Ideas across traditions · meditation · Early Christian & Monastic
nepsis
Works in 7 traditions beyond Early Christian & Monastic attest this concept, on 309 cited pages. Translators have rendered it as “watchfulness”, “watchfulnesse”; a link through a rendering is marked as such, because another translator chose differently.
Also under: νῆψις · “watchfulness” · “watchfulnesse”
Analogues, judged
A different word, in another tradition, that a reviewer judged to name a neighbouring idea. These are not attestations of nepsis; each carries the reviewer’s confidence and reason.
- murāqaba Arabic75%Sufi self-watchfulness before God — a parallel practice in another tradition, not a rendering of nepsis
In other traditions
Ordered by the earliest work in each tradition that attests the concept. Within a tradition, works run from earliest to latest by conventional composition date.
Greek
- 400 BCEHippocratic corpus, Regimen IV (On Dreams)a translator’s rendering
Hermetic & Gnostic
- 150 CECorpus Hermeticum (I Poimandres; X; XI; XIII On Rebirth)same word and a translator’s rendering
- 200 CECorpus Hermeticum (Pimander / Poimandres)same word and a translator’s rendering
- 300 CEIamblichus, De mysteriis III (divine dreams and god-sent sleep)same word
Hellenistic & Late Antique
- 300 CEIamblichus, De mysteriis (Reply to Porphyry’s Letter to Anebo)same word
- 300 CEIamblichus, De mysteriis (divination, possession, ecstasy, theurgy)same word
Byzantine & Orthodox
- 600 CEJohn Climacus, The Ladder of Divine Ascentsame word
- 600 CEJohn Climacus, Ladder of Divine Ascentsame word
- 1782Philokaliasame word and a translator’s rendering
- nepsis — watchfulness or sobrietyyter priest of the Church of Jerusalem. leaf 1. By the same Hesychios, a soul-profiting and saving word to Theodoulos onДобротолюбие (Dobrotolyubie, 1793) — Slavonic Philokalia, 1793, p. 10 · flagged as a term by the translator
- nepsishundred and three chapters, was placed here; it is as useful as any other, being most beneficial for beginners regardingPhilokalia (Greek), 1893, p. 91 · flagged as a term by the translator
- 1782Philokalia (Nikodemos & Makarios)same word and a translator’s rendering
- nepsis — watchfulness or sobrietyyter priest of the Church of Jerusalem. leaf 1. By the same Hesychios, a soul-profiting and saving word to Theodoulos onДобротолюбие (Dobrotolyubie, 1793) — Slavonic Philokalia, 1793, p. 10 · flagged as a term by the translator
- nepsishundred and three chapters, was placed here; it is as useful as any other, being most beneficial for beginners regardingPhilokalia (Greek), 1893, p. 91 · flagged as a term by the translator
- 1782Philokalia (hesychast anthology)same word and a translator’s rendering
- nepsis — watchfulness or sobrietyyter priest of the Church of Jerusalem. leaf 1. By the same Hesychios, a soul-profiting and saving word to Theodoulos onДобротолюбие (Dobrotolyubie, 1793) — Slavonic Philokalia, 1793, p. 10 · flagged as a term by the translator
- nepsishundred and three chapters, was placed here; it is as useful as any other, being most beneficial for beginners regardingPhilokalia (Greek), 1893, p. 91 · flagged as a term by the translator
Medieval Latin
- 1420Thomas à Kempis, De Imitatione Christia translator’s rendering
- 1420Thomas à Kempis, Imitatio Christia translator’s rendering
Renaissance & Early Modern Europe
- 1566Teresa of Ávila, Way of Perfectiona translator’s rendering
- 1577Teresa of Ávila, works (Way of Perfection, Life, Meditations)a translator’s rendering
- 1677Spinoza, Ethica (Parts II–V)a translator’s rendering
Modern European
- 1903Allen, As a Man Thinketha translator’s rendering
At home in Early Christian & Monastic
- 380 CEMacarius of Egypt, Fifty Spiritual Homiliessame word
- 380 CEPseudo-Macarius, Fifty Spiritual Homiliessame word
- 390 CEEvagrius Ponticus, Praktikos / On Thoughts / Antirrhetikossame word and a translator’s rendering
Evidence gate. A work is listed only where a translator marked the word as a term with a gloss, or kept the original word beside the English, on at least one page of a held edition. Vocabulary lists and keywords alone do not count: in a Greek vocabulary list ἡσυχία is the ordinary word for quiet. Up to 3 pages are shown per work, preferring those with a gloss. The vocabulary was built 2026-09-11; the graph on 2026-09-13.