Yakov
Bogatenko (1875-1941). Saint Nilus of Sinai (russian Old Believers icon),
1904
Saint Nil l'Ascète
Abbé (+ v. 450)
Disciple de saint Jean
Chrysostome, il fut préfet de Constantinople à l'époque de l'empereur
Théodose. Marié à une pieuse chrétienne et père d'une fille et d'un fils, ils
décidèrent quelques années plus tard d'aller vivre au désert. Ils se retirèrent
au Mont-Sinaï, dans la solitude, rejoignant les moines du monastère de Sainte
Catherine seulement les dimanches et les jours de fête. Une bande arabe fit un
jour irruption dans le monastère. Beaucoup de moines furent massacrés. Les plus
jeunes dont Théodule, le fils de saint Nil, furent emmenés pour être vendus
comme esclaves. Quelques-uns s'enfuirent et, parmi eux, saint Nil. Revenu au
monastère, il reprit sa vie ascétique, écrivit plusieurs traités spirituels
dont "la philosophie du Saint-Esprit". Il défendit par ses écrits
saint Jean Chrysostome alors exilé. Il eut la joie de retrouver son fils
quelques années avant sa mort.
Près d’Ancyre en Galatie,
au Ve siècle, saint Nil, abbé, qui fut disciple de saint Jean Chrysostome,
gouverna longtemps son monastère et diffusa par ses écrits la spiritualité
ascétique.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/9088/Saint-Nil-l-Ascete.html
NIL.
Né à Ancyre, il reçoit une excellente formation théologique et littéraire à
Constantinople, où il est disciple de Jean Chrysostome .
Fondateur d'un monastère près d'Ancyre, il y exerce une large influence,
notamment par sa correspondance, car il est renommé pour avoir écrit 1061 lettres, qui
sont souvent des notes de lectures ou des extraits d'ouvrages de nombreux
auteurs. Il reste aussi de lui plusieurs traités d'ascétisme et de morale destinés
aux moines: il y présente leur idéal de pauvreté, obéissance et détachement
comme la véritable philosophie, ou recherche de la sagesse. Un traité sur La
pauvreté volontaire prend position contre les vastes propriétés et les
grands troupeaux possédés par certains monastères. Un autre traité sur La
supériorité des moines relève les avantages que retire l'ascète en vivant
loin des villes. Ce modèle d'abbé meurt vers 430, sans doute à un âge très
avancé.
SOURCE : http://www.clerus.org/bibliaclerusonline/fr/jce.htm
Saint-Nilus (Neilos)
l'Ermite (Vème siècle), anachorète, docteur de l'Église, est originaire
d'Ancyre, en Galatie. Il reçut les leçons de saint Chrysostome, et dut à ses
talents encore plus qu'à son illustre naissance d'être élevé à la dignité de
préfet de Constantinople. Les honneurs et les richesses n'avaient aucun attrait
pour son âme tout occupée de Dieu, et sa famille partageait ses pieux
sentiments. Sa femme et sa fille embrassèrent la vie religieuse dans un
monastère, et lui-même se retira avec son fils Théodule dans le désert de
Sinaï, où il pratiqua les exercices les plus parfaits de la vie monastique,
partageant son temps entre la prière, l'étude et le travail des mains. Ce fut
là qu'il composa les écrits parmi lesquels on remarque surtout son vigoureux
plaidoyer pour un retour à la pauvreté monastique par une apologie d'une vie de
prière loin de l'agitation des cités, et son livre de la Prière, qui l'ont fait
regarder comme un des plus éloquents disciples de saint Chrysostome. Saint Nil
mourut dans un âge fort avancé sous le règne de Marcien vers 451. Ses reliques
furent transportées du mont Sinaï à Constantinople, au temps de Justin le
Jeune, et déposées dans la basilique des Saints-Apôtres, le 12 novembre, jour
où l'Église honore sa mémoire.
