Abstract
This study explores the spiritual way St. Theodore the Stoudite guided his monks. Our focus was to trace his guiding monastic experience via the thorough study of his writings on monasticism. For this reason, much light is cast on how a monk’s life worked under Theodore’s monastic reformation. It became obvious that the coenobitic life is the result of the fraternal love between the abbot and the monks who rejoice in communal living. Emphasis, thus, was put on St. Theodore’s writings (Letters, Catecheses, Epigramms) and on the rest of the literature that make up the so called “Stoudite family” (Testament, Hypotyposis, Liturgical and Canonical writings); all of them describe the coenobitic frame of life. The heart of the thesis is the study of the everyday life of the Stoudite monk within the historical context. The main feature of Theodore’s monastic reformation is the free cooperation and voluntary submission to the rules and the abbot’s will. The abbot (hegoumenos), on the one hand, ...
This study explores the spiritual way St. Theodore the Stoudite guided his monks. Our focus was to trace his guiding monastic experience via the thorough study of his writings on monasticism. For this reason, much light is cast on how a monk’s life worked under Theodore’s monastic reformation. It became obvious that the coenobitic life is the result of the fraternal love between the abbot and the monks who rejoice in communal living. Emphasis, thus, was put on St. Theodore’s writings (Letters, Catecheses, Epigramms) and on the rest of the literature that make up the so called “Stoudite family” (Testament, Hypotyposis, Liturgical and Canonical writings); all of them describe the coenobitic frame of life. The heart of the thesis is the study of the everyday life of the Stoudite monk within the historical context. The main feature of Theodore’s monastic reformation is the free cooperation and voluntary submission to the rules and the abbot’s will. The abbot (hegoumenos), on the one hand, as the distinguished, spiritual guide becomes the centre of the monk’s life. Obedience, on the other hand, as the most basic commandment presupposes the renunciation of the self and the voluntary resignation of selfish and sinful will. That is the sole way for the monk to rediscover the real self. The preservation of this true self and its elevation to deification (theosis) is the chief goal in the monastic community. Following the monastic example, the whole Church becomes a coenobitic living organism, when everybody tries to discover the inner self through the real meaning of communication. Being part of the body of the Church is actually being part of the body of Christ. Church and Christ are identical. The monks living in unity encompass the unity of the whole church and the unity of the whole Church is resumed in monastic community, as well. Another target was to trace the spirit of the writer and discover his monastic experience. Spotting the “Stoudite Canon” in the whole work of St. Theodore helped fully understand the reasons why he practised such a pastoral guidance. The search and crossing of the information relevant to the internal structure and organisation of the Stoudite monastic community helped us present successfully St. Theodore’s coenobitic restoration (in terms of administrative organisation, liturgical life, offices, penances, spiritual efforts, virtues, coenobitic unity, common life). Besides, while studying St. Theodore’s work, we came across with various patrictic references. The presence of both the Fathers of the Church and the desert means either that his thoughts were enriched by them or he used them to support his own teaching. Typically, Theodore’s sources are Apostle Paul, Basil the Great, Dorotheos, the Sayings of the Fathers and the St. John’s Ladder. Only through the patristic well established experience does Theodore secure the Orthodox faith and its applied ethics. Subsequently, the influence and impact that his work had on future monastic movement is really impressive. Ascetic literature and liturgical life had been enriched with the possession of his works. The next Constantinopolitan byzantine monastic foundations had Theodore’s Rite as an example to imitate. The famous Athonite Typicon owes its existence to the Stoudite one. Apart from the various Typica, the liturgical reading of the Parva Catechesis and its so many manuscript editions have enabled us regard Theodore as an expert on byzantine monasticism. His sermons still resonate to date.
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