22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Spiritual Army of One, May 9, 2004
This review is from: Nil Sorsky: The Complete Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)
That Nil Sorsky's name is enmeshed in the extremely complex matrix of religious and political forces of sixteenth century Russia is no harbinger of the man or his writings. If anything, Sorsky's spiritual heritage was something of a counterbalance to the Russian fever to restore religious and political eminence vis-à-vis Renaissance Europe. Sorsky was an old-school monastic who favored an individualistic, isolated, and rustic lifestyle as an option to highly visible and influential monasteries associated with the other charismatic monk-writer of his time, Joseph Volotsky.
In his preface John Mina provides a brief but useful sketch of the struggles of Byzantine Christianity dating roughly to the Fourth Crusade in which western Roman Catholic forces seized the holy city of Constantinople. Only a generation later the Khan dynasty laid waste Russian cities and their sacred institutions. This multiple destruction from west and east appears to have had something of an apocalyptic effect upon Russian Christians-their Babylonian exile, so to speak-and sparked a revival ripe for intensive penance and mystical experience known in that part of the world as "hesychasm." As Mina explains it, hesychasm was a spirituality of strength born from the power of the closeness of God. It was not a monastic feature per se, but permeated all aspects of Christian life, including art and politics. Not unexpectedly over the years there were many Russians for whom hesychasm was an inadequate response to the indignities inflicted by western Catholicism and who saw this highly spiritualized way of life as out of step with the humanism of the Renaissance.
It is at this sixteenth century juncture that Sorsky and his writings became a post mortem rallying point against a growing triumphalism that infected the Russian Church and, apparently, most monasteries as well. About his personal life surprisingly little is known. He may have been born in Moscow, and as a young man had the good fortune to enter a strict monastery and receive excellent formation around the writings of Symeon the New Theologian, John Climacus, Gregory of Sinai, and Nil of Sinai. Sorsky would also spend time at the famous Mt. Athos center of monastic spirituality during his formative years. It is little wonder that, with his own idealism and an excellent formation behind him, Sorsky's commitment to hesychastic monasticism would blossom into extraordinary devotion.
Sorsky's major contribution to Russian monasticism-a gift that regrettably was ultimately discarded-was his insight that full union with God and submission of the passions was a full time mission, best done away from creature comforts and human communion. He founded his skete-a tiny village of sorts consisting of single dwelling huts-on the shores of a brackish river away from the mainstream of city life. As a rule he accepted members who already had formation and service in a larger and more established monastery. It is not hard to imagine that Sorsky's style of skete living was interpreted as a not so subtle rebuke against "softer" or "opportunistic" monasteries looking to enhance position within ecclesiastical circles.
There is, in fact, a kind of siege mentality to Sorsky's writings here, consisting of his Rule for the monks of the skete and two smaller works, The Tradition, and a collection of letters. Gracefully rendered in translation by Father George Maloney, S.J., world-renowned scholar in Eastern Christian Spirituality, Sorsky emphasized the strength of the devil and the vigilance necessary for the monk to maintain his communion with God. His tone is highly moralistic as he outlines the various ways that the powers of evil work to undermine the soul: through gluttony, fornication, covetousness, anger, sadness, acedia, vainglory, and pride. His commentaries on the vices are fascinating. Acedia, a term foreign to western spirituality, is described in language that suggests a severe depression leading to despair. Sorsky observes that this kind of mood is not unexpected among men who live hard and solitary lives. [p. 80] With regard to fornication, Sorsky advises his monks to "keep away from living with youths with effeminate and pretty faces and refrain from looking at them." [p. 77]
Primarily his advice is threefold: know when to ask for help, turn to the written word of the great monastic writers, and acquire the skill of praying the appropriate prayer to the spiritual crisis at hand. Sorsky does not envision himself as an innovator; he quotes freely from the Scriptures and monastic writing. If anything he sees himself as protecting a proven spiritual journey handed down from monastic ancestry. He does not dwell upon mystical experience or rewards, in part because his eschatology was more final than real, and in part because of his belief that in the final analysis, with temptations removed, God would care for his men in uniquely personal ways.
What does a twenty-first century reader take from this work? My own immediate reaction was awe at the breadth of the Christian tradition. This work is a tonic for parochialism and the blurred boundaries between the Kingdom of God and the Secular City, so to speak. It is something of a slap of cold water on the face, a hard reminder that moral flabbiness and compromise have eternal consequences. In the final analysis, Sorsky's message echoes Christ's words to Pilate, "My Kingdom is not of this world." The reader will either feel compelled to look at his own life or succumb to that wretched acedia.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review of Nil Sorsky: The Complete Writings., August 26, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Nil Sorsky: The Complete Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality) (Paperback)
Father George Maloney's luminous translation of Nil Sorsky's
writings provides the 21st c. lay reader with new eyes to grasp
Nil's perspectives on the Jesus Prayer, inner attention, the descent of the mind into the heart, the practice of detachment,
and especially, the gift of tears. In each case, problems with a
given practice are clearly stated and followed by solutions and
practical programs of action to implement the solutions. Nil
offers insights on vices and again proposes practical actions for our daily struggles which are related to continual prayer.
The reader is frequently encouraged not to become disheartened through scriptural passages and writings from the Fathers.
Though originally composed for 16th c. monastics, the writings of
Nil Sorsky are made relevant by Father George Maloney for lay
people in our times who wish to have a deeper understanding of the prayer of the heart.
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