08 — Veneration
The formal recognition and living veneration of St. Nicholas Cabasilas (c. 1322 – c. 1392): his notably late canonization by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1983, which fixed his feast on 20 June and honoured a layman among the saints, and his place in the contemporary spirituality of the Orthodox Church as the theologian who located deification in the sacramental life. These files trace how a figure long venerated informally came to be inscribed in the calendar, and how his vision of the “life in Christ” received through the Mysteries continues to shape Orthodox sacramental piety, catechesis, and the eucharistic revival.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (lay theologian; the sacramental life)
Cabasilas was read and revered as a holy father for centuries before he was formally entered among the saints, and his official glorification — when it finally came in 1983 — coincided with a twentieth-century rediscovery of his work that had made him one of the most read of Byzantine theologians. This section examines that recognition and its significance, and the living place his theology holds in the Church today. It treats the canonization with the care the recent and imperfectly documented synodal act requires, attributing the firmly attested year and feast to the standard reference works and flagging the finer details honestly. It then sets Cabasilas within the practical spirituality of modern Orthodoxy: as the bridge between the hesychast contemplative tradition and the ordinary sacramental life of the laity, as a force behind the recovery of frequent communion, and as the theologian who, beside Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas, located the deifying union in the Mysteries available to every Christian.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Canonization of 1983 | Cabasilas’s formal recognition as a saint by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1983, with his feast fixed on 20 June; the significance of his notably late canonization and of honouring a layman as a saint and theologian; and the twentieth-century rediscovery — critical editions, translations, and the liturgical revival — that prepared the way. |
| Cabasilas in Orthodox Spirituality | Cabasilas’s place in the living spirituality of the Church: his vision of the life in Christ as contemporary sacramental piety; his role as a bridge between the contemplative tradition and the lay sacramental life; his influence on the eucharistic revival and frequent communion; and his standing alongside Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas as the theologian who located deification in the sacramental life. |
See Also
- The Sacramental Life — the vision of the life in Christ that gives his veneration its content
- The Modern Rediscovery — the critical editions, translations, and revival that prepared the 1983 recognition
- Feast and Cult — the keeping of his 20 June feast and the shape of his cult
- Legacy and Assessment — the assessment of his standing in the tradition
- Deification (Theosis) — the goal of the life he taught and was glorified for living
References
- Cabasilas, Nicholas. The Life in Christ. Trans. Carmino J. deCatanzaro. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1974.
- Cabasilas, Nicholas. A Commentary on the Divine Liturgy. Trans. J. M. Hussey and P. A. McNulty. London: SPCK, 1960.
- Cabasilas, Nicholas. La Vie en Christ. Ed. and trans. Marie-Hélène Congourdeau. Sources Chrétiennes 355 & 361. Paris: Éditions du Cerf, 1989–1990.
- Spiteris, Yannis. Cabasilas: teologo e mistico bizantino. Rome: Lipa, 1996.
- Nellas, Panayiotis. Deification in Christ: Orthodox Perspectives on the Nature of the Human Person. Trans. Norman Russell. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987.
- Russell, Norman. The Doctrine of Deification in the Greek Patristic Tradition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Schmemann, Alexander. The Eucharist: Sacrament of the Kingdom. Crestwood, NY: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987.