Meditative Prayer in Moshe Cordovero's Kabbalah-ENDNOTES

Notes

Chapter 1

1 See Eifring, MS a. Thanks are due to Shahzad Bashir, Augustine Casiday and Ole Gjems-Onstad for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

2 In 1989, the Vatican issued a letter to Catholic bishops addressing the challenge posed by the influence of ‘eastern’ meditation methods like Zen, Transcendental Meditation and Yoga.

3 See Merton, 1968 ; Johnston, 1971 . 4 The Benedictine monk John Main (1926–82) advocated meditation on the Aramaic

prayer maranatha (which he called a mantra), and the Trappist monks William Meninger, Basil Pennington (1931–2005) and Thomas Keating (1923–) developed Centering Prayer, partly inspired by Transcendental Meditation.

5 DuBay, 2002 , p. 155. 6 Bispemøtet, 1979 . 7 Acem protested that the Church had lost out on modern psychology, and devoted a

whole issue of its periodical Dyade to a discussion of the relation between religion and psychology, see Grøndahl, 1980 .

8 French, 1965 , p. 60. 9 DeWeese, 1999 , p. 504.

10 de Jong, 1999a , p. 313. 11 Bowen, 1993 , p. 42. 12 Madelung, 1999 , p. 133. 13 Homerin, 1999 , p. 236. 14 See Khanna, MS. 15 Ambiguous attitudes towards techniques are also widespread in Asian meditative

traditions, as in Tibetan Rdzogs chen and Chinese Zen. 16 Similar ideals are found in Zen meditation, see Schlütter, MS. 17 Benson, 2000 . 18 Kohn, 2008 . 19 See Eifring, MS b. 20 Wolters, 1978 , ch. 7, pp. 69–70, and ch. 37–8, pp. 104–5. 21 In Asian traditions, the breath is understood as an expression of the transience of

existence in certain Buddhist contexts, or as a link to cosmic energy in Daoist and Yogic contexts.

Chapter 2

1 Assuming that most readers of this volume would not be specializing in Hebrew studies, it was decided to use simple, non-technical transliteration of Hebrew terms.

2 See, for instance, in Zevit, 2001 .

9781441122148_Notes_Fpp_txt_prf.indd 2379781441122148_Notes_Fpp_txt_prf.indd 237 7/5/2013 7:16:05 PM7/5/2013 7:16:05 PM

Notes238

3 At the Cultural Histories of Meditation conference, Halvorsbøle, Norway, May 2010. 4 See Bronkhorst, MS. 5 This search as of 10 November 2010 produced ‘around 58,700’ hits. 6 Such practices were discussed also in early scholarship; see for instance Pedersen,

1934 , p. 95f; Mowinckel, 1961 and for a more nuanced analysis Müller, 1969 . 7 See further Kaplan, 1982 and for instance Schottroff, 1967 , pp. 129–32. 8 See Severus, 1953 , which however has the later Latin Vulgate and its implied practices

as primary reference. 9 The term ‘classical Hebrew’ designates pre-Mishnaic Hebrew language. For practical

purposes, this includes Hebrew and Aramaic texts written before the Common Era. For this demarcation, see Clines, 1993 , pp. 14, 30–51. I assume that religion in the classical period was distinct from that reflected in later Jewish sources.

10 Further discussed in Stordalen, 2012c , 2013 . 11 The classical study for this phenomenon was Wolff, 1984 . His study was preceded by

important books like Delitzsch, 1861 ; Pedersen, 1934 ; Eichrodt, 1944 . 12 Non-experts might like to know that a Roman number after a Hebrew stem indicates

that the classical Hebrew lexicon holds two or more homonymous stems, and the number names which one of them is under consideration.

13 For this and the following, see HALOT and Jastrow, 1950 ad voc ., and also Negotiă and Ringgren, 1978.

14 Augustin, 1983 includes animal ‘murmuring’. 15 A community by the Dead Sea, its manuscripts broadly dating to the period 200

bce to 120 ce . Adding to the conventional pattern of naming I include the element f n to indicate the fragment number, where relevant. Text in [brackets] means the manuscript evidence is obscure.

16 See further 4Q171:3; 4Q403 f1 i:36; 4Q405 f4&5, line 4. 17 See for instance 4Q417 f1 i:6. 18 See further 4Q412 f1 line 6. 19 Notably hagûth and higgayôn . 20 See still the valuable study of Müller, 1969 . 21 As one example of a difficult decision, I ended up not considering a passage where a

word from the stem hagah could be associated to mantic practices: Isa. 8.19 (NRSV): ‘Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter ( hagah ); should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living. . . .. . .”’

22 See Malley, 2004 , pp. 45–8, 70–2, etc. 23 For more on this and the following, see Stordalen, 2008 , pp. 668–77. 24 See for instance Exod. 24.3–7; Deut. 31.11; Josh. 8.34; 2 Kgs 23.2; Neh. 8.1–12, etc. 25 See Smith, 1993 , p. 49, and see pp. 49–50, 130–31, 199–200, etc. 26 Broadly defined, Deuteronomic literature includes the books in the Protestant Old

Testament from Deuteronomy through 2 Kings (Ruth not included), and editorial layers elsewhere in the Bible connected to this literature.

27 Introduction and text in Renz, 1995 , pp. 447–56. 28 See already Burkitt, 1903 . 29 The verb ‘remember’ ( zakar ) is used in the second person only in Deuteronomy: 5.15;

7.18; 8.2.18; 15.15; 16.3.12; 24.18.22. Exod. 13.9 names the texts to be worn on the body as zikrôn , ‘memorial, reminder’. In Deuteronomic theology textual artefacts are more for remembering than for reflecting, see Schottroff, 1967 , pp. 117–26; 339, etc.

30 See the classical discussion by Augustin, 1983 ; see Müller, 1969 .


Notes 239

31 Tate, 1990 , p. 268, see 270. 32 On the redactional function of the first psalms, see recently for instance Süssenbach,

2005 , pp. 391–3. 33 See verses 23; 48; 78; 97; 99; 148. 34 Similar references are found for instance in CD 13.2; 1QSa 1.7; 4Q266 f8 iii.5. 35 Cited from the Accordance module Qumran Non-biblical Manuscripts: A New English

Translation , ©2009 by Michael Wise, Martin Abegg, Jr. and Edward Cook, Version 2.0, ad loc . Emphasis added.

36 Hebrew chesed , which would often translate ‘mercy’ or ‘covenantal love’. 37 For such chant, see Weil, 1995 ; Yeivin, 1980 . 38 For the following I am indebted to Halvor Eifring’s various introductions through

the history of this volume and also to Birgit Meyer, Utrecht, for critical and creative dialogue in developing my argument.

Chapter 3

1 Scholem developed these ideas further in Scholem, 1965 . 2 All references to Hekhalot literature will be cited from the paragraph numbers and

manuscript numbers of these editions. On the implications of these editions see Schäfer, 1983 . For recent overviews of Merkavah mysticism see Schäfer, 2009 ; and Swartz, 2006 .

3 See, for example, Schäfer, 1992 , which, while making a forceful argument against seeing these texts as unitary documents still uses these titles for organizing its survey of the literature.

4 Schäfer’s subsequent publication of Genizah fragments of Hekhalot literature (Schäfer, 1984 ) not only made some of the earliest manuscripts available, but served to advance the argument that this literature is highly fluid; in the Genizah fragments textual units appear in radically different order from those in the European manuscripts, thus supporting the argument that Hekhalot texts did not originate in a single version.

5 Schäfer ( 1986 ) argued that this was also true of Rabbinic literature in general, although this argument has been debated; see Milikowsky, 1988 . Certainly there are well-established examples of this phenomenon in rabbinic literature, such as the Tanḥuma-Yelamdenu complex, the Mekhilta and Avot de-Rabbi Natan, which appear in multiple versions with significant variants; see Bregman, 2003 ; Kister, 1998 and Nelson, 1999 . For overviews of this question, see Swartz, forthcoming, and Veltri, 2010 .

6 Halperin’s thesis rests on his argument that the Sar-Torah literature is the ‘centre’ of the Hekhalot corpus and predates the ascent texts; on this argument see Schäfer, 1992 , pp. 151–2.

7 This argument is spelled out in Himmelfarb, 1988 . 8 See, for example, Scholem, 1954 , p. 49. 9 Loḥesh . Often used of incantations.

10 Lewin, 1931 , p. 14. 11 On introductions to magical books and their rhetoric, see Swartz, 1996 , pp. 190–205. 12 See Swartz, 1996 , pp. 153–72. 13 See Schäfer, 1981 , §489, in which the practitioner is to cast his eyes down so as to

avoid gazing at the divine presence; for a translation of that text and an introduction to it, see Swartz, 2001 .

14 On Hai’s relationship to philosophy see Brody, 1998 , p. 299.


Notes240

15 Heb. qefitṣat ha-derekh , literally, ‘jumping on the way.’ 16 Lewin, 1931 , pp. 18–19. 17 By this explanation the Gaon has also managed to put distance between himself and

the mystics and the magicians without making them out to be utter heretics. He is no doubt aware of the Karaite polemicists, such as Salmon ben Yeruḥim, who had seized on the mystical texts, especially the extreme anthropomorphic treatise the Shi’ur Qomah , as examples of Rabbinic folly; see Cohen, 1983 , p. 32, n. 29.

18 See especially Wolfson, 1994 , pp. 38, 222. 19 On this point see especially Chernus, 1982 , pp.123–45. 20 Janowitz, 1989 ; Swartz, 1992 . 21 See for example Schäfer, 1981 , §206. 22 Heb. rov rashe ṣela’im . 23 On this passage and its background in medical history, see Swartz, 1996 , pp. 89–90. 24 On this point, see especially Chernus, 1982 . 25 On this element of the narrative, see Boustan, 2005 . 26 In the Babylonian Talmud (b. Nid . 67a), the term lo ‘altah lah tevilah refers to an

immersion invalidated by an interposing substance. See Lieberman, 1980 , p. 243; Schiffman, 1976 , p. 274.

27 Lieberman, 1980 , p. 242 suggests that the minority would include Rabbi Eliezer, who was known to take a stricter position on purity.

28 The myrtle branch dipped in balsam would serve to disguise the odour of the cloth according to Lieberman, or, in Schiffman’s view, act as a magic wand that would likewise affect the deposition and reinforce the action.

