The ascetic system of St. Gregory the Sinaite was influenced by the "Ladder" of St. John, the abbot of Mount Sinai (7th century). In the works of the Monk Gregory there are many references to this work. In addition, "The Ladder" served as a model for him in many respects. Like St. John of the Ladder, he also reduced the teaching of hesychia into a complex but detailed system, which shows the ascetic the way to the highest stage of spiritual growth – contemplation and deification [58, p. 210].Once, in response to the question of Kallistos, what is the soul and how it is contemplated by the saints, St. Gregory of Sinai drew a scheme of man's successive ascent to God. "At first," says the monk, "the soul, intensely directing its attention to the mind, through active virtues humbles and subdues all the passions. Then, as if freed, the natural virtues begin to follow the soul, like shadows after bodies. They, surrounding and accompanying her, guide her in climbing the spiritual ladder and teach her that which is above nature" [23, p. 35]. Further, the mind is enlightened by the grace of Christ and unfolds for contemplation. To the extent of the grace bestowed, he contemplates the nature of existing things more clearly and purely. Finally, having received the betrothal of the Spirit through a multitude of contemplations, the soul is elevated to a higher and more divine thing. In such a state, the soul is left by fears and fears, and natural thoughts finally subside. The soul then clings entirely to Christ with love, converses alone with God alone, and only strives for Him. Having nothing alien and material attachment in itself, it becomes completely rational, as the soul of Adam was before the Fall.Later, the provisions of this scheme of man's ascent to God in the same sequence were revealed by St. Gregory in his works. In them, he presented not only spiritual and moral reasoning and reflections, but in a strictly Orthodox spirit systematically expounded the teaching about God and man in his sinful and sinless states. At the same time, he also offered instructions on how to get out of the state of sin and, having been renewed by the grace of Christ, to come to the state of deification. The teaching of St. Gregory the Sinaite is based strictly on the writings of the Church Fathers and the ascetic works of the holy hermits. "The system of teaching of St. Sinaite embraces in a condensed form everything that asceticism had created before him, both from the theoretical and practical sides" [112: p. 235], or, as our compatriot St. Nilus of Sorsky said, "this blessed one (Gregory of Sinai. — I.P.) embraced the writings of all the spiritual fathers" [quoted from: 37, p. 177].The first part of the system of St. Gregory the Sinaite contains preparatory principles on the path to perfection. The second part of his teaching is the theory of monasticism, leading to the highest degree of perfection. The chapters of both parts of the teaching of the Sinaite represent only the theoretical principles of the spiritual and moral life of man or the dogmatic side of the teaching. Practical instructions or practical guidance on the path to virtue are set forth in the works "Instructions to the Silent", "On Silence and Prayer", "On Silence" [112, p. 191]. It should be noted that it was precisely this contemplation that at first seemed new to his contemporaries and caused great controversy.Contemplation, according to the teaching of St. Gregory, is preceded by a preparatory stage, which consists in active monastic asceticism. The Monk Gregory attached great importance to this period of the hesychastic path. First of all, he paid attention to it in his creations. During the period of active life, all the work of a monk consists in the struggle with sinful passions and purification from them. The main spiritual guide at this stage for St. Gregory and his disciples was the "Ladder" of St. John, the abbot of Sinai (see Appendix III). The successor of the spiritual traditions of the Sinai Monastery, the Monk Gregory, developed in detail the teaching about the passions of John Climacus. He showed the connection of the basic sinful passions with the three forces of the soul: the mental, the desirable, and the irritable. Having enumerated in detail the passions of irritation, the passions of lust and the passions of thought, he explains their origin in the following way: "The beginning and cause of passions is abuse, the cause of abuse is inclination, the cause of inclination is the preponderance of the desirable ability, the desirable ability is carried away by suggestion, and the suggestion itself is produced by demons, whom Providence allows to reveal through this the state of our freedom" [quoted from: 112, p. 177]. "The soul in itself," says St. Gregory of Sinai, "has the power of will and the courageous energy to act, which is an irritable force, but being created rationally and spiritually, it did not receive lust and anger along with existence; just as the flesh originally, being created incorruptible, did not have those phlegms from which lust and bestial fury were later born. Already after the crime, when a man fell into aphid and the debility of the flesh, lust and rage necessarily arose in