nep・sis
noun
A state of spiritual alertness, vigilance and watchfulness over the movements of the nous and heart, guarding against harmful thoughts, temptations and distractions; enables one’s will to align with God’s Will; to Commune with the Holy Spirit.
In the uncertainty of 2020, as the world stood still in lockdown amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a small yet powerful flame flickered to life. This flame, a beacon of hope and enlightenment, soon grew into a wildfire, setting ablaze the hearts and minds of many. This flame represents the “Nepsis'' talk series by His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, who, to ensure the Orthodox community had some form of spiritual guidance during this challenging time, began translating and interpreting the teachings of his Elder, Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, from the book Λόγος Περί Νήψεως- Ερμηνεία στον Άγιο Ησύχιο. The goal was to equip the everyday person with the knowledge of how to practice nepsis in the context of their daily life. These talks, transcribed in the following pages, brought much-needed light and wisdom to many.
Bishop Emilianos of Meloa. Photo: orthodoxtimes.com
This series delves into the spiritual practice of nepsis, as articulated by Saint Hesychios in the Philokalia and expounded upon by Elder Aimilianos in Discourse on Nepsis: Interpretation of Saint Hesychios, currently only available in Greek. Translated as "watchfulness" or "vigilance," nepsis refers to the guarding of the mind and heart against harmful thoughts, temptations and distractions. It is the heightened state of spiritual alertness and unwavering attentiveness to our thoughts, actions and inner disposition.
While Gerondas Aimilianos' talks focused on imparting nepsis to monastics, Bishop Emilianos invites us all—monastics and laypeople alike—to embrace this practice of spiritual attentiveness. His goal is not to turn married people into monastics, but to help those living in the world to focus on God and rid themselves of everyday anxiety, wasted time, indecisiveness and confusion. It’s to bring nepsis to the everyday person who is called daily to walk on the waves of this life.
Our earthly and heavenly existence hinge on our success, but to begin, we must lay the necessary foundation: mastering our thoughts.
In the treasury of spiritual wisdom that is the Philokalia, one can find teachings on guarding the heart through the practice of nepsis, which means to be vigilant, watchful, and sober. But what exactly should we be vigilant of and sober about? In this first collection of transcribed talks by His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, we are introduced to a foundational truth in the spiritual life: our thoughts govern our life, and we must guard them with all our might. How do we guard our thoughts? Who are we guarding them against? Can they be controlled through the sheer force of will? To these questions and more, we are offered simple and practical guidance, and yet, the purpose and aim of nepsis go beyond merely mastering our thoughts.
From Volume 1 of Walking on the Waves. An Everyday Guide to Nepsis (ISBN 9798335234849), released this year by Fountain of Light Publishers. With the publisher’s permission, we are providing a “peek” at this extraordinary. book, Volume 2 of which will be released in 2025.
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Talk One. Nepsis: A Spiritual Method
Today we will start discussing the book titled Λόγος περί νήψεως (Ερµηνεία στον Άγιο Ησύχιο), ‘Talks on Nepsis (Interpretation of Saint Hesychios) from Gerondas Aimilianos of Simonopetra. This book is a transcribed collection of Gerondas Aimilianos’ talks and teachings. It is published in Greek and, God-willing, will be available in English one day.
As we progress through the book, I will translate important parts and try to explain how Gerondas Aimilianos intended them to be practiced and understood. If you have questions or need clarification, ask, and we will elaborate. I expect many questions will arise from this subject.
If you were to ask me about the importance of the subject we are about to discuss, I would say two things. Firstly, if I had the ability to give you a very precious gift, this is the most precious thing I could ever give you—the knowledge of how to ignore thoughts, through Gerondas Aimilianos. Secondly, aside from the Bible, if there is one book that can guide you to become a saint, it is this one. By following the teachings in this book, a person can become a saint. That’s how important this book is.
