Possessors (Joseph of Volotsk)

KONSTANTIN GAVRILKIN

A loose translation of the Russian word stiazhateli (from the verb stiazhat’, “to acquire,” “to gain”), a disparaging nick­name given by the followers of Nil Sorskii to Joseph of Volotsk (1439–1515) and his associates, who defended strict ascetic life in big monastic communities, argued for the church’s and monasteries’ rights of landownership for administering social welfare, and justified the use of secular power in defense of Orthodoxy, including persecution of heretics. Joseph is the author of the first Russian dogmatic treatise “Enlightener” (Prosvetitel’), written in response to the so-called heresy of the Judaizers (late 15th century).

SEE ALSO: Non-Possessors (Nil Sorskii); Russia, Patriarchal Orthodox Church of

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Casiday, A. (2006) Evagrios Ponticus. Abingdon: Routledge.

Dysinger, L. (2002) Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrios Ponticus. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Goldfrank, D. (ed.) (2000) Monastic Rule of Iosif Volotsky, rev. edn. Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications.

Volotskii, I. (1993) Prosvetitel’, ili, Oblichenie eresi zhidovstvuiushchikh. Moscow: Valaamskii monastyr’.

Zimin, A. A. and Lur’e, I. S. (eds.) (1959) Poslaniia Iosifa Volotskogo. Leningrad: Izd-vo Akademii nau.