75 Mobility, immobility and sainthood depending on the specific text and interpretation – are synonymous with or necessary conditions for hesychia. In addition to external circumstances, most scholars also recognise that hesychia in late-antique monasticism was understood as an interior state of being, or a state of the soul.244 In the cited passage this is referred to as ‘interior watchfulness’ (τῆς ἔνδον φυλακῆς). This inner state has also been understood as a state of ‘silence, tranquillity, and stillness that leads the monks to contemplation’.245 In late-antique monastic literature, hesychia may thus refer to either exterior circumstances or an interior state of the monk, or it may refer to both at the same time – depending on the text.246 The last insight in the usage of hesychia in late-antique monasticism that is relevant here, is that hesychia was an ideal that monks would strive for. This is reflected in the saying in the Apophtheghmata Patrum, but equally reflected in other writings of early monastic literature.247 The ultimate goal of striving towards hesychia would be to be in contact with God.248 2.2.2 Hesychia according to Photius In order to understand what hesychia signified in the middle-Byzantine period, we may turn to the contemporary Lexicon by Photius (c. 810 – d. after 893) as a starting point.249 The Lexicon is a semantic-didactic work, in which Photius explains ‘difficult’ words from ancient Greek literature. The explanatory words could thus be expected to be words that were easier to understand for a ninth-century Greek-speaking audience. By examining with which words hesychia is paired, we can start to imagine the associations Photius would have had with this term. Because of the nature of the lexicon, which should make difficult words easier to understand for the readers, these associations may also reflect more broadly the semantic network of hesychia for ninth-century Greek-speakers. First a note of caution: together with other Byzantine lexica, the Lexicon of Photius mostly consists of ancient Greek vocabulary. The spoken language of the middle-Byzantine 244 Hausherr wrote on the basis of (mainly) late-antique works and biblical texts (Septuagint and books in the New Testament) that there are ‘deux hésychia: une etérieure et une intérieure; une dans les choses, et une dans l’homme; un silence des forces de la nature et un silence des facultés de l’âme’. Later scholars largely follow this idea, such as Sinkewicz, Vos and Koder. Hausherr (1966a), p. 166; Sinkewicz (2003); Vos (2016); Koder (2017). As discussed above, Müller disagrees with this view for pre-fifth-century texts, see footnotes 234 and 241. 245 Bitton-Ashkelony (2005), p. 158. 246 An example of a passage in the Apophthegmata that expresses the idea that hesychia refers both to the exterior surroundings and to an interior state of the monk is a saying attributed to Rufus: ‘Interior stillness [hesychia] means to remain sitting in one’s cell with fear and knowledge of God, holding far off the remembrance of wrongs suffered and pride of spirit. Such interior peace brings forth all the virtues […] Yes, brother, acquire it. Keep in mind your future death, […]. Likewise be watchful over your soul’. Translation in Ward (1984), p.210. 247 See for example the discussion in Bitton-Ashkelony (2005), pp. 158–160. 248 Gemeinhardt (2015), p. 69. 249 In addition, there is also the tenth-century Suda. I found this text less useful as a starting point for uncovering middle-Byzantine understandings of hesychia. The Suda has more of an encylcopaedic character, compiling information from earlier compilations gathered around various topics and excerpts from ancient authors, rather than a dictionary-style vocabulary aid, like Photius’ Lexicon. Although there are also a few of these short vocabulary entries as well; the ones including hesychia are nearly identical to the ones in Photius’ Lexicon (perhaps even based on Photius, as that was one of the sources for the Suda), so they will not change the conclusions based on Photius. I will identify the similarities in the relevant footnotes. 2
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