Nepsis comes from the verb ‘nepho,’ «νήφω», which means: ‘I observe carefully, I am vigilant, and I follow something.’ But the first and literal meaning of the word is: ‘I do not drink wine.’ The reasoning behind it is that I do not drink wine so that my intellect will be sober in order to follow someone. I don’t know if we can translate it precisely in English. We can say it is vigilance or watchfulness, although it might be better if we just use the word nepsis, because this includes these meanings and more. Nepsis also has the implication of the continuous vigilance of our intellect.
Nepsis is a spiritual method for Communion with the Holy Spirit. «Μέθοδος», the English word ‘method’ from the Greek verb «µεθοδεύω» («µεθ» + «οδός») (‘with’ + ‘way’), means that I walk with someone; I follow someone step-by-step. When someone wants to learn about another person—what they do and where they go—they follow them around. This is what I do with nepsis—I follow God. I stay close to Him in order to be able to follow Him. When I exercise nepsis, it’s as though I chase the Holy Spirit. If we focus completely on the Holy Spirit, this is the way we will win. This is a practice for every person on earth, not just monastics. Everyone is an Apostle, everyone is invited by God and everyone can Commune with the Holy Spirit. When we develop spiritually, and if we do Commune with the Holy Spirit, it becomes possible for us to pass the Holy Spirit on to others.
When we do not follow Christ, we give the “okay” to the devil to influence us. It’s as though we invite the evil spirit in. In saying that, an evil spirit cannot make a person’s heart his throne because this is a position only the Holy Spirit can occupy. At the same time however, an evil spirit can influence and fight against us through thoughts, among other ways, and life can become difficult.
Nepsis is a very delicate thing. The first thing it helps us do is eliminate harmful thoughts, words, and actions. With God’s help, it frees the entire human being, our whole existence, from evil meanings, words, and deeds.
“Let’s give an example,” says Gerondas Aimilianos. “Someone asks me for help, and at the time this happens I’m tired and I talk back in an angry way. This is an evil deed which proves that up until today I have never used nepsis and I am not on the way toward making myself perfect. On another occasion, it might not be a deed, but by looking at someone I might get a thought that: ‘I don’t want to see this person again,’ or, ‘What have I done to him?’ This is just a thought; nothing has been said out loud. I then say to myself: ‘It was just a thought, and it was not even my thought.’ But if we let the devil pass all these thoughts on to us, and if we dwell on them, this shows–this proves–that we do not have nepsis. If we did, we would have rejected the thought at its first appearance.’
So nepsis is the way to «απάθεια», “apatheia,”1 which in English is “dispassion.” It is when someone doesn’t have passions. The way to “apatheia” is nepsis. There is no other way because everything starts from our way of thinking, from our intellect. The whole body moves according to the intellect. The intellect is the governing body of our body.
Question: Is intellect “mind”?
Bishop Emilianos: Sometimes we translate the word «νους» to ‘intellect.’ We don’t have an exact translation. But there is a difference between «νους» and «διάνοια» in Greek. «Νους» is ‘nous,’ whereas «διάνοια» is our ‘intellect’ where thoughts are produced.
Saint Gregory Palamas talks about how the human being has:
• «νου»: “nous”;
• «λόγο»: “logic” (how thoughts come out of our nous and how we end up thinking using our intellect); and
• «πνεύµα»: “spirit,” in the Image of the Holy Trinity.
Our «διάνοια», our “intellect,” is prompted by our nous to create thoughts, words or expressions, the way our Lady the Theotokos conceived and gave flesh to the Word of God. It’s very difficult to explain. Generally, when we talk about the “nous” we can probably say that we mean the “intellect,” although it is not exactly that. It would be more accurate when talking about «νους» that we don’t attempt to translate it into English; we’ll just say “nous.”
Question: To have «απάθεια», “apatheia,” “dispassion,” we have to practice nepsis, is that correct?
Bishop Emilianos: Yes. Apatheia, dispassion, is a result of nepsis.
Question: Is it only when we have dispassion that Christ can dwell in our heart?
