Монашеското образование на Патриарх Евтимий в манастира Кефаларево
The Monastic Education of the Patriarch Euthymios of Tărnovo in the Kefalarevo Monastery

Summary/Abstract: The patriarch Euthymios of Tărnovo started his spiritual path in the monastery of Kefalarevo, which was founded by Theodosios of Tărnovo, a disciple of Greg-ory of Sinai. In this monastery, Euthymios was educated according to the prin-ciples of Gregory of Sinai’s new spiritual school and soon became a teacher of the younger monks. Studying some ascetic monastic South Slavic miscellanies related to the Ke-falarevo monastery and to Gregory’s monastery (Paroria), we were able to under-stand the spiritual scene and Euthymios’ monastic education and, in general, the life in these monasteries. The miscellanies that have been analyzed include works of contemporary writers: Pseudo-Symeon the New Theologian, author of the Three Methods of Prayer, Nikephoros of Mount Athos (13th century) and Gregory of Sinai himself. In their works these three authors explicitely refer to a number of previous writers and texts, that reflect, in a certain sense, the entire history of the Byzantine spiritu-ality. Along with the contemporary works, these miscellanies comprise also works of various earlier authors, starting from Ephrem the Syrian, Evagrios of Pontus and Pseudo-Makarios of Egypt (4th century) to Isaiah of Gaza and Mark the Monk (5th century). They also include excerpts from various Paterika (especially those from the Collective (Svodnyi) Paterikon, that was presumably written in the 14th cen-tury) and passages by Zosimas (6th century). There are found as well authors from the 7th century, such as Athanasios of Sinai, Thalassios of Caesarea and Maximos the Confessor. Theodore of Edessa’s writings (11th century) can be seen as a sort of synthesis of the previous ones. Philotheos of Sinai (10th century), Symeon the New Theologian and Niketas Stethatos (11th century) represent the second stage of the Byzantine mysticism. Finally, Hesychios of Sinai (12th century) anticipates the spititual renaissance of the 13th and 14th centuries.

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