29 MS TS K1.21.95.C in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah collection of the Cambridge University Library, published in Gruenwald ( 1969a , b) and Schäfer ( 1984 , pp. 97–111; there it is designated text G8). For translations of portions of the fragment see Halperin, 1988 , pp. 368–9; Himmelfarb, 1988 ; and Swartz, 2000, from which this translation is taken. For discussions of this text, see those works as well as Gruenwald 1980 , pp. 188–90; Swartz, 1996 , pp. 125–6; and Wolfson, 1993 , pp. 19–26, and 1994, pp. 82–5. For a translation and discussion of another text from the same fragment, see Swartz, 1996 , pp. 126–30.

30 See Schäfer, Synopse , §554. 31 B. Ber. 60b; see also Birnbaum, 1949 , pp. 15–16. 32 See B. Ber. 57b. 33 Hayman, 1986 , pp. 176–82. 34 For a summary of the arguments for this dating as well as further evidence, see Steven

Wasserstrom, ‘Sefer Yeira and Early Islam: A Reappraisal’. 35 Hayman, 2004 , pp. 60–1 (§4 in his edition); Hayman’s translation is adapted here. 36 See Hayman, 1986 . On the idea in rabbinic literature that human thought can affect

the nature of God’s sovereignty, see Idel, 1988 , pp. 156–66. 37 This paradox was first pointed out to me in private conversation by Martin S. Cohen. 38 Heb. YH .

Chapter 4

1 Ben-Shlomo, 1965 ; Sack, 1995 . 2 For basic introductions to the Kabbalah and its doctrine of the sefirot, see Ariel, 1988 ;

Scholem, 1954 ; Tishby, 1989 .


Notes 241

3 To master the forest of different names for the sefirot, see Gikatilla, 1994 ; Robinson, 1994 .

4 Idel, 1995 . 5 Ibid. 6 On Jewish meditation, see Giller, 2008 ; Idel, 1985; Kaplan, 1982 ; Verman, 1996 . 7 On autohypnosis, see Shapiro et. al., 1984 . On a brief mention in connection to

Jewish meditation, see Garb, 2011 . 8 Pardes Rimmonim , quoted in its entirety in Kaplan, 1982 . 9 Kenig, 1996 , p. 201, para. 490, from ‘Tefilah Lemosheh Tefilat Rosh Hashanah Zivhei

Shelamim’, Introduction, p. 336b. 10 Ibid. 11 Ibid. 12 Kenig, 1996 , vol. 2, para. 53, from ‘Or Yakar parashat vayakheil’, Section 4, Group 11,

p. 85. 13 Kenig, 1996 , vol. 2, p. 206, para. 499; from ‘ Or Yakar Tikkunim ’, Gate 2, Section 6,

Group 1, p. 107. 14 Kenig, 1996 , vol. 2, p. 228, paragraph 561; from ‘ Tefillah Le-Mosheh ’, Gate 2, Section

5, pp. 22a–b. 15 Kenig, 1996 , vol. 8, p. 109, paragraph 349, from ‘ Or Yakar ’, introduction to the Zohar,

Gate 2, Siman 6, p. 97. 16 Cordovero, 1892, p. 82b, gate 5, siman 3. 17 Ibid., p. 83a, gate 5, siman 3. 18 Ibid.

Chapter 5

1 Green, 2004 , p. 72. 2 Concerning the emergence of Safed as a kabbalistic community in the sixteenth

century, see Fine, 2003 , chapter 2. For an overview of sixteenth-century Safed Kabbalah, see Fine, 2011 .

3 Concerning Luria’s biography, see Fine, 2003 , chapter 3. On Lurianic Kabbalah, see also Magid, 2008 .

4 See Fine, 2003 , pp. 91–2, 384, n. 35. Luria was likely influenced by Moses Maimonides (1138–1204) who included in his great legal code, Mishneh Torah ( Hilchot De’ot 6.3), the following: ‘It is a mitsvah (precept) incumbent upon every individual to love each and every fellow Jew as he does himself, as it is written “and you shall love your fellow as yourself.”’

5 For a valuable study of the development of this practice, and an enumeration of many of the texts in which it is found, see Hallamish, 2000 , pp. 356–82.

6 For a full-length study of Bet El, see Giller, 2008 . 7 See Giller, 2008 , pp. 19–53. 8 See Fine, 2001 , pp. 210–14. 9 Ibid., p. 212.

10 Quoted in Hallamish, 2000 , p. 363. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. See, as well, Benayahu, 1959 , pp. 134–51. 13 For a brief, excellent introduction to Hasidic thought, see Green, 1982 , pp. 1–27. For

a full-length study, see Elior, 2006 .


Notes242

14 Altshuler, 2006 , p. 81. Altshuler studies the Zlotchov school in this work, including a discussion of the practice under consideration.

15 For a full-length study of Meshullam Feibish, see Krassen, 1998 . 16 Heller, 1974 , section 33. Hesed le-Avraham (Amsterdam, 1685) is a kabbalistic work

by Abraham Azulai (c. 1570–1643), an ancestor of Hayyim Yosef David Azulai, mentioned above. See Altshuler, 2006 , p. 70.

17 Ibid. See Altshuler, 2006 , p. 70. 18 Ibid., section 34. 19 Ibid. English translation based on Krassen, 1998 , p. 133. 20 Ibid. 21 Ibid. English translation based on Krassen, 1998 , p. 134. Gematria refers to a technique

whereby each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a numerical equivalent (e.g. the first letter, aleph , is equal to one). In this case, the words for ‘love’ and ‘one’ have the same numerical equivalent, 13, thus ‘proving’ the inherent relationship between them.

22 Or ha-Emet , 1899, p. 102a. According to the printer’s introduction to this book, it was published based on a manuscript in the possession of Tsvi Hasid. On the notion of telepathic transmission in Hasidism, see the valuable discussion in Garb, 2011 , pp. 108–12, and the book more generally concerning the exercise of the imagination in Kabbalah and Hasidism. On visualization of the Divine and the imagination in Kabbalah, see also Wolfson, 1994 . See Altshuler, 2006 , p. 79.

23 Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, 2011 , Letter 6, p. 18. 24 Menahem Mendel of Vitebsk, 1911 , Letter 18, 24b–25a ff. Translation based on

Hallamish, 1996 , p. 270. 25 Zev Wolf, 1798 , 240a. See Altshuler, 2006 , p. 71. 26 Quoted in Hallamish, 2000 , p. 362 on the basis of Epstein’s prayer book commentary,

Mishnat Gur Aryeh , published in Konigsberg in 1765. Epstein was born in Grodno, Poland, but eventually became the rabbi of the east Prussian city of Konigsberg between 1744–55. The term ger is found in the Torah, Leviticus 19.33, in an echo of the injunction to love your neighbour: ‘The ger who resides with you shall be to you like a citizen of yours, and you shall love him as yourself. . . . . . .’ As far back as the sixteenth century Hayyim Vital had written ( Sha’arei Kedushah , part I, gate 5) that ‘one should love all human beings ( kol briyot ), even Gentiles’.

27 Avraham Hayyim of Zlotchov, 1833, 39b. 28 On the merging with the shaykh ( fanā’ fī’l shaykh ) as a prelude to the merging with

God ( fanā’ fī Allāh ), see Michel Boivin’s essay in this volume. 29 The Qadiriyah sect, found by Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (1088–1166) in Baghdad, spread

as far as Yemen, Egypt, Sudan, North and West Africa, India and Southeast Asia. The Naqshbandiyah was established by Baha al-Din Naqshband (d. 1388) in Bukhara and played an important role in India, China, Central Asia and the Middle East.

30 Fenton, 1994 , pp. 170–9. 31 Ibid., p. 177. 32 Ibid., p. 178. Concerning the Lurianic practice of communion with deceased saints,

see Fine, 2003 , pp. 259–99. 33 Concerning Pure Land Buddhism see Tanaka, 1990 . 34 Inagaki, 1995 , p. 103. 35 Translation based on www.ling.upenn.edu/buddhist-practice/metta-sutta.html 36 Siddur Avodat ha-Kodesh , p. 74. 37 Siddur Tefillah Yeshara ve-Keter Nehora , 2011, p. 40. 38 Kol Haneshamah , 1994, p. 150. Commentary by Arthur Green.


Notes 243

Chapter 6

1 Liddell et al., 1996 , s.v. 2 AP /GS I.32, see N 225. 3 AP /GS V.22, see N 168. 4 AP /GS V.29, N 127. 5 AP /GS XI.105, N 274. 6 AP /GS XII.9, see AP /G Jos Paneph, which in addition has ‘the small sýnaxis ’ at the

beginning of the list. 7 AP /GS X.93, see AP /G Poimen 168. 8 AP /G John the Short 35. 9 AP /GS III.55.

10 AP /GS VII.27. 11 Barsanuphius and John, Quaestiones , Letter 143. 12 Letter 730. 13 Dorotheus Epistula 4, 189.5. 14 Dorotheus Epistula 1, 180.8. 15 This is hardly surprising, since texts in antiquity were normally to be read aloud and

heard , also when performed in solitude. 16 In the Sources chrétiennes edition, the French translation reads ‘Mais celui qui ne peut

garder sans cesse la presence de l’esprit à Dieu doit joindre et associer la meditation et la prière des lèvres’. The addition of the word ‘prière’ is an indication of the tendency of modern translators to project modern notions of meditation on the ancient texts, in this case refusing to treat melétē as a verbal exercise. On melétē in modern translations, see Wortley, 2006 .

17 Translations from Greek are my own, unless otherwise stated. 18 For examples in other ancient texts of learning and reciting texts that were not

understood by the student, see Carr, 2005 , p. 32. 19 AP /G Achillas 5; Barsanuphius and John, Quaestiones. Letters 19, 115, 507, 517;

Dorotheus, Epistula 12, 197.17. 20 AP /G Antony 9, AP /GS XVII.2. 21 Note that Barsanuphius, as far as we can tell from extant manuscripts of LXX, has

altered the you shall talk of them ( lalēseis en autoís ) of the Septuagint to you shall ‘meditate’ on them ( melétēson autá ). There is no such variant attested in the critical apparatus of the Göttingen Septuagint, except for a citation by Theodoret of Cyrus ( PG 82.620).

22 The sense of AP /GS X.20 is similar, referring to Luke 18.13: ‘Always keep the words of the publican in your heart.’ See Luke 18.13: ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’

23 For a study on the emergence of this prayer in early monastic texts, see Johnsén’s contribution to the present volume.

24 This idea of meditating on, or practising one’s own death is developed by Evagrius in Rerum monachalium rationes , 9.

25 Similar instructions in Letters 154 and 226. 26 This passage from The Letter of Barnabas is quoted by Clement of Alexandria, Strom.

5.51.4; see 7.109.2. The same idea is expressed and developed further by Clement in Paed. 3.11.76, although the word melétē is not used.