Saint Nilus s'était
retiré dans la solitude pour prier pour le monde qu'il estimait si perverti, et
ses oraisons furent gratifiées de quelques lumières particulières pour l'époque
où les temps de la terre seraient accomplis…
Nilus l'aîné, du Sinai
(mort en 430 ch), a été l'un des nombreux disciples de saint Jean Chrysostome.
On le connaît d'abord comme un laïc, marié. Avec deux fils. À cette époque, il
était un fonctionnaire de la Cour de Constantinople , Et aurait été l'un des
Prætorian Préfets , Qui, selon Dioclétien et Constantin sont les principaux
fonctionnaires et les chefs de tous les autres gouverneurs pour les quatre
principales divisions de l'empire. Leur autorité, cependant, avait déjà
commencé à diminuer d'ici à la fin du quatrième siècle.
Alors que Saint Jean
Chrysostome a été patriarche, avant son premier exil (398-403), il a dirigé
Nilus dans l'étude de Scripture Ecriture et dans les œuvres de piété
(Nikephoros Kallistos, "Hist. Eccl.", XIV, 53, 54). A propos de
l'année 390 (Tillemont, "Mémoires", XIV, 190-91), ou peut-être 404
(Leo Allatius "De Nilis», 11-14). Nilus a quitté son épouse et un fils et
a pris l'autre, Theodulos, Avec lui au mont Sinaï pourdevenir moine. Ils ont
vécu là jusqu'à environ l'an 410 (Tillemont, ib., P. 405) où les Sarrasins
envahirent le monastère et firent prisonnier Theodulos, destiné au sacrifice de
leurs dieux. Mais finalement ils le vendirent comme esclave. De sorte qu'il
devint la possession de l'évêque de Eleusa Eleusa en Palestine. L'évêque reçu
Theodulos parmi les membres du clergé et fit de lui le porte-détenteur de la
l'église. Nilus ayant quitté son monastère à la recherche de son fils, le
retrouva à Eleusa Eleusa L'évêque après avoir ordonné les prêtres, leur permis
de revenir au Sinaï . La mère et l'autre fils avaient également embrassé la vie
religieuse en Égypte. Saint-Nilus resta certainement en vie jusqu'à l'an 430. .
On ne sait pas combien de temps après il mourrut. Certains auteurs croient
qu'il vécu jusqu'en 451 (Leo Allatius, op. cit., 8-14). C'est ce que suppose
l'Église Byzantine qui le fête le 12 Novembre. D'autre part, aucun de ses
ouvrages n'évoque le Concile d'Ephèse (431) ) et il semble ne connaître que le
début des troubles nestoriens, donc nous n'avons pas de preuves de sa vie
au-delà de 430.
De son monastère du
Sinaï, Nilus fut reconnu dans l'ensemble de l'Église d'Orient, par ses écrits
et sa correspondance qui attestent qu'il a joué un rôle important dans
l'histoire de son temps. Il était connu comme théologien, érudit théologique et
écrivain ermite, de sorte que les gens de toutes sortes, de l'empereur
jusqu'aux plus simples, lui écrivaient et le consultaient. Ses nombreuses
œuvres, dont une multitude de lettres, composées de dénonciations d'hérésie, de
paganisme, de manque de discipline , de règles et de principes d'ascétisme. En
particulier les maximes sur la vie religieuse. Il met en garde et menace les
personnes en haut lieu, des abbés et des évêques, des gouverneurs et des
princes, et même l'empereur lui-même, sans peur. Il a tenu une correspondance
avec Gaina, un chef de file des Goths, en s'attachant à le convertir de
l'Arianisme (livre I de ses lettres, nos. 70, 79, 114, 115, 116, 205, 206,
286), il dénoncé vigoureusement la persécution de Saint Jean Chrysostome à la
fois à l'empereur Arcadius (ib., II, 265, III, 279) et de ses courtisans (I,
309, III, 199).
