1

Some Anonymous Recommendations to Athonite Monks

Peter VAN DEUN, full professor of Byzantine Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven, Belgium
Marieke DHONT, Master Student Byzantine Studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Belgium

This article focuses on an anonymous ascetic text which is unpublished until now, and
offers the critical edition of this short work containing a series of recommendations to
Athonite monks, alphabetically organized and ending with the letter gamma; the text is
preserved in two manuscripts: Athous, Dionysiou 269, of the XVth c., and Athous, Lavra K
116, of the XVIth c.

In this article we want to present an ascetic text which is untitled and written by an
unidentified author; it is a series of recommendations to monks, alphabetically organized and
ending with the letter gamma. The contents leads to the hypothesis this text could be related to
the monastic foundation documents, but we cannot find clear parallels in any of the known
typika (
1
).
Giving its ascetic contents and the actual place of conservation of the manuscript
witnesses on Mount Athos, and considering the fact that these two manuscripts are closely
related to other Athonite manuscripts, actually preserved in the monasteries of the Great
Lavra and of Iviron, an Athonite origin of the text is very plausible. The text is as far as we
know unpublished until now.
It was brought to us via two, rather recent, manuscripts.
The first manuscript is Athous, Dionysiou 269 (
2
) (which now onwards will be referred to
as codex A), a big miscellany. Both the sole scribe and the exact place of production of the
manuscript are unknown, nor is there any information available about its later history; the
codex probably dates from the fifteenth century; a note of the 17
th
century says the manuscript
is the property of the monastery of Dionysiou at that time.

(
1
) We searched, however without any success, the five volumes of J. Thomas and Angela Constantinides Hero, Byzantine
Monastic Foundation Documents. A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders Typika and Testaments (Dumbarton
Oaks Studies, 35) (Washington 2000).
(
2
) For a short description of the manuscript, see S.P. Lambros, Katavlogo" twn ejn tai" biblioqhvkai" tou' JAgivou
[Orou" JEllhnikw'n kwdivkwn, I (Cambridge 1895) 391-2. More information can be found in the PhD of B. Roosen,
Epifanovitch Revisited. (Pseudo-) Maximi Confessoris Opuscula varia: a critical edition with extensive notes on manuscript
tradition and authenticity (Leuven 2001) 61-2 and 569-87.
2
Our text is situated on folio 238 recto and verso; at the beginning of each new letter, the
letter is indicated in the margin; whether this was done by the original scribe or added later by
someone else is not clear. Especially in the section gamma, the manuscript is somewhat
damaged, which sometimes makes reading difficult.
The text is preceded by small fragments of different authors (folios 236-238): the first
fragment, unidentified and acephalous (folio 236
r
) (
3
), is followed by an extract taken from
the Asceticon of abbot Isaias (CPG 5555; folio 236
r
) (
4
), by a part of chapter sixteen of the
Capita centum de perfectione spirituali by Diadochus of Photice (CPG 6106; folio 236
r
) (
5
),
by another unidentified fragment (folio 236
r
) (
6
), by an apophthegm being a part of the same
Asceticon of Isaias (folio 236
r-v
) (
7
), by a fragment from Barsanuphius and John (CPG 7350)
(folio 236
v
) (
8
), by several more unidentified fragments (folio 236
v
) (
9
), by an extract from the
Oijakistikh; yucw'n uJpotuvpwsi" of Leo the Philosopher (folio 236
v
) (
10
), by two fragments
from Basil of Caesarea (folios 236
v
-237
r
), taken from his Constitutiones asceticae (CPG
2895) (
11
) and from his Homilia I, De ieiunio (CPG 2845) (
12
), and, finally, by an
apophthegm of abbot Cyrus (folio 237
r
) (
13
) and a fragment attributed to abbas Zosimas (folio
237
r-v
) (
14
).