Bishop Emilianos: It’s not like that, but nepsis will clear the way in front of you for dispassion and for God to dwell in your heart. We hear of so-called “sinners” having spiritual experiences for reasons that God allows. They are true spiritual experiences, but are sometimes wake-up calls in which God is saying: “Listen I’m here for you, prepare yourself.’ But what Gerondas Aimilianos is saying here is that nepsis opens the way. Instead of going through the narrow path of trying to overcome your passions, nepsis clears the way so your passions dissipate. Rather than a narrow path, it becomes a highway toward having Christ dwell within you.
There is no mold for Christ’s interaction with each individual, it’s up to Him. He knows best, He knows why, He knows when, but if we want to get on the highway to the Kingdom of Heaven, nepsis is the highway. God will reveal and help us eliminate the obstacles. You simply follow the path of watchfulness and vigilance—nepsis—and this does everything for you. Of course, you need a spiritual father, but following this path does everything else for you; this is how important nepsis is. For this reason, Saint Hesychios says that it is nepsis that gets us there, not the human being who achieves all these things. It’s nepsis itself—which is our effort together with the Grace of God Who sustains our efforts—that results in us having and getting to know God.
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The first fruit of nepsis is «κάθαρσις», “catharsis,” which is “cleansing.” This means that when we practice nepsis, we cease having thoughts, words, fantasies and evil deeds. When we get to this stage, we will know that we cannot fall because an evil thought cannot enter our intellect. Being made clean is just the first fruit.
When we practice nepsis, it may develop quickly but it still requires our ongoing time and attention. It is not something we can do for one or two days, or one week or month, and then claim to have by saying, “I have nepsis, I have vigilance, I have watchfulness.” It is something we have to fight for for years and years, it never stops. Once we get into the habit of being vigilant, it becomes easier and it proves that we definitely want the Holy Spirit. We have to keep pushing.
Gerondas Aimilianos uses an example and says: “Some monks in the monastery have their duty to make bread. They start making bread and an earthquake suddenly happens. They get scared, they run outside, there is a lot of talk about the earthquake—some say, “we should do a Blessing of the Water Service,” others say, “we should chant a Supplicatory Canon,” and after one, two, or three hours, they go back to the bakery but it’s too late for the bread. It’s destroyed and they have to start from the beginning. This is what happens with nepsis. You can’t give it up for a period of time and then go back to it by continuing from where you left it. Going back means that you have to start from scratch. That’s why once we start, we should stay there. This is how it grows and develops, and this is how we also grow spiritually.”
“What do we mean when we say, ‘this is also how we grow spiritually’? It means that the more nepsis grows within us, the more open we become to receive the Knowledge of God.”
This is so important! Even giving our blood is not equivalent to the importance of this—that’s how precious nepsis is!
“Nepsis gives us true Knowledge of God and reveals the Mysteries of God. It gives us answers to questions about God. We should not be anxious. In reality, we will not even grow tired because we are not relying on our own intellect to gain the Knowledge of God. It is not up to us to have these spiritual experiences. It is up to God. But when we practice nepsis, which means we cleanse ourselves, the time will come when we will get to Know God.”
“Another important element is how we think, how we approach life, how we approach God, how we approach ourselves and how much humility we have. Improving these things will help nepsis grow inside us, in order for our vessel to become wider and hold more of God’s Knowledge. By emptying ourselves, we open up space inside us, and the more we do, the more God reveals Himself to us.”
“Our character is not an obstacle to nepsis; we did not create our character. We can work on our character and try to perfect it, but we did not create our character. The word character means “seal,” “engrave,” like when I engrave something; «χαρακτήρας» from «χαράζω». Our character is like a special seal that God has engraved for us. It’s a tool gifted to us for the specific purpose of taking us to Heaven. Therefore, we can’t blame our character. We might say: “My character doesn’t help me and I can’t change, what can I do?’ But by saying this, it’s as if we blame God. We use our character as an excuse to lead us away from God, when in actual fact, God has gifted us this seal, this «χαρακτήρα», because this is exactly what our soul needs to approach the Divine Mysteries and Knowledge of God to which we’re invited. It is not a coincidence that we have a specific character. We can improve it, but we cannot blame our character because it is a gift from God.”