him" [5, p. 194]. The appearance of sinful qualities in the soul, according to the teaching of St. Gregory the Sinaite, depends on the direction of the soul's power towards good or evil and on the extent to which it is able or unable to follow the path of good. "Virtues, although one is born of the other, yet they have their existence from the three powers of the soul. The beginning and source of virtues is good will, or the desire for good" [5, pp. 195-196].St. Gregory of Sinaite not only explains the origin of sinful passions and their nature, but also gives instructions for their eradication: "Whoever wishes to know the way of a strict life better and in short must have three main exercises: fasting, vigil and prayer, which serve as a firm foundation for all virtues. But fasting and obedience are of particular importance for ascetics, through which they again return to their former dignity (that is, the state of the firstborn Adam)" [quoted by: 112, p. 196]. The main thing for the belittling and eradication of the passions is "mental sobriety and heartfelt watchfulness, which is mental prayer, befitting that of deeds" [56, p. 79].The basis for the acquisition of virtues, according to the teaching of St. Gregory the Sinaite, should be silence, abstinence, vigilance, humility and patience. He considers the basis of the hesychast's God-pleasing occupations to be psalmody, prayer and reading, as well as handicrafts if he is infirm. "The beginning of mental prayer," says St. Gregory, "is the action or purifying power of the Holy Spirit and the mysterious sacramental action of the mind, and the beginning of silence is the abolition of everything or carelessness; the middle is the enlightening power of the Spirit and contemplation, and the end is the ecstasy or rapture of the mind towards God" [quoted from: 112, p. 211]. On the path of acquiring virtues, the saint attaches special importance to the action of grace: "... virtue without grace is like faith without works. Grace, or rather the sensation of grace, is the knowledge of the truth. Grace is not only faith, but also an effective prayer, which, being performed by the Spirit of love, reveals the true faith, which contains the life of Jesus" [quoted from: 112, p. 183]. At the head of any monastic activity, St. Gregory placed the memory of God: "A monk must have the memory of God instead of breathing" [5, p. 228], "The memory of God, or mental prayer, is above all deeds, it is the head of the virtues, as the love of God" [5, p. 223]. In his work "On Silence and Prayer" he gives instructions on how to perform unceasing prayer. "In the morning, force your mind to go out of your head into your heart, and keep it in it, and constantly cry out mentally and spiritually: "Lord, Jesus Christ, have mercy on me!" — until you are tired. When you are tired, turn your mind to the second half and say: "Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me!" When you see the emergence and approach of thoughts, do not look at them, even if they are not bad, but, keeping the mind in your heart from the beginning, call out to the Lord Jesus and soon drive away the thoughts and their leaders — you will drive away the demons" [5, pp. 227-228]. Since "the mind... is led like a prisoner", because "we have separated ourselves from God... lost unity with Him and destroyed His intellectual feeling in feeling... And it is impossible for the mind to establish itself otherwise than if it obeys God and unites with Him, begins to pray to Him often and patiently, and every day intelligently confesses to Him... When, by virtue of such prayerful labor, the action of prayer is established in the heart, then it (prayer – I.P.) will begin to keep the mind to itself, cheer and not allow it to be captivated" [5, pp. 217-218]. In order to keep in mind the main milestones and stages of spiritual work, the hesychasts often presented it in a visual schematic form. One of these schemes, dating back to the 14th century, was found by Archimandrite Porphyrius (Uspensky) in the Iveron Monastery, which was a refuge for hesychasts, including those from the entourage of St. Gregory the Sinaite. The scheme is signed by the monk Theophanes. It is possible that he was a disciple of the monk or his followers, for their main spiritual traditions are partially reflected in the scheme.The hesychast spiritual traditions revived by St. Gregory did not cease to exist and develop with his death. Their successors and bearers were his disciples, who, as direct spiritual successors, having received from the monk all the principles of ancient monastic life, passed them on to others who wished to contain this teaching. Founding monasteries and sketes throughout the world, they organized monastic life in them and established a rule strictly according to the Sinaite-Hesychast type and principle. In these hesychast centers, the behests of the great Sinaite were sacredly preserved and passed on to subsequent generations. "It can be said with certainty," Bishop Alexis (Dorodnitsyn) asserts, "that the teaching of St. Gregory the Sinaite formed the basis of the entire medieval trend of Eastern monasticism in general and the mysticism of the fourteenth century in particular" [32, p. 138].

