Niketas Stethatos (Latin: Nicetas Pectoratus, Greek: Νικήτας Στηθᾶτος/Nikētas Stēthatos) born c. 1000 died c. 1090
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Life
Eastern Orthodox saint, Byzantine mystic, Greek theologian, and outspoken critic of the Latin West. Niketas in the 11th-century wrote a polemic articulating the Greek Orthodox–Latin Roman Catholic church controversy of his time. This conflict culminated into the East-West schism of 1054.
Hesychast controversy
Niketas was an ascetic or monk of the Monastery of Stoudios in Constantinople (now Istanbul). In c. 1020 Niketas allied himself with his spiritual tutor, Saint Symeon the New Theologian, who as Symeon's biographer. Niketas became Symeon's apologist when Symeon was attacked for his defense of the system of contemplative prayer known as hesychasm. In his biography of Symeon, Niketas incorporated his own views on the inner experience of beatifying illumination. He also wrote a treatise and several commentaries on ascetical practices of which are now contained in the fourth volume of the English editions of the Philokalia.
Polemist
In the 11th-century conflict between the Greek Orthodox and Latin Roman Catholic church, Niketas served as theologian-polemist to Constantinople’s patriarch Michael Cerularius, who, during 1053–54, disputed sharply with the papal legate Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida. During the administration of Abbot Simeon, Niketas (also known as Nicetas Pectoratus), made a virulent attack on the Latins in a book which he wrote on the use of unleavened bread, the Sabbath, and the marriage of priests. In 1054 he was obliged to recant in the presence of the emperor and of the papal legates and to throw his book into the fire, but he renewed his dispute later.
Quotes
"If when you pray and psalmodize you speak in a tongue to God in private you edify yourself, as Saint Paul says. If it is not in order to edify his flock that the shepherd seeks to be richly endowed with the grace of teaching and the knowledge of the Spirit, he lacks fervor in his quest for Gods gifts. By merely praying and psalmodizing inwardly with your tongue, that is, by praying in the soul you edify yourself, but your nous is unproductive [cf. I Corinthians 14:14], for you do not prophesy with the language of sacred teaching or edify God's Church. If Paul, who of all men was the most closely united with God through prayer, would have rather spoken from his fertile nous five words in the church for the instruction of others than ten thousand words of psalmody in private with a tongue [cf., I Corinthians 14:19], surely those who have responsibility for others have strayed from the path of love if they limit the shepherds ministry solely to psalmody and reading." St. Niketas Stethatos, On Spiritual Knowledge, in The Philokalia, vol. 4, pp. 169-170.
See also
References
- Encyclopedia Britannica article [1]
- Palmer, G.E.H; Sherrard; Ware, Kallistos (Timothy). The Philokalia, Vol. 4 pgs 76-77 ISBN 0-571-19382-X
- Lauritzen, F., The debate on Faith and Reason, Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Byzantinistik 57, 2007, 75-82
- Lauritzen, F., Psello discepolo di Stetato, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 101.2, 2008, 715-725
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