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THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRA NSLATION
VOLUME 113
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
EDITORIAL BOARD
Thomas P. Halton
The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director
Elizabeth Clark
Duke University
Robert D. Sider
Dickinson College
Joseph T. Lienhard, S.J.
Fordham University
Michael Slusser
Duquesne University
David G. Hunter
Iowa State University
Cynthia White
The University of Arizona
Kathleen McVey
Princeton Theological Seminary
Rebecca Lyman
Church Divinity School of the Pacific
David J. McGonagle
Director
The Catholic University of America Press
FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
Ludwig Schopp, Roy J. Deferrari, Bernard M. Peebles,
Hermigild Dressler, O.F.M.
Carole C. Burnett
Staff Editor
BARSANUPHIUS
AND JOHN
LETTERS
VOLUME 1
Translated by
JOHN CHRYSSAVGIS
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
Washington, D.C.
Copyright © 2006
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standards for Information Science—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI z39.48–1984.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Barsanuphius, Saint, 6th cent.
[Biblos psychophelestate periechousa apokriseis. English]
Letters / Barsanuphius and John ; translated by John Chryssavgis.
p. cm. — (The fathers of the church ; v. 113)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8132-0113-9 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8132-0113-6 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Spiritual life—Orthodox
Eastern Church. 2. Asceticism—Orthodox Eastern Church. 3. Monastic and
religious life. I. John, the Prophet, Saint. II. Chryssavgis, John.
III. Title. IV. Series.
BR60.F3B2513 2006
[BR65.B273]
270 s—dc22
[270
2006006979
CONT ENT S
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Select Bibliography
vii
ix
xi
Introduction
3
Letters, Volume 1
Prologue
21
Letters to John of Beersheba (1–54)
23
Letters to an Egyptian Monk and to
Paul the Hermit (55–58)
68
Letters to Abba Euthymius (59–71)
74
Letters to an elderly monk named Andrew (72–123)
97
Letters to the monk Theodore (124–131)
142
Letters to a monk who used riddles (132–137b)
154
Letters to various hermits (138–210)
162
Letters to a monk, who was a priest (211–213)
219
Letters to monks about illness and death (214–223)
222
Letters to various monks (224–251)
227
Letters to Dorotheus of Gaza (252–338)
256
Letters to various monks (339–347b)
310
Letter to the brother of Barsanuphius (348)
320
Indices
Index of Names and Places
Index of Subjects and Key Words
Index of Holy Scripture
323
326
337
ACK N OWLEDGMEN TS
The first draft of this translation was prepared during a sabbatical at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New
Jersey. It was a delight to bask in that environment for the spring
semester of 2002.
I am indebted to the brotherhood of The Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Brookline, Massachusetts. The insightful counsel and gracious support of the elder and monks in that community, deriving from personal experience of the monastic life and
skilled reading of the monastic texts, proved invaluable.
I am also grateful to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Sava of Troas for entrusting me with his draft translation of the [first 190] Letters,
the treasured fruit of his doctoral studies at the University of Oxford.
Ms. Melissa Lynch generously offered her time and assistance
in the careful compilation of the scriptural index.
Finally, the entire publication has benefited enormously from
the editorial skills and invaluable suggestions of Dr. Carole Burnett, staff editor at The CUA Press.
Any portions of this translation that also appear in my previous volume, Letters from the Desert, are used by permission of
St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, Crestwood, New York 10707, www.
svspress.com.
vii
A BBRE VI ATI O NS
GCS
Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten
drei Jahrhunderte. Leipzig.
PG
Patrologia Graeca, ed. J.-P. Migne. Paris.
PL
Patrologia Latina, ed. J.-P. Migne. Paris.
PO
Patrologia Orientalis. Paris.
ROC
Revue de l’orient chrétien. Paris.
SC
Sources chrétiennes. Paris.
ix
SE LE CT BI BL IOGR A PH Y
Texts and Translations
Barsanuphe et Jean de Gaza: Correspondance. Edited with notes and index by
F. Neyt and P. de Angelis-Noah. French translation by L. Regnault. SC
426–27 and 450–51. Paris, 1997–2001.
Barsanuphius. Doctrina. PG 86: 891–902. [Teaching on Origen, Evagrius,
and Didymus]
Barsanuphius and John: Questions and Responses. In Philokalia. 3 vols. Thessalonika: Byzantion Editions, 1988–1989.
Barsanuphius and John: Questions and Responses. Greek Fathers of the
Church. Thessalonika, 1988. [In Greek]
Barsanuphius and John: Discerning and Hesychastic Texts; Questions and Responses. 3 vols. Kareas, Athens: Holy Monastery of St. John the Forerunner, 1996–1997.
Chitty, D. J., ed. and trans. Barsanuphius and John: Questions and Responses.
PO 31, 3 (Paris, 1966): 445–616. Also published by New Sarov Press,
Blanco, TX, 1998. [Partial critical edition of the Greek text with English translation]
Dorotheus. Questions and Responses. PG 88: 1811–22. [Incorporated
among his Instructions]
John Rufus. Plerophoriae. Edited by F. Nau. PO 8, 1 (Paris, 1912).
Lovato, M. F. T., and L. Mortari, eds. Barsanufio e Giovanni di Gaza: Epistolario. In Collana di Testi Patristici 93. Rome, 1991.
Mark the Deacon. The Life of Porphyry, Bishop of Gaza. Translated by G. F.
Hill. Oxford, 1913.
________. Vie de Porphyre, éveq̂ue de Gaza [par] Marc le Diacre. Edited and
translated by H. Gregoire and M.-A. Kugener. Paris, 1930.
Nikodemus of Mt. Athos. &MZFPSb]YG[JIPIWXEZXLTIVMIZGSYWEENTSOVMZWIMb
HMEJSZVSMb Y.TSUIZWIWMR ENRLOSYZWEMb WYKKVEJIMDWE QIR TEVE X[DR S.W MZ[R
OEM UISJSZV[R TEXIZV[R L.Q[DR &EVWERSYJMZSY OEM N-[EZRRSY INTMQIP[Db
HI HMSU[UIMDWE OEM XLD X[DR S.W MZ[R FMSKVEJMZE OEM TPEXYXEZX[ TMZREOM
TPSYXMWUIMDWE TEVE XSYD INR QSREGSMDb INPEGMZWXSY 2MOSHLZQSY XSYD E.KMS
VIMZXSY Venice, 1816. [Also contains a substantial introduction by
Nikodemus himself]
Pachomius Hieromonk. Opisanie roukopisei solovetskago monastyria
nakhodiachlchikhsia v biblioteke Kazanskoi doukhovnoi Akademii I.
Kazan, 1881.
Prepodobnykh ottzev Varsanoufiia Velikago I Ionna roukovodstvo k
xi
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Solesmes, 1967.
Regnault, L., Ph. Lemaire, and B. Ottier, trans. Barsanuphe et Jean de Gaza:
Correspondance. Sable-sur-Sarthe: Abbaye de Solesmes, 1971. [Complete French translation from the Greek and Georgian]
Rose, S., ed. Saints Barsanuphius and John: Guidance toward Spiritual Life.
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xiii
Hausherr, I. “Barsanuphe (saint).” Dictionnaire de spiritualité. Vol. 1. Paris,
1937.
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Publications, 1990.
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1960.
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