Nicetas Stethatos

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Niketas Stethatos (Greek Νικήτας Στηθᾶτος, Latin Nicetas Pectoratus ; * around 1005, † around 1090) was a Byzantine mystic and theologian. He is venerated as a saint in the Greek Orthodox Church .

Nicetas was an ascetic or monk, perhaps an abbot, in the studio monastery in Constantinople . Around 1020 he teamed up with his spiritual mentor Symeon the New Theologian († 1022) and became his apologist. He defended Symeon when he was attacked for defending contemplative hesychastic prayer. In his biography of Symeon, Nicetas woven his own perspective on the inner experience of enlightenment. He also wrote a treatise and several commentaries on ascetic practices that have gone down in philocaly .

Niketas took part in several contemporary theological debates, including the dispute between the Western and Eastern Churches. He wrote five books against the Armenians and two books against the Latins. In them he criticized, among other things, the use of unleavened bread, the Sabbath fast and the celibacy of priests . During the tenure of Abbot Simeon, he quarreled with the papal legate, Cardinal Humbert von Silva Candida , in 1054 , but in the presence of the emperor and the papal legate, he revoked and burned his writing.

Text editions and translations

  • Jean Darrouzès (ed.): Nicétas Stéthatos, opuscules et lettres. Introduction, texte critique, traduction et notes (= Sources Chrétiennes 81). Le Cerf, Paris 1961.
  • Irénée host, Gabriel Horn: Un grand mystique byzantine. Vie de Syméon le Nouveau Théorien (949-1022) par Nicetas Stéthatos (= Orientalia Christiana 12.45). PIO, Rome 1928
  • Richard PH Greenfield (ed.): Niketas Stethatos: The Life of Saint Symeon the New Theologian (= Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 20), Cambridge (Mass.) / London 2013

literature

  • Georgi Kapriev: Niketas Stethatos. In: Laurent Cesalli, Gerald Hartung (ed.): Outline of the history of philosophy . The philosophy of the Middle Ages. Volume 1: Byzantium, Judaism. Schwabe, Basel 2019, ISBN 978-3-7965-2623-7 , pp. 56–58, 256 f.
  • A. Michel: The four writings of Nicetas Stethatos on the azymes . In: Byzantine Zeitschrift 35 (1935) 308–336.
  • F. Lauritzen: The debate on Faith and Reason. In: Yearbook of Austrian Byzantine Studies 57 (2007) 75–82.
  • M. Hinterberger: An editor and his author: Niketas Stethatos and Symeon Neos Theologos . In: P. Odorico (ed.): Le face cachée de la littérature byzantine, le texte en tant que message immédiat (= Dossiers byzantins 11), Paris 2012, 247–264.
  • G. Diamantopoulos: The Hermeneutics of Niketas Stethatos (= Munich Works on Byzantine Studies 3), Neuried 2019.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Nicetas Stethatos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nicetas Pectoratus (Latin)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine theologian
DATE OF BIRTH 10th century or 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 11th century