Archimandrite Vasileios: Abba Isaac the Syrian: An Approach to his World (48pp

FRIENDS OF MOUNT ATHOS REVIEWS

Archimandrite Vasileios: Abba Isaac the Syrian: An Approach to his World (48pp., 6.26); The Saint: Archetype of Orthodoxy (48pp., 6.25); The Christian in a Changing World: Monasticism and the New Realities of Life (64pp., 7.50); The Meaning of Typikon (with Fr George Mantzarides) (32pp., 5.00); and The Parable of the Prodigal Son (48pp., 6.25). Montreal: Alexander Press, 1997. Nos.5-9 in the series 'Mount Athos'.[i]

Archimandrite Vasileios has been at the forefront of the contemporary Athonite revival. He began his monastic career with the late Elder Paissios - one of the great modern startsy. He became Abbot of Stavronikita in 1968, bringing about a marked renewal of that monastery's spiritual life. Since 1990 he has been Abbot of Iviron, presiding over its transition from an idiorrhythmic to a cenobitic house. He has written widely on monastic issues. His best-known work is the acclaimed Hymn of Entry.

These booklets expand the range of his writings available in English. Abba Isaac the Syrian: An Approach to his World is a very personal introduction to an ascetic father who has obviously been a living source of inspiration to Fr Vasileios for many years. Its main purpose is to encourage the reader to encounter Abba Isaac not only as a remarkable writer but as a saint, a living and personal presence of sanctity. My only quibble is with Fr Vasileios's assertion that Abba Isaac is 'anti-Nestorian in both his teaching and his life'. Given that Isaac was certainly a member of the 'Nestorian' Church of the East, and indeed for some time Bishop of Nineveh, it might be more productive to review our estimation of the 'Nestorianism' of the Church of the East rather than to seek to detach its greatest spiritual teacher from the Church to which he belonged.

Abba Isaac is a prime example of the sainthood Fr Vasileios explores in his The Saint: Archetype of Orthodoxy. For Fr Vasileios, the saint is one who has progressed from repentance to purity, from purity to perfect humility, and from perfect humility to deification. Because of the lack of the principle of deification in the Western tradition, Fr Vasileios argues that the saint, properly speaking, exists only within the Orthodox Church. This may strike many Western readers as unduly harsh, although Fr Vasileios moderates his argument with an admission that the principle of deification has often been forgotten in the Orthodox tradition, albeit never absent in the actual experience of the saints. The saint, writes Fr Vasileios, is the human being in his truest state, a clear image of God. The saint is a perfect example of that ecstatic love which brings man out of himself, out of the suffocating prison of self-love, in his love for God and for his fellow man. The saint is an exponent of that true and lived theology which is a world apart from the confusion and circularity of worldly wisdom.

In The Christian in a Changing World: Monasticism and the New Realities of Life Fr Vasileios stresses the continuing relevance of monasticism in the modern world. The monk is not cut off from his fellow man, but is rather an expression of the catholicity of humanity. When the monk prays: Lord Jesus Christ have mercy upon me, a sinner, he is praying not for himself alone, but for all humanity, because we are all one. Similarly, when one monk repents, he gives life and hope to the whole world. Athos is not, says Fr Vasileios, an ideology, a party, or a club. It is simply 'home' — a place of refuge, quiet, and stillness for the whole world. Something of the generosity of Fr Vasileios's spirit is to be seen in his estimation of what we can learn from authors such as Kazantzakis, Dostoevsky, and Kafka. He is particularly positive, as might be expected, on Dostoevsky, pointing out that writer's ability to implant the 'germ of Orthodoxy' in the soul of the reader. In the discussion that occupies the latter part of this booklet, Fr Vasileios deals with the contentious issue of the use of modern technology on the Holy Mountain. His position is that technology is in itself neutral, but must be used with great care so as not to disrupt the delicate balance of the reciprocal relationship between the material and the spiritual that is so much part of the distinctive 'flavour' of Athonite life. This relationship is typified in the beeswax candles, olive-oil lamps, and incense used in an Athonite church: material objects that take us up and are themselves taken up into the spiritual realm.

In The Meaning of Typikon Fr Vasileios attempts to bring out the inner purpose of the monastic typikon, the set of regulations which govern every aspect of monastic life: from the conduct of the services to the washing of the dishes. These regulations, which can seem overly structured, are intended not to stifle the monk's natural spontaneity, but to purify him, to encourage stillness and growth in the love of God. George Mantzaridis, Professor of Christian Ethics and Sociology at the University of Thessaloniki, develops the theme. He points out that the monastic typika are, when they function properly, true schools of freedom. The typika are designed to eradicate self-interest and self-love. They aim to produce a community based not individual or even collective self-interest, but on the denial of the self and the pursuit of the interest of others. The monastic community stands therefore as type of a society whose basis is precisely the inverse of that which underpins much of modern secular society.

The last work, The Parable of the Prodigal Son, contains Fr Vasileios's reflections on this great parable of repentance. The two sons show how to behave, and how not to behave, towards God. The father is an icon of true fatherhood, spiritual and natural, neither dangerously indulgent nor crudely censorious.

These works are to be welcomed for opening up more of the riches of modern-day Athos to the English reader. They are well translated with only a few, insignificant, typographical errors. They form part of a series which promises to publish further Athonite texts in the future. We can only welcome this promise.

MARCUS PLESTED

Oxford