Saint Gregory the Sinaite († 1347) (Life, Icon, Bibliography)

St Gregory the Sinaite (Wall Painting • Sionopetra monastery • Katholikon •
Hierom. Luke from Xenophontos • 2013)

Saint Gregory the Sinaite († 1347)

Teacher of Hesychasm on Mount Athos, Thrace and the Balkans

Saint Gregory was born around 1270 in the village of Koukoulo, near Smyrna. While still young, he went to Mount Sinai, where he became a monk, receiving the surname "Sinaite". He then settled in Crete with his fellow monk Gerasimos (from Evripos), where they followed the ascetic Arsenios, who taught them the art of hesychastic prayer with the monologic prayer (invocation): Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.

After a short stay, he sailed to Mount Athos and settled in the skete of Magoulas, near Iveron monastery, where he became a teacher of the Prayer of the Heart to many monks. Due to the large number of people coming to him for spiritual benefit, he was forced to retreat to inaccessible places, mainly in the area of the Simonopetra monastery. The caves where he practiced asceticism have survived to this day.

However, due to Turkish raids, he was forced, around 1326, to abandon Mount Athos with his disciples, heading towards Thessaloniki, with the aim of going to Sinai. After wanderings, they finally reached the Paroria desert, a mountainous region on the border between Bulgaria and Byzantium, where they settled, creating solitary dwellings for their livelihood. However, due to the envy of the local monks, the saint abandoned the area and returned to Mount Athos.

Not finding the conditions for the hesychast life he sought, he went back to Paroria, where many monks of different nationalities gathered around him. He founded a monastery on Mount Katakekryommeno as well as three smaller ones in the area. However, because they were exposed to dangers from villains, Gregory asked the Tsar of Bulgaria, John Alexander, to build a tower for their protection. In addition, he built a large church and cells and provided them with everything necessary for their living.

Paroria soon became a center with great appeal. Among his numerous disciples, the most famous were his biographer and later Patriarch of Constantinople Callistus I, Saint Theodosius, who became the founder of the Kelifarevo monastery, Saint Romulus of Ravanitsa, Saint Gregory of Gorniak, Saint Nicodemus of Tishmana, Jacob, bishop of Servia and many others who received the epithet "New Sinaites", with which they were remembered in the popular piety of the Balkan peoples and especially in the religious memory of the Serbian people.

The rulers of that time: Andronikos III Palaiologos, Stefan Dušan of Serbia, John Alexander of Bulgaria and Nicholas Alexander of Wallachia sought the friendship of Saint Gregory and corresponded with him in order to receive his spiritual advice.

In conclusion, it can be said that Saint Gregory was the source from which the hesychast movement started radiating through the Balkan world, as Mount Athos’s most precious legacy to it.

He peacefully died in 1347 and his memory is honored on April 6.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Life:

• Βίος καὶ πολιτεία τοῦ ἐν ἁγίοις πατρὸς ἡμῶν Γρηγορίου τοῦ Σιναΐτου συγγραφεὶς παρὰ τοῦ ἁγιωτάτου ἀρχιεπισκόπου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως Καλλίστου, ed. M. I. Pomjalovski, Zitie iže vo svjatyh otca našego Grigorija Sinaite, Αγία Πετρούπολη1894

• Beyer Hans Veil, Κallistos Ι., Patriarch νοn Konstantinopel, Leben und Wirken unseres unter den Heiligen weilenden Vaters Gregοriοs des Sinaiten. Einleitιmg, kritische Ausgabe des griechischen Textes und russische Übersetzung. Ekaterinbourg 2006.

• Святитель Каллист, архиепископ Константинопольский, Житие преподобного Григория Синаита / . - Изд. Свято-Троицкая Сергиева Лавра. - [Сергиев Посад] : Тип. Патриаршего изд.-полигр. центра, 2005

• Kourilas Eulogios – Halkin François, «Deux Vies de saint Maxime le Kausokalybe, ermite au mont Athos (XIVe siècle)», Analecta Bollandiana 54 (1936), p. 82-89. Bruxelles 1936

Works:

• Νικόδημος Αγιορείτης και Μακάριος Κορίνθου (εκδ.), Η Φιλοκαλία των ιερών νηπτικών, τόμ. 4, σ. 31-88. Αθήνα 1991 (5th ed.)

• St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain and St. Makarios of Corinth (comp.), The Philokalia, vol. 4, p. 207-286. London 1998

• Balfour David, «Saint Gregory the Sinaite: Discourse on the Transfiguration. First critical edition», Θεολογία 52 (1981), p. 631-681

Studies:

• Balfour David, «Was St Gregory Palamas St Gregory the Sinaïte’s pupil?», Saint Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 28 (1984), p. 115-130.

