Abba Dοulas's Response to Presbyter Hermaios

Translation from Αncient Greek by a group of students, preface and notes by hierodeacon Gregory (Trofimov) under the general editorship of priest Sergey Kim

Abstract

This collective article was prepared based on the results of a year-long course devoted to the study of Greek ascetic literature at the Moscow Theological Academy. The article contains a commented translation of Abba Doulas’s response to Presbyter Hermaios. In this letter, Doulas consoles the disciple, encourages him to be patient, citing the example of repentant sinners, as well as previous Fathers who labored for many years, and convinces him to remain silent. The article is preceded by a preface in which the biblical, patristic, hagiographical and liturgical sources of the «Abba Doulas’s Response» are analyzed. Particular attention is paid to the parallels of the message with «Apophthegmata Patrum». In the commentary to the translation, the most controversial passages from the point of view of interpretation are noted and the choice of one or another lexeme is justified to most adequately convey the meaning, as well as the editors’ opinion regarding the acceptability of various contexts in the Greek text.