Nilus doit être considéré
comme l'un des principaux écrivains ermite du Ve siècle. Sa fête est maintenue,
le 12 Novembre dans le Calendrier Byzantin ; Il est rappelé également dans la
martyrologie romaine à la même date. Les Arméniens se souviennent de lui,
avec d'autres Pères égyptiens le Jeudi du troisième dimanche de l'Avent
(Nilles, «Kalendarium Manuale", Innsbruck, 1897, II, 624).
Les écrits de St. Nilus
du Sinai Sinaï ont d'abord été édité par Possinus Possinus (Paris, 1639); en
1673 Francisco Suárez a publié un supplément à Rome, ses lettres ont été
recueillies par Possinus (Paris, 1657), une plus grande collection a été faite
par Leo Allatius (Rome, 1668).
SOURCE : https://prophetesetmystiques.blogspot.ca/2009/12/propheties-saint-nilus-lermite.html
Also
known as
Nilus of Sinai
Nilus of Ancyra
Neilos…
Nilo…
Profile
Byzantine imperial
official; may even have been a Prætorian Prefect. Married and father of
two. When the children were
grown, Nilus and the wife agreed to lead separate lives devoted to God. Monk on
Mount Sinai with his son Theodulus.
After a few years on the
Mount, Arab raiders kidnapped Theodulus.
Nilus went in search of him and found him in Eleusa in Palestine where
the bishop had
ransomed him out of slavery and
made him the door-keeper of his church. The bishop ordained them
both, and then returned to Sinai.
Noted author on theological matters,
his works influenced the Eastern
Church. Bishop of
Ancyra. Friend, supporter and spiritual student of Saint John
Chrystostom.
Born
4th century Byzantium
Died
c.430 of
natural causes
Additional
Information
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Butler
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of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
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books
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sites in english
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fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Nilus the
Elder“. CatholicSaints.Info. 31 October 2022. Web. 12 November 2022.
<http://catholicsaints.info/saint-nilus-the-elder/>
SOURCE : http://catholicsaints.info/saint-nilus-the-elder/
Book of Saints –
Nilus – 12 November
(Saint) Abbot (November
12) (5th
century) A learned Eastern monk,
surnamed by his contemporaries “Sapiens” or the Wise. He made his home with
the Solitaries of
Mount Sinai and emerged into public life mainly as a supporter of the
persecuted Saint John
Chrysostom. Most of his works, which are chiefly ascetic, are still extant.
He died at Constantinople some
time after A.D. 430.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Nilus”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
26 March 2016. Web. 12 November 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-nilus-12-november/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-nilus-12-november/
Nilus the Elder, Abbot
(RM)
(also known as Nilus the
Wise)
Died c. 430. Here we have
another example of a problematic saint-- or rather two saints with the same
name who lived about the same time and place. In the course of history, their
stories became intertwined, so that now it is difficult to untangle them. Both
of their stories, however, are interesting. Attwater says that today's Nilus
(the Wise of Ancyra) became a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom when a student
at Constantinople. On returning to his native Ancyra (now Ankara, Turkey) he
founded a monastery nearby, where he wrote the works for which he is
remembered. They were intended for his monks, and are mostly moral and
ascetical treatises; a series of his passages on prayer is printed in English
in Early Fathers from the Philokalia (1954), but it is a work of which the
authorship is questioned. Nilus also conducted a large correspondence
(including two letters addressed to Emperor Arcadius rebuking the emperor for
exiling Saint John Chrysostom from Constantinople) and many of his letters are
extant.
Delaney records the story
of the other Nilus (the Elder) and claims today as his feast also. He says that
Nilus was an imperial official, perhaps a prefect, at Constantinople, where he
became a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom. Though married with two children,
Nilus became a monk on Mount Sinai, taking his son Theodulus, after Nilus and
his wife mutually agreed to leave the secular world.