Gerondas Aimilianos goes on to say: “Nepsis gives us answers to our questions. It reveals God in a spiritual way and it reveals Him within us. An example: You come to talk to me, and you are suffocated by problems—you are sick or have sinned, you have been kicked out of the monastery, you have cancer and are about to die. I talk to you, you listen to me, and after a while you tell me with tears: “Gerondas, my problem is solved.” Solved? How? The cancer is still there, the operation will happen and you will probably die. They’ve kicked you out of the monastery, your problem is not solved. How can you say that your problem is solved? It is solved because our inner disposition, our inner placement towards the problem, our inner perspective of dealing with the issue has changed. Divine Grace has enlightened your soul, and you feel like your problem has been solved. The problems are not solved, as they can sometimes stem from others rather than ourselves, but our problem isn’t others, it’s our relationship with God. It’s about me and God. Once I take care of this, there is no problem within me. Nothing else matters.”
So it doesn’t matter how big our problem is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a health issue, if they’ve kicked us out of wherever, if we have enemies–it doesn’t matter. What matters is that my conscience is clean and that my relationship with God is as it should be. Then, although we’ll continue to have problems, the problems themselves won’t bother us because they are not important.
I spoke with someone today and she said something interesting about the crisis in our world at this present moment2. If people lose their jobs and have outstanding loans, they may feel lost and overwhelmed, especially if they have not faced such challenges before. This difficulty arises because we mistakenly place our security in money. The security of our lives is not money, it is God. God has given us life; money cannot take away our life. We need to set our priorities right. If we trust God, it won’t matter if we don’t have the basics. I understand it would be difficult. Interestingly though, in Africa, there are children who do not have food or a home, yet they are happier than us. They see life from a different perspective. If they don’t have food or a house, they get used to it as though it’s no big deal. For us on the other hand, these things mean everything, and we suffer if we don’t have them. What matters is the way we see life and ourselves in relationship with God. When our relationship with God is what it should be, the things that happen around us won’t affect us. While problems will still arise, their significance will reduce to the point where they no longer disrupt our peace.
Question: Can you explain what you said about having a problem with another person?
Bishop Emilianos: There will always be problems. If we don’t create them, other people will create them for us, but this doesn’t make any difference. As long as our relationship with God is as it should be, people can create whatever problems they want. It won’t matter because our focus is not there, our focus is on God, our conscience is clean, and we move on.
Question: How can we cultivate a relationship with God that allows us to shift our focus away from problems, whether they stem from ourselves or others?
Bishop Emilianos: This is what nepsis teaches us, and nepsis usually goes with prayer. People might think that this is exclusively for monastics, but it’s not. I remember when I was studying physiotherapy, I went to a youth fellowship group, and the priest was presenting on «προσευχή και προσοχή», “prayer and vigilance”. I didn’t know much about these things at the time but the subject attracted me. I wanted to learn and understand more, so I asked him: “Father, how can we do all these things?” He told me: “These things are not for you, they are for advanced people.” My appearance back then was much like everyone else’s. I wasn’t dressed in modest clothes with my eyes cast down, I was not like that. Because of that, he told me these things weren’t for me, and I will never forget it. This person was married in the world. I went on to become a monk, an Abbot and a Bishop, and now have more knowledge on these things than he would have, because he didn’t have the time to practice them, being a professor of Theology.
What I’m trying to say is that nepsis is for everyone. If our hearts are thirsty, it doesn’t matter what we look like, what our job is, if we’re single, married or have 20 kids. The only thing that matters is our desire to draw closer to God. We can’t judge a book by its cover, it’s not fair. It’s God’s Will for us to draw closer to Him, and it’s a foretaste of what is going to happen in the next life. All of this is given through nepsis. That’s how important nepsis is.
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Walking On the Waves. An Everyday Guide to Nepsis can be purchased on Amazon. See the Fountain of Light Facebook page for information about other works from His Grace Bishop Emilianos.
