St. Nicodemus was born Nicholas Kallivroutsis in 1749 on the Greek island of Naxos, which was at the time part of the Ottoman Empire. According to his biographer, he was possessed of "great acuteness of mind, accurate perception, intellectual brightness, and vast memory", qualities which were readily apparent to those who furthered him along in his learning. He passed from the tutelage of his parish priest to that of Archimandrite Chrysanthos, who was the brother of St. Cosmas. From there he made his way to Smyrna, where he studied at the Evangelical School. Here he studied theology, as well as ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian. Persecution from the Turks, who ruled most of the Greek world at the time, cut his schooling short, and he returned to Naxos in 1770. He studied at Smyrna but was forced to abandon his studies during a time of Ottoman persecution. Instead he entered the Dionysiou monastery on Mount Athos in 1775.
Monastic life
Nicholas made the acquaintance of St. Macarius of Corinth a few years after returning home, beginning a lifelong friendship. It was shortly thereafter that he decided to embrace the monastic life, following the example of three monks he had encountered, Gregory, Niphon, and Arsenios. These men had come from Mount Athos, which had been an important center of monasticism for over seven hundred years, and persuaded Nicholas to go there as well. He arrived there in 1775, at age 26. Upon being tonsured a monk, Nicholas' name was changed, as is the custom for those who had abandoned the world, to Nicodemus. He was initiated into the practice of hesychia, a method of prayer involving inner stillness, controlled breathing, and repetition of the "Jesus Prayer". Nicodemus aligned himself with the monks known as Kollyvades, who sought a revival of traditional Orthodox practices and patristic literature, and he spent the remainder of his life at work translating and publishing those works. He also composed many original books of his own. He died on July 14, 1809 on Mount Athos and was glorified by the Greek Orthodox Church on May 31, 1955. His feast day is 14 July.
Major works
In cooperation with St. Macarius of Corinth, St. Nicodemus compiled the Philokalia, which became an important work on monastic spirituality. It contains some of the teachings of many of the ancient Desert Fathers. While compiling the Philokalia, St. Nicodemus included the titles of various passages from both the Old and New Testaments based solely on his own memory, as he had a photographic memory. St. Nicodemus also published modern editions of other theological writings, such as those of Symeon the New Theologian and Gregory Palamas. In addition, he wrote original works, such as the Pedalion, a treatise on canon law, and the Exomologetarion a guide for confessors. Another of his famous works is the 'Enchiridion of Counsels' , written by Nicodemus at the suggestion of his cousin Hierotheos, who had recently been made Bishop of Euripos. This handbook on the religious life, aimed at clergy and lay Christians alike, continues to be influential on Greek spirituality to this day. The work has been described as a theological-ethical tract that displays both deep psychological insight and a keen scientific mind. He was not ignorant of the Western spiritual writers, and even published translations of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and The Spiritual Combat of Lorenzo Scupoli.
The term Philokalia , used for the texts, aims to enshrine the history of the Jesus Prayer, and the spiritual practice of this, called Hesychasm. It is this love of beauty that revives and gives faith to the hopeless. The history of the prayer begins with the earliest fathers including St Anthony the Great, and the text ends with St Gregory Palamas. The title conveys the contemplative tradition, in that it teaches understanding of the inner or mystical Kingdom of God within each person. The spirit of God is an ember and one must cultivate the ember into an open fire. This perpetual fire burns in the heart, in love for all things, which is to share in the energy of God, which is love. It is within the Philokalia that one learns how to properly navigate the passions and depravity of existence called the World. The object of contemplation is "the love of beauty" or infinite beauty, which is God. For if existence were truly evil it could neither contain nor express beauty. This expression conveys the truth about the divine life and purpose which the heart learns through practice of the Prayer of the Heart, called Hesychasm. God in his energies is love. God is also the source of all that is truly beautiful, resplendent with divine glory. It is this beauty, the Russian philosophers held, that "will save the World".