During a raid on the
monastery by Arabs, Theodulus was kidnapped and Nilus went after him, finally
tracing him to Eleusa (near Beersheba), where he had been given shelter by the
local bishop, who ordained both of them. Nilus is reputed to have written
theological and ascetical treatises and numerous letters but many authorities
believe that Nilus the author was a monk called "the Wise" at Ankara,
Turkey (then Ancyra, Galatia) (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney). Even in the
latest version of the Benedictine work, the two are confused.
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/1112.shtml
November 12
St. Nilus, Anchoret,
Father of the Church, Confessor
NOBILITY, dignities,
honours, and riches, have not given such great lustre to the name of St. Nilus,
as the contempt of those things for the love of Christ. In his retreat, such
was his care to live unknown to the world, that he has concealed from us the
very manner of life which he led in the desert, and all we know of him is
reduced to certain general circumstances. He seems to have been a native of
Ancyra in Galatia, says Orsi: it appears by his writings that he had a regular
education, in which piety and religion had always the ascendant. It is
uncertain at what time of life he had St. Chrysostom for master; but it must
have been at Antioch, whither the reputation of that holy doctor must have
drawn him, perhaps when he resigned his government in order to retire from the
world. St. Nilus was married, had two sons, lived in great splendour and dignity,
and was raised by the emperor to the post of prefect or governor of
Constantinople. The ambition, avarice, jealousies, and other vices which
reigned in the court of Arcadius, could not fail to alarm the conscience of a
pious and timorous magistrate, who, in all his actions, feared nothing so much
as to authorize or connive at injustice or sin. And the desire of living only
to God and himself worked so strongly in his heart, that he obtained, though
with some difficulty, his wife’s consent to withdraw himself from the world,
about the year 390. His eldest son he left to her care to be trained up to the
duties of his station in the world, and with the younger named Theodulus,
betook himself to a solitary life in the desert of Sinai. In this retreat they
lived together in the most fervent exercises of the monastic state, and
sustained many conflicts against both their visible and invisible enemies.
The works which St. Nilus
hath left us were in great request amongst the ancients, and as Photius justly
remarks, 1 demonstrate
the excellent perfection of his virtue, and his great talent of eloquence. 2 In
his treatise, On the Monastic Life, he observes that Christ came from heaven to
teach men the true way of virtue and wisdom, to which all the sages of the
ancients were strangers. He adds, that the first Christians imitated their
master in all things; but that this primitive zeal being cooled, some persons
took a resolution to abandon the perplexing business of the world, and
renounced riches and pleasures, the better to apply themselves to the exercise
of all virtues, and to curb their passions. But that this state, so holy in its
original, had then so much degenerated, that many professors of it disgraced it
by their irregularities. These disorders he censures with great fervour and
acuteness, in this and his other ascetic works, in which he strongly recommends
voluntary poverty, obedience, concord, and humility. In his book on prayer, a
work particularly admired by Photius, many excellent maxims are laid down. The
saint recommends, that we beg of God, in the first place, the gift of prayer,
and entreat the Holy Ghost to form in our hearts those pure and ardent desires
which he has promised always to hear, and that he vouchsafe to teach us
interiorly to pray: this holy doctor will have us only to ask of God, that his
will be done in the most perfect manner. To persons in the world, he inculcates
temperance, humility, prayer, contempt of the world, continual meditation on
death, and the obligation of giving large alms. The saint was always ready to
communicate to others his spiritual science. For, in the tranquillity of his
solitude, he had learned to know God in a manner in which he is not known in
the tumult of the world, and to taste the sweets of his peace. What proficiency
he had made in the maxims of an interior life, and in the study of the holy scriptures,
