The Bizarre Origin Story of "Unseen Warfare"

The Complex Reality of Church History and Schism

Introduction

If you were to take ten random converts to Orthodox Christianity and ask them what led to their decision to join the Church, there is a good chance that practically all of them will give some variation of how reading or studying or learning about “Church history”- especially the study of the early Fathers- played a major role in their eventual decision.

I myself am also part of this camp, and those who undertake the rigorous intellectual effort to sort through the different issues and come to a conclusion should be commended for their efforts. But simultaneously, we would be dishonest to not admit that the history of Orthodoxy and Christianity at large is incredibly complex, messy, and difficult to understand in its entirety, as is the history of mankind in general.

Apolgetics books and videos can only give you so much. While I am convinced that history demonstrates the truth of Holy Orthodoxy, I also am aware that the history of our Faith is not as linear or clear as apologists and internet personalities make it out to be. This is especially the case when it comes to the different schisms and heresies that have arisen since the birth of the Church at Pentecost.

It is all too common to view the break between Rome and the Eastern Church as a nice, even cut that took place in 1054 and the two communions have gone their separate ways ever since. Yet the situation was more complicated than that. As Orthodox apologist “Kaleb of Altanta” notes, 1054 is only when Rome and Constantinople broke communion with one another. Rome was still in communion with the other sees for different periods of time, and even after a more finalized break took place, there would still be interactions between East and West of different kinds.

A proof of this reality is found in a book that you may have seen on the shelves of your local parish’s bookstore, that being Unseen Warfare. This article is going to go into the history of how this book came to be, how it shows the complexities of church history (especially after 1054) and what it means for Orthodox today.

Unseen Warfare: St. Nicodmeus, St. Theophan and… Lorenzo Scupoli?

Unseen Warfare is an Orthodox spiritual and ascetical text that deals with topics pertaining to the spiritual life and the cultivation of virtue amidst the struggles with sin, the passions, and the demonic. The version I am using and the one that most English speaking Orthodox own is published by Saint Vladimir Seminary Press. You can purchase a copy here.

Now, if you look at the cover, you may wonder as to who the author of the work is. There are two names on the front of the book: One is Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain, an Orthodox saint from Mount Athos who lived in the late 18th century and early 19th century. He was a major figure on the Holy Mountain who contributed greatly to Orthodox theology, including the compiling of The Rudder, a manual on confession, and spiritual writings to name a few of his achievements. The other is Theophan the Recluse, another Orthodox saint from Russia who was born in 1815 and died at the end of the 19th century, and like Nicodemus, contributed immensely to the Church in the form of different spiritual writings and translations.

With this timeline in mind, you may assume that the text was written by St. Nicodemus initially and then later revised by St. Theophan. But that is not actually the case. The cover only says St. Nicodemus “edited” the book. The reason being is that Unseen Warfare is the Orthodox adaptation of a different book written prior to Nicodemus. The introduction to the copy I own, written by Professor H.A. Hodges, details how Unseen Warfare came to be, and its history throws a wrench into many excessively linear versions of Church history that are all too common in the apologetics realm.

Unseen Warfare has its origins in a Roman Catholic priest named Lorenzo Scupoli, born in 1529 in Otranto, Italy. During his time as a priest, Scupoli wrote two spiritual texts: one called The Spiritual Combat, and the other called The Path to Paradise (pg. 37). According to Hodges, The Spiritual Combat was considered a “masterpiece” even while Scupoli was still alive, being translated into multiple languages and going through several different versions with Scupoli adding extra material (pg. 38-39). The main body of the work primary deals with the struggle for mastery over the passions, though later additions contain more extensive writings on prayer, the Holy Eucharist, and other topics (pg. 39).

Now flash forward to the end of the 18th century. St. Nicodemus the Hagiorite acquires both The Spiritual Combat and The Path to Paradise by Scupoli. He then translates them, combines both of the works, makes various changes and edits where he deems necessary, and then publishes this work as Unseen Warfare in 1796 in Venice. Hodges describes the extent and purpose of the changes that Nicodemus makes:

“He omits chapter 8 of the Path and chapter 61 of the Combat, without putting anything in their place, and for no very obvious reason… He prefixes a short Introduction explaining the purpose of the book. He enriches the text by adding to it many footnotes, consisting of passages from the Bible and the Fathers. These serve to reinforce the teaching of the book, and to show how it accords with Scripture and Orthodox tradition…” (pg. 45).

