Citation:
Ἡ μνημοτεχνία τοῦ Θείου λόγου κατὰ τὸν ἱερὸ Χρυσόστομο. Ἀθήνα: ἐκδ. Γρηγόρη, 2007.
Abstract:
Saint John Chrysostom is an eminent ecumenical teacher of Christianity. Modern research displays undiminished interest in his pedagogic techniques. John Chrysostom considers the in-structive sufficiency of memory as a crucial element of his ped-agogic interventions. He always intends to incise the content of his preachings on the memory of the congregation. According to his teachings, the use of memory for educational purposes reduces to divine initiative and human goodwill. Saint John is a shepherd, focused on his human flock and their human lives.The mnemonic impressions he uses in his speeches are de-rived from life itself: universal memories, arisen by the existen-tial background, related with the “ἀρχέγονο κάλλος” of the soul, the beauty which was lost, as well as Paradise, because of the original sin. Saint John tries to keep the memory of God alive and endeavours to unmask death in the oblivious pathways of human mind. He is a reminiscent of the lost sight of Angels and the holy lives of Saints. As a shepherd of souls, he is persis-tent to reveal the devil and his traps and lead his flock towards a constant reference to the “neighbour”, who must be loved as oneself, so that the eschatological memory of the Final Crisis could produce a realistic impact in society. His pedagogic ob-jective is not exhausted in a “gnoseological” level, or in other words, in a plain memorization of all kinds of information, such as biblical topics, and their interpretations, opinions of other Fathers, historical events, environmental aspects, socio-econo-mic phenomenons, customs, properties of ancient Greek, as well as universal Mythology, Philosophy, Technology and Sci-ence. Neither was his preaching limited to a practical level, such as the acceptance and conceptualization of moral and dogmatic lessons.
John Chrysostom proves to be a great developer of experien-tial memory and a perceptive master of its exploitation in the fields of moral conscience. Being aware of the important role that memory plays in the process of learning, and particularly in Christian catechesis, he devises and applies various mnemonic techniques so as to expand and improve the mnemonic ability of the congregation. His erudition and scholarship support his immanent pedagogic talent. In his works, ancient-Greek and Jewish-Christian tradition in teaching methods are exploited in a most brilliant way.
Mnemonic or “Mnemotechnia” renders the processes and techniques which lead to growth, expansion and strengthening of memorization and recollection skills. For Saint John “mne-motechnia” is a procedure, which is activated before the preach-ing and lasts long after the end of it. Chrysostomic speech is full of inventive and charming subterfuges, which maintain the in-terest and attention of the listener undiminished. There is no doubt that this kind of mnemonic amplifies the theological knowledge of the audience.· however, in this book, “mne-motechnia” is evaluated as a reinforcing operation which aims to the renovating prospect of preaching. Chrysostomic speech, beyond the authentic messages that conveys, accomplishes to “capture” the listener via “trapping” the memory of his moral conscience.
Saint John knows how to develop mnemonically his peda-gogic methods, relatively with a) the suitable preparation of the congregation, so as to be ready and eager to listen and accept the preaching, b) the suitable space and time (or even the fre-quency) and, above all, the most competent dexterities in con-veying and adopting the messages of God. Thus, Chrysostom, through his works proposes to the potential lecturer or preacher the model of rational delimitation and instructive presentation of the preaching materials, as well as, the organization of teach-ing, the clarity of the messages and last but not least the “moth-er of learning”: repetition. To the listeners, Chrysostom recom-mends the regular and systematic follow-up of preaching, to-gether with certain practical sense-kinetic techniques, as well as concentration and prayer.
Speaking is an art, which, when it is truly charismatic, can create strong feelings and emotions of admiration and joy. Chrysostom establishes his mnemonic methods on audibility and visualization. In other words, the visual pedagogic models function mainly in acoustic and facial level. The acoustic mne-monic techniques include semasiological and echo-instrumental forms of speaking. Visual mnemonic techniques presuppose vividness in speaking, combined with a vast number of figura-tive examples (visual models).