(
3
) After some illegible words (there is a lacuna between the actual folios 235 and 236), one can read: vi... .. ...
i.c).. . -i. ... uv.i.. .i).c.. ,....)i, -i. u.. -ii ,... v; cu....i. ).. .
-ii)uc.. iv..,iv. vi..\.; uv ; )uc.-; v..,i); ..)c.)i; these are the ultimate lines of the
fifteenth caput of the Capita XV of Maximus the Confessor (CPG 7695), PG 90, 1185B11 (vi...) - C4/5
(..)c.)i).
(
4
) See R. Draguet, Les cinq recensions de l'Ascticon syriaque d'Abba Isae, I, Introduction au problme isaen. Version des
logoi I-XIII avec des parallles grecs et latins [Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, 293, Scriptores Syri, 122]
(Louvain 1968), logos XIII, 23 (p. 237) (inc. 1..; ..c.. iui. i. i.i. i; uc-\.; -ii. i.).v;; des. v
))i\.. . )i.i.) followed by XIII, 25-26 (p. 239-241) (inc. 1.\; . vi...; des. u.ii. c.).i.).
(
5
) See the edition of . des Places, Diadoque de Photic. uvres spirituelles [Sources Chrtiennes, 5ter] (Paris 1966
2
) p. 92,
18 (0u- i. . .; ..; )3.) p. 93, 1 (,..u; viu;).
(
6
) Inc. 0 . .i .. i... -i. i,.... cu.i. -ii\i3.., . i; ii.i; v\u.uci. -i. .
,u. )..uci., .. ,\.cc i\\i -i. -i.i cuic; des. cu.i.i.,.uc)i. \..
(
7
) Section VIII, 6, a little bit reworked; see the edition of the monk Augoustinos, Tou' oJsivou patro;" hJmw'n ajbba' JHsaivou
lovgoi kq v, 2nd edn by S.N. Schoina (Volos 1962) p. 76, 20 (|.v. vi\.., v... i; \..u,.i; cu) - 22 (-v; cu).
(
8
) 23, l. 19 (A.i-.c.. -i.. .; -u3..;) 22 (v; iu) (p. 212 of the edition of F. Neyt, Paula de Angelis and
L. Regnault, Barsanuphe et Jean de Gaza. Correspondance, I, I, Lettres 1-71 [Sources Chrtiennes, 426] (Paris 1997).
(
9
) These three fragments are: 1) inc. .. . -i.. .. . .i..i cu .c-v.c.. .c., v\.. ; .u; ..
i.i,..c.. vii.... .c. . i.i,..c.. .. u.i. v\..; des. . -v. u c.i;; 2) .cv.
vic; i..c..; -i. ...; uvi.. i..ic)i. .-ic; .iu. .. i\)..i -i. ..c)i. .; ..i i
\uvi; 3) u c.i.-. i)\. -i. v.. -i. -i-vi)..i cu. .-...ci. ).. u.i.i..
(
10
) III, 21, edited by A. Papadopoulos-Kerameus, Varia Graeca Sacra. Sbornik greceskich neizdannych bogoslovskich
tekstov IV-XV vekov (St. Petersburg 1909, reprint in Subsidia byzantina, 6 [Leipzig 1975]), p. 236, 19 (;) 25
(i..i.). This text of Leo is probably written between 890 and 907.
(
11
) PG 31, 1333B9 (.i.) - 11 (ii.i.).
(
12
) PG 31, 180C5 ( |-) - 8 (.i-vuc..).
(
13
) PG 65, 253A4 (.i.
2
) - 8 (\..i.).
(
14
) From his Alloquia (CPG 7361), edited by the monk Augoustinos, '1u c.u vi; .. i33i Z.c.i -.)i\i.i
vi.u .).\.i', Neva Siwvn 12 (1912) p. 861, l. 11 (1 .i 3.i; vc.uic)i. -i. uv.....) - l. 3 ab imo (v....).
3
The text studied in this article is followed by an anthology mostly compiled from the
opuscula of Marc the Monk (folios 238
v
-242
v
) (
15
).
The second manuscript containing the same text, is Athous, Lavra K 116 (
16
), on folio 285
r

(we will from now on refer to this manuscript as B). This paper manuscript from the sixteenth
century is written by different scribes, most of them unknown just like the person who
copied our text . B was probably achieved in the monastery of the Great Lavra, because
another text present in B, the Liber Asceticus of Maximus the Confessor (CPG 7692; folios
373
r
-438
r
), was copied from Mosquensis, Bibliothecae Synodalis 439, a manuscript which has
been situated in the library of Lavra ever since the fourteenth century (
17
); there is still another