St. Nicodeums also makes different textual alterations, though Hodges makes a point that he is not “systematically anti-Latin” in his changes to Scupoli’s work (pg. 48). From the 81 chapters of Scupoli, two are removed by St. Nicodemus, while the rest are translated largely the same, though with the additions of the footnotes and different modifications as St. Nicodmeus deemed necessary (pg. 47).

It is also worth noting that St. Nicodmeus never claimed credit for actually writing the book, but instead “corrected and adorned” the book he received in his words (pg. 45). However, St. Nicodemus never explicitly names Scupoli, but instead calls him a “certain wise man”, mostly likely to avoid trouble in the already contentious atmosphere on Mount Athos at this time (pg. 45-46).

Now, jumping ahead to the later 19th century, we arrive to Russia, where St. Theophan the Recluse resides. Like Nicodemus, Theophan was heavily involved in different academic and intellectual endeavors during his time; he was the president of a committee to translate the Bible into Russian, wrote commentaries on St. Paul’s Epistles, translated the Philokalia and added more material from the Syrian Fathers, along with writing various spiritual works (pg. 59-60).

St. Theophan eventually came into possession of a copy of St. Nicodemus’s Unseen Warfare, and decided to undertake a similar effort with the book that Nicodmeus did to Scupolis’ original writings. Theophan made various additions and alterations to the book, and it is this version of Unseen Warfare that is published in English by St. Vladimir’s today.

As Hodges makes clear, Theophan’s editing was more extensive than Nicodemus, especially when it came to expunging more explicit “Latinisms” found in the work(pg. 61). Indeed, in the foreword to his own version, Theophan makes it clear that his work is a “free rendering” rather an exact translation of St. Nicodemus’s words (pg. 60). He also alters the formatting, mainly by taking St. Nicodemus’ footnotes and references and integrating them into the text itself, which by extension altered the overall flow of the book (pg. 60) That being said, Hodges emphasizes that both Theophan and Nicodemus did not make alterations out of a “personal” criticism of Scupoli, nor were they inserting their private opinions. Instead, they were conforming the work to the theology of the Orthodox Church as a whole (especially on the issue of prayer) and the acceptance of this book today by the Orthodox world at large is a testament to the success of the joint effort by Nicodemus and Theophan (pg. 14).

Nor were St. Theophan’s changes to Scupoli’s original writings left untouched by St. Nicomedus nor his alterations of St. Nicodemus’ edits indicative of a criticism or disapproval of the Athonite; Hodges claims that “When we come to consider whole chapters, we find several which Theophan has wholly or almost wholly rewritten in the light of his own experience and reflection, yet without revealing any important clash of outlook or teaching between himself and Nicodemus” (pg. 61). Perhaps the best way to think about it is St. Theophan finished the work that St. Nicodemus started with improving and altering Scupoli’s work, providing a necessary balance to the book that enabled it to be truly Orthodox and have a place in the spiritual literature and treasures of the Church (pg. 67).

Why This Matters

So the summarize as succinctly as possible the history of Unseen Warfare: a Catholic priest in the 1500s wrote two spiritual works, The Spiritual Combat and The Path to Paradise. A monk on Mount Athos in the late 18th century named St. Nicodemus got a copy of these works, translated them, combined them while making edits and alterations, etc, and published it as Unseen Warfare in 1796. This book then got into the hands of a Russian monk named St. Theophan, who made further alterations and edits and then published it again in the late 19th century. This book is now in English which Orthodox have today.

There are several takeaways and insights that can be drawn from this history, and may have an impact on how we Orthodox look at our own past and our potential future.

Firstly, let’s consider who these two men are. St. Nicodemus and St. Theophan aren’t nobodies; they are Orthodox saints, and they are saints who did wonderful things for the Church in a variety of fields. They were highly intelligent and deeply faithful, well steeped in the Bible, the Fathers, and Orthodox dogma and theology, and their works continue to play a major role in the life of the Church today.

They also were not “liberals” or “ecumenists” either. St. Nicodemus compiled-with his own commentary- The Rudder, a collection of Church canon law and conciliar decrees, and as Hodges reminds us, played a major role in the conservative faction on Mt. Athos in different disputes over the doctrine of hesychasm, liturgical rites, etc (pg. 46). St. Theophan likewise was firm in his opposition to the errors of the heterodox. For example, he at one point wrote that western education was infected with “pagan principles”, and those who associate with it are turned into “enemies of Christ”.

He also writes the following:

“Christ is here, in our Orthodox Church, and He is not in any other church. Do not search for Him elsewhere, for you will not find Him. Therefore, if someone from a non-Orthodox assemblage comes to you and begins to suggest that they have Christ—do not believe it. If someone says to you, 'We have an apostolic community, and we have Christ,' do not believe them. The Church founded by the Apostles abides on the earth—it is the Orthodox Church, and Christ is in it.”