• Balfour David, «Gregory the Sinaïte. Life and spiritual profile», Θεολογία 53 (1982), p. 30-62.

• Balfour David, «The works of Gregory the Sinaïte», Θεολογία 53 (1982), p. 417-429, 697-710, 1102-1118; Θεολογία 54 (1983), p. 153-183

• Bois Jean, «Grégoire le Sinaïte et l’hésychasme à l’Athos au XIVe siècle», Échos d’Orient, 5 (1901-1902), p. 65-73

• Венюков Д., диак. Прп. Григорий Синаит: Жизнь, творения, богословие. Сергиев Посад, 2004

• Γόνης Δημήτριος, Υπήρξε διδάσκαλος του αγίου Γρηγορίου του Παλαμά ο όσιος Γρηγόριος ο Σιναΐτης;», στο: Σιναϊτικά Ανάλεκτα. Περιοδική Έκδοσις, τόμος Α´. Αθήνα 2002

• Γόνης Δημήτριος, «Γεράσιμος ο Σιναΐτης ο εξ Ευρίπου, ιεραπόστολος της Ελλάδος κατά τους χρόνους της Φραγκοκρατίας», Θεολογία 53 (1982), p. 1119-1142

• Darrouzes Jean, «Grégoire le Sinaïte», in: Dictionnaire de Spiritualité 6 (1967), p. 1011-1014.

• Δεληκάρη Αγγελική, Άγιος Γρηγόριος ο Σιναΐτης: Η δράση και η συμβολή του στη διάδοση του ησυχασμού στα Βαλκάνια. Η σλαβική μετάφραση του βίου κατά το αρχαιότερο χειρόγραφο. Θεσσαλονίκη 2004

• Farman Gregory, Sinaites: The Journeys of Saint Gregory of Sinai

• Hisamatsu Eiji, «Gregorios Sinaites als Lehrer des Gebetes», (Münsteraner Theologische Abhandlungen 34), Altenberge, 1994

• Hisamatsu Eiji, «Hesychastische Gebetslehre bei Gregorios Sinaites», Studia Patristica 30 (1997), p. 218-223.

• Hisamatsu Eiji, «Theoria und Energeia bei Gregorios Sinaites», Studia Patristica 35 (2001), p.110-113

• Киселков Васил Сл., Григорий Синаит, представител на мистицизма във Византия през XIV век. София 1928 

• Lägreid Annelies – Glockner Rudolf – Walter Hermann, «Die kirchenslavische Vita des Gregorios Sinaites und ihre griechische Vorlage», in Festschrift für Rupprecht Rohr zum 60. Geburtstag, S. 293-311. Heidelberg 1979

• Николов Милен, «Цар Иван Александър и манастирите в Парория», Великите Асеневци, с. 436-440. Велико Търново, 2016

• Николов Милен, «Писаното за локализацията на Парория», Известия на Националния Исторически Музей 27 (2016), с. 403-408. София 2016

• Николов Милен, «Хронология на исихастките манастири в Парория през XIV в.», в: Културното наследство на Странджа, с. 103-108. София 2019

• Pandursky W. Gregorios Sinaites und seine Mystik: [Diss.]. Marburg, 1945

• Παπαδόπουλος Στ. «Γρηγόριος ὁ Σιναΐτης», ΘΗΕ, vol. 4, p. 703-707. Athens 1964

• Rigo Antonio, «Gregorio il Sinaita», in: G. Conticello, La théologie byzantine et sa tradition, Turnhout, 2002, vol. 2. p. 35-122

• Rigo Antonio, «La vita e le opere di Gregorio Sinaita», Rivista di studi bizantini e slavi (Bologne), 11 (1989), p. 579-608

• Rigo Antonio, «Les œuvres de Grégoire le Sinaïte», Annuaire de l’École Pratique des hautes études, Ve section, 10 (2001-2002), p. 363-366.

• Rigo Antonio, «Massimo il Kausokalyba e la rinascità eremitica sul Monte Athos nel XIV sec», in: S.  Chialà & L. Cremaschi, Atanasio e il monachesimo al Monte Athos: Atti del XII Conv. di spiritualità ortodoxa, Monastère de Bose, Magnano, 2005, p. 181-216.

• Tachiaos A. E., «Gregory Sinaites’s Legacy to the Slavs. Preliminary remarks», Cyrillomethodianum (Thessalonique) 7 (1983), p. 113-165.

• Van Parys Michel, «La liturgie du cœur selon saint Grégoire le Sinaïte», Irénikon, 51 (1978), p. 312-337.