Nienke Vos: Seeing Hesychia: Appeals to the Imagination in the Apophthegmata Patrum (Syst. Coll., ch. II)

The collections of the Apophthegmata Patrum provide a wealth of wisdom. Although the sayings were originally situated in personal relationships and meant for the ears of individual disciples only, they were memorized, collected and believed to have meaning for those beyond the immediate circle of the abba. The intensely personal came to be viewed as a bearer of universal meaning. The complicated process of collection and transmission, then, was marked by paradox, not only between the personal and the universal, but also between the fragmentary and the coherent. The seemingly infinite number of sayings, authored by a multitude of abba’s and amma’s (sometimes anonymous ), appeared to defy proper ordering and structure. The editors, however, attempted to organize the fragments of wisdom into cohesive units, by reference to the alphabetical system or by division into chapters defined thematically. In my paper, I take my cue from the paradoxical nature of the sayings, especially the tension between the fragment and the whole. My case study will focus on chaper 2 of the systematic collection, devoted to ‘hesychia’. It is my aim to clarify the ways in which the mystery of hesychia – silence, quiet, contemplation – is conveyed by looking at the parts (the individual sayings) and the whole (chapter 2). Although the sayings can be interpreted as separate units, the fact that they are joined together in one section of a collection fuels the interaction between them. With regard to these sayings, I will consider the different types (or genres) they represent, while exploring the communicative function of the images they conjure up. For in a variety of ways the sayings appeal to the imagination, referring to images from, for example, Scripture and the world of nature. I will analyze these images both individually and in conjunction. As a result, it will become clear how images may offer a window onto the mysteries of faith. As I consider the possible effects of such visual aids on the reader, it will become apparent how a seemingly disparate group of sayings can be read as – to mix metaphors – projecting ‘one voice’, speaking of hesychia, insistent on its meaning. In my work, I use the edition by Jean-Claude Guy (SC 387) and important studies on the sayings, for instance by Douglas Burton-Christi and Per Rönnegård. In addition, my paper will be informed by Patricia Cox-Miller’s enlightening book on the ‘corporeal imagination’.