and how much he was consulted by persons of all ranks, appear from the great
number of his letters, which are still extant. They are short but elegant, and
written with spirit and vehemency, especially when any vice is the theme. By an
express treatise, he endeavours to show the state of anchorets or hermits to be
preferable to that of religious who live in communities in cities, because the
latter find it more difficult to preserve their virtue and recollection, and to
subdue their passions; but he must speak of hermits, who have been first well
exercised under some experienced master, and he takes notice that hermits have
their particular difficulties and great trials. This he himself had experienced
by violent interior temptations and troubles of mind with which the devil long
assaulted him; but he overcame them by assiduous reading, prayer, singing of
psalms, frequent genuflexions, patience, the practice of humility, and the sign
of the cross, with which he armed himself upon the sudden appearance of an
enemy. 3 The
same arms he recommends to others under the like temptations. 4 He
lays down excellent rules against all vices in his treatises, On Evil Thoughts,
On Vices, and On the Eight Vicious Thoughts or Capital Sins, on which he says
excellent things, especially on the dangers of vain glory and sloth. Who would
not have thought that St. Nilus, by forsaking the world, was out of the reach
of exterior trials and afflictions: yet, in the wilderness, he met with the
most grievous. The Saracens making an inroad into the deserts of Sinai,
massacred a great number of the monks, and finding Theodulus, our saint’s son,
in a certain monastery, they carried him away captive with several others. The
anxious father sought him on every side, and fell himself into the hands of the
invaders, but soon procured his liberty. At length he found his son at Eleusa,
with the bishop of that city, who had ransomed him out of charity. The good
prelate with joy restored him to his father, whom he obliged to receive the
holy order of priesthood at his hands. 5 Nilus
was then fifty years old. He lived to a very great age, and died in the reign
of the emperor Martian. His love of obscurity followed him to the grave, so
that the year and circumstances of his happy death are concealed from us. His
remains were brought to Constantinople in the reign of Justin the Younger, and
deposited in the church of the apostles there. On St. Nilus see the accurate
Leo Allatius, Diatriba de Nilis et eorum scriptis, in the end of his epistles;
Fabricius, Bibl. Gr. ad Leon. Allat. Diatrib. de Nilis, ad calcem, vol. 5;
Tillemont, t. 14; Orsi, l. 28, n. 83, 84, 85, 94; Jos. Assemani in Calend. ad
14 Jan. t. 6, p. 68.
Note 1. Cod.
201. [back]
Note 2. The works of
St. Nilus, without his letters, were published at Rome in 1673, by Joseph-Maria
Suarez. F. Peter Poussines, Jesuit, published his letters to the number of 335,
in quarto, at Paris, in 1657. Leo Allatius hath printed a much greater number
in four books, at Rome, in 1668, folio. The saint frequently admonishes priests
not to be too harsh in receiving sinners; and relates that, in the time of the
apostles, a bishop called Carpus was rebuked by Christ in a vision, for using
too much rigour towards penitents: (l. 2, ep. 190, et ep. 64, l. 4, recited in
the second council of Nice:) he blames the Lord Olympiodorus, to whom this
letter is addressed, that he had caused the shapes of beasts and other strange
forms to be painted upon the walls of the church; and tells him, that we may
only paint the cross in the chancel, and round the church place pictures of the
Old and New Testament, that those who cannot read may learn the history of the
Bible. The Iconoclasts had falsified this passage by putting it, may white
over the walls, instead of, may paint, &c. He tells us, (l.
1, ep. 294,) that St. Chrysostom, celebrating the divine mysteries, saw angels
attending the priests at the distribution of the adorable body and blood of
Jesus Christ. [back]
Note 3. L. de
Theodulo filio, n. 8. [back]
Note 4. L. 3, ep.
98. [back]
Note 5. See S. Nili,
narrationes septem de cæde Monachorum, et de captivitate filii sui
Theoduli. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume XI: November. The Lives of the
Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/11/122.html
St. Nilus
(Neilos)
Nilus the elder,
of Sinai (died c. 430), was one of the many disciples and
fervent defenders of St.