As such, there is no question as to the Orthodoxy of these two men; they followed the Faith, they lived the Faith, and the breathed the Faith.

And yet both of them willingly took a text written by a Roman Catholic priest and thought it valuable enough to invest time and energy into editing it, adding extra material, and publishing it for Orthodox use. This is significant because to some Orthodox, what St. Nicodemus and St. Theophan did was actually wrong. You will find many in Orthodox parishes who look at anything that emerged in the Latin West after the Schism as inherently tainted with sin, and therefore worthless at best and a breeding ground for heresy at worst. But St. Nicodemus and St. Theophan did not take this approach; they didn’t look at Scupoli’s work and ask “was this composed before or after 1054?” but rather “does this align with the Orthodox Faith?”.

Sts. Nicodemus and Theophan didn’t accept Scupoli’s work uncritically with open arms, but they didn’t outright reject the work either. They clearly saw enough of what Scupoli said could be useful for an Orthodox audience, and purified and refined the work as they saw necessary to align it with the Orthodox Faith. This is not to say that because of Unseen Warfare, anyone who is Orthodox has a license to go out and find as much post-Schism material as possible and see what fits with Orthodoxy and what doesn't - that would be highly imprudent and should only be a task for qualified individuals. But it does suggest that the all too common black and white approach people take with post-Schism developments may not be in line with how our saints approached the topic. If we were to follow the line of logic consistently that everything produced by Western Christendom after 1054 cannot possibly be valuable or insightful, then Unseen Warfare should not exist. This further means that St. Nicodemus and St. Theophan, at best, wasted their time, and at worst, are suspect in their Orthodoxy for thinking a Roman Catholic spiritual text could be of value to Orthodox, albeit with modifications.

But we know that is not true. Rather, we find that these learned men could see seeds of Orthodoxy within Scupoli’s writings; the two saints didn’t leave the seeds to be choked by the weeds of error surrounding it, or leave the seeds to be forgotten, but recognized the seeds needed to be given proper soil and nourishment so they could grow, be cultivated, and eventually harvested as truly Orthodox fruit, that fruit being Unseen Warfare.

Beyond this specific work however, there is also the fascinating historical context from which St. Nicodemus was operating. Remember earlier when I said where Unseen Warfare was first published? It was in Venice. The reason for this was, as Hodges explains, because the Eastern Church was geographically speaking, under foreign occupation by the Ottomans. Wanting to keep the Orthodox Churches in as a weakened state as possible, they placed burdens on the Christians, such as an extra tax and a prohibition on building churches, and also encouraged Roman Catholic meddling in Greece so as to sow discord and division (pg. 41-42). But despite Orthodoxy’s strength in maintaining the Faith, certain practical compromises were made based on the Church’s circumstances, one of these being that many Orthodox received their higher theological education in western nations and large amounts of Orthodox literature were printed in Venice (pg. 42).

What this shows is that despite the Schism, there were still great amounts of interaction between the two communions, whether desired or not, and Unseen Warfare was born in the midst of this complex time period. Without the academies and printing shops of Western Christendom, we may never have gotten the benefit of reaping the rewards of St. Nicodemus’ and St. Theopan’s hard labor. In a strange way, we as Orthodox owe a certain debt of gratitude to the West for playing a crucial role in the publication of texts like Unseen Warfare. When approaching the broader topic of Church history and the relationship between the Greek and Latin Churches, we should not only be mindful of the often messier realities at hand that Youtube and Instagram cannot always portray accurately, but also be mindful of how the saints themselves approached the times they lived in. If we want to truthfully claim that we are following the traditions of the saints as handed down to us, then we need to follow their traditions in their entirety. To ignore certain facts or realities because they do not live up to our preconceived notions or ideas as to what constitutes the Faith is many things, but it certainly is not Orthodox.

Conclusion

I highly encourage my readers to read the full introduction, as Hodges does a great job explaining in precise detail the various changes made by St. Nicodemus and St. Theophan that I could not get to here. My hope is that from this article, Orthodox may have a greater awareness of not only the more intricate history of our own Faith and its saints, but also of Church history at large. Personally, I have found that the more I learn about Orthodox history, the more aware I become of how much left I still have to learn, as Introduction alone to Unseen Warfare has made abundantly clear to me. I hope it does the same for you.

May St. Theophan and St. Nicodemus pray for us!

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, Have Mercy on Me, a Sinner