Gregory of Sinai explained

Gregory of Sinai, or in Serbian and Bulgarian Grigorije Sinaita (1260s – 27 November 1346), was a Greek Christian monk and writer from Smyrna. He was instrumental in the emergence of hesychasm on Mount Athos in the early 14th century.^[1]

Biography

Born in Smyrna, he was captured by Seljuk Turks as a young man, and eventually ransomed to Cyprus, whence he became a monk at Saint Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai Peninsula. Later, he moved to Crete, where he learned the practices of hesychasm from a monk named Arsenios. In 1310, he went to Mount Athos, where he remained until 1335. At Mount Athos, he was a monk at the Skete of Magoula near Philotheou Monastery.^[2] Increasing Muslim raids on Athos pushed Gregory and some disciples into the Bulgarian Empire, where he would find protection under Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander. He went on to found a monastery near Paroria, located in the Strandzha Mountains of southeast Bulgaria.^[3]

Gregory's disciples also included Nicodemus of Tismana,^[4] Patriarch Kallistos I of Constantinople (who wrote a life of Gregory c. 1351),^[5] Romylos of Vidin, Theodosius of Tarnovo, Gregory of Sinai the Younger, and Gerasimos of Euripos.

He died on 27 November 1346 in the mountains of Paroria, near present-day Zabernovo, Bulgaria.^[1]

Philokalia

The Philokalia includes five works in Greek by Gregory:^[6]

• On Commandments and Doctrines, Warnings and Promises; on Thoughts, Passions, and Virtues, and also on Stillness and Prayer: 137 Texts
• Further Texts
• On the Signs of Grace and Delusion, Written for the Confessor Longinos: Ten Texts
• On Stillness: Fifteen Texts
• On Prayer: Seven Texts

See also

• Athanasius the Meteorite
• Constantine of Kostenets
• Cyprian, Metropolitan of Kiev
• Gregory Tsamblak
• Grigorije of Gornjak
• Grigorije Vasilije
• Isidore I of Constantinople
• Roman of Đunis

Bibliography

• Book: Beyer . Hans-Veit . Ekaterinburg . ru . ru:Каллист I, патриарх Константинополя. Житие и деятельность иже во святых отца нашего Григория Синаита . Kallistos I, Patriarch of Constantinople: Life and Works of Our Holy Father Gregory of Sinai . Ural Federal University Press . 2006 . 5-7525-1484-3 . (a critical edition of the Greek text)

External links

• Inner Light
• "The Second Feast of the Monastery", a word from Bishop Sergios on the feast of Saint Gregory of Sinai, August 2005

Notes and References

1. Web site: 2024-11-23 . Gregory of Sinai Biography, Legacy, Works, & Facts . . en.
2. Book: Palmer. G. E. H.. Ware. Kallistos. Kallistos Ware. Sherrard. Philip. Philip Sherrard. The Philokalia: The Complete Text. 4. 1999. Faber and Faber. 0-571-19382-X.
3. Book: Bozhilov . Ivan . Gyuzelev . Vasil . Vasil Gyuzelev . Анубис (Anubis) . 1999 . 954-426-204-0 . Sofia . bg . bg:История на средновековна България VII–XIV век . History of Medieval Bulgaria VII–XIV centuries.
4. Book: Speake, Graham . A history of the Athonite Commonwealth: the spiritual and cultural diaspora of Mount Athos . New York . 2018 . 978-1-108-34922-2 . 1041501028.
5. Book: Skoubourdis, Anna . The Philokalia of the Holy Neptic Fathers, Volume 5: compiled by St. Nikodemos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth . Virgin Mary of Australia and Oceania . 2020 . 979-8-7096-9499-6 . 1291631709.
6. Book: Palmer. G. E. H.. Ware. Kallistos. Kallistos Ware. Sherrard. Philip. Philip Sherrard. The Philokalia: The Complete Text. 4. 1999. Faber and Faber. 0-571-19382-X.