08 — Disciples and Suppression
After St. Nilus of Sora’s death in 1508 the contemplative, poor, “Non-Possessor” current he embodied was carried forward for a generation by the Trans-Volga elders — above all his disciple Vassian Patrikeyev and the learned monk Maximus the Greek — before it was overwhelmed by the triumphant Josephite party, suppressed, and driven underground for centuries. These files trace, first, the disciples and the afterlife of the Non-Possessor cause, and second, its eclipse: the Josephite ascendancy, the tragic fate of Maximus the Greek, and the long suppression from which the tradition was only later rehabilitated.
Tradition: Russian Orthodox (hesychast; “Non-Possessors”)
The story of the movement after Nilus is largely a story of defeat — politically and institutionally, the Josephite vision prevailed, and the Non-Possessor current was marginalized and at last silenced. Yet the contemplative tradition Nilus planted never wholly died; it survived in the sketes of the north and in his writings, to be recovered in the great Russian spiritual revivals of later centuries (treated in Section 09). This section follows the human history of the movement’s brief flourishing and long eclipse.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Trans-Volga Elders | Vassian Patrikeyev, the most prominent disciple, and the Non-Possessor current of the Trans-Volga hermits after Nilus; their advocacy of poverty and mercy and their conflict with the Josephite party. |
| The Eclipse of the Movement | The triumph of the Josephites, the trial and imprisonment of Maximus the Greek and Vassian, the long suppression of the Non-Possessor tradition, and the survival of Nilus’s contemplative legacy beneath the institutional defeat. |
See Also
- The Skete as a Third Way — the skete life the Trans-Volga elders continued
- Possessions and the Monastic Vocation — the principle the elders carried forward
- The Treatment of Heretics — the mercy the elders documented urged
- The Modern Rediscovery — the later recovery of the tradition
References
- Fedotov, Georges P. The Russian Religious Mind, Vol. II. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1966.
- Goldfrank, David M., trans. and ed. Nil Sorsky: The Authentic Writings. Cistercian Studies 221. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 2008.
- Maloney, George A., S.J. Russian Hesychasm: The Spirituality of Nil Sorsky. The Hague: Mouton, 1973.