- 273 - ‘AnAmnesizing’ HistoricAl events: tHe 1389 BAttle of Kosovo NiNa Glibetić In recent decades, cognitive psychologists have shown great interest and fascination with human memory. 1 Their studies note especially the more subjective qualities of this faculty, such as an often unnoticed but innate selectivity and an indispensable relationship to personal identity. Memory, we are told, is not merely concerned with the passive storage of information and life experiences. Instead, it lies at the core of human identity, which it carves through the intricate relationship between remem- brance and forgetfulness. Revealing the richness and the ambiguity of this faculty, their studies resonate the words of Saint Augustine written over a millennium ago: “Great is the power of memory! An awesome thing, my God, deep and boundless and manifold in being!” 2 The wonder expressed by the great Latin Father is common in the Christian tradition, which has always intuited the importance of memory for the spiritual life. The nineteenth century Russian monk and mystic, Theophan the Recluse, in a letter to one of his spiritual children, writes: «I have often reminded you, my dear sister, about the remembrance of God, and now I tell you again: unless you work and sweat to impress on your heart and mind this awe-inspiring Name, you keep silence in vain, you sing in vain, you fast in vain, you watch in vain». 3 1 D. Schacter, The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers (New York: Houghton Miflin Company, 2001); D. Schacter, Searching for Memory: The Brain, the Mind and the Past (New York: BasicBooks, 1996). For relections on cognitive psychology research, see: G. MeilaeNder, “Why Remember?”, First Things August/September 2003, 20-25; G. lacey, “Eucharist as the Intersection Between Memory and Forgetfulness”, Worship 77, 2003, 52-56. 2 Saint auGuStiNe, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, (trans.) J. K. ryaN (New York: Doubleday, 1960) 246. 3 Theophan the Recluse in Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, (ed.) Timothy (Kallis- tos)Ware, (trans.) K. KadloubovSKy, E. M. PalMer (Chatham, UK: Mackays of Cha- tham, 1966) 118.