Chapter 3.

Spiritual Successors of St. Gregory the Sinaite in Byzantium

Among the multitude of disciples of the Monk Gregory the Sinaite were persons who had great faith in their teacher and zealously followed his instructions in everything. In turn, the monk also had a special disposition towards them. He devoted much attention to them, fully revealing to them the mysteries of inner work.These closest disciples of the Monk Gregory, being under the careful spiritual guidance, grew rapidly and, attaining impassibility, ascended to contemplation. They became the direct successors of his spirit and teaching, carried this treasure to the places of their further spiritual activity and, imitating their teacher, zealously spread hesychasm. First of all, they were the successors of the traditions of the great Gregory the Sinaite in Byzantium.

The Monk Gerasim

Of the direct disciples of the Monk Gregory the Sinaite known to us, the holy Patriarch Kallistos mentions twelve. Of all the disciples of the elder, "the most worthy and deserving of praise, and especially loved by him, who followed in his footsteps and was, as it were, a reflection of his virtues" [23, p. 26], the holy Patriarch Kallistos calls the Monk Gerasimos.The Monk Gerasimos was born on the island of Euripus, or Euboea, in the city of Karyste, located in the district of Karastia, and was a relative of the governor of this island named Fatz. The Fatz family was one of those Western families that later remained forever in the places they occupied in the Byzantine Empire. Consequently, St. Gerasimos was not a Greek, but, in all likelihood, a Catalan [24, p. XXI].There is no positive information about the time of Gerasim's birth. He may have taken monastic vows on Mount Sinai. There he also became a disciple of St. Gregory the Sinaite. Imitating the feats and strict life of his teacher, he, "from the very beginning perfectly brought up in the virtue and life peculiar to monks" [23, p. 31], reached a high degree of active asceticism. Together with the Monk Gregory the Sinaite, Gerasimos at the end of the thirteenth century left the Sinai monastery and remained with Saint Gregory until his blessed death. Guided by the instructions of his teacher, he greatly succeeded in hesychia and became, "filled with Divine grace," for many an example of an ascetic life. After the death of the holy elder Gregory, he for some time used the instructions of the hesychast patriarch Isidore, who occupied the Constantinople cathedra from May 17, 1347 to December 2, 1349 [23, pp. 89-90]. In his monastic feats he imitated the Monk Gerasim of Jerusalem. Like him, he "carried out the apostolic course", establishing new monasteries. He spread hesychastic ideas in Greece among Greek monasticism. Having perfectly studied the local dialect, he visited in this land "all those who wanted to learn virtue and, as far as possible, enriched many with the gain of sanctification and piety" [23, p. 37]. The Monk Gerasim founded there "many refuges of piety and purity, and taught the inhabitants their proper rules of high morality for the attainment of the primordial purity of man." "Having gathered a host of disciples, he created a heavenly country" [1, 4th ed., p. 324]. Having settled his disciples in the hesychastirian refuges, the Monk Gerasimos exercised them in silence and mental activity. There is no doubt that these hesychastiria were arranged on the model of the Athonite chambers of the Monk Gregory the Sinaite.In addition, it is known that Saint Gerasimos preached the teaching of hesychasm among the Morean Franks in French, which he had a perfect command of [101, p. 55]. Judging by the life of his great teacher, where Gerasimos is called "one among the saints", the Church of Constantinople canonized Gerasimus as a saint. But at present, the feast day of St. Gerasim is unknown to us.

The Monk Joseph