27 See also Terje Stordalen’s contribution to the present volume. 28 Hieronymus, 1970 , p. 55.


Notes244

29 Pierre Hadot picked up on Rabbow’s conclusions without, it seems, really analysing the texts that Rabbow relied on, as shown by Newman ( 1989 ).

30 Contra Newman ( 1989 , p. 1,476 n. 6). 31 See also Epictetus Dissertationes 2.9.18; 3.21.2f; 4.6.35. More references to the

interiorization of philosophical thought in terms of digestion in pagan literature can be found in Rabbow ( 1954 , p. 325f).

32 AP /GS III.4. 33 Barsanuphius and John, Questiones 639. 34 AP /GS VII.27; Barsanuphius and John, Questiones 256, Dorotheus Doctrinae 69.2,

90.13. 35 AP /GS V.37. 36 AP /GS XI.105. 37 John the Short 35. 38 AP /GS V.35, V.53. 39 AP /GS XII.2. 40 Dorotheus Doctrinae 105.34. 41 Dorotheus Epistula 4, 189.4–5. 42 See Epictetus, Dissertationes 1.4.18; 1.6.40; 1.17.21; 1.25.1; 2.14.7; 2.23.25; 2.23.27;

2.26.4; 3.4.9; 4.1.81. Encheridion 1; 9.

Chapter 7

1 I am grateful to Samuel Rubenson, Per Rönnegård, Lillian Larsen, Bo Holmberg, Britt Dahlman, Benjamin Ekman and the rest of the research programme ‘Early Monasticism and Classical Paideia’ at Lund University, for valuable comments on this essay.

2 Here I understand meditation according to Eifring’s defintion in this volume, as ‘a self-administered technique for inner transformation’.

3 There is a great number of important works on the Jesus prayer in early monasticism, for example, Adnès, 1974 ; Bitton-Ashkelony, 2003 ; Guillaumont, 1980 ; Hausherr, 1960 ; Regnault, 1974 ; Stewart, 1998 ; Ware 1985 , 1986 .

4 I will mainly look at the tenth conference (and to some extent the ninth) of John Cassian’s Conlationes (‘Conferences’), where we have John Cassian’s most elaborate discussion of unceasing prayer. See also Stewart, 1984 , 1998 .

5 For the Jesus prayer in Diadochus of Photike, see for example, des Places, 1966 ; Ware, 1985 . Another early witness that will not be considered here is Nilus of Ancyra (fifth century), see Epistulae 2.140 (PG 79.260ab; 261d); 2.214 (312 cd); 3.273 (520b); 3.287 (521bc). The authenticity of the letters is somewhat uncertain, see Cameron, 1976 .

6 For the Jesus prayer in John Climacus, see, for example, Chryssavgis, 1986 , 2004 ; Ware, 1982 .

7 Philo of Alexandria (d. c. 40 ce ), who will be of some importance concerning the ‘remembrance of God’, was a Middle Platonist and not a Stoic.

8 This has been contested regarding Diadochus, but the contestations have been rightly refuted by Kallistos Ware, see Ware, 1985 , pp. 560–2.

9 See, for example, 1 Thess 5.17. 10 See, for example, Adnès, 1974 , pp. 1127–9; Guillaumont, 1980, p. 290; Hausherr 1960 ,

pp. 174–5, 209–210; Stewart, 1998 , pp. 100–13.


Notes 245

11 For Greco-Roman philosophy and early monasticism in recent scholarship, see Rubenson, 2012 .

12 Hausherr, 1960 , pp. 156–62; Sieben, 1980 , pp. 1407–11, 1413. 13 Hausherr 1960 , p. 170 (trans. Cummings, 1978): ‘un surtout prélude à la melétè des

Pères’. 14 See, for example, Adnès, 1974 ; Guillaumont, 1980 , pp. 289–90; Stewart 1998 ,

pp. 102–4. Stewart notes the use of melétē in Stoic philosophy, but does not seem to indicate any real connection with the monastic practice.

15 Augustine, Epistula 130.20 (ed. Goldbacher, 1904 ). 16 For common prayers in early monasticism, see, for example, Patrich, 1995 , ch. 4. 17 See, for example, John Cassian, Conlationes 10.10.14 (ed. Petschenig, 1886 ). 18 See Rönnegård’s contribution to this volume; Bacht, 1955 ; Wortley, 2006 , pp. 322–3 19 See also, for example, AP/G Apollo 2 (PG 79.133); The Virtues of Saint Macarius 35

(ed. Amélineau, 1894 ): meletē (probably from seventh to eighth century; in Coptic). 20 Conlationes 10.10.14 (trans. Ramsey, 1997 ). See also 10.10.2: incessabili. . . . . .

meditari ; 10.10.15: omni tempore ; 10.11.1: iugi meditatione , see 10.10.1. 21 Capita centum 59 (ed. des Places, 1966 ; trans. Palmer et al., 1979 –95, vol 1, modified).

See also Capita centum 61. 22 Capita centum 97. 23 Scala paradisi 20.20 (PG 88.941c). 24 Scala paradisi 4.15 (685ab). See also 4.36 (700d); 6.16 (797c). 25 Scala paradisi 18.6 (933d). 26 Scala paradisi 26c.65 (1092b). 27 Scala paradisi 27.61 (1112c). For breathing, see the discussion below. 28 aperispástōs , epimónōs , adialeíptōs , ennáou , apaústōs , see, for example, Scala paradisi

28.25 (1133c); 28.27 (1133d); 28.29 (1136a); 28.31 (1136ab); 28.60 (1140ab). 29 Conlationes 10.10.14. See also 10.10.1; 10.10.2: iugem dei memoriam ; 10.10.15: omni

tempore ; 10.11.1: iugi meditatione . 30 Capita centum 59; 85: apaústōs ; 88: ápauston ; 97: érgon ápauston . 31 Scala paradisi 18.5 (933d) and 21.7 (945c). See also 27.60–62 (1112c); 28.31 (1136ab). 32 See Rydell Johnsén 2007 , pp. 30–122. 33 Scala paradisi 28.5–11 (1129d–1132b); 28.19 (1132d). 34 Scala paradisi 28.26–31 (1133c–1136b); 28.60–63 (1140ab). 35 See also Luke 18.1: pántote proseúchesthai . 36 See, for example, Scala paradisi 28.29 (1136a). 37 Origen, De oratione 12.2 (ed. Koetschau, 1899 ). 38 See Wortley, 2006 , pp. 322–3, and Rönnegård’s contribution to this volume. 39 See, for example, Regnault, 1974 ; Ware, 1986 , pp. 176–7. 40 Conlationes 10.10.14; 10.10.2; 10.10.15; 10.11.1; Capita centum 59, 61, 97. For other

early sources, see also, for example, AP/G Apollo 2 (PG 65.136a); The Virtues of Saint Macarius 35 (ed. Amélineau, 1894 ): meletē (in Coptic).

41 Capita centum 59: Kyrios Jēsous ; 61: tó Kýrie Iēsoú . 42 See Barsansuphios and John, Quaestiones et Responsiones 175: Kýrie Iēsoú Christé

eléēsón me (ed. Neyt and Angelis-Noah, 1997 –8). 43 Queastioens et Responsiores 39: Iēsoú boēthei moi . 44 Prayers addressed to Jesus Christ was not uncommon in the early church prior to the

emergence of early monasticism (see, for example, Hausherr, 1960 , pp. 180–7), but the repetitive use of such prayers seems to originate with early monasticism.

45 Ware, 1986 , p. 177. See also, for example, Adnès, 1974 , p. 1129; Regnault, 1974 .


Notes246

46 See Regnault, 1974 . There is a variety even in Gaza in the sixth century, even though we find versions closer to the classical formula in Gaza. See also Hausherr, 1960 , pp. 187–97. For other early versions see, for example, AP/G Elias 7 (PG 54.184d–185a); Nilus of Ancyra, Epistula 2.140 (PG 79.260ab); 2.214 (ibid., 312 cd); 3.273 (ibid., 520bc); The Virtues of Saint Macarius 13, 34, 35, 41, 42, 44. See also Grillmeyer and Hainthaler, 1996 , pp. 184–9. Short formulas have also been found in seventh–eighth-century inscriptions in monastic settlements in Egypt, see, for example, Guillaumont, 1979 .

47 Scala paradisi 4.112 (721d–724b). 48 Scala paradisi 21.7 (945c): Iēsoú onómati (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery,

1979 ). 49 Scala paradisi 15.54 (889cd) (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 , modified).

See also the reference to Iēsoú hē proseuchē in 9.10 (841c). 50 See Bartelink, 1980 . 51 Scala paradisi 14.32 (869a); 4.112 (721d–724b); 27.61 (1112c). For breathing see

below. 52 Scala paradisi 28.10 (1132b). 53 Scala paradisi 28.19 (1132d). See also 28.5 (1129d); 28.10 (1132b). 54 See, for example, AP/G Achillas 5 (PG 54.125ab); and Wortley, 2006 , pp. 317–21,

325–7, and Rönnegård’s contribution to this volume for further references. 55 Besides the references below, see also Virtues of Saint Macarius 41: ‘words welling up

from your lips’ (trans. Vivian, 2004 ); 42. 56 Capita centum 61: sygkrázousan , see also Capita centum 59, 61, where analogies

implying that something is uttered are used to explain the practice. 57 See Lewis and Short, 1879 , decanto, s.v. Decanto usually implies a sound in meanings

like, for example, to sing, to repeat in a singing manner, to recite or to play (upon an instrument).

58 Conlationes 10.10.14 (trans. Ramsey, 1997 , modified): decantare non desinas . See also 10.10.15: decantare ; decantatio .

59 Scala paradisi 28.19 (1132d), see 28.17 (1132cd). 60 Methodos tēs hieras proseuchēs kai prosochēs , p. 164 (ed. Hausherr, 1927 ). The

dating of the text is debated. Traditionally it has been attributed to Symeon the New Theologian in the tenth century, but Irénée Hausherr has questioned the attribution and argued for a dating as late as in the early fourteenth century, see Hausherr, 1927 , pp. 133–4.

61 See Chryssavgis, 2004 , pp. 230–1; Hausherr, 1960 ; Ware, 1982 , pp. 49–50. 62 There is also a clear reference to breathing in The Virtues of Saint Macarius 42,

which might be more or less contemporary (perhaps seventh–eighth century) with Climacus. Here the Jesus prayer is said to be something that one should ‘say with each breath’ ( ejos kata še pnifi ). For dating, see Guillaumont, 1974 .

