Author: Prof. Lorenzo Perrone (Bologna University)
Keywords: monasticism, devotion, abba, prayer, counsel, advice
Abstract:
It is not easy to investigate the form and measure of personal involvement in the case of individual prayer, nor to establish its precise value as a marker of religious identity. Being perceived today – especially in the West – as an act of devotion, prayer tends to become more evasive, and thus more elusive for an external observer. However, our ability to observe its significance for the ones who pray is limited also in the case of the public, ritualized prayer. Bearing such difficulties in mind, one can understand why a study on prayer reflects its spiritual, liturgical, and doctrinal aspects, rather than its practice or social background. The results of such investigations, especially those aimed at reconstituting the history of prayer in the ancient world, are usually related to the ascetic and theological discourse on prayer, to the idealised vision of the theologians, preachers, and spiritual writers, rather than its genuine experience. This prevailing tendency was also confirmed by the most recent History of Prayer, that presents a selective study from the 1st to the 15th century, although some of its contributions reflect some efforts towards a wider cultural approach. Among these contributions we must mention that of Michael Joseph Brown, whose previous book, The Lord’s Prayer through North African Eyes, was instrumental in presenting the cultural background and ways of perceptions for the best-known Christian prayer in Carthage and Alexandria during the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It is not my intention to ignore the precious work of the scholars from the previous century, such as Franz Joseph Dölger, Adalbert Hamman and others, nor the extensive research on prayer from the last decade, both in collective works and by individual authors, as well as the extensive contributions on rhetoric and prayer during the time of the Greco-Roman antiquity. Moreover, I would also like to mention the still acute lack of studies on prayer as a cultural phenomenon. Such studies should accompany and continue the results obtained from the history of theology, liturgics, and spirituality. It would be an exaggeration to state that my study fills this gap, but rather that it represents a progress for the research on prayer, by examining what I consider to be a rather interesting case: The Letters of the Hesychast Euthymius to Barsanuphius.
(Translation from English by Liviu-Emilian Airinei)
Pages: 258-285