John Chrysostom. We know him
first as a layman, married,
with two sons. At this time he was an officer at
the Court of Constantinople, and is said to have been one of
the Prætorian Prefects, who, according to Diocletian and Constantine's arrangement,
were the chief functionaries and heads of all other governors for the four main
divisions of the empire. Their authority, however, had already begun to decline
by the end of the fourth century.
While St.
John Chrysostom was patriarch, before his first exile (398-403),
he directed Nilus in the study of Scripture and in works of piety (Nikephoros
Kallistos, "hist. Eccl.", XIV, 53, 54). About the year 390
(Tillemont, "Mémoires", XIV, 190-91) or perhaps 404 (Leo
Allatius, "De Nilis", 11-14), Nilus left his wife and one son and
took the other, Theodulos, with him to Mount
Sinai to be a monk.
They lived here till about the year 410 (Tillemont, ib., p. 405) when the Saracens,
invading the monastery,
took Theodulos prisoner.
The Saracens intended
to sacrifice him to their gods, but eventually sold him as
a slave, so that he came into the possession of the Bishop of Eleusa in
Palestine. The Bishop received Theodulos among his clergy and
made him door-keeper of the church. Meanwhile Nilus, having left his monastery to
find his son, at last met him at Eleusa. The bishop then ordained them
both priests and
allowed them to return to Sinai. The mother and the other son had also
embraced the religious
life in Egypt. St.
Nilus was certainly alive till the year 430. It is uncertain how soon after
that he died. Some writers believe him to have lived till 451 (Leo
Allatius, op. cit., 8-14). The Byzantine Menology for
his feast (12 November) supposes this. On the other hand, none of his
works mentions the Council of Ephesus (431) and he seems to know only
the beginning of the Nestorian troubles;
so we have no evidence of his life later than about 430.
From his monastery at Sinai Nilus
was a wellknown person throughout
the Eastern
Church; by his writings and correspondence he played an important part in
the history of his time. He was known as a theologian, Biblical scholar
and ascetic writer,
so people of all kinds, from the emperor down, wrote to consult him. His
numerous works, including a multitude of letters, consist
of denunciations of heresy, paganism,
abuses of discipline and crimes, of rules and principles
of asceticism, especially maxims about the religious
life. He warns and threatens people in high places, abbots and bishops,
governors and princes, even the emperor himself, without fear. He kept up
a correspondence with Gaina, a leader of the Goths,
endeavouring to convert him from Arianism (Book
I of his letters, nos. 70, 79, 114, 115, 116, 205, 206, 286);
he denounced vigorously the persecution of St.
John Chrysostom both to the Emperor Arcadius (ib., II, 265; III, 279)
and to his courtiers (I, 309; III, 199).
Nilus must be counted as
one of the leading ascetic writers
of the fifth century. His feast is
kept on 12 November in the Byzantine Calendar; he is commemorated
also in the Roman martyrology on
the same date.
The Armenians remember him,
with other Egyptian fathers,
on the Thursday after the third Sunday of
their Advent (Nilles,
"Kalendarium Manuale", Innsbruck, 1897, II, 624).
The writings of St.
Nilus of Sinai were first edited by Possinus (Paris, 1639);
in 1673 Francisco Suárez published a supplement at Rome;
his letters were collected by Possinus (Paris, 1657), a
larger collection was made by Leo
Allatius (Rome, 1668). All these editions are used in P.G., LXXIX. The
works are divided by Fessler-Jungmann into
four classes:
(1) Works
about virtues and vices in general: —
"Peristeria" (P.G., LXXIX, 811-968), a treatise in three parts
addressed to a monk Agathios;
"On Prayer" (peri proseuches, ib., 1165-1200); "Of the eight
spirits of wickedness" (peri ton th'pneumaton tes ponerias, ib., 1145-64);
"Of the vice opposed to virtues" (peri tes antizygous ton areton
kakias, ib., 1140-44); "Of various bad thoughts" (peri diapsoron
poneron logismon, ib., 1200-1234); "On the word of
the Gospel of Luke", xxii, 36 (ib., 1263-1280).
