95 Mobility, immobility and sainthood to particular places because they expect to find (the right circumstances for) hesychia there; or conversely, they move away from a place because distractions prevent them to find hesychia. These are of course two sides of the same coin. Travelling to find hesychia implies the monk could not find it at his current location; moving away because he could not find hesychia implies that he wants to find it elsewhere. Only the emphasis is different: it is represented as either a pull factor in the motivation to travel (to move to a place to find hesychia) or as a push factor in the motivation to travel (to move away from a place because he cannot find hesychia). Two examples will illustrate this connection of hesychia to mobility. The first example is taken from the Life of Gregory: Βουλή ποτε τῷ ἁγίῳ γέγονε σὺν ἑνὶ τῶν μαθητῶν ὁρμῆσαι πρὸς τὰ τῶν Σκλαβηνῶν μερῶν ὄρη ἠλπικότι ἐν τούτοις ἡσυχίας τῆς ἐπιποθουμένης τυχεῖν.311 Once a desire arose in the saint to rush to the mountains of the parts of the Slavs together with one of his disciples, hoping to attain the strongly desired hesychia therein. Because hesychia is associated with particular spaces, such as mountains, monks travel to these destinations. In this example, Gregory is motivated to go to a mountainous region, because he hopes that he will find hesychia there. That also implies that he at that point misses hesychia and cannot acquire it in his current location, that is the city of Thessaloniki, where he stayed in a cell near the church of Saint Menas. The episodes preceding his desire to travel recount various interactions of Gregory with monks and others. These visitors visit his cell or the church, asking Gregory for advice or help, or whom on occasion Gregory gives unsolicited advice. Although not mentioned explicitly, the author therefore suggests that the lack of hesychia in Thessaloniki is caused by these interactions. The second example is taken from the Life of Euthymius: Μηδόλως οὖν ἐν αὐτῷ ἡσυχάζειν ἐώμενος, τὰ τοῦ Ἄθωνος πάλιν ἐπικαταλαμβάνει ἀκρωτήρια.312 Not at all being allowed to hesychazein on it, he came up to the peaks of Athos again. In this passage, Euthymius sat on top of a pillar outside Thessaloniki. The reasons for not being able to enjoy hesychia on the column are not narrated here,313 but in any case he could 311 Life of Gregory of Decapolis 49. 312 Life of Euthmius the Younger 37.3 (my own translation). 313 But this passage may remind of an earlier one, in which Euthymius is distracted by the many visitors who came to him when he sat on top of the column. Life of Euthymius the Younger 23. See a discussion of this passage above, pp. 89-90 and in chapter 3, pp. 151-152. 2
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