80 Chapter 2 by other people. Therefore, the verb derived from hesychia is here associated with certain external circumstances: absence of disturbance by people (solitude) and an enclosed space that is separated from the busy hustle of Roman city life.268 So the verb, I believe, principally refers to Gregory’s state of being in relation to the external circumstances (so close to the LSJ entry of ἐφησυχάζω: remain quiet, whereby the quietude refers both to the surroundings and Gregory’s inaction to engage with people in his surrounding). In addition, it might also refer to his activity in his cell, presumably contemplation, following Chronz. The last passage in which we encounter the verb derived from hesychia is in chapter 39. It is remarkably similar to chapter 25: Ἡσυχάζοντι δὲ αὐτῷ ποτε ἔν τινι κελλίῳ, μεταβαλὼν ὁ ἐχθρὸς ἑαυτὸν εἰς ἕνα τῶν τῆς πόλεως σαλῶν ἐξαπίνης {τῷ κελλίῳ} ἐφίσταται. Καὶ εἰσδὺς καὶ τοῖς ὤμοις ἐπιβὰς τοῦ ὁσίου σεσηρότι γέλωτι καταπαίζειν ἤρξατο. Ὁ δὲ Χριστὸν ἐπονομάσας καὶ ἁγίῳ ἐμφυσήματι τούτῳ προσπνεύσας ἐξήλασε παραχρῆμα. Once, when he ἡσυχάζοντι in a cell, the enemy changed himself into one of the fools of the city and suddenly arrived at the cell. And after crawling into the cell and climbing on the shoulders of the holy man, he [the fool] began to mock him with grinning and derision. He [Gregory] then immediately drove him out by invoking Christ and breathing a holy breath upon him. Here also the location of practicing or being in a state of hesychia is a monastic cell in a city (Thessaloniki) and he is disturbed by someone. Similar to the cited passage above (Life of Gregory 25), Gregory expels the man and the devil (ὁ ἐχθρός – the enemy) from his cell. However, the nature of the disruption is different. In chapter 25 the possessed man disrupts his anonymity and solitude, while in chapter 39 the devil – in the shape of a fool – does not necessarily expose Gregory, but disrupts the holy man by his presence and behaviour.269 Gregory’s response to the disruption is also different. Although in both cases he drives away a demon or devil, in chapter 39 he does not leave his cell after the interaction. This reaction is likely a consequence of the advanced spiritual progress Gregory had made, as represented in the narrative: in this stage of the narrative Gregory is already portrayed as a holy man, helping people around him, both by miracles and by guiding them to a 268 See section 2.3 on hesychia and space below and the observations made on the late-antique usages of hesychia in monastic literature in section 2.2.1 above. 269 Fighting demons and the devil is a common topos in monastic literature, going back to a late-antique tradition (e.g., in the Life of Anthony by Athanasius, or in the writings of Evagrius Pontus). There does not seem to be much of a distinction between devil (not called such, but here used as the translation of descriptions like ‘the evil one’, ‘the enemy’, ‘the malignant and man-slaying serpent’ [ch. 65], etc.) and demon (δαίμων), except that the devil is always singular, whereas demons are usually plural. However, they seem to function in the same way in the narrative: they can possess people, inspire (bad) desires in people, or they can change into animals or other shapes who try to keep the holy man from his virtuous path or to disrupt his contemplation.
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