(
15
) The lemma in the text reads u c.u vi; .. i-u; in the margins we also find .-\, (sic) vi.u
.).\.;. These fragments, which have sometimes reworked the souce, are (for Marc the Monk, we used the edition of G.-
M. de Durand, Marc le Moine. Traits, I et II [Sources Chrtiennes, 445 and 455] [Paris 1999 and 2000]: Marc the Monk,
Opusculum V, Ad Nicolaum praecepta animae salutaria (CPG 6094): II, 34 (1.; . cu.... [.; cu.. cod.]) -
38 (i.i\i3) et 43 ( |i.) - 46 (-ii..c.. [i..c.. cod.]) (II, p. 112); III, 29 ( .iu. .\...;) - 36 (u.ii.
,...c)i.) (II, p. 116); IV, 14 ( |.; v. u.) - 23 (iv-i\uv..), 26 ( ci) - 28 (i,...ci;), 29 (c.)i...) - 32
(c...u;) et 34 ().i3.u..) - 37 (.)u\ii. [.cici. cod.]) (II, p. 118); V, 13 (|..c..;) - 16 (..u.;, -i.),
17 (..c..;) - 18 (u ).u) et 20 ( 0 ,i) - 23 (.v.v..) (II, p. 124); VII, 56 ( vu.c.. ...), 54 (ci-.;
v.v.ic..i. [v.v.i..i. cod.]), 54 (`.;), 56 ( ,u) - 57 (-iic)i.i. [-iic)i.i. cod.]) and 59
(..c) - 59/60 (iv.,i.i.) (II, p. 132); VIII, 6 (uv.)i..i) - 7 (-ii.ui.), 14 (|. ) - 16 (,...c)i.) et 25 (..) -
26 (i;) (II, p. 134-136); IX, 13 ( ...)) - 19 ())i...) (II, p. 138); X, 25 (|.-i\u..;) - 29 (.u;) (II, p. 142-144);
XIII, 1 (|. ) - 9 (,ui.;), 13 (.;) - 14 (i..i;), 24 (.) - 29 (..\iu...) et 30 (.- u.i..;) - 38 (iu) (II, p. 150-
154). Marc the Monk, Opusculum III, De paenitentia (CPG 6092): XI, 18 (`u;) - 26 ( .i..i) (I, p. 250). Marc the
Monk, Opusculum II, De his qui putant se ex operibus iustificari (CPG 6091): 135, 6 (|. ) - 13 (u... c.) (I, p. 170-
172); 211, 3 ( |u.;) - 33 ( viuc..)i) (I, p. 198-200). Marc the Monk, Opusculum IV, De baptismo (CPG 6093):
XIII, 11 (|i. u) - 21 (.).\..) (I, p. 374). Three unidentified pieces: 1) 0. v\..c. .. i.).v.. .. ).\...
.ui.c... . ).., .i uc.c.. ,..c..; i\)u;, ci-. .. -i.uc.., -i. .i..i -i. .;
\,.c.; -i. ... -uv .,ic.i .. i,....c)i. -i. i)\... . u ).u i.).v., .c.. i\)..;
i,.. vii ).u ,u; v; u; iiu; .. v... u.i... \,.cu;; 2) c.; ..u. .u; -i.
.i..i v.. .ic.. ..; ..i., ii.i u.; ivi.i ci ..; i. ).u vi... -.i; 3)
c.; .c.. .i..i i..i;, u v.. -c.i. -i i,....c).ci. u ,i .c..
.\ic; -i. .i-.c.; u .c.u, -i. u .c.. i))ic.i -i. i....; ., -i. v;
i.).vu; u ).u -ii\\i, -i. v.; . v..ui. -i. -i)i; -i.i, . iu; ,.i. .
-u.. (this final phrase is Mt. 5, 3 and 8). A part of chapter 97 from the Capita centum de perfectione spirituali by
Diadochus of Photice, p. 159, 19 ( 0 ..u. ).\.. . .iuu -i)i.ci. -i.i. .) - 21 (iviuc. ...).
Marc the Monk, Opusculum II, De his qui putant se ex operibus iustificari (CPG 6091): 55, 2 (. ) - 4 (u.i..) et 1
(\.,uc..) - 2 (l..ui;) (I, p. 146); 72, 1 (l\\.) - 2 (-ii..)i) (I, p. 150); 114, 1 (0u- .c.) - 5 (vii..i.)
(I, p. 164); 197, 1 ( |-; cu..u) - 5 (vii..i.) (I, p. 192). Maximus the Confessor, Capita de caritate (CPG
7693), the totality of II, 20, from l. 1 (0. . ,u. .. i.. u..;) to 5 (c)i .i iu;) (edition of A.
Ceresa-Gastaldo, Capitoli sulla carit [Verba seniorum. Collana di testi e studi patristici, N.S. 3] [Rome 1963] 100). Marc
the Monk, Opusculum II, De his qui putant se ex operibus iustificari (CPG 6091): 39, 1 (0u- .c.. .,-i;) - 2
(.).\....) (I, p. 142). Marc the Monk, Opusculum I, De lege spirituali (CPG 6090): 136, 1 (A,.ci. .) - 3
(...-i) (I, p. 108); 148, 1 (\..;) - 2 (uvi..) (I, p. 114); 190, 1 ( 0) - 2/3 (.v\i-c.i.) (I, p. 122); 192, 1 (M ) -
193, 3 (.u.c-.i.) (I, p. 124). Marc the Monk, Opusculum II, De his qui putant se ex operibus iustificari (CPG 6091): 29, 1
(0u-) - 2 (vc.u;) (I, p. 138); 38, 1 (0u..i) - 2 (..i.) (I, p. 142).
(
16
) For a description of this manuscript: Spyridon of Lavra AND S. Eustratiades, Catalogue of the Greek Manuscripts in the
Library of the Laura on Mount Athos with Notices from other Libraries [Harvard Theological Studies, 12] (Cambridge [MA]
- Paris - London 1925) 242-3. There can be found some supplementary elements in father . Sargologos, Un trait de vie
spirituelle et morale du XI
e
sicle: le florilge sacro-profane du manuscrit 6 de Patmos (Thessalonica 1990) 89-90, and in
Sibylle Ihm, Ps.-Maximus Confessor. Erste kritische Edition einer Redaktion des sacro-profanen Florilegiums Loci
Communes nebst einer vollstndigen Kollation einer zweiten Redaktion und weiterem Material [Palingenesia, 73] (Stuttgart
2001) XXXVIII-XL.
(
17
) P. Van Deun, Maximi Confessoris Liber Asceticus [Corpus Christianorum, Series Graeca, 40] (Turnhout-Leuven 2000)
195-7.
4
argument: one of the scribes of B, a certain Neophytos (who died in february 1520), can be
related to the monastery of the Great Lavra (e.g. as hgoumenos) (
18
).
The Lavra codex is written more clearly than codex A, but, unfortunately, it only contains
the alpha and beta sections of our text; we should also note that the scribe of B made some
phonetic errors that are not found in A, like .\... instead of ..\....
Our text is preceded by Sermo XII, De ascetica disciplina, of S. Basil (CPG 2890; folio
284
r-v
) (
19
) and by Letter 43 attributed, wrongly, to the same author (CPG 2900; folio 284
v
),
and is followed by two extracts from the Syntagma ad quendam politicum by Pseudo-
Athanasius (CPG 2286; olio 285
r
) (
20
) and by a fragment taken from the Sermones LXIV of
Macarius/Symeon (CPG 2410; folio 285
r-v
) (
21
).

