul whose heart is properly prepared. “When you prepare your heart, my beloved, then the all-holy, all-good, and most human-loving Spirit comes and dwells in you perceptibly, actively, manifestly. Then, my brother, you receive from the Holy Spirit whatever you longed for” (Nicodemos, p. 53). And that is about as beautiful a summary as one could ask for regarding Orthodox Theology. The path that teaches the prayer of the heart is the way of the heart.