Antragsteller: Dr. Mihail Mitrea

Fourteenth-century Byzantium was marked by the acrimonious theological, political, and philological hesychast debates over God’s transcendent essence and his uncreated and participable energeiai. Although scholars have focused on the theological and polemical works produced during the debates, hesychastic influences made their way into a wider range of literary compositions. Among these was hagiography, which was employed as a powerful and versatile tool for promoting hesychast ideology by “translating” hesychastic ideals into models of identification. However, a systematic survey of hesychast hagiography is yet to be undertaken. The present research project seeks to address this gap by investigating hesychastic elements in late Byzantine saints’ lives, which sought to shape and were shaped by the disputes surrounding hesychasm.

The aims of this research project are twofold. First, to examine the relationship between hesychasm and space by exploring the spatial diversity of hesychastic experiences. Employing geographic information systems (QGIS), it will draw on hagiographical material to map the “heated” areas of hesychast practice and holy men’s trajectories in search of a ‘good’ place for achieving hesychia (inner spiritual tranquillity). Based on this investigation, the project will draw conclusions about the relevance and wider diffusion of hesychasm in late Byzantine society and the Orthodox commonwealth up to today. Secondly, to offer the editio princeps of a hitherto unedited work by Philotheos Kokkinos, one of the most prolific late Byzantine literati and hagiographers. As a staunch supporter of hesychasm, he composed numerous and extensive works in its defence, including a lengthy dogmatic letter on the divine nature and its energeiai addressed to Petriotes, one of his friends who seems to have been drawn by anti-hesychast teachings.

Learning about Petriotes’ anti-hesychast allegiance, Kokkinos undertakes to convince him to reconsider his standpoint. The letter Kokkinos sends to his friend documents a relevant example of lively exchange during the debates, and, more interestingly, sheds light on the volatility of people’s fidelity to the two opposing camps and the persuasion and negotiation involved in retaining allegiances and advancing the hesychast cause. The critical edition of this text will enlarge the corpus of writings available to students of the hesychast controversy, therefore advancing the study of hesychasm and late Byzantine theological thought more generally.

Bearbeiter: Dr. Mihail Mitrea

Projektlaufzeit: 01.07.2022 - 30.06.2024