The text reads as follows:
A .i.-; v\...i;, uvi- -i. iv....c.; i vi-.-;, .,-i..i
-i. .\,c.; i cu.i;, c..v ..\... -i. -i.i; iv....c.; i
vc.u;, .,.; -i. vc, -i. .. u i, i.).v.. )u, i
iv....c..; i\)..;, v..);, -i. i v..)u;, i-ui .i -ii.u..; i
c).i;, )3; -u.u, -i. i )3u -u.u, )3; -\ic... i i,iv; ).u,
c.i.-; -v;, -i. i c.i.-u -vu .i -u.., .c; i..c..; -i.
vi\.. i i,iv; ).u, )3; ).u (
22
), .\; ., i)3.i . i.u; i
i-cu., i.i.c.; -cu, -i. i i.i.c..;, .c; v; iu. i
)...i;, vi.; (
23
), -i. i vi..;, ..-.c.; c.i; i ,u;, c.i,
-i. i c.i;, -c; i . vi..., ).;.
3ic.\.u; vic; -.c..;, ).; 3ic.\.u; i; -.c..;, i.).v; 3ic.\.u;
vi).., .i; 3i; .i., ... ).\i 3i; vi-.-., i,.i 3i;
)...-., v..cvic; -i. cu,uc.; 3i; cuic, i- -i. .
-uv. (
24
) 3i; . uvi-.-., vii-u... u ..u vi; (
25
).

