04 — The Ascetic Teaching
The theology drawn from the sayings of St. Sisoes the Great: the doctrine of unceasing repentance — the conviction that the soul has “not yet begun,” that metanoia is not a stage but the permanent form of the Christian life — and the discipline that serves it, the guarding of the thoughts and the tongue. These two files move from the sayings (Section 03) to the spiritual teaching they imply, the teaching that made Sisoes a touchstone of the Orthodox ascetic tradition.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Desert Father; model of repentance)
Sisoes built no system, but the sayings carry a coherent ascetic theology, and the tradition has read it consistently. At its center is unceasing repentance: the refusal to count oneself arrived, the keeping of the soul perpetually at the beginning of its turning to God. Serving this is the practical discipline of watchfulness — the guarding of the heart against the thoughts and the guarding of the tongue against idle and angry speech. The first file sets out the theology of repentance without end; the second, the ascetic practice that makes such repentance possible.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Repentance Without End | The theology of unceasing repentance — metanoia as the permanent form of the Christian life; the conviction of having “not yet begun”; the infinite approach of the soul to the infinite God. |
| Controlling the Thoughts and the Tongue | The discipline that serves repentance: watchfulness (nepsis) over the thoughts (logismoi), the mastery of anger, and the guarding of the tongue in silence and restraint. |
See Also
- The Word on Repentance — the saying from which the theology is drawn
- The Humility of Sisoes — the root of the teaching on repentance
- The Radiance of the Saint — repentance and theosis at the deathbed
- Monasticism — the wider Orthodox ascetic tradition
References
- The Sayings of the Desert Fathers: The Alphabetical Collection. Trans. Benedicta Ward. Rev. ed. Cistercian Studies 59. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1984.
- Chitty, Derwas J. The Desert a City. Oxford: Blackwell, 1966.
- Harmless, William. Desert Christians. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.