Niketas Stethatos

Niketas Stethatos (Greek: Νικήτας Στηθᾶτος, Latin: Nicetas Pectoratus; c. 1000 – c. 1090) was a Byzantine mystic and theologian, and a critic of some Armenian and Latin customs. He is considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Hesychast controversy

Niketas was an ascetic or monk of the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople (now Istanbul) at the time when Alexius Studites was its abbot. In c. 1020 Niketas allied himself with his spiritual tutor, Saint Symeon the New Theologian. As Symeon's biographer, Niketas became the former's apologist when Symeon was attacked for his defense of the system of contemplative prayer known as hesychasm. In his biography of Symeon, Niketas incorporated his own views on the inner experience of beatifying illumination. He also wrote a treatise and several commentaries on ascetic practices of which are now contained in the fourth volume of the English editions of the Philokalia.

Polemist

Niketas took part in the 11th-century religious disputes. He wrote five books against Armenians and two books against Latins, where he criticized the use of unleavened bread, the Sabbath fasting, and the celibacy of priests. During the administration of Abbot Simeon, he disputed in 1054 with the papal legate Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, recanted in the presence of the emperor and of the papal legates and threw his book into the fire. Contrary to the opinion of A. Michel and some other scholars, there is no evidence that he renewed this dispute later ^[1].

Quotes

"If when you pray and psalmodize you speak in a tongue to God in private you edify yourself, as Saint Paul says. If it is not in order to edify his flock that the shepherd seeks to be richly endowed with the grace of teaching and the knowledge of the Spirit, he lacks fervor in his quest for Gods gifts. By merely praying and psalmodizing inwardly with your tongue, that is, by praying in the soul you edify yourself, but your intellect is unproductive [cf. I Corinthians 14:14], for you do not prophesy with the language of sacred teaching or edify God's Church. If Paul, who of all men was the most closely united with God through prayer, would have rather spoken from his fertile intellect five words in the church for the instruction of others than ten thousand words of psalmody in private with a tongue [cf., I Corinthians 14:19], surely those who have responsibility for others have strayed from the path of love if they limit the shepherds ministry solely to psalmody and reading." St. Niketas Stethatos, On Spiritual Knowledge, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, pp. 169–170.

References

1. ^ Бармин А.В. Полемика и схизма. История греко-латинских споров IX-XII вв. М.,2006. С.122-212.

• Encyclopædia Britannica article [1]
• Palmer, G.E.H; Sherrard; Ware, Kallistos (Timothy). The Philokalia, Vol. 4 pgs 76-77 ISBN 0-571-19382-X
• Бармин А.В., Полемика и схизма. История греко-латинских споров ΙΧ-ΧΙΙ вв. М., 2006. С. 122-212.
• Lauritzen, F., The debate on Faith and Reason, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 57, 2007, 75-82
• Lauritzen, F., Psello discepolo di Stetato, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 101.2, 2008, 715-725
• Преп. Никита Стифат. Первое обличительное слово против армян / Иером. Дионисий Шленов, М.А Рапава // Богословский вестник, 7. 2008. С. 39-104.