63 Trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 , modified. 64 Ibid. 65 Ibid. 66 As mentioned above, there is also a notable parallel but of somewhat uncertain date

in Coptic in The Virtues of Saint Macarius 42, see note 62 above. 67 Sententiae Sexti 289 : tón Theón . . . . . . anápnei (ed. Chadwick, 1959 ); Clement of

Alexandria, Quis dives salvetur 26.6: Théon anapneín (ed. Früchtel et al., 1970 ). 68 Origen, Fragmenta in Lamentationes 116: tón Christón anapnéousi (ed. Klostermann,

1901 ).


Notes 247

69 Vita Antonii 91: tón Christón aeí anapnéete (ed. Bartelink, 2004 ). 70 Gregory of Nazianz, De moderatione in disputando 21 (PG 36.197): tá toú Pneúmatos

. . . anápnei . 71 One exception is Gregory of Nazianz, Oratio 27.4 (PG 36.16b), where anapneúō is a

verbal adjective with God as objective genitive. 72 Scala paradisi 28.23 (1133b) (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 ). 73 Scala paradisi 15.81 (900cd) (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 , modified),

see 28.23 (1133b); 25.58 (1000d). 74 See Furley, 1984 ; Temkin, 1977 . For Galen, see, for example, De usu respirationis 5.4:

‘the heart . . . . . . has need of breathing to the same extent that we ourselves need regulation of heat. . . . . . . The breathing through the arteries [sic!] is enough for all other members, but for the brain and the heart two special organs of breathing are provided; for the first, the nostrils; for the second, the lung’ (ed. and trans. Furley and Wilkie, in Furley and Wilkie, 1984 ). Considering his whole corpus, Galen is, however, ambiguous regarding in what sense air passes from the lungs to the heart, see Temkin, 1977 , pp. 154–61. For the role of Galen in early Byzantine medicine, see Duffy, 1984 .

75 Conlationes 10.14.3 (trans. Ramsey, 1997 ). See also 10.12; 10.10.2. 76 See Conlationes 10.10.2; 10.12: dei memoriam ; Capita centum 61: toú Kyríou

Iēsoú mnēmē and Iēsoú mnēmē; Scala paradisi 27.61 (1112c): Iēsoú mnēmē . For ‘remembrance of God’, see Sieben, 1980 .

77 Capita centum 59. 78 Capita centum 61 (trans. Palmer et al., 1979 –95, vol 1, modified), see also 59; 97. See

also Ware, 1985 , pp. 563–5. 79 Scala paradisi 28.31 (1136ab) (trans. Holy transfiguration Monastery, 1979 ,

modified). See also 28.29 (1136a), 28.60 (1140ab), 28.10 (1132b), 28.17 (1132cd). 80 Scala paradisi 28.10 (1132b). See also 28.17 (1132cd). 81 Conlationes 10.12; 10.10.2. See 10.14.3. 82 Capita centum 59 (trans. Palmer et al., 1979 –95, vol 1, modified). See also Capita

centum 88; 97, and Ware, 1985 , pp. 563–5. 83 Scala paradisi 14.32 (869a) (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 , modified). 84 Diadochus, Capita centum 59 (trans. Palmer et al., 1979 –95, vol 1, modified), see also

Capita centum 97. 85 Capita centum 85; 33 (demons, evils); 31 (deceptions); 88; 97 (worldly thoughts). 86 Capita centum 31. 87 Capita centum 97. See also Ware, 1985 , pp. 562, 566. 88 Conlationes 10.10.11 (distractions, wandering thoughts, fantasies); 10.11.1 (thoughts);

10.10.14; 10.11.4 (demons). 89 Conlationes 10.10.3 (trans. Ramsey, 1997 ). 90 See also Conlationes 10.10.14; 10.11.1. It is notable that John Cassian also underscores

the need to purge oneself from passions as a preparation for unceasing prayer, see, for example, Conlationes 9.2–6.

91 Scala paradisi 28.19 (1132d). 92 Scala paradisi 28.10 (1132b). 93 Scala paradisi 28.63 (1140bc). See the vocabulary in 18.5 and 21.7. See also 15.53–54

(889cd). 94 Scala paradisi 18.5 (933bc); 21.7 (945c). 95 Scala paradisi 28.10 (1132b). See also less clear statements in 28.21 (1133a); 28.25

(1133c). 96 Scala paradisi 28.31 (1136ab).


Notes248

97 Conlationes 9.2.1–2: inmobilem tranquillitatem mentis ; 10.14.3: cordis atque animae puritatem .

98 Scala paradisi 27.61 (1112c) (trans. Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1979 , modified).

99 See, for example, Conlationes 10.11.1–3; 10.10.14; Capita centum 59; Scala paradisi 28.19 (1132d). See also Ware, 1985 , pp. 566–8.

100 For a general definition of melétē and for its development, see Rabbow, 1954 ; Hieronymus, 1970 and Rönnegård’s contribution to this volume.

101 See, for example, Salem, 2009 , pp. 15–16, 39–41. See also memorization and meditatio of a rhetorical speech in Quintillian, Institutio oratioria 11.2 (ed. Russel, 2001 ).

102 For Epicureanism, see, for example, I. Hadot, 1969 , pp. 52–4; Nussbaum, 1994 , pp. 132–3; Salem, 2009 , pp. 15–16, 39–44; for Stoicism, see, for example, Armisen-Marchetti, 2004 –5; Hadot, 1969 , pp. 55–60; Newman, 1989 .

103 See Newman, 1989 , p. 1,476. 104 Epistula 16.1 (ed. Gummere, 1917 –25); De beneficiis 7.2.1 (ed. Basore, 1928 –35).

See also Armisen-Marchetti, 2004 –5, p. 162. For melétē as a daily practice in Stoic meditation in general, see Newman, 1989 , p. 1,475.

105 Epistula 16.1; De ira 3.41.1 (ed. Basore, 1928 –35). For a constant and repetitive practice in Stoic meditation in general, see Newman, 1989 , pp. 1,475, 1,480. For Epicureanism, see Salem, 2009 , pp. 16, 39–41.

106 For a repetitive and prolonged ( diu ) practice, see Epistula 71.31; subinde : Epistula 94.26; saepe : 94.52.

107 De beneficiis 7.1.3–4 (trans. Basore, 1928 –35). 108 Epistula 2.4. For digestion, see also Epictetus, Dissertationes 3.21.1–3 (ed. Schenkl,

1916 ). 109 Epistula 71.31. 110 Newman 1989 : 1,493–4, see also 1,475, 1,484, 1,498. 111 Epistula 11.8; 94.26–8; 94.43. 112 Epistula 94.43 (trans. Gummere, 1917 –25); see also 94.26–8. Epictetus refers to

a short concise rule or principle ( kanōn ) instead of a sententia , see, for example, Dissertationes 4.4.29.

113 See Armisen-Marchetti, 2004 –5, p. 164; Newman, 1989 , p. 1,480. See also Epictetus, Dissertationes 3.24.103.

114 Epistula 15.7–8 (trans. Gummere, 1917 –25). See also Epistula 54.6. 115 Epistula 94.47: sententiae familiariter in animum receptae . See also Epistula 94.43:

saepe tecum sint ; 71.31: alte descendit et diu sedit ; 7.11: condenda in animum . For interiorization in Stoic meditation in general, see Newman, 1989 , pp. 1,475–6. For Epicureanism, see Salem, 2009 , pp. 16–17.

116 Epistula 16.1: firmandum et altius cotidiana meditatione figendum ; 11.8: affigere ; De beneficiis 7.2.1: adfigere .

117 Epistula 71.31: infecit . 118 Epistula 71.30; 94.26; De beneficiis 7.13.4; 7.2.1. See also Epistula 16.1 and Newman,

1989 , p. 1,476. 119 Newman, 1989 , p. 1,475. 120 See notes 86, 87 and 89 above. For an exception, see Institutiones 2.13 (Guy, 1965 ). 121 For the importance of compunction, see, for example, Hausherr, 1960 , pp. 219–34. 122 See Newman, 1989 , pp. 1,486–8.


Notes 249

123 Armisen-Marchetti, 2004 –5, 161–79, esp. 166; see also Seneca, Epistula 94.47–8. 124 Epistula 2.4; 16.1. 125 De ira 3.41.1; 2.12.6. 126 Epistula 16.1. 127 Brakke, 2006 , pp. 38–41, esp. 40; see also Brown, 1989 , pp. 53–4. 128 There is an ideal of remembering God in the Old Testament as well, and this is

likely in some sense behind the ‘remembrance of God’ in Philo (see Sieben, 1980 , pp. 1,408, 1,413–14), but the notion as such is not found in the Old Testament.

129 Meditations 6.7. 1 (ed. Farquharson, 1944 ): mnēmē theoú . See also 10.8.4: tó memnēsthai theōn .

130 Boccaccini, 1991 , pp. 201–5. 131 De vita contemplativa 26 (ed. Cohn and Reiter, 1915 ). For Philo and ‘remembrance

of God’, see Boccaccini, 1991 , pp. 191–205. For the therapeutae , see Guillaumont, 1979 , pp. 25–37.

132 Sieben, 1980 , pp. 1,407–11, 1413. See also Hausherr, 1960 , pp. 156–62 and Boccaccini, 1991 , pp. 191–4. For further references, see Sieben, 1980 .

133 Boccaccini, 1991 , pp. 204–5. 134 See Adnès, 1974 ; Guillaumont 1980 , pp. 289–90. 135 See, for example, Adnès, 1974 , pp. 1,127–9; Guillaumont, 1980 , p. 290; Hausherr

1960 , pp. 174–5, 209–10; Stewart, 1998 , pp. 100–13. 136 For memorization and melétē , see, for example, Epictetus, Dissertationes 1.30.5;

2.2.25; I. Hadot 1969 , pp. 55–60; P. Hadot, 1995 , pp. 85–6; Salem, 2009 , pp. 16–17, 39–44. See also Quintillian’s discussion of meditatio and memory in Institutio oratoria 11.2 (ed. Russel, 2001 ).

137 For repetition and rumination related to ‘remembrance of God’, see Boccaccini, 1991 , pp. 198–202.

138 See Newman, 1989 , p. 1481, with reference to Epictetus, Dissertationes 3.24.95–102.

Chapter 8

1 See the text of Simeon the Graceful in Mingana, 1934 , pp. 188b–189a. 2 Isaac of Nineveh discusses the ambiguity in homily 22 (Bedjan’s Syriac text),

regretting that the same word is used for two different things, the standard form of prayer in which God is addressed with verbal requests (often with selfish motives), and the ‘pure prayer’ or ‘spiritual prayer’ that includes no petition.

