Spirituality in Late Byzantium: Essays Presenting New Research by International Scholars

This collection of essays on late Byzantine spirituality presents new research covering a very important but less than well-documented period of Byzantine culture. Its thematic cohesion, originality of thought, variety of methodological approaches and broad intellectual range, make it a valuable contribution to the field and an asset for academics and students alike. The essays discuss pertinent historical, textual, liturgical and doctrinal matters, and through new evidence and re-appraisals of accepted scholarly views they seek to make their mark.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
Introduction – Eugenia Russell

Part I: The Seeds of hesychia and the Theologians of hesychasm
Chapter One: The Reforming Abbot and his Tears: Penthos in late Byzantium
Hannah Hunt
Chapter Two: The Patriarch Philotheos Kokkinos and His Defence of Hesychasm
Norman Russell
Chapter Three: Symeon of Thessalonica and his Message of Personal Redemption
Eugenia Russell
Chapter Four: Reading Denys in late Byzantium: Gregory Palamas’s Approach
to the Theological Categories of ‘apophasis’ and ‘union and distinction’
James Blackstone

Part II: Four Case Studies on Late Byzantine Spirituality
Chapter Five: The ‘Testament of Job’: From Testament to Vita
Maria Haralambakis
Chapter Six: Donors and Iconography: The Case of the Church “St. Virgin”
in Dolna Kamenitsa (XIV c.)
Teodora Burnand
Chapter Seven: The Church of the Most Pure Virgin at the Village of Graeshnitsa
Robert Mihajlovski
Chapter Eight: Journey of the Soul to Perfection: Nicetas Stethatos
Jozef Matula

Afterword – Eugenia Russell
Illustrations
List of Contributors
About the Editor
Index
Hallowed be thy name