COMMENT: Nicholas Cabasilas - The Study of Spirituality

Dear William,

You are the indispensable 'Reader', as 'Readers' are full-time tutors in Ox/Bridge colleges. 

You pointed me to the very volume, on the very shelf, with the precise knowledge of the background of Nicholas Cabasilas.

- - -

Many thanks.

Yours ...
Donald.

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: William - - -
To: Fr Donald - - ->
Sent: Friday, 11 May 2012, 20:23
Subject: Re: Nicholas Cabasilas

Dear Father Donald,

 

I find his writing like to a crystal mountain stream: "If this sacrament [the Eucharist] is fully effective it is quite impossible for it to allow the slightest imperfection to remain in those who receive it".  There is a very helpful write up in the book "The Study of Spirituality" (sadly I don't have a scanner, but I have seen this book in your library, yellow binding). The section begins: "The links of Hesychasm with the wider culture of the day are exemplified in particular by Gregory Palamas' contemporary and friend St Nicholas Cabasilas...." p 255.

 

 Wikipedia carries a short summary of his Works and a brief Bibliography. There is, suprisingly, only a brief entry on the Orthodox version of Wikipedia:  http://orthodoxwiki.org/Nicholas_Cabasilas

 

You do discover for us ever more amazing avenues of spirituality, thank you!

 

With my love in Our Lord,

William

 

  

The Study of Spirituality SPCK 1986

The Hesychasts - KALLISTOS WARE see p. 255

Kallistos and Ignatios, like Gregory of Sinai, are writing with monks in mind. But the Hesychast teaching was never restricted to an exclusively monastic milieu. Gregoryof Sinai sent his disciples back to the city from the desert, to act as guides to laypeople, and Gregory Palamas, in a sharp dispute with a certain monk Job, insisted that Paul's injunction 'Pray without ceasing' (1 Thess. 5.17) is addressed to every Christian without exception. The links ofHesychasm with the wider culture of the day are exemplified in particular by Palamas' contemporary and friend St Nicolas Cabasilas (c. 1320-C. 1391). Highly educated, pursuing in his earlier years a political career, Cabasilas to the best of our knowledge was never ordained or professed amonk. Although he wrote a short tract in support of Pal am as against Gregoras, in his two main works, The Life in Christ and A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy,Cabasilas avoids all explicit reference to specifically Hesychast themes, such as theJesus Prayer, the light of Tabor, or the uncreated energies. He expounds the spiritualway simply in terms of the sacraments: 'life in Christ' is nothing else than 'life in the sacraments', and this is accessible to each one alike, whether monastic or married, whether priest, soldier, farmer or the mother of a family. Like Palamas, he sees continual prayer as the vocation of all: 'It is quite possible to practise continual meditation in one's own home without giving up any of one's possessions' (The Life in Christ, 6; ET, p. 174). Hesychasm is in principle a universal path.

 

Second Reading

From The Life in Christ by Nicholas Cabasilas 
(Lib. 3: PG 150, 574-575)

The sacrament referred to in this reading by the Eastern name of"chrismation" is known in the West as confirmation. Cabasilas stresses the importance of this sacrament. through which Christians share in the power of the Holy Spirit and receive the virtues needed for spiritual maturity.