3 Sebastian Brock ( 1999 ) has used the concept of ‘geography of the spirit’ to describe the art of comprehending the inner space in the Syriac mystical tradition.

4 Bedjan, 1909 , p. 122. The use of šeragrāgyātā may be negative in Syriac authors under Greek influence; for example, Philoxenus of Mabbug in Lavenant, 1963 , pp. 90, 92, 105 (pp. 834–7, 848–9).

5 As defined in my earlier study (Seppälä, 2003 , p. 78). 6 Simon in Mingana Simnani, 1934Simnani, , pp. 53–4 (191a–191b). 7 John of Dalyatha; Syriac text and translation in Hansbury, 2006 , pp. 272–3. 8 Concentration in the sense of abandonment of worldly thoughts is in fact a

prerequisite of prayer in general, and applies to all Christians; see Barhebraeus in Teule, 1993a , pp. 10–14 (trans., Teule 1993b , pp. 9–12).

9 Teule, 1993a , p. 11 (trans., Teule 1993b , p. 10).


Notes250

10 ‘Especially, when it receives a small part of the sweetness of prayer, then, it climbs higher than anything on earth and heaven and [they know] that it hurries to wonder only at its Lord and to converse with him.’ Teule, 1993a , p. 11 (trans., Teule 1993b , p. 10).

11 St. Ephrem (d. 373) in his Paradise Hymns gives a vivid, detailed and psychologically accurate description of the meditative process between the reading of the Scriptures and the spiritual rapture resulting from it: ‘Scripture brought me to the gate of Paradise / and the mind, which is spiritual / stood in amazement and wonder as it entered / the intellect grew dizzy and weak / as the senses were no longer able to contain its treasures /so magnificent they were / or to discern its savours / and find comparison for its colours / or take in its beauties so as to describe them in words.’ Hymnen de Paradiso 6.2 (Syriac original in Beck, 1957 ; translation according to Brock, 1990 , p. 109).

12 A Letter sent to a Friend is attributed to Philoxenus of Mabbug, but most likely written by Joseph the Seer, or someone from the seventh–eighth century East Syrian tradition. Olinder, 1950 , p. 22 (16*).

13 Isaac of Nineveh states that a monk may define as his rule ‘enthusiasm for inner meditations ( hergay mad`eh )’. Bedjan, 1909 , p. 98.

14 A Letter sent to a Friend . Olinder, 1950 , p. 22 (16*). 15 Simon in Mingana, 1934 , 169b, p. 289 (tr. 20). 16 Olinder, 1950 , p. 22 (16*). 17 Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, 14.38 ( 1995a , pp. 68–9, 1995b , p. 79). 18 Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, 14.34–5 ( 1995a , pp. 67–8, 1995b , pp. 77–8). However,

this does not mean individual arbitrary freedom where one follows his emotional impulses alone. Nor does Isaac mean that there was something wrong with the traditional forms of spirituality in the Church. On the contrary, those who ‘abandoned prayer’s venerable outward forms, turning instead to their own rules and special customs’ have gone astray because they have neglected Holy Communion, and the teachings of the Fathers (Brock, 1995a b, 14.42).

19 Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, 14.35 ( 1995a , pp. 67–8, 1995b , p. 78). 20 de Halleux, 1960 –5, 8.51. 21 Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 43. 22 Mingana translated this as ‘spiritual visions’. 23 Dadišo‛ in Mingana, 1934 , 53b, p. 245 (trans. p. 139). 24 Ibid., 21b, p. 219 (trans. p. 101). 25 de Halleux, 1960 –5, 8.51. 26 The eye of the mind and that of the soul are used interchangeably. 27 de Halleux, 1960 –5, 8.52, 8.55. 28 For example, Teule, 1993a , pp. 54–6, 1993b , pp. 46–7. 29 Barhebraeus in Teule, 1993a , p. 54, 1993b , p. 46. (Quoting Evagrius, Tractatus ad

Eulogium , PG 79, 1105 A.) 30 For Dadišo‛ on the cross, see Mingana, 1934 , pp. 136–8; for Stephanos bar Sudhaile,

see Marsh, 1927 , 35, pp. 45–59; for Isaac of Nineveh, see Bedjan, 1909 , p. 16; Brock, Chapter 11 ( 1995a , pp. 43–52, 1995b , pp. 53–62).

31 Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, Chapter 11 ( 1995a , pp. 43–52, 1995b , pp. 53–62). According to Isaac, the same shekhina that was in the Ark of the Covenant resides mysteriously in the Cross.

32 A Letter Sent to a Friend in Olinder, 1950 , p. 32 (24*).


Notes 251

33 Dadišo‛ in Mingana, 1934 , 52b–53a, p. 244 (tr. 138). The verse may seem to imply that the venerated image shows Christ crucified on the Cross. This, however, was unlikely in the seventh–eighth-century East, where crosses were usually depicted empty. It may well be that the notion refers to Christ in symbolic terms: the monk kisses an empty cross as if Christ himself (i.e. not his image!) was invisibly present on the cross. The eternal presence of Christ in the empty cross was also stressed in the Armenian tradition.

34 A Letter Sent to a Friend in Olinder, 1950 , p. 26 (19*). 35 John of Ephesus (sixth century) gives a vivid description of a Syrian monk in prayer

and prostrations. ‘And, because intense noonday heat prevailed, he stood and prayed, and next he knelt down, and he stood up and stretched out his hands to heaven, expanding himself in the form of the cross; and he continued for a long time until about the ninth hour, and then he sat down to rest for a short time.’ John of Ephesus, in Brooks, 1923 , p. 132.

36 Isaac of Nineveh’s homilies 12, 22 and 51 in Bedjan, 1909 . 37 Simon in Mingana 1934 , 169a–169b, pp. 288–9 (tr. 20). 38 For example, Isaac of Nineveh’s homily 26 in Bedjan, 1909 . 39 For example, Isaac of Nineveh’s homilies 22, 51 and 56 in Bedjan, 1909 . 40 Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 123. The word haggāgā (pl. haggāgē ) usually

refers to imagination, even illusions. 41 Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 555. 42 Ibid., p. 257. 43 Literally, ‘to mix with God’. Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 462. 44 John of Dalyatha in Beulay,1978, 38.4. 45 Quotations are from John’s letter 38.3–4, according to the translation of Hansbury

2006 . 46 For example, ‘. . . when left alone, He does not stay. When He goes with me to a place,

He does not move from the place. But when I catch Him, He is full of sweetness. Then when I let Him go, He conceals Himself.’ (Beulay, 1978 , 38.4)

47 Mingana translates ‘souls of the just departed’. 48 Dadišo‛ in Mingana, 1934 , 23a–23b, pp. 220–1 (tr. 104; for more detailed instructions

on prayer and meditations, see pp. 136–41). 49 For example, Isaac of Nineveh’s homilies 11, 13 and 17 in Bedjan, 1909 . 50 For example, Isaac of Nineveh’s homily 4 in Bedjan, 1909 , and Brock, 1995a , b, 10.11. 51 For example, Isaac of Nineveh’s homilies 5, 9, 17 in Bedjan, 1909 . 52 See Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 138. 53 For example, Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, 1995a , b, 29.2, and homily 41 in Bedjan, 1909 . 54 de Halleux, 1960 , 3.151. 55 Isaac of Nineveh. See homily 35 in Bedjan, 1909 . 56 Isaac of Nineveh in Brock, 1995a , b, 8.17. See also homily 53 in Bedjan, 1909 . 57 Simon in Mingana, 1934 , 173a, pp. 292–3 (trans. 26). 58 Isaac of Nineveh in Bedjan, 1909 , p. 492. 59 Ibid., p. 486. 60 See Isaac of Nineveh’s homily 1 in Bedjan, 1909 . 61 See Isaac of Nineveh’s homily 53 in Bedjan, 1909 . 62 For an illustrative discussion on the corresponding phenomenon in Buddhist context,

see Gimello, 1978 . 63 Mingana 1934 /‛Abdišo‛, 144b–145a, p. 263 (tr. 150).


Notes252

64 For example, Isaac of Nineveh states that meditation leads to illumination; Brock, 1995a , b, 10.8.

65 Beulay, 1978 , 4.9 (pp. 318–9). 66 The concept was used by Aryeh Kaplan in his discussion on Jewish mysticism with

special attention to Ezekiel’s panoscopic vision. See Kaplan, 1985 , p. 35. 67 John of Dalyatha in Beulay, 1978 , 13.1. English translation according to Hansbury,

2006 , 64.

Chapter 9

1 There exist two numbering systems for Eckhart’s sermons, one by Pfeiffer and one by Quint. Walshe, 1979 , uses the former, Colledge and McGinn, 1981 , the latter. I have followed the text from which I quote, hence using the Quint system in Sermons 5b, 12 and 86, and the Pfeiffer system elsewhere.

2 Denys Turner ( 1995 , p. 166ff) develops more fully this conceptualization of incarnation in the thought of Meister Eckhart.

3 Meister Eckhart often takes liberties in his translation of scriptural text. The actual text coming from Wisdom 18.14 reads: ‘For while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was now half gone, thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne’ (Revised Standard Version).

4 Eckhart’s notion of ‘living without a why’ can be found in many of his vernacular sermons. Sermon 5b in Colledge and McGinn, 1981 , pp. 183–4, offers the Meister’s basic approach to this concept.

5 Eckhart references ‘Ecclesiasticus’, which in most contemporary biblical translations today is ‘The Book of Sirach’. In Latin the quote reads: ‘Qui audit me, non confundetur: et qui operantur in me, non peccabunt.’

6 The cura monialium is the Latin term for the pastoral care of women’s religious communities. The Dominican friars had a long history of providing clerics for the sacramental and spiritual care of their own cloistered Dominican sisters, other cloistered religious women, as well as such lay pious women groups as the Beguines. Eckhart was assigned to this ministry between 1313–23/24, after his second term in the external Dominican chair at the University of Paris and before the more formal investigation into his teaching by the Cologne inquisition and eventually the Papal inquisition at Avignon between 1326–8.

7 In 1318, while stationed in Strassburg, Meister Eckhart wrote his Book of Divine Consolation . This was a pastoral treatise dealing with the problem of suffering and was written in Middle High German. In the third section of this work Eckhart concludes with a defence of his own teaching and teaching praxis indicating that he was already feeling some pressure from church authorities concerning his own orthodoxy.

8 In Sermon 12, Eckhart identifies the vünkelin , which is the Middle High German word often translated as the spark , or the ‘something uncreated in the soul’. Eckhart develops this concept throughout his writings and sermons. It was one of the concepts that most raised concerns when Eckhart was summoned before the inquisition.