(2) "Works about
the monastic life": — Concerning the slaughter of monks on Mount
Sinai, in seven parts, telling the story of the author's life
at Sinai, the invasion of the Saracens, captivity of
his son, etc. (ib., 590-694); Concerning Albianos, a Nitrian monk whose life is
held up as an example (ib., 695-712); "Of Asceticism" (Logos
asketikos, about the monastic ideal, ib., 719-810); "Of
voluntary poverty" (peri aktemosynes, ib., 968-1060); "Of the
superiority of monks" (ib., 1061-1094); "To Eulogios the monk"
(ib., 1093-1140).
(3)
"Admonitions" (Gnomai) or "Chapters" (kephalaia), about
200 precepts drawn
up in short maxims (ib., 1239-62). These are probably made by his disciples from
his discourses.
(4) "Letters":
— Possinus published 355, Allatius 1061
letters, divided into four books (P.G., LXXIX, 81-585). Many are not complete, several
overlap, or are not really letters but excerpts from Nilus' works;
some are spurious. Fessler-Jungmann divides
them into classes, as dogmatic, exegetical, moral,
and ascetic. Certain works wrongly attributed to Nilus are named in Fessler-Jungmann,
pp. 125-6.
Sources
NIKEPHOROS
KALLISTOS, Hist. Eccl., XIV, xliv; LEO ALLATIUS, Diatriba de
Nilis et eorum scriptis in his edition of the letters (Rome, 1668);
TILLEMONT, Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique, XIV
(Paris, 1693-1713), 189-218; FABRICIUS-HARLES, Bibliotheca græca, X
(Hamburg, 1790-1809), 3-17; CEILLIER, Histoire générale des auteurs
sacrés, XIII (Paris, 1729-1763), iii; FESSLER-JUNGMANN, Institutiones
Patrologiæ, II (Innsbruck, 1896), ii, 108-128.
Fortescue, Adrian.
"St. Nilus." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert
Appleton Company, 1911. 12 Nov. 2016
<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11079b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the
Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://newadvent.org/cathen/11079b.htm
Short
Lives of the Saints – Saint Nilus, Hermit
The noble Nilus was
appointed by the emperor Arcadius in the fourth century of the Christian era,
to fill the important post of prefect of Constantinople. Nilus had been trained
in Christian piety by the great Saint John Chrysostom, and, being addicted to
the serious contemplation of eternal truths, he felt called by the Divine
Spirit to retire from the haunts of men, and seek the practice of perfection in
some solitary place. He and his good wife felt mutually attracted to a
religious life. In the fulfilment of the will of God, Nilus withdrew with his son
to the desert of Sinai about the year 390; and his wife remained in retirement,
directing her young daughter in the paths of virtue. The holy hermit employed
his pen most zealously for the salvation of immortal souls. His learned and
pious treatises were distributed far and wide; and he kept up an active and
fruitful correspondence with all those of the faithful who sought his counsel.
. . . Are we not called
to part,
Fix all our hopes upon a holier world,
And through the cloister climb the steps of heaven
With works of mercy?
– Marion Muir
Favorite Practice – To
encourage the circulation of Catholic books and periodicals.
MLA
Citation
Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly.
“Saint Nilus, Hermit”. Short
Lives of the Saints, 1910. CatholicSaints.Info.
24 April 2021. Web. 12 November 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-nilus-hermit/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/short-lives-of-the-saints-saint-nilus-hermit/
Venerable Neilos the
Ascetic of Sinai
Commemorated on November 12
Saint Neilos the Ascetic
of Sinai, a native of Constantinople, lived during the V century and was a
disciple of Saint John Chrysostom, who exerted a tremendous influence upon
their lives and their spiritual struggles.1 After receiving a fine
education, the Saint was appointed to the important post of prefect of the
capital while still a young man. During this period, Neilos was married and had
children, but the couple found courtly life distasteful.
