NILUS THE ASCETIC (of Ancyra), Saint. - Writer on ascetic subjects from the early 5th century. Leo Allatius lists 21 writers of this name; it is natural, therefore, that copyists confused them and that it is now difficult to sort them out. Moreover, numerous works bear this name whose true authors could not be revealed, such as Evagrius Ponticus or the Stoic Epictetus. Thus the "Nilus question" was born.

The best known of all these Niluses seems to be an ancient official of the court of Theodosius, who became a hermit on Sinai together with his son Theodulus, according to what the Narrationes say (PG 79, 589-603). But contrary to the opinion of the ancient patrologists, it is impossible to attribute to him the majority of the writings published under the name of Nilus. Their author is not a hermit, but a cenobite, superior of a monastery, in the surroundings of Ancyra in Galatia, who lived at the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th, and was a disciple of St. John Chrysostom.

are, Instit., X-XII, as S. Marsili has demonstrated.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: M. Th. Diodier, s. v. in DThC, XI, coll. 661-74; F. Degenhart, Des hl. N. Sinaita Leben u. Lehre von Mönchtum, Münster in V. 1915; K. Heussi, Untersuch. zu N. dem Asheten, Leipzig 1917; E. Peterson, N. De octo spiritibus im Isaak Florilegium, in Zeitschr. f. kath. Theol., 56 (1932), pp. 596-99; S. Marsili,

Resumé de Cassien sous le nom de s. N., in Rev. d'ascét. et myst.,
15 (1934), pp. 241-45; I. Hausherr, *Le traité de l'oraison d'Evagère
le Pontique (Pseudo Nil), Toulouse 1934; I. Muyldermans, S. N. en
version arménienne, in Le Muséon*, 56 (1943), pp. 77-113.

Ireneo Hausherr

@incollection{ec8_nilo_l_asceta_d_ancira_santo, author = {Hausherr, Ireneo}, title = {Nilo L'Asceta (D'Ancira), santo}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1882--1883}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nilo-l-asceta-d-ancira-santo} }

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Nilus the Ascetic (of Ancyra), Saint

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