9 If Sermon 12 was delivered in September 1325, Eckhart was already by this time well aware of suspicions being raised concerning the orthodoxy of his preaching, so beginning a sermon with the loose translation of confundetur as ashamed , and encouraging his listeners to not be ashamed to ‘hear’ what he has to preach, could indicate something of that awareness.


Notes 253

Chapter 10

1 For the original text of Teresa’s works, see Llamas et al., 1994 . 2 Teresa uses the term ‘mysteries’ to refer to the actions by which God reveals himself

within human history. The most central Christian mysteries are the events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

3 Hundersmarck, 1983 . 4 Andres, 1976 . 5 ‘Suspension of the faculties’ is a traditional term for a prayer experience in which

interior absorption is so intense that all ordinary human sensing, thinking, feeling and movement become impossible.

6 Teresa of Avila, Vida 23.12; Laredo, 1948, vol. 2, III, p. 27. 7 de la Cruz, 1969 ; Mommaers, 2003 , p. 69. 8 Giles, 1981 , pp. 131–2. 9 Andres, 1972 , p. 32; Peers, 1952 , p. 123.

10 References in this chapter to ‘active’ and ‘passive’ forms of prayer derive from this distinction between intentional, self-directed representations and representations that are experienced as arising from sources other than one’s own intentions.

11 See Payne, 1990 . 12 Howells, 2002 , p. 81. 13 During Teresa’s lifetime there was much controversy over the distinction between

the orthodox ‘recollected ones’ [ recogidos ], and the allegedly heretical ‘abandoned ones’ [ dejados ], who stripped away not only thoughts but the humanity of Jesus, the teaching of the Church and basic morality in favour of ‘abandoning’ themselves to formless mysticism.

14 The language of ‘acquired’ and ‘infused’ prayer does not come from Teresa, but it has become traditional for distinguishing between prayer as active practice and prayer as grace of God.

15 See Howells, 2002 , chs 5 and 6, for a thorough discussion of this.

Chapter 11

1 I would like to thank John O’Malley SJ (Georgetown University), Nicolas Standaert SJ (Leuven University) and Halvor Eifring for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this chapter.

2 In some – mainly Eastern (Orthodox) – traditions, such meditation was constant, practised during all activities, while in others – mainly Western (Catholic) – ones, specific times were set aside for such practices.

3 On the Devotio Moderna, see Debongnie, 1957 . 4 The key text developed by this reform movement was itself entitled Imitatio Christi .

The published version – no doubt derived from a collection of various texts by various authors – is attributed to Thomas à Kempis.

5 On Catholic meditation, see ‘Méditation’, in Viller et al., 1932 –95, vol. 10.1 (1978), cols 906–34. On contemplation, see ibid., vol. 2.2, cols 1718 ff.

6 All citations will be made from the first edition, Richeome, 1611 . My thanks to Anne-Bérangère Rothenburger, formerly librarian responsible for the fonds patrimoniaux, Bibliothèques d’Amiens Métropole, for her assistance in an initial stage of this research.


Notes254

7 Hitherto it has generally been assumed that the book was written for novices at the Jesuit noviciate on the Quirinal in Rome, but the language (French) and place of publication (Lyons) makes this highly unlikely, especially since, by this date, French novices trained in noviciates in France. Moreover, Richeome’s own career at this point makes it most likely that he was originally writing for the new noviciate at Lyons, whose foundation he had recently overseen. For further details see Loach, 2012 .

8 For illustrations, refer to the 1611 edition, for which a digitized version is available at www.jesuitica.be/fulltextbooks/

9 Translations are the author’s own throughout. 10 Ignatius prescribed ‘some passages from the Imitation of Christ, or from the Gospels,

and from the Lives of the Saints’ ( Spiritual Exercises , no. 100). 11 For example de la Hire, 1682 , in-12º, or Tassin, 1688 , in-12º. 12 For historic etymology here and elsewhere in this paper, reference has been made

to http://artfl-project.uchicago.edu/content/dictionnaires-dautrefois for Jean Nicot, Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne (1606); Dictionnaire de l’Académie Françoise (1st edn: 1694); and Émile Littré: Dictionnaire de la langue française (1872–7), which gives historic meanings.

13 For example, Theophilus, Argin and Thrasyllas (pp. 338–441), and types of illness, moral (pp. 287–91), natural (pp. 296–8) and imaginary (pp. 418–21).

14 Richeome, 1611 , pp. 56–7. 15 Ignatius Loyola, Spiritual Exercises , 1: First Annotation: ‘by the title Spiritual

Exercises is meant every method of examining the conscience, of meditating, of contemplating, of praying vocally and mentally, and of other spiritual activities.’

16 The clearest introduction to this Ignatian concept of ‘composition of place’ is an essay by a Jesuit academic writing for practising Catholics, in the British Jesuits’ own magazine, The Way (nevertheless based on the latest academic publications): Standaert, 2007 . For a more extended, and more philosophical, analysis of the concept, see a revised version of a doctoral thesis, Fabre, 1992 .

17 Richeome, 1611 , p. 2. 18 Ibid., pp. 1–23. 19 Ibid., p. 3. 20 ‘contemplez ce tableau’: Ibid., p. 5 21 Ibid., p. 5. 22 Ibid. 23 Section 2 : ‘How St Andrew spoke to Argaeus, Proconsul of Achaia’ (ibid., pp. 6–9) ;

Section 3 : ‘Discussion about the sacrifice of the holy Mass’ (pp. 10–12) ; Section 4 : ‘St Andrew put in prison, and condemned to the cross’ (pp. 12–14).

24 Ibid., pp. 14–15. 25 Ibid., p. 15. 26 Ibid. 27 Ibid., p. 17. 28 Ibid. 29 Ibid., pp. 17–21. 30 Ibid., p. 19. This affective description continues to the end of the section, midway

through p. 21. 31 Ibid., pp. 47–62. 32 Nadal, 1595 . For further information see Melion, 2003 . The resemblance to Nadal is

in fact most marked in Richeome’s final engraving (‘The Martyrdom of St. Vitalius’, p. 690), since this, like Nadal’s, has individual elements labelled with letters, each of which corresponds to a section within the text.


Notes 255

33 In 1605 the Jesuits in Rome had printed 2,000 copies of an image of Stanislas for the dedication of the painting fixed above his tomb, and these were all taken up within two days (Bailey, 2003 , pp. 57–8). More significantly, in the context of Richeome’s Peinture Spirtuelle , Matthaus Greuter, most likely the engraver responsible for all its plates, had in 1607 engraved a tiny plate – small enough to fit inside a missal – of ‘scenes from Kostka’s life’ (my thanks to Mauro Brunello and Thomas Reddy SJ at the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Rome, for supplying me with a copy of this plate for study purposes). In addition, images of Stanislas seem to have been produced throughout Catholic Europe. For example, at least one Wierix engraving of Stanislas Kostka was available by this date (Hollstein, 2004 , pp. 160–1, No. 1302, dated by Hollstein as prior to 1604 (p. 159)).

34 Moreover, all the plates appear to have been devised and executed by the same artist. Nevertheless, only the title page can actually be definitively attributed to Greuter, being signed ‘Math. Greuter f.’; the engraving on p. 242, ‘The Angels’, is signed ‘M.G.’.

35 Richeome, 1611 , p. 690. 36 ‘Picture’ C represents ‘the mountain’, simply the backdrop to the scene of Vitalius’

martyrdom (see Richeome, 1611 , p. 695); ‘Picture’ D represents Vitalius’ enemy, the priest of the Apollonic cult, throwing himself into the river, under the impulsion of the devils who had taken possession of him (see ibid., pp. 695–6).

37 Richeome had used several different engravers for his only other book published in Lyons with several engraved plates, the Catéchisme royal (Richeome, 1607 ).

38 For illustrations of Agostino Ciampelli’s paintings in the church of S. Vitale, see Bailey, 2003 , Fig. 77 (the torture of St. Vitalius) and Fig. 76 (his martyrdom). See also De Marco, 2006 .

39 Its full title includes the phrase ‘Reveuës par l’Autheur avant sa mort’. 40 Richeome, 1601 . For more detail, and discussion, of Richeome’s usage of images in his

Tableaux Sacrez , see Salliot, 2009 . 41 For an illustration, see Loach, 2012 , fig. 131, p. 372. 42 Significantly, this frontispiece contrasts with the Lyonese one in that the title is now

in larger font than the subtitle following it, thus reversing the priority implied in the earlier edition of the book.

43 Richeome’s dependence upon Philostratus has been noted by Fumaroli, 1980 , pp. 262–3; and by Dekoninck, 2005 , pp. 68ff.

44 Richeome, 1601 , p. 4. In this instance Richeome is actually distinguishing between Philostratus and himself, in that in Tableaux Sacrez Richeome is presenting a different kind of image, the allegorical, taking that word as a Scholastic term, that is, as one of the four ways of reading Scripture; on that see Lubac, 1959 –64.

45 The work had been relatively well-known in Italy from the early fifteenth century through manuscripts, albeit in considerably variant texts. See Crescenzo, 1999 , pp. 59–67.

46 For example, Claude-François Menestrier (Ms 1514, fos.10rº and 11 rº, Bibliothèque municipal de Lyon).

47 Marc Fumaroli suggested that since the 1611 Tournon edition gives the monogram ‘IHS’ on its title page, it was apparently published under Jesuit sponsorship (Fumaroli, 1980 , p. 261, n. 70). I could not see that monogram on the copies I have examined, but the fact that it was specifically published for the ‘university’ means that it was published for the Jesuits’ college, since this had held the title of ‘university’ since its inauguration, due to the bull granted to the Collège de Tournon by Pope Julius III (Delattre, 1956 , col. 1408).


Notes256

48 de Vigenère, 1609 . 49 Le Moyne, 1640 . 50 de Vigenère, 1609 , p. 8; see also Fumaroli, 1980 , p. 261. The contemporary sense of

naïf was ‘without artifice’, or else whatever ‘représente bien la vérité, qui imite bien la nature’; see, for instance, Dictionnaire de l’Académie françoise , 1694, and Littré, 1872 –7.

51 Prosopopia includes personification, but also speech of an absent person, or the representation of a deceased person as if alive and present; hypotyposis is a form of description so animated and vivid as to make things not physically present seem as if they are in front of the hearer’s or reader’s eyes.

52 That such parallels might have been understood is evidenced by the format of a work by one of Richeome’s near contemporary colleagues, de Cresolles, 1620 , which takes the form of conversations filled with vivid descriptions and portraits, taking place during a series of walks.

