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Handout #99 |
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The reproofs of the monk Nicetas Stethatos to the Latins |
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Nicetas Stethatos (c. 1005-1090 A.D.), a monk
at the monastery of Studios near Constantinople, was not just a
controversialist. He was also a good spiritual writer, a representative of
hesychasm (hesychia, repose in God), that form of contemplation bound
up with the incessant repetition of the Jesus prayer to the rhythm of
breathing: 'Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Those who still participate in the feast of unleavened bread are under the shadow of the law and consume the feast of the Jews not the spiritual and living food of God.. How can you enter into communion with Christ, the living God, while eating the dead unleavened dough of the shadow of the law and not the yeast of the new covenant .. ? And who has taught you to break up the marriage of priests ... ?Therefore, my brothers, make a serious examination of yourselves on these questions and see if it is not from this source (Judaism) that the four plagues which I have just mentioned and dismissed have come: namely, unleavened bread, fasting on Saturdays, priestly celibacy and the oblation of fast days. |
