PSELLOS’ COMMENTARY ON THE JESUS PRAYER

The commentary on the Jesus Prayer published by Sinkiewicz in 1987 is a genuine work by Psellos. It is ascribed to him in a number of manuscripts and is not eccentric in relation to his interests. Indeed, he wrote a commentary on the ‘Kyrie Eleison’. Moreover, the theological points in the commentary echo those he described in Poem 4 Westerink. The commentary contains a previously unidentified verse which contains eleventh century expressions. Psellos’ commentary was used by Markos Eugenikos when he wrote his own commentary on the same prayer which was published in the Philocalia. Psellos’ commentary was transmitted in a number of manuscripts preserved today on Mt. Athos also under his name.