53 In the Judaeo-Christian tradition the number seven is symbolic of completeness; hence, for example, the seven days of creation, or the seven mansions in Teresa d’Avila’s Castello Interiore . The seven ‘books’ of Richeome’s Peinture Spirituelle would thus have been perceived as constituting a complete course of ‘spiritual exercises’.

54 The plate, ‘Les Jardins’ appears on p. 472 in a 790-page book. 55 Both Cicero and Quintilian referred to its use by the Hellenist poet Simonides:

Cicero, De Oratore , 2, 86; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria , book 11, chap. 2, sections 11–16. Roman writers also knew of it via Aristotle, notably his De Anima , book 3, and his De Memoria et reminiscencia . On the art of memory in general, from antiquity to the Renaissance, the classic text is Yates, 1966 . See also Rossi, 1960 .

56 Cicero, De Oratore , book 2, pp. 350–60; Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria , book 11, chap. 2. See also the earliest antique treatise treating the subject, and indeed treating it most fully, one formerly attributed to Cicero, Rhetorica ad Herennium , book 3.

57 Carruthers, 1990 , 1998 ; Carruthers and Ziolkowski, 2002 . 58 Bolzoni, 1995 ; English edition: 2001. 59 See, for example, the case of Matteo Ricci (1552–1610), one of the first Jesuit

missionaries in China: Spence, 1984. 60 Paepp, 1618 . 61 Ariosto, 1516 , Canto 33. 62 For the fullest study on this, see Shore, 1998 . 63 Several much-read authors of the later sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries

included references to mnemonic techniques drawn from antique rhetorical practice (i.e. comparable with Ariosto’s usage), for example, the Spanish Golden Age playwright Felix Lope de Vega (1562–1635).

64 The application of this epithet to Richeome was commonplace, but a specific source, and no doubt influential one, would have been Ribadeneira, 1676 , pp. 572–3: ‘ut quidam eum meritò vocat, Gallicanus Cicero’ (cit. Gijsbers, 1998 , p. 35). Brémond uses this epithet without citing its source (Brémond, 1929 , pp. 19–20).

65 Linzeler, 1932 , p. 371. 66 Hence the preponderance of Jesuits among theorists of this genre, notably Nicolas

Caussin, Maximilian van der Sandt, Silvestro Pietrasanta, Claude Clément, Andrès Mendo, Henry Engelgrave, Pierre Le Moyne, Jakob Masen, Pierre Labbé and Claude-François Menestrier.

67 Richeome, 1611 , p. 2. 68 Ibid., p. 690.


Notes 257

69 Ibid., p. 682. 70 Ibid., pp. 783–90. 71 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , II, II, Q124 (Martyrdom). Article 4: ‘Whether

death is necessary for martyrdom’, notably Objection 1, Answer 1. 72 Richeome, 1611 , p. 152. 73 Ibid., pp. 152–62. 74 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , II, II, Q124 (Martyrdom), Article 4, Objection

4, Answer 5. 75 Jesus’ words to his disciples, ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself

and take up his cross and follow me’ (Matt. 16, 24; Mk 8, 34; Lk. 9, 23); Luke inserts the word ‘daily’. And again, after an exhortation to leave behind all familial relationships, ‘He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me’ (Matt. 10, 38); ‘Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple’ (Lk. 14, 27).

76 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , II, II, Q124 (Martyrdom), article 4. 77 Thomas Aquinas, De sensu et sensato , Tractatu II, ‘De memoria et reminiscencia’,

Lectio 2. 78 Aristotle, De Anima , 3. 8 79 Richeome, 1597 , p. 117. All citations will be from this edition. This reference falls

within chap. 26 in all editions. 80 Ibid. 81 Ibid. 82 Ibid., pp. 118ff (chap. 27). 83 According to Aquinas, humility was the primordial Christian virtue, that is, that

virtue which provided the necessary foundation for all others (Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica , II, II, Q161).

84 Richeome, 1597 , p. 118ff (chap. 27). 85 In this his explanation of figures mystiques takes the form of an application of

Aristotelian philosophy: defining and classifying these figures, then stating their causes, uses and effects.

Chapter 12

1 For further coverage on the events at Esphigmenou, see Galpin, 2003 . 2 His co-editor, St Makarios Notaras of Corinth (1731–1805), will not concern us

directly in this paper, but on their relationship see Karasiaridis, 2001 . 3 Evagrius, On prayer 35 (trans. Casiday, 2006a , p. 190) 4 Evagrius, On prayer 67 (trans. Casiday, 2006a , p. 193) 5 Clark, 1992 , pp. 4, 75–6, 84; for a critique, see Casiday, 2004 . 6 For example, Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love 1.96–100 (Palmer

et al., 1979 –95, 2:64). 7 Nikodimos at this point refers the reader to a page in the Philokalia , where we find

in the Xanthopouloi brothers’ Directions to Hesychasts 64 a reference to Maximus the Confessor.

8 See Chamberas, 1989 , pp. 150–1. 9 For biographical details on Nikodimos, see Citterio, 2002 , pp. 907–14 and

Karasiaridis, 2001 , pp. 43–55. 10 But see Citterio, 2002 , pp. 908–9; Makrides, 2000 ; Morini, 1991 .


Notes258

11 Casiday, 2007 , pp. 28–31. See further Podskalsky, 1991 . 12 Citterio, 2000 , identifies Romanites’ translation as ms. Patm. 561, but I have been

unable to confirm this information and study the document. 13 See further Tsakiris, 2009 , pp. 303–29. 14 Thus Scupoli, 1663 , p. 79 = Combattimento Spirituale 14 (with emphasis added):

‘Secondo. E non havendone tù colpa alcuna, rivolta il pensiero agli altri tuoi falli, ed’ quail non ti hà Iddio ancora dato il castigo , nè tù, come si deve, gli hai puniti. E vedendo, che la misericordia di Dio ti cangia la pena d’essi , che sarebbe eterna, ò pure temporale, mà del Purgatorio , con una picciola presente, devi riceverla non solamente volontieri, mà con rendimento di gratie.’

15 For the discussion of Purgatory at the council and for Mark Eugenikos’ anti-union works, see Petit, 1923 and 1927 . On the Greek Church in the aftermath of the council, see Steven Runciman, 1968 , pp. 109–11, 125–6.

16 Scupoli, 1663 , pp. 169 and 321 = Combattimento Spirituale 30 and 55 17 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 196 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 2.2 18 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 164 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.45 19 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 212 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 2.6 20 Scupoli, 1663 , p. 281 = Combattimento Spirituale 51 21 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 182 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.52 22 Scupoli, 1663 , p. 134 = Combattimento Spirituale 23, and Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 89 =

Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.23 23 Scupoli, 1663 , pp. 116–23 = Combattimento Spirituale 21. 24 Nikodimos, 2007 , pp. 99–110 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.26; that we can attribute this

material to Nikodimos rather than Romanites seems likely in view of Nikodimos’ known familiarity with Maximus’ works, as demonstrated by the Philokalia .

25 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 102 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.26. 26 See Nikidimos, 2007, pp. 77–83 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.21. 27 Nikidimos, 2007, pp. 83–6 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.22. 28 Nikidimos, 2007, p. 39 n. 1 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.10. 29 Evagrius, On prayer 73: ‘When at length the mind is praying purely and

imperturbably, then the demons no longer overtake it from the left, but from the right. They suggest to it the glory of God and some shape familiar from perception, so that it would seem to have attained the perfection of its goal with respect to prayer. An ascetic and knowledgeable man declared that this happens because of the passion of vainglory and the demon who, having attached himself to the area around the brain, plucks the veins.’ (trans. Casiday, 2006a , pp. 192–3)

30 On the seat of the nous, see Rossi, 2000 , pp. 176–8; and on the heart, ibid., pp. 218–26. 31 Nikiphoros the Monk, On Watchfulness (Palmer et al., 1979 –95, 4.205); see further

Rossi, 2000 , pp. 262–7. 32 Vivian and Casiday, 2006 , p. 59 = Letter to Nicholas §2(1); Mark’s exhortation

continues throughout that section and he returns to it at Letter to Nicholas §6. 33 See Vivian and Casiday, 2006 , pp. 70–4 = Letter to Nicholas §§8(5)–10(5). 34 Diekamp, 1938 , pp. 109–29. See also Belting, 1994 , pp. 145–6. 35 Gregory of Sinai, On Commandments and Doctrines 130 (Palmer et al., 1979 –95,

4.248), reformatted 36 Nikodimos, 2007 , pp. 62–3 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.18. 37 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 47 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.13. 38 Nikodimos, 2007 , p. 70 = Ho Aoratos Polemos 1.19. 39 Cassian, Conference 10.2(2)–5(2) (trans. Casiday, 2006b , pp. 37–40)


Notes 259

Chapter 13

1 By meditation I am referring to any contemplative technique intentionally undertaken with the goal of causing an interior (and perhaps also exterior) transformation; by prayer I mean any ritual behaviour performed as a means or gesture of engaging in a dialogic relationship with a deity.

2 Other references include: ‘Remember your Lord much and praise him in the early hours of night and morning’ (Q. 3.41); ‘So when you have completed the prayers then remember Allah standing and sitting and lying down’ (Q. 4.103); ‘And remember your Lord within yourself humbly and with awe and under your breath by morning and evening’ (Q. 7.205); ‘And remember your Lord when you have forgotten’ (Q. 18.25); ‘And remember the name of your Lord and devote yourself with complete devotion’ (Q. 73.8); ‘And remember the name of your Lord by morning and evening’ (Q. 76.25).

3 al-Iskandari, 1961 , pp. 11–12. 4 Arberry, 1977 . 5 Nicholson, 1911 , pp. 154–5. 6 Arberry, 1977 , p. 98. 7 Gardet and Anawati, 1968 , p. 201. 8 Ibid., pp. 216–17. 9 al-Iskandari, 1961 , pp. 6. The passage in the Fawā’iḥ al-jamāl wa-fawātiḥ al-jalāl

of Kubra reads: ‘ Dhikr is a fire which neither abides nor spreads. When it enters an abode it says “It is I and no other!” and this is the meaning of lā ilāha illa’llāh . And if there is wood in the abode it burns [the wood] and it becomes fire; if there is darkness in the abode [the dhikr ] becomes a light and destroys it [the darkness] and illuminates the abode; and if there is light in the abode it does not oppose it, but his light is also recollection ( dhikr ) and the one who recollects ( dhākir ) and the object of recollection ( madhkūr ) which abide together, light upon light’ (Meier, 1957 , pp. 4–5). In his Miftāḥ al-falāḥ , Ibn ‘Ata Allah has borrowed extensively from the Fawā’iḥ of Kubra. The first three lines following his preliminary introduction (p. 6) are copied from Kubra (Meier, 1957 , p. 4, sections 9 and 10). He continues with the chapter on immersions ( istighrāqāt ) in the Fawā’iḥ (Meier, 1957 , p. 21, section 45) and proceeds from there. This obvious influence of Najm al-din Kubra on Ibn ‘Ata Allah al-Iskandari throws interesting light on our understanding of dhikr ritual in the Shadhili Sufi order, notable since it would imply a significant degree of Central Asian influence on ritual practices in Syria and Egypt.

10 Simnani, Shaqā’iq al-ḥadā’iq wa-ḥadā’iq al-ḥaqā’iq , p. 77b. For a comprehensive treatment of Simnani’s thought, see Elias, 1995 . Simnani’s views on dhikr are discussed in Chapter 7 of this book, sections of which are reproduced here.

11 Simnani, Tafsīr najm al-qur’ān , p. 73b. 12 A longer version of Junayd al-Baghdadi’s list appears in Kubra’s Risala ila’l-hā’im

al-khā’if min lawmat al-lā’im , see Molé, 1963 , pp. 23–37. See also Kubra’s al-Uṣūl al-‘ashara (Molé, 1963 , pp. 15–22) and ‘Abd al-Ghafur Lari’s Persian translation (Hirawi, 1984 ). See Khurasani, 1989 , pp. 134ff; Meier, 1957 , pp. 2–3; Waley, 1991 .

13 Algar, 1982 , especially the sixteenth and seventeenth chapters. Simnani, al-Wārid al-shārid , pp. 34aff; Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn li-ahl al-yaqīn , pp. 4aff; Simnani, Fuṣūl al-uṣūl , MS. 1, pp. 49bff; Hirawi, 1990 , pp. 279ff. The eight conditions do not appear in the same order in all texts.


Notes260

14 Simnani, al-Wārid ash-shārid , p. 34a. 15 Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn , p. 4b. 16 Simnani, Sirr bāl al-bāl li-dhawi al-ḥāl, p. 239b; Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān, p. 72a. 17 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , pp. 72b, 164a. 18 Ibid., p. 69b. 19 Ibid., p. 72a. The attitude of the Sufi with regard to the soul changes at later stages

along the path. The intermediate practitioner ( mutawassiṭ ) should befriend the soul because at this level it becomes a vehicle, serving an important purpose in progress along the Sufi path. The advanced practitioner should make sure the soul accords God his due, and guide it in the direction of piety and righteousness (ibid., pp. 72a, 110b).

20 Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn , p. 4b. 21 Ibid. 22 Simnani , Khitām al-misk , p. 142a. Here Simnani is using the term ‘purification’

( ṭahāra ) with the connotation of the annihilation of the self ( fanā’ ). 23 Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn , p. 4b. 24 Ibid., p. 5a. 25 Simnani, al-Wārid al-shārid , p. 34a. 26 Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn , p. 4b. See Gramlich, 1976 , pp. 401ff, where a slightly

different dhikr practice attributed to Simnani is described. 27 Simnani, Fatḥ al-mubīn , p. 5a. 28 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 74a–b. 29 Simnani, Mawārid al-shawārid , p. 147b. 30 Ibid., pp. 148b–149a. 31 In an untitled treatise, Sa‘d ad-dīn-i Hamūya (d. 1252), an important figure from

the Kubrawi tradition to which Simnani belonged, states that dhikr has seven stages: (1) dhikr of the tongue; (2) dhikr of the tongue along with the heart; (3) dhikr of the heart without the tongue; (4) dhikr of the heart with the spirit; (5) dhikr of the spirit without the heart; (6) dhikr of the spirit with the inmost being ( sirr ); (7) dhikr of the inmost being without the spirit (Hamūya, Kitāb baḥr al-ma‘ānī , p. 120a). Simnani also refers to audition ( samā’ ), or listening to music, in the context of his discussions on dhikr . He considers audition to be not without merit, but maintains that it contains serious pitfalls which render it dangerous for most mystics. ‘Audition is a drug which, if eaten by itself without being prepared together with other good medicines, becomes a deadly poison’ (Simnani, Fuṣūl al-uṣūl , p. 80b).

32 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 71a. 33 Simnani, Fuṣūl al-uṣūl , p. 74a. 34 Simnani, al-Wārid ash-shārid , p. 34b. 35 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , pp. 66b, 59a, 46b. 36 Ibid., p. 46b. 37 Ibid., p. 100b. 38 Elias, 1995 , p. 134. 39 Ibid. 40 Ibid. There is a fourth formula that relates to the Realm of Divinity. This is the

supreme name of God, which is unpronounceable, exalted above any form which would be comprehensible in the Human Realm and the Realm of Sovereignty.

41 Hirawi, 1985 , p. 11. 42 Elias, 1995 , 35. 43 Ibid. 44 Simnani, Shaqā’iq al-ḥadā’iq , p. 77a; Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 48a–b.


Notes 261

45 Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 48b. 46 A translation of this work is found in Elias, 1993 . 47 Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 44b. 48 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 103a; Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 44b. 49 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 55a. 50 Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 45a. 51 Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 66b. 52 Ibid., p. 70b. 53 Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 45a. 54 Ibid., p. 45b; Simnani, Najm al-Qur’ān , p. 132b. The visions described by Simnani

correspond to Muslim eschatological events that are mentioned in the Qur’an and widely elaborated upon by Islamic theologians.

55 Simnani, Risāla-yi nūriyya , p. 46a. 56 Ibid. 57 Bennet, 1969 –70. These techniques are quoted from an anonymous Naqshbandi

pamphlet in Ottoman Turkish but are found in other works as well. In this particular treatise, coloured lights are also associated with each of the subtle substances in a manner reminiscent of Simnani: the heart is associated with red, the spirit with yellow, the secret with white light, the hidden self with green and the most-hidden self with black. This chromatic imagery clearly indicates a Kubrawi influence.

58 Keshavarz, 1998 . 59 Other forms of prayer would be submissional prayers (the ritual prayer) and

petitionary prayers. For more on prayer in Islam, see Toorawa, 2010 .

Chapter 14

1 For a full picture of the social world to which these masters belonged see Bashir, 2011 . 2 The ‘pineal heart’ ( qalb-i ṣanūbarī ) refers to the physical heart itself with its pine

cone-like shape. Sufi authors differentiate the physical object from the heart as a complex metaphysical symbol in Sufi theoretical discussions. For the translation of a later and somewhat different description of the Naqshbandī dhikr that is clearer about its referents to human physiology see Netton, 2000 , p. 80.

3 Although the author I am citing here does not go into such details, we do know that elaborate theoretical mappings of the human form were available in the Persianate milieu. For the details of one scheme, which divides the body into subtle substances ( laṭāʾif ) that are correlated to elements of the cosmos as such, see Elias, 1995 , pp. 81–100.

4 For citations for other versions of the Kubravī dhikr see Bashir, 2003 , p. 140. 5 As reported in a later work, Naqshband’s concern with numbers in this instance

pertained both to keeping track of the times one did the dhikr and the number of times the formula was repeated in a single breath (Muʿīniyān, 1977 , p. 1:48).

6 A later hagiography devoted to Hamadānī gives the story differently: the author states that Hamadānī first had the dream about Muḥammad and then saw his teacher performing the dhikr when he went to him seeking an interpretation. The eventual result is the same in both versions, in that Hamadānī ends up as a disciple of Mazdaqānī (Badakhshī, n.d., p. 349a–350a). It is worth noting that Hamadānī’s followers disputed among themselves as well regarding the master’s preference for silent or vocal dhikr (see Badakhshī, n.d., pp. 397a, 423b).


Notes262

7 Sufi understanding of human beings’ extraordinary religious experiences is premised on the notion that the cosmos has an interior, more desirable aspect. To experience the interior world ( bāṭin ), one needs to cultivate an alternative subtle body that has senses that mimic the function of ordinary senses. The Naqshbandī practice of imprinting the master’s image on the heart constitutes a particular way of transitioning between exterior and interior senses. For details of this and other associated understandings of the body and their social ramifications see Bashir, 2011 .

8 An extended account of this religious world is provided in Bashir, 2011 . 9 For a good phenomenological exploration of these issues in the Sufi context see

Kugle, 2007 .

Chapter 15

1 The best introduction to samāʿ , although it mainly focuses on the Iranian world, is During 1988 .

2 It is to be noted that during mediaeval times, the Indus Valley was known as Sindh. The name Sindh comes from a Sanskrit word Sindhu, meaning river.

3 See Mortazavi, 1988 ; Nicholson, 1999 ; Zhoukovskii, 1967 . 4 Motilal Motwani has partly translated Shāh ʿAbd al-Karīm’s risalo into English

(Motwani, 1979 , pp. 33–60). See also Poto, 1937 . 5 The notion of waḥdat al-wūjud ‘unity of being’ was coined by Ibn ʿArabī and implies

an existential monism according to which human beings, having been created by God, can also be merged into God, or, in other words, reach the divine state.

6 Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 1273) is the famous founder of the Mevlevīs, better known in the West as the Whirling Dervishes. He was also the author of mystical poetry in Persian. His Masnawī (a poetic form) is probably the most influential Sufi poetry in the non-Arab speaking Muslim world. He was obviously a source of inspiration for Shāh Laṭīf.

7 For a very comprehensive analysis of his work, see Schimmel, 1976 . 8 In Modern Sindhi, secret is ḡujho . Shāh Laṭīf ’s language is difficult and very literary,

sometimes using neologisms. Also, since his family originated from deltaic Sindh, Shāh Laṭīf is at times influenced by the local dialect known as laṛī, usually seen as somewhat archaic by some, and pure by others.

9 For this section devoted to contemporary Sindhi Sufi poetry, I warmly thank Dr Charu Gidwani, R. K. Talreja College, University of Mumbai, who was of great help in locating and accessing the works.

10 On dhamāl , see Abbas, 2002 ; Boivin, 2012 ; and, for an ethno-musicological approach, Wolf, 2006 .

11 I do not include the female dhamāl because it is of a different nature, not related to meditation. Briefly, it is a process of exorcism resulting from the fact that a woman is possessed by a malevolent spirit, a jinn . For a description, see Boivin, 2012 .

12 Bodlo Bahār is a somewhat mysterious figure. It is said that he was in Sehwan Sharif before Laʿl Shahbāz Qalandar’s coming.

13 His father imām Husayn was slaughtered with his family. Laʿl Shahbāz Qalandar is his direct descendant.


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