Orthodox Christianity: The History and Canonical Structure of the Orthodox Church by Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

Author:Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev [Alfeyev, Metropolitan Hilarion]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780881418798
Publisher: St Vladimir's Seminary Press
Published: 2015-04-23T00:00:00+00:00

St Paisy Velichkovsky

Monastic life in Russia began to revive in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and continued to flourish throughout the nineteenth century. The revival was sparked by changes in state policy on monasteries and inner processes that took place among broad sections of monasticism. These processes were linked to the spread of elderhood in Russia, a phenomenon that had been known since the Byzantine period. St Paisy Velichkovsky (1722–1794), a contemporary of the Greek kollyvades movement, is considered to be the founder of Russian elderhood. At the age of thirteen, Paisy entered the Kiev Theological Academy but later felt a profound dislike for the spirit of Latin scholasticism that reigned there. After leaving the academy, he visited numerous Ukrainian monasteries before setting off for Mount Athos, where he became abbot of the Russian St Elias skete. Here he introduced the long-forgotten practice of “noetic activity.”

Paisy paid special attention to the study and translation of the works of the church fathers. He saw their works as the primary guide to the spiritual life: “He who reads the books of the holy fathers is guided in faith or right understanding by one, in silence and prayer by another, in obedience, humility and patience by still another, and in self-accusation and in love for God and one’s neighbor by yet another. To put it briefly, one is taught the life according to the gospel by the many books of the holy fathers.”30 After spending seventeen years on the holy mountain, Paisy moved to Moldavia, where he became abbot of the Neamt monastery. Here he occupied himself with new translations and the correction of existing Slavonic translations of patristic works. St Paisy’s Slavonic rendering of the Philokalia was published in St Petersburg in 1803 through the efforts of Metropolitan Gabriel (Petrov) of St Petersburg. At the Neamt monastery Paisy amassed a large group of disciples, to whom he taught Greek; under his direction they translated and copied patristic books.

Paisy’s activities, however, were not limited to books. He was an outstanding spiritual father and instructor of “noetic activity.” After the end of the eighteenth century his influence spread to more than a hundred monasteries, thanks to his more than two hundred disciples,31 who proceeded to settle throughout Russia.

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