About the year 390, by
mutual consent, they decided to abandon the world and entered monasteries.
Neilos's wife and daughter went to one of the women’s monasteries in Egypt,
while he and his son Theódoulos went to Mount Sinai, where they settled in a
cave, which they dug out with their own hands. For forty years this cave served
as the abode of Saint Neilos. By fasting, vigil, and prayer, he attained a high
degree of spiritual perfection. People began coming to him from every
occupation and social rank, from the Emperor down to the farmer, and all of
them received counsel and comfort from the Saint.
On Sinai, Saint Neilos
wrote many soul-profiting works to guide Christians on the path of salvation.
In one of his letters there is an angry denunciation of the Emperor Arkadios,
who had unjustly exiled Saint John Chrysostom. The ascetical writings of Saint
Neilos are widely known: they are perfectly executed in form, profoundly
Orthodox in content, and are clear and lucid in expression. His Ascetic
Discourse is found in Volume I of the English Philokalia.
Saint Neilos suffered
many misfortunes in the wilderness. Once, Saracens captured his son Theódoulos,
whom they intended to offer as a sacrifice to their pagan gods. By the Saint's
prayers the Lord rescued Theódoulos, and his father found him with the Bishop
of Emessa, who had ransomed the young man from the barbarians. This bishop
ordained both of them as presbyters. After ordination they returned to Sinai,
where they lived as ascetics together until Saint Neilos reposed. His holy
relics were transferred to Constantinople in the reign of Justin II (565-578),
and were placed in the church of the Holy Apostles.
The Greek Philokalia has
a quote from Saint Neilos beneath his icon: "The state of prayer is a
passionless, settled disposition of the soul which, by supreme love, transports
the wisdom-loving mind to spiritual heights." (See the English Philokalia,
153 Sections. Concerning Prayer, # 53).
1 In earlier
editions of the Synaxaristes and the Menaion, it was erroneously stated that
Saint Neilos lived during the reign of Emperor Maurikios (582-602). This was
corrected in later editions, since he was a disciple of Saint John Chrysostom,
and was esteemed by Emperor Arkadios because of his virtues.
SOURCE : https://www.oca.org/saints/lives/2020/11/12/103287-venerable-neilos-the-ascetic-of-sinai
San Nilo il Sinaita Confessore
IV-V sec. - Ancyra
(Galazia), 430 circa
Martirologio Romano:
Presso Ankara in Galazia, nell’odierna Turchia, san Nilo, abate, che, ritenuto
discepolo di san Giovanni Crisostomo, resse a lungo un monastero e diffuse con
i suoi scritti la dottrina ascetica.
bizantini sarebbe stato
prefetto di Costantinopoli sotto Teodosio il Grande. Sposato e padre di due
figli, decise di lasciare tutto ed intraprendere vita ascetica ed
eremitica. Per questo, andò a vivere sul Sinai, mentre la moglie ed una
figlia ne seguirono l'esempio, recandosi in un romitorio in Egitto.
Molto probabilmente, S.
Nilo era discepolo del grande S. Giovanni Crisostomo, e divenne abate di un
monastero ad Ancyra, in Galazia, dove morì intorno al 430 d.C.
In suo onore, il Santo di
Rossano Calabro, Nicola Malena, assunse, dopo aver preso i voti a S. Nazario,
presso Salerno, il nome di Nilo, divenendo appunto S. Nilo di Rossano,
fondatore di Grottaferrata.
Autore: Francesco Patruno
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92745
Robert Browning. « Le commentaire
de saint Nil d'Ancyre sur le Cantique des
cantiques ». Revue
des études byzantines Année 1966 24 pp.
107-114 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1966_num_24_1_1365
