Hierarch
Hierarch, Bishop Diadochus of Photice, Bishop
ок. 400 — †после 486
Hierarch Diadochus of Photice — bishop of the city of Photice in Epirus (Greece), an outstanding Orthodox theologian and ascetic of the 5th century, author of the classic ascetical work "On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts" on spiritual sobriety and the discernment of spirits, which had significant influence on the later Orthodox mystical tradition, including hesychasm.
Hierarch Diadochus occupied the episcopal see of the city of Photice in the historical region of Epirus (northwestern Greece) in the mid-5th century. He is known chiefly as an outstanding ascetical writer, whose principal work — "On Spiritual Knowledge and Discrimination: One Hundred Texts, Practical, Gnostic, and Discursive" — was later included in the Philokalia, a collection of writings by Orthodox ascetics on prayer and the spiritual life. In this work, Hierarch Diadochus discusses in detail the teaching on the discernment of spirits, the unceasing Jesus Prayer, and spiritual sobriety — themes that later became central to the hesychast tradition of Orthodox monasticism. The exact date of the hierarch's death is unknown; according to some accounts, he was still living after 486. His memory is kept on March 29 (according to the Greek calendar).