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Nil Sorsky: The Authentic Writings. Translated, edited, and introduced by David M. Goldfrank. [Cistercian Studies Series, Vol. 221.] (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications. 2008. Pp. xxiv, 369. $3995 paperback. ISBN 978-0879-07321-3.)
The work of Nil Sorskii (d. 1508) is the culmination of medieval Russian monastic spirituality. A major figure in his own lifetime, he left a small body of writings that contained his conception of the monastic life and continued the traditions of Orthodox asceticism. After his death his followers turned toward a struggle over the propriety of monastic landholding, eventually losing to the followers of Nil's contemporary, Joseph Volotskii. Nil's heritage soon moved to the margins of Russian religious history and was revived only in the nineteenth century, leading to his recognition as a saint in the twentieth.
The study of Nil's work has long been burdened with the controversy over his own attitude to monastic landholding....