(
18
) On Neophytos, see e.g. P. Lemerle - A. Guillou - N. Svoronos - Denise Papachryssanthou (collaboration by Sima
irkovi), Actes de Lavra, IV [Archives de l'Athos, XI] (Paris 1982) 49-50 and 62.
(
19
) This text can also be found in our manuscript A, folios 242
v
-244
r
.
(
20
) PG 28, 1401B6 ( 0 .;) - C12 (.\i3..) and 1403C12 (..\i;) - 1408A12 (iuu).
(
21
) 1, 1, 1 (1..) - 8 (-u.;) in the edition of H. Berthold, Makarios/Symeon, Reden und Briefe. Die Sammlung I des
Vaticanus Graecus 694 (B), I, Einleitung und Tabellen. Die Logoi B 2-29 [Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der
ersten (drei) Jahrhunderte] (Berlin 1973).
(
22
) -u.u B.
(
23
) vi.; B.
(
24
) -.-uv. sic B.
(
25
) Here ends Athous, Lavra K 116.
5
|i..ui. ,u .. )...i, ,iu.i (
26
) . \,.c; (
27
) .. uv.)i..i , -i\
.).. cv., -i. -i.i i,i) .).. \,. ).u , ivi\ i..;
-iv).., -i. -i.i iv... cu..; ).\,.. , c-\i i.... .
cv., -i. ,u c-\i u .i... (
28
) \,. ,.i; -c.-.., v\u;, ,.i;
.i.., v...i ,.)ui )i\icc; v; ,., u\., ,.)ui . -cu v;
ui.., .ciu...; 3.; (
29
) ,u,; ... ..; i u, v.ii. (
30
) -i.
.u; )...-; ..; ui..i c-..ii i...i., -i. ).... -i. ).\,.., -i.
\.,.. -i. v\.,.., -i. i.iviu.. -i. i.iviu.i. ..)i i,.i .i;, ..; ).;
iu. i ..; .\;.

Translation
The principle of the monastic way of life is obedience and humiliation. The principle of a
virtuous life, is abstinence and confession. The principle of tranquillity is silence of the lips
and humiliation of the heart. The principle of prayer, is temperance and attention, and the
principle of these two, is the flee of people. The principle of true humiliation, is suffering, and
the principle of suffering, are tears with compunction. The principle of wisdom, is fearing the
Lord. And the principle of fearing the Lord, is fearing punishment. The principle of love for
the Lord, is physical labour; and the principle of physical labour because of the Lord, is hatred
against indulgence. And to return to that subject, the principle of love for the Lord, is fearing
the Lord. The ultimate goal, is fearlessness paired with shame. The principle of detachment, is
withdrawal from the world. The principle of withdrawal, is hatred against the world itself. The
principle of contemplation, is a virtuous life; and the principle of the virtuous life, is the
mortification of the body. The principle of the soul, is the body; and the principle of the body,
is the world. The principle of everything is the Lord.

The ruler of each creation, is the Lord. The ruler of a visible creation, is man. The ruler of
passions, is the monk. The burden for the monk, is private will. The burden for someone who
lives virtuously, is laziness. The burden for someone contemplating, are distracting
circumstances and confusion. The burden for the hesychast, is sense of hearing and the noises.
The burden for he who is obedient, is not obeying his own father.

(
26
) ,i3.i A.
(
27
) For the expression ,iu.i \,.c;, see also John Climacus, Scala Paradisi, gradus XIV, PG 88, 868A7.
(
28
) .i. A.
(
29
) Gal. 6, 14: .. . ,... -iuic)i. .. .. . ciu. u -u.u .. lcu \.cu, . u
.. -c; .ciu.i. -i,. -c..
(
30
) v.ii. sic A.
6

The soul is happy during contemplation. He who reasons, prides himself on arrogance.
The beautiful earth lets seed grow; also a gentle heart lets the word of the Lord grow. The
tender earth bears fruit rapidly; and the humble heart comes to a conception of the Lord
promptly. The hard earth dries the seed; and the hard soul does not impart reason. A gift of
honour for the earthlings is wealth. The bridge over the sea to the land, is wood; the bridge
over the world to heaven, is the crucified life. The chalk, the bird, flies high, and the
contemplative spirit climbs to heavenly dwellings. And he contemplates, and speculates about
the Lord, and he speaks as well as predicts, and he makes to cease as well as makes to cease
himself. Where the Holy Trinity is, is the one Lord; to Him is the glory at the end.