Prayer is the heart of the Christian life. Here, as in a kaleidoscope, the manifold T h dimensions of prayer are revealed: personal, liturgical, drawing on poetry, the e L icon, music. And throughout: Athos’s gift to the world—the Jesus Prayer. A rich i f and deeply rewarding volume, to be read and pondered. e o – Emeritus Professor Fr Andrew Louth, Durham University. f P r a According to St Basil, the monk’s whole life should be a season of prayer, both y e public prayer and private prayer. That is what the monks of Mount Athos are r o there to do. That is the basis of their entire way of life. Athos is sometimes Tn h M called ‘the mountain of silence’, but as one living Athonite has written, ‘here e Lo you can hear the hum of unceasing prayer.’ The book explores all dimensions iu of this mystery, beginning with the deceptively simple question ‘what is prayer?’ fe ont A Subsequent papers consider various aspects of prayer as practised on Athos both f Pth in public and in private: the prayer of the church and the prayer of the cell, prayer rao when working, prayer when painting icons, the musical tradition of prayer and ys e the poetic tradition, culminating in the Jesus Prayer or prayer of the heart which r o is the foundation of the current renewal of monasticism on Athos. Most of the n M papers in this book were delivered at a conference held by the Friends of Mount o Athos in Cambridge in March 2019. uD na tle The Revd Douglas Dales is an Anglican parish priest and a regular pilgrim As a tn hd to the Holy Mountain. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and o S author of several studies of Anglo-Saxon church history and Anglican theology. spe a His publications include Glory: The Spiritual Theology of Michael Ramsey (2003), k e Dunstan, Saint and Statesman (2nd edn 2013), Alcuin: His Life and Legacy (2012), (e d Alcuin: Theology and Thought (2013). He is currently completing a trilogy of studies s) of the spiritual theology of St Bonaventure. D a le s Graham Speake is Chairman of the Friends of Mount Athos and a regular a n d visitor to the Mountain. His publications include Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise S p (2nd edn 2014), winner of the 2002 Criticos Prize, and A History of the Athonite e a Commonwealth: The Spiritual and Cultural Diaspora of Mount Athos (2018). He is a k e Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and holds a doctorate in classics from the (e The Life of Prayer d University of Oxford. He was received into Orthodoxy on Mount Athos in 2000. s) on Mount Athos ISBN 978-1-78997-518-5 Edited by Douglas Dales and Graham Speake www.peterlang.com Peter Lang 9781789975185_cvr_eu.indd All Pages 01-Jun-20 21:16:04 The Life of Prayer on Mount Athos Prayer is the heart of the Christian life. Here, as in a kaleidoscope, the manifold T h dimensions of prayer are revealed: personal, liturgical, drawing on poetry, the e L icon, music. And throughout: Athos’s gift to the world—the Jesus Prayer. A rich i f and deeply rewarding volume, to be read and pondered. e o – Emeritus Professor Fr Andrew Louth, Durham University. f P r a According to St Basil, the monk’s whole life should be a season of prayer, both y e public prayer and private prayer. That is what the monks of Mount Athos are r o there to do. That is the basis of their entire way of life. Athos is sometimes Tn h M called ‘the mountain of silence’, but as one living Athonite has written, ‘here e Lo you can hear the hum of unceasing prayer.’ The book explores all dimensions iu of this mystery, beginning with the deceptively simple question ‘what is prayer?’ fe ont A Subsequent papers consider various aspects of prayer as practised on Athos both f Pth in public and in private: the prayer of the church and the prayer of the cell, prayer rao when working, prayer when painting icons, the musical tradition of prayer and ys e the poetic tradition, culminating in the Jesus Prayer or prayer of the heart which r o is the foundation of the current renewal of monasticism on Athos. Most of the n M papers in this book were delivered at a conference held by the Friends of Mount o Athos in Cambridge in March 2019. uD na tle The Revd Douglas Dales is an Anglican parish priest and a regular pilgrim As a tn hd to the Holy Mountain. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and o S author of several studies of Anglo-Saxon church history and Anglican theology. spe a His publications include Glory: The Spiritual Theology of Michael Ramsey (2003), k e Dunstan, Saint and Statesman (2nd edn 2013), Alcuin: His Life and Legacy (2012), (e d Alcuin: Theology and Thought (2013). He is currently completing a trilogy of studies s) of the spiritual theology of St Bonaventure. D a le s Graham Speake is Chairman of the Friends of Mount Athos and a regular a n d visitor to the Mountain. His publications include Mount Athos: Renewal in Paradise S p (2nd edn 2014), winner of the 2002 Criticos Prize, and A History of the Athonite e a Commonwealth: The Spiritual and Cultural Diaspora of Mount Athos (2018). He is a k e Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and holds a doctorate in classics from the (e The Life of Prayer d University of Oxford. He was received into Orthodoxy on Mount Athos in 2000. s) on Mount Athos ISBN 978-1-78997-518-5 Edited by Douglas Dales and Graham Speake www.peterlang.com Peter Lang 9781789975185_cvr_eu.indd All Pages 01-Jun-20 21:16:04 The Life of Prayer on Mount Athos Edited by Douglas Dales and Graham Speake PETER LANG Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • New York • Wien Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National- bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Dales, Douglas, 1952- editor. | Speake, Graham, 1946- editor. Title: The life of prayer on Mount Athos / Douglas Dales and Graham Speake. Description: Oxford New York : Peter Lang, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020005996 (print) | LCCN 2020005997 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789975185 (paperback) | ISBN 9781789975192 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789975208 (epub) | ISBN 9781789975215 (mobi) Subjects: LCSH: Athos (Greece)--Religious life and customs. | Prayer--Orthodox Eastern Church. | Jesus prayer. Classification: LCC BX385.A8 L54 2020 (print) | LCC BX385.A8 (ebook) | DDC 271/.8190949565--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005996 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020005997 Cover image: This modern fresco, in the new church of St Nikodimos of the Holy Mountain near Karyes, depicts the tonsure to the great schema of St Makarios of Corinth (1731–1805), compiler of the Philokalia. Photo © Graham Speake. Cover design: Brian Melville for Peter Lang. ISBN 978-1-78997-518-5 (print) • ISBN 978-1-78997-519-2 (ePDF) ISBN 978-1-78997-520-8 (ePub) • ISBN 978-1-78997-521-5 (mobi) © Peter Lang AG 2020 Published by Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers, 52 St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LU, United Kingdom [email protected], www.peterlang.com Douglas Dales and Graham Speake have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Editors of this Work. © the editors and contributors 2019 All rights reserved. All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. This publication has been peer reviewed. Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgements ix Douglas Dales and Graham Speake Introduction 1 Fr Stephen Platt 1 What Is Prayer? 13 Archimandrite Elisaios 2 Worship and Prayer at an Athonite Monastery 25 Fr Maximos Constas 3 St John Chrysostom and the Jesus Prayer 41 Elizabeth Jeffreys 4 Poetry as Prayer 65 Aidan Hart 5 Painting Icons as Prayer 87 Dimitri Conomos 6 Music as Prayer 113 vi Contents Archimandrite Ephraim 7 Monastic Work as Prayer 127 Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia 8 The Invocation of the Holy Name: A Prayer for All Seasons 135 Bibliography 147 Notes on Contributors 153 Index 155 Figures Figure 5.1. The Nativity of Christ. Private collection. (By the author.) 92 Figure 5.2. The geometrical structure that underlies the illustrated Nativity icon. 93 Figure 5.3. The Annunciation. Private collection. (By the author.) 94 Figure 5.4. The Transfiguration. Lancaster University Chaplaincy. (By the author.) 95 Figure 5.5. Triptych: Jacob wrestles with the angel; the Transfiguration; Jacob’s dream of the ladder. Shrewsbury School chapel. (By the author.) 97 Figure 6.1. Choral setting of Psalm 83, verses 1–2. 122 Figure 6.2. Choral setting of Psalm 83, verse 3. 123 Acknowledgements Most of the papers collected in this volume were originally delivered at a conference entitled ‘The Life of Prayer on Mount Athos’ organized by the Friends of Mount Athos and held at Madingley Hall, Cambridge, in March 2019. The society wishes to acknowledge with gratitude the gen- erous sponsorship provided by the Prince’s Trust and the Gerald Palmer Eling Trust. The editors of the volume in their turn wish to thank the Friends of Mount Athos for contributing generously towards the produc- tion costs of the volume. Once again it is a pleasure to record our debt to our courteous and efficient